Fabulous Five 020 - The Witches of Wakeman Read online

  THE FABULOUS FIVE #20

  THE WITCHES OF WAKEMAN

  BETSY HAYNES

  A BANTAM SKYLARK BOOK®

  NEW YORK • TORONTO • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND

  RL 5, 009-012

  THE WITCHES OF WAKEMAN

  A Bantam Skylark Book / October 1990

  Skylark Books is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1990 by Betsy Haynes and James Haynes.

  Cover art copyright © 1990 by Andrew Bacha.

  No part of this hook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  For information address: Bantam Books.

  ISBN 0-553-15830-9

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  CWO 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  CHAPTER 1

  The sign on the auditorium door read:

  Tryouts for the Halloween Show

  After School Today

  "Well, guys. Wish me luck," said Beth Barry. She was standing across the hall from the auditorium with the rest of The Fabulous Five, trying not to let her nervousness show.

  Christie Winchell grinned. "Luck? You're a cinch to get a part."

  "Right," said Katie Shannon. "After all, you were the star of the drama club's last play."

  "Yeah," said Melanie Edwards with a dreamy sigh. "You and Chet Miller were star-crossed lovers in a modern version of Romeo and Juliet. What a part!"

  "But this is a variety show instead of a play," Beth insisted. "There will be magic acts and things like that and two skits, so there are only a few speaking parts."

  "Do you know which part you're trying out for?" asked Jana Morgan.

  Beth nodded. "The skits and variety acts will be introduced by three emcees who are the three witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth. You know, the ones who say, 'Double, double, toil and trouble.' I'd love to be one of them. I've even been practicing my witch voice at home."

  Suddenly Melanie poked Beth in the ribs. "Look, there goes Laura McCall into the auditorium."

  Everyone glanced toward Laura, who was the leader of The Fantastic Foursome, the rival clique of The Fabulous Five.

  Beth wrinkled her nose. "I heard her telling Tammy Lucero that she was planning to get the part of one of the emcee witches."

  "Let's go on in," said Katie. She crossed the hall and opened the door for the others. "With us in there to give you moral support, you could get the part blindfolded."

  The five girls tiptoed into the auditorium and took seats in the fifth row. Beth sat down next to Molly McHugh, an eighth-grader with large glasses, which she constantly pushed up her nose. Kids were scattered throughout the room, and Mr. Levine, the drama coach, sat on the edge of the stage, clipboard in hand.

  "Okay," he said, "we're going to begin the auditions for 'The Witches' Caldron.' I think most of you know that that's the name of our Halloween show. It's a variety show with both skits and variety acts, and each one is supposed to be an ingredient in the witches' brew."

  Giggles rippled through the audience.

  "Today I'll be casting the speaking parts as well as some individual variety acts," Mr. Levine continued. "The important thing is that all of the acts will be centered around the Halloween theme. The skits, the music, the costumes—everything—will have something to do with ghosts, black cats, witches, that sort of thing.

  "And by the way," he added, "if you're interested in working on props, costumes, or setup crews, there's a sign-up sheet at the left side of the auditorium."

  Molly murmured, "That's me. I'm signing up and then I'm outta here." She slung her book bag over her shoulder, tossing her ponytail to one side. "Hey, Barry, good luck."

  Beth sighed. "Thanks. I'm really nervous."

  Molly gave Beth's arm a playful punch and left.

  Jana, who had been sitting on the other side of Molly, moved into her place. "Uh-oh," she muttered. "Look who's sitting in the front row right under Mr. Levine's nose."

  Beth sighed. "I noticed. Good old Laura. She's probably sitting there sending Mr. Levine phony little smiles, trying to butter him up."

  "Of course," Jana said.

  Beth watched Laura for a moment. "What's she doing with her hair?" she whispered.

  "It looks as if she's unbraiding it," Katie said.

  Beth squinted at Laura. Katie was right. Laura was methodically undoing the long braid that started at the top of her head and fell over one shoulder. The braid was her trademark, and she switched it like a cat's tail when she was angry. "Laura's up to something," Beth muttered.

  "Okay, everybody. We're ready to start," Mr. Levine called from down front. "We'll begin with the variety acts. First up is Chet Miller."

  Beth sat up with interest. Chet, a ninth-grader who had starred with her in the Romeo and Juliet play, got up from one of the middle seats.

  "He's so cute!" Melanie whispered.

  Beth nodded and watched him walk up onto the stage carrying a paper grocery bag.

  "What's your act, Chet?" asked Mr. Levine.

  "He doesn't need an act," Melanie said softly, sighing. "He can just stand there and look gorgeous."

  Katie, who was sitting next to Melanie, rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  "I'm going to juggle," Chet announced.

  "How is that appropriate for Halloween?" asked Mr. Levine.

  Chet grinned. He took out an old-fashioned coat from his bag and put it on over his head, leaving his head inside.

  "It looks as if he doesn't have a head!" Jana said, giggling. "The coat is stitched so he can't pull his head through."

  "He's the Headless Horseman," Christie said. "Look, he's wearing riding boots."

  "But he's got eyeholes in the coat," Beth whispered back. "See?"

  Sure enough, a patch of cloth from the coat had been removed and a dark, gauzy fabric sewn in so that he could see out of the costume without its being obvious from the audience.

  The kids sitting in the auditorium began laughing and murmuring "What a great costume!" and "He looks so funny!"

  "What are you juggling?" asked Mr. Levine.

  Chet reached into his bag and pulled out three round objects, each about ten inches across.

  "Oh, gross!" someone yelled. "They're heads!"

  A murmur went through the auditorium, then gasps, then laughter. When Chet tossed the objects into the air, the kids could see that he had painted faces on the three balls. On two of them, he had glued yarn hair, and as he juggled his heads, the "hair" flew wildly around in the air. The third head was bald.

  The kids applauded loudly, and Mr. Levine laughed.

  "He's in," Christie said to Beth. "What a great act!"

  "It sure is," agreed Beth. She was impressed with Chet's imagination. That was important in the theater.

  "Next up is Paul Smoke," Mr. Levine called out.

  Paul, a ninth-grader, had prepared a magic act, using props that were appropriate to Halloween. Wearing a black cape, he made a giant pumpkin disappear; he cut
a goblin-partner in half. But the very best was the finale, when he reached into a big top hat, which had been empty seconds ago, and pulled out something.

  "What's that?" Christie asked, leaning over to Beth. "That's not a rabbit in his hand!"

  Somebody down front shrieked. "It's a bat!"

  Sure enough, the bat spread out its scalloped wings.

  "A flying fox bat!" Paul announced, grinning, and held up the bat so everyone could see its wingspan, about twelve inches.

  "Wow, a real bat," Melanie cried gleefully. "What an incredible act."

  Beth agreed. This was going to be a terrific show. She forced herself to concentrate on the witch character that she'd silently been practicing through the rest of the variety-act tryouts. She thought about the facial expressions she had worked on and the voice and the cackling laugh. She wanted to be ready for her own tryouts. She didn't even know how long it was before her thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Levine's voice.

  "Let's keep moving now," he announced. "We'll go next to the three emcee witches. Laura McCall, you're up first, Beth Barry second, Dekeisha Adams third, and Alexis Duvall fourth. Also, to save time, will you please exit backstage after you read your lines and come back into the auditorium through the stage door? That way the next person can begin immediately."

  Laura stood up, smiling sweetly at Mr. Levine.

  Beth leaned over to Christie. "Couldn't you just barf?" she whispered.

  Christie burst out laughing and passed Beth's comment on to the other members of The Fabulous Five, who laughed, too. Mr. Levine looked in their direction and frowned, and Laura looked back at Beth and scowled.

  Handing Laura a script, Mr. Levine said, "Laura, please read at the top of page one."

  Laura flashed another sickening smile at Mr. Levine. "Sure," she said.

  "Now, remember," Mr. Levine said, "I'm looking for witches. I'd like to see what kind of characterizations you can project for these old hags."

  Laura ruffled up her unbraided hair, allowing several strands to fall across her face and across her eyes. Then she read from the script:

  "Double, double, toil and trouble,

  Fire burn and caldron bubble.

  Cool it with a baboon's blood,

  Then the charm is firm and good.

  "The show today will make you shiver,

  We have some acts to make you quiver.

  So if you join us now, you'll see,

  A Halloween treat—it's even free.

  "The first act now we have for you,

  Is from Snow White—we tell you true.

  So sit back here and watch the show,

  We've practiced well, we'll have you know.

  "The bad witch is at her mirror fine,

  It talks to her—you'll hear the lines.

  So now we say, 'Let's start the show,'

  Raise the curtain—now we must go."

  Mr. Levine nodded when Laura had finished. "Okay, thank you, Laura."

  Beth scooted out of her seat and hurried toward the stage. Behind her she heard Katie say, "That was acting? All she did was mess up her hair, and she even used her normal voice."

  Beth had to agree, but she didn't have time to think about that now. Bounding onto the stage, she took a moment to ready herself, concentrating on her character, her body, her voice. Then she began.

  "Double, double, toil and trouble"—it was the old-hag voice she had perfected in the privacy of her own bedroom—"Fire burn and caldron bubble."

  A murmur ran through the auditorium. Beth glanced out at the faces before her. They were smiling and listening intently. Her heart soared. They were with her.

  "Cool it with a baboon's blood, then the charm is firm and good."

  Beth knew she was doing a good job. She spoke the lines slowly, deliberately, knowing what they meant, knowing how to emphasize the important words. She spoke as if she were really a witch, an ugly, ancient witch, standing over a boiling pot of steamy brew, casting a spooky Halloween spell.

  "The show today—"

  Suddenly from backstage came a thunderous crash, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

  CHAPTER 2

  The noise was so startling that Beth jumped, dropping her script, and shrieked, "What was that?" An instant later Laura McCall came streaking out of the backstage wings, her face white with fright. She stopped at the edge of the stage and stared down wide-eyed at Mr. Levine, gasping for breath. "It fell! The mirror! I was just walking past it, and it almost hit me!"

  Mr. Levine jumped up. "Are you all right?" he cried. When she nodded, he went on in a calmer voice, "Take it easy, Laura. Just settle down and tell us what happened."

  Laura looked as if she were going to cry. "I . . . I . . ."

  "I'll check it out," shouted Molly McHugh, who apparently had not left after signing up for the stage crew after all, but had been standing at the back of the auditorium watching the tryouts. She raced down the aisle, up the stage steps past Beth, and disappeared behind the curtain.

  After a moment, her head popped out of the curtain at the center. "Mr. L, we have a slight problem," she said gravely.

  "What's that?" asked Mr. Levine.

  "There was a large mirror back here," she said. "It fell off a shelf, I guess, and shattered into a zillion pieces."

  Mr. Levine shook his head. "I brought that mirror from home for the Snow White skit. You all stay here," he instructed the students in the auditorium. "If there's a lot of broken glass, I don't want anyone injured."

  "How could that happen?" asked Dekeisha. She had gotten up from her seat and was leaning against the edge of the stage in preparation for reading next. "A mirror just fell off the shelf?"

  Beth gave Laura a suspicious look.

  "I didn't touch it. I swear!" Laura shouted, glaring back at Beth. "It just fell by itself."

  Sure, it did, Beth thought sarcastically, but she didn't say it.

  The students all started talking at once, suggesting reasons for the mirror's falling.

  Mr. Levine returned and held up his hands for silence. "I don't know how this happened," he said. "I'm just glad Laura wasn't standing underneath the mirror when it fell. She could have been badly hurt. I've sent for the custodian to clean up the mess. But in the meantime, I think we should go right on with the tryouts. Beth, do you feel like continuing to read?"

  Beth nodded and picked up the script pages she had dropped. She had certainly lost her concentration, but that couldn't be helped. She would just have to do the best job she could and hope that Mr. Levine would understand.

  Then Mr. Levine shook his head and said, "No, first I want to tell you something about the superstition surrounding the production of Macbeth, the play this caldron scene was taken from."

  "Superstition?" asked Molly, who was standing at the back of the stage near the curtain. She glanced over her shoulder at the dark wings and took a couple of steps forward. "What superstition?"

  "Well," said Mr. Levine, and he cleared his throat, "dating back to Shakespeare's time, there has been bad luck surrounding the production of the play."

  "But Shakespeare wrote the play!" someone called out. "Do you mean there's been bad luck since the first time it was produced?"

  "That's right," Mr. Levine said. "On the very first opening night back in 1606, the actor playing the role of Lady Macbeth went home with a stomachache after the performance and died in his sleep. William Shakespeare himself had to take over the role."

  "How could William Shakespeare play a lady's part?" asked Chet.

  Mr. Levine smiled. "Back then it was considered improper for women to perform on the stage. All the women's roles were played by men."

  "Even in the love scenes?" Molly demanded, and everyone giggled.

  "That's right," Mr. Levine said. "Anyway, ever since then, productions all over the world have had bad luck when they produce Macbeth. It's said that there's a curse associated with the witches' 'double, double' speech."

  Dekeisha gasped. "And Beth just fi
nished saying those words when the mirror fell!"

  "That's silly," Beth said. "It was just a coincidence. Laura said the same speech just a couple of minutes before, and nothing happened then."

  "It was Laura who was near the mirror when it fell," Dekeisha reminded her in a solemn voice.

  Beth shrugged, trying to look more confident than she felt. "Besides," she went on, "a lot of things go wrong during tryouts and rehearsals for shows, but no one thinks that means a curse!"

  Mr. Levine spoke again. "Shakespeare may have taken the witches' speech from ancient runes—"

  "'Runes'?" asked Melanie. "What're they?"

  "Runes are ancient words and phrases that supposedly have mysterious power associated with them."

  "Wow," Molly breathed.

  "Not that I believe in things like that the way many theater people do," Mr. Levine assured them. "But we may as well be aware of the superstition. There's no sense taking chances."

  "What chances?" Paul Smoke asked. "You mean, more stuff may happen like the broken mirror?"

  "A broken mirror is bad luck," Alexis pointed out. "Seven years' bad luck."

  "You mean, we've got to pay for years?" Molly blurted. "All because we're working on this Halloween production?"

  Mr. Levine shrugged. "I hope not," he said. "But let's just play it safe, okay? Everyone, be alert onstage and off so that accidents don't happen. If you're chosen for a part, learn your lines as soon as possible and support your fellow actors and crew workers. Encourage each other and help each other. Okay, Beth. Try it from the top."

  Beth took a deep breath to compose herself. She had always heard that actors and others associated with the theater were superstitious, just as Mr. Levine had said, but she had never expected anything like this at Wacko Junior High.

  It was just an accident, she assured herself. A stupid accident and it won't happen again. Still, she couldn't help shuddering as she began to read. "Double, double, toil and trouble . . ."

  CHAPTER 3

  "Way to go, Beth!" Katie said as The Fabulous Five huddled around the cast list posted on the auditorium door the morning after auditions.

  "Yeah, congratulations," said Jana. "We knew you could do it."