“They say she’s a hundred years old, but she looks no older than you do. Keisha says she has long black hair that comes down to her waist. She was wearing dark sunglasses so she wouldn’t give anybody the evil eye unless she wanted to. Keisha just stared at her—but then all of a sudden the witch turned and looked right at her and then she made a quick sign—sort of like this,” she said, waving her hands in front of her in a mystic-looking gesture. “And you know what? One week later Keisha had to have her appendix out. She almost died—I swear, no kidding.”

“That was a close call,” Nick said. “You know, if your friend saw the witch at an animal shelter, then she must come down from the mountain from time to time.”

They all looked at one another and slowly nodded, as though the thought was occurring to them for the first time.

“What’s the best way to contact her?”

They looked at Nick in amazement. “You want to meet the witch? Why?”

“I’d like to talk to her,” Nick said. “Sort of a project I’m working on.”

No one responded.

“She must have a phone.”

One of the boys stared at Nick as if he had just said, “Pigs must have wings.” “The witch don’t have a phone,” he said. “The witch only talks to animals, and animals don’t have phones.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed that—it’s probably because they don’t have pockets.” Nick slowly leaned forward on the table and looked at each of them one by one. “Come on—do you mean to tell me that not one of you has ever snuck up there and climbed that fence just to take a look around? Just so you could come back and tell your buddies you did it? Just to feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck—to feel like you’re alive?”

No one answered.

Nick turned to the football player and quickly glanced down at the name embroidered on his letter jacket: Biff. Nick almost winced—no wonder the kid was overcompensating.

Nick looked him directly in the eye. “Not even you, Biff ?”

“Me? Why me?”

“Toughness—courage—guts.”

“This is different,” Biff said.

“Why, Biff—I believe you’re afraid.”

Biff glared back. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Then take me up there,” Nick said.

“What?”

“Take me up there. We’ll climb that fence and we’ll find that witch and we’ll talk to her. We’ll do something that nobody else in this whole town has the guts to do—and when we get back, you’ll be a legend.”

Biff sat frozen with his eyes as wide as saucers—and then he shook his head. “I’m not going looking for any witch,” he said. “That’s just plain crazy—that’s askin’ for trouble.”