Open day at the Witches' Home 2/10

For the next day or two, Eve found the time to go to the woods as soon as she saw Jennifer Jane walking along her garden.

For a while, she found that the child seemed to disappear round a corner just as she was catching up. But slowly and surely she learned the route that was taken, until one day she was able to run ahead along the now familiar paths to find herself beside a rather dirty looking pond waiting for her quarry to appear.

As Jennifer Jane walked round the corner, Eve nearly squeaked in surprise. The small pond suddenly appeared to become larger and cleaner, while a quayside made of logs appeared on the opposite side to where she was hiding.

There was a small yacht moored at one end of the quay, which Jennifer Jane boarded and then let herself into a tiny cabin in the bows. A loud noise high above Eve’s head startled her and made Jennifer Jane put her head out of the cabin.

For a moment Eve thought she’d been spotted, as the child looked in her direction, but she was looking high above her head and didn’t seem to notice her.

“Good morning Wilfred, I’m getting Misty Magic ready to sail to an open day they’re going to hold at the Witches’ Home tomorrow. I’m taking another load of bike saddles over and then I’ll stay on as one of the guides for any of the locals who turn up and want to have a look round.”

A few minutes later, Jennifer Jane climbed out of the boat and walked back towards her home. The pond got smaller again and looked as muddy and ordinary as it had before. Eve looked behind her hiding place, to try and see if she could see any sign of whoever the child had been talking to, but there was nobody visible.

‘Well surely the point of an open day, is to allow people to see whatever it is you normally do in the place, so I think I’ll get here early tomorrow and see if I can’t hitch a ride and find out for myself.’

Eve duly got up early the next morning and hurried through the woods to the pond. She found a hiding place opposite the one she’d used the day before and waited for things to happen.