frills.
“Sure…” said Asa. “I just, you know… want to make sure it gets back to its rightful owner is all.” His yellowish eyes had a strange gleam to them, a seriousness that I hadn’t seen before.
“That’s nice of you, I suppose,” I told him. “But we kind of have bigger fish to fry right now.”
“Yes, but… I really want to get this back to the person it belongs to,” Asa said. He seemed agitated somehow, nervous, as though the real matter on his mind was this trinket and the duel itself were an afterthought. “You’re sure you haven’t met anybody who’s misplaced something like this?”
Was this really what he was worrying about right before the duel that could change so much for us? “I don’t know if you know,” I said, “but I’m not exactly Miss Congeniality around here.”
He went quiet, looking even more nervous than ever. And nerves weren’t good for duels.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “If you want to find the owner of the thing, how about you show it right after I’m declared the winner? Everybody will be there. They’re bound to see it then.”
A change seemed to come over Asa then. His agitation melted like an ice cube, and he said, “That’s a really good idea, Sal! Really good!” He clapped his hands once in triumph and turned to me excitedly, “And then… it’ll all be over!”
“Yep…” I said, thinking once more how odd he was. “Then it’ll all be over, all right.”
Before I knew it, the little girls did a low curtsy and, after a few final chords from the old man with the guitar, bounced offstage and back to their mothers, who hugged them and straightened the flowers in their hair.
Mother Morevna stepped forward then to introduce the children’s choir and Mrs. Anders. As they took the stage, their skirts seemed almost pulled downward against the wind. I looked at Asa. He wiped his palms on the front of his pants and dabbed at his forehead with a handkerchief.
“We’re gonna be fine,” I told him. “Just do it like we did all this week.”
“Then we can return the cricket,” Asa said.
“Jesus, what is it with you and this thing?” I hissed. “But sure. Then you’ll find the owner of the cricket and I’ll have everyone’s faith and we’ll… we’ll go on with our lives.”
The choir finished the last screechy notes of “On the Jericho Road,” and the crowd clapped politely. Then Mother Morevna walked to the middle of the salt circle.
“And now,” said Mother Morevna, “the moment we have all waited for. First, I will call forth a young man who needs no introduction: Asa Skander!”
“Go!” I whispered, and pushed him out the door.
The crowd applauded wildly when they saw Asa. There were even a few whistles here and there. He adjusted his glasses and looked sheepishly out at the audience, then took his place at the far left side of the circle.
“Second, my Successor, a gifted young witch with the will to take on any challenge, Sallie Wilkerson!” she boomed.
I took a deep breath and plunged through the door.
The crowd cheered but not nearly as loudly as they had for Asa. I felt my face grow hot. Across the circle Asa tipped his hat to me, looking even more like Harold Lloyd than usual.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mother Morevna was saying, “I would like to remind everyone that in a Witches’ Duel, the rules are quite similar to a wrestling match. One is only down if he or she stays down beyond the count—in this case to seven—so you may see these two young people fall and rise numerous times before we have a winner. But it is all perfectly safe, and by the end of what I hope is a spectacular event, we shall know, once and for all, who is the strongest young witch in Elysium, fitting to lead us as the game we’re in continues: the magician, or the Successor!”
And with that, she bowed out of the circle and took her place beside the church. There, she would watch the match, but more importantly, she would watch the walls for the thieves’ arrival.
I squared off, facing Asa from the far right side of the circle.
And we began.
First, Asa sank into a dramatic stance, put his hands out, and from them he sent a beam of light toward me. The crowd whooped with delight.
I leapt to the left, and it missed me by a matter of inches, then fizzled into nothingness at the