My heart warmed as I smiled at him. Lorcan was high-maintenance and could be difficult, it was true, but he was a good man and as far as good men went, he was perfect for my witchy friend. And I planned to tell her as much, just as soon as she was conscious again. “I will take care of her, Lorcan, I promise.”

  He nodded as I continued. “Is there any sign of Hellcat? Can you still track him?”

  “He’s over Pumpkin Hollow Farm,” Lorcan reported, then disappeared before reappearing a second later. “No, wait. No, he isn’t. My mistake. He’s in the aqueduct. Goodness gracious, you should see him swim!” Then he blipped out of existence and returned again. “He’s gone again. So sorry.”

  “Crap!” I pounded on the door. “Double crap!”

  “Where are we going this time?” Libby quavered from the back seat. “We can’t keep driving around like this all night long!”

  “We have to,” I fired back. “We have to do whatever we can until we get Hellcat back, and if Henner’s machine works, we might still have a chance of doing exactly that.”

  Chapter Nine

  Marty started forward and I hit the gas, following directly behind him as the hearse made all sorts of grumbling sounds that echoed through the dark night air. Luckily, Marty recognized the urgency in the situation and drove as quickly as the old hearse could manage—which, unfortunately, wasn’t very quick. We passed my store and headed back towards the farmland outside of town.

  Wanda didn’t say anything. She sprawled in the passenger seat, and if her eyes weren’t firmly buried in her skull, I would have mistaken her for being drunk.

  One minute followed another, and Wanda didn’t offer any directions with regard to where Hellcat might reappear next. That meant she was starting to come out of the trance. I could only hope we’d locate Hellcat before she woke up.

  “It’s been ten minutes since we saw Hellcat last,” Bailey murmured from the backseat. “He should have appeared again by now.”

  “And there’s no word from Lorcan,” Libby added.

  “That doesn’t mean Hellcat is gone,” I insisted, slapping the wheel for extra emphasis. “It just means Lorcan hasn’t seen him. Hellcat could have appeared somewhere else, somewhere Lorcan couldn’t follow him.”

  “Or maybe Lorcan just didn’t see him?” Libby asked.

  “Yeah, maybe Lorcan just didn’t see him,” I answered.

  Hellcat could be anywhere. He could be in Chicago. He could be in Siberia or Australia or Belize. If he was in any of those places, it wasn’t like it was the worst thing in the world, because he could definitely find his way back to Oregon. That cat was extremely intelligent, and he’d survived a long time to this point which wasn’t just by luck.

  Then again, he could be in another dimension. He could be in any dimension. And from another dimension… it wouldn’t be quite so easy to find his way back.

  We might never see him again.

  My eyes skipped from one landmark to another, but I couldn’t process anything—my mind was so frazzled and my heart was beating so hard, I felt like I might pass out—like all of this was too much. I kept looking for Hellcat, hoping and praying he hadn’t disappeared for good.

  Because if he had disappeared for good, I had no idea what I’d tell Wanda… I’m sorry but I lost your familiar… I’m sorry but because I insisted on brewing a questionable potion, your familiar is gone forever?

  No matter what I told her, I was fairly sure it would mean the end of our friendship—a friendship which had really started to blossom into something meaningful. The truth was that, next to Marty, Wanda was my closest friend in Haven Hollow. And I realized how crazy that sounded because she was a witch and I was a gypsy—sworn enemies for centuries. But, it was the truth.

  Not to mention the fact that if Hellcat never returned, I’d never be able to forgive myself.

  I picked up my phone and tapped Marty’s number. He answered on the first ring. “Are you guys picking anything up on that Spectro thing?”

  “Spectrothon 2000,” Marty corrected.

  “We’re picking up tons!” Henner yelled back. “The readings are off the charts! There are portals opening up all over town!”

  “So, do you know where Hellcat will be coming out next?”

  A long pause answered me. “It’s tough to locate exactly which portal is his because there are so many of them!”

  “Well, how can you distinguish…” I started, but Henner interrupted me.

  “Wait!” he called. “I’m picking up something! Keep going straight. Towards that barn over there.”

  I peered through the headlights toward an abandoned barn set amongst overgrown weeds and broken trees. Half of the barn was caved in, its roof now rubble on the ground. The other half looked like it was on its way to sharing a similar fate. I didn’t see any sign of Hellcat at all. But then all at once, Marty’s voice boomed from the phone.

  “There! He’s coming through another…”

  The hearse’s tires screeched to a halt by the fence. I wrenched the Jeep around just in time to see a portal wink open, disgorge Hellcat, and then pull him back into oblivion.

  “At least we know he’s still alive,” Libby offered.

  “Head back to town!” Henner ordered. “I have the Spectrothon 2000 calibrated now. The next portal will open behind us—about a mile back up the road.”

  “We have to get in front of him,” Marty added. “We have to get there before the portal opens.”

  “I’m trying, man!” Henner hollered. “This isn’t easy!”

  I whipped the Jeep around and jammed it into drive, then stepped on the gas and the wheels burned beneath me, sending a sheen of dirt and dust behind us as Libby lightly screamed.

  “Poppy, I’d really appreciate avoiding death for a second time.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled as we pulled onto the paved road and headed back into town. If I could only get there quickly enough, we might be able to nab Hellcat and stop him from crossing the portal again. I just wasn’t exactly sure how to do that.

  The hearse rumbled in front of me as we entered Haven Hollow proper, the wooden welcome sign swinging in the wind. The hearse’s brake lights blazed when Marty braked on the spot where Henner said the next portal would open. I pulled over beside them, still in the middle of the road. Luckily, though, it was still early enough in the morning that no one was out and about.

  Marty, Henner, and RJ jumped out of the hearse. Henner, holding his Spectrothon out in front of him, scanned it back and forth repeatedly. Libby, Bailey, and I joined them.

  “Where is it? Where’s the portal going to open?” I demanded.

  Henner frowned at his contraption. “The readings aren’t that precise. It’s somewhere around here, but I can’t…”

  A yowl cut him off. We all whirled to the right in time to see Hellcat appear in a flash. At that moment, a whizzing missile hurtled out of the darkness. It looked like a gigantic bat with wings. The moonlight glinted on blonde hair as Lorcan catapulted toward Hellcat, and his arms closed around the space the cat had occupied seconds before. I flinched in terror, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Lorcan somersaulted in mid-air and dropped, feet first, to land on the ground when a loud pop echoed through the air.

  Lorcan landed in a crouch. He straightened up and what little moon was still left, shone full and bright on his hair, face, and body. He opened his arms. They were empty.

  Another wave of sickening despair burned in my stomach. Hellcat had disappeared again. And that meant this whole thing was over. If Lorcan couldn’t catch the cat, what chance did we have? Hellcat was lost, probably forever.

  While we stood there, letting the horrible truth sink in, Lorcan lifted off the ground. He shot into the sky and vanished into the darkness. I took it as a sign that he wasn’t looking for Hellcat anymore—he’d given up—and the glow of the early morning sun behind the mountains was definitely making itself known. Morning was coming and Lorcan would have to take refuge.

  I figured I should have given up, too. It had been a long night, and we had nothing to show for all our efforts. We’d need to get some sleep, and I wasn’t looking forward to Wanda coming around from the tracking spell to find out we’d failed her.

  I’d failed her.

  Marty threw his hands up into the air. “What now?”

  “Back to the car!” Henner ordered.

  Lorcan’s voice drawled from my phone. “He’s back in town, children. You may want to return if you hope to catch him. The sun will be up soon and I am afraid I will have to retire from this treasure hunt for the time being.”

  Henner shook his head, but I could tell he wasn’t listening to Lorcan. His full attention was on the Spectrothon. “It’s no use. We would need a much more finely tuned instrument to detect these portals before they appear. The Spectrothon just isn’t designed for this.”

  “It’s all right, Henner,” I told him as I started to accept the fact that rescuing Hellcat was proving not to be in the cards. “I appreciate you trying.”

  “What are you going to do?” he asked as I took a deep breath.

  I puffed out my cheeks. “It looks like I’m going back home. Maybe Wanda can tell us something we don’t already know when she wakes up.”

  “You want us to come with you?” Marty asked. “We might be able to do… I don’t know—something.”

  I shook my head. “That’s all right. You’ve tried to help us as much as you can and I appreciate it… all of you.”

  “You need anything—anything at all—I’m just a phone call away, Pops. Don’t forget that,” Marty said as he pulled me in for a hug and I wrapped my arms around him. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” he whispered.

  I pulled away from him and shook my head. Tears were threatening to break through and I wanted to avoid that because they wouldn’t do me any good. But, neither would Marty at this point, so there was no reason to keep him awake when I was more than sure he was as exhausted as I was.

  I smiled at him. “I think we’re just going to wait for Wanda to wake up.” I looked over at RJ. “Once she does, we’ll need her to pay a visit to RJ, if you know what I mean.”

  Marty nodded. “I figured something like that would need to happen.” Then he took a deep breath. “Okay, good luck,” he said and waved his phone at me as he headed back to the hearse with Henner and RJ in tow.

  I strode back to the Jeep. “We’re back to square one,” I said as I turned to face Libby and Bailey. At the sound of movement beside me, I faced my passenger. “Wanda, are you awake?” She wasn’t because her eyes were still white. “Can you tell us where Hellcat is, Wanda? Can you still feel him?”

  She nodded toward town, but she didn’t speak. So I put the Jeep in drive and headed towards Haven Hollow town center—we’d have to pass through town to get home anyway. It was another five or ten minutes before I pulled to a stop in front of my store for the second time. The streets were deserted except for us, and there was no sign of Hellcat or Lorcan.

  I threw the Jeep into Park and whirled around to face Wanda. “Where is he, Wanda? Can you track him still?”

  She tilted her head like she had to think about it. Libby and Bailey watched and waited in pensive silence.

  Finally, Wanda nodded toward the west. “Over there.”

  “We just came from there.”

  “Maybe he was somewhere else and reappeared there,” Bailey suggested.

  I was too distraught to reply. I couldn’t yell at her that of course Hellcat was somewhere else and reappeared there—just like he’d been doing all night.

  I picked up my phone. “Lorcan… any sign of him?”

  His voice sounded softer, almost broken. “I’m sorry, my dear. There’s nothing. I wish I could tell you differently.”

  I swallowed down a lump in my throat because I wasn’t sure what I should do next—just go home and wait to see what happened or continue trying to catch the cat.

  If Wanda thinks Hellcat is headed west, you have to go after him. You can’t just give up, I told myself.

  I dropped the car back into drive, but I drove much more slowly now. I just had a feeling this was all for naught and we were going to end up empty-handed, like we had all night so far. Not to mention that I didn’t want Astrid and Finn to wake up to an empty house. I didn’t want them to worry.

  “It’s hopeless,” Libby murmured.

  I was just about to respond when Hellcat appeared right in front of the Jeep! I didn’t even have time to take my foot off the accelerator before he vanished again.

  Everyone inside gasped.

  “He’s still coming through!” Bailey yelled.

  “Straight ahead,” Wanda growled. “Three-quarters of a mile.”

  I sped up. “If he’s still blipping in and out, there’s a chance we can get him back.”

  “Unless he doesn’t blip in again,” Bailey added most unhelpfully. “He might not reappear for the last time. Did you think of that?”

  “Sad to say, I’ve been thinking of nothing else for the last hour. We just have to do what we can and hope for the best.”

  “Poor little pussy cat,” Libby moaned.

  Bailey snickered. “Don’t let him hear you call him that. He can’t stand anyone calling him a cat.”

  “I don’t see why,” Libby countered. “He is a cat.”

  Strained laughter broke out in the back seat. Fond memories of Hellcat’s antics sounded too poignant for words right now. Were we giving Hellcat’s eulogy already?

  Chapter Ten

  By the time we pulled into my driveway, the sun had come up and there was no sign of Hellcat. Lorcan had retired a couple of hours ago for the day, so he wouldn’t be sizzled by the sun and reduced to a pile of ash. Wanda was still in her trance, and I had to wonder when she’d come out of it.

  “Then that’s it, I guess,” I said as I put the Jeep into park but didn’t kill the engine. I glanced at the clock on the dash and noticed it was nine a.m.

  “We gave it everything we had,” Bailey said.

  I nodded and was about to get out to go and see if Astrid and Finn were awake when Wanda piped up.

  “Three-quarters of a mile west,” she said and then fell silent again.

  I swallowed hard. Then I turned around to face Bailey and Libby.

  “Let’s do it,” Bailey said, and Libby nodded.

  I gave them both a weak smile and figured Astrid and Finn were probably both still sound asleep. They’d stayed up late and today was Saturday and as a rule, Finn usually slept in until eleven on the weekends. So, I put the Jeep back into drive, turned around and headed in the direction Wanda told me. We rounded two more corners and faced Haven Hollow High School.

  Wanda nodded in front of us as she blinked and her eyeballs resumed their usual location. Thank God. “There. He’s over there.”

  I hit the brakes. “He’s in the high school?”

  Bailey squinted through the windshield. “I don’t see anything.”

  “He may not have rematerialized yet.” I veered into the parking lot. “Come on. Let’s see if we can find him.”

  Cars packed the parking lot to almost bursting, and from the looks of it, there was a basketball practice going on in the gym—I could see as much through the open gym doors. It took me a few minutes to find an empty parking space. Once I did, I killed the engine, stuffed the keys in my pocket and climbed out, Bailey and Libby right behind me.

  Wanda sat in the passenger seat and though her eyes were back to normal, she continued staring straight ahead, seemingly at nothing. I ran around the Jeep and opened her door. She didn’t respond when I took her hand and drew her out of the seat. “Let’s go, Wanda. We’re going to find Hellcat.”

  Wanda stumbled after me like a blind woman. I had to manually steer her where I wanted her to go.

  “Turn right a dozen yards ahead,” she said, and looked like she was on autopilot.

  I directed her into the quad which was bordered by tall trees, and several tattered banners hung at odd angles from the buildings.

  Wanda halted under the trees. I scanned the area. No Hellcat. “Can you give us any clues as to where he is?”

  Wanda stared straight ahead. Just as I was about to face forward again, she spoke. “He’s there.”

  I followed her gaze, but I still didn’t see anything. Wanda gazed up into the sky above the Haven Hollow High School gym. All at once, a flash of movement caught my attention. It flickered in the early morning light, high up in the sky. A pained shriek split the air and then the cat plunged straight for the gym roof.

  “No!” I screamed.

  Bailey and Libby screamed, too. We were way too far away to catch him. And with the way he was hurtling through the air, it would be a matter of seconds before he hit the ground, like a comet. There was no way we’d reach him.

  And just like that, he disappeared again.

  I turned around to look at my friends. Libby’s lower lip quivered and Bailey put out her hand and squeezed my arm. There were no words. Wanda was looking at the same spot she had been, but she didn’t move. She didn’t seem to understand.

  “In there.” She nodded toward the gym. “He’s in there.”

  I looked at her. “In the gym! Are you sure?”

  She didn’t answer. Could she be right? I blinked toward the gym doors. A hand-painted banner over the entrance read, Go, Haven Hollow Phantoms!

  “If we’re going,” Bailey murmured, “we’d better go. Hellcat could show up again any second now.”

  Right. I got hold of Wanda and held on to her tightly as we walked forward, my heart hammering in my chest.

  Inside the gym, the basketball players raced back and forth, their shoes squeaking against the slick court. The ball flew from hand to hand, but there was no sign of Hellcat.

  “Where is he?” I whispered into Wanda’s ear.

  Her dark eyelashes fluttered downward as she closed her eyes. “He’s coming.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  Her eyes opened again. For a fleeting second, she looked as normal as any day of the week. She looked right at me and we both recognized the truth. The tracking spell was wearing off. Hellcat must be very close.