At ten minutes past midnight, Jane heard the sound of tapping. In her sleep, she had momentarily thought it was the beginning of some dream that she was having. It sounded distant and quiet at first, but as the sound grew louder, it pulled her up from consciousness. Blinking and groaning, she assumed that it was the faint tapping of raindrops hitting her window. She blinked once more and saw, across from her, that the cat was gone from her sister's bed.
She quickly turned around, darting her eyes back and forth, trying to see where it had gone She hated the idea of some stray animal lurking in the closet or behind a shelf, potentially knocking things over. Or an even worse idea than that: The cat had snuck out of their room and down to where their parents slept. Even thinking about getting a lecture from her dad at this hour, on a school night, was not her idea of a good time. But she saw the faint outline of the bedroom door and it was closed. Jane sighed, confused and frustrated over where their newfound pet could've gone. She turned and saw it.
The tapping was coming from a large black bird that was sitting outside the window, its beak left tiny marks on the glass. The cat was scratching at the bottom of the window, trying to get to it. Great, she thought, it wants to eat the bird. At that moment, the cat looked at her briefly and rolled its eyes at her. She thought it might have been an hallucination of drowsiness that was causing her to see such a strange gesture.
As the cat continued to claw at the window sill, Jane sat in her bed conflicted. If she banged on the window to get rid of the raven, it would wake Catie up, which would surely cause her sister to throttle her. She had gotten the impression that the cat was just as annoyed with her as Jane was with it, so the idea of simply picking it up and putting it on the bed could lead to a few claw and bite marks.
"Kitty," she whispered to it. The cat did not hear her. "Kitty!" She tried a little louder, but the animal still persisted, as did the bird. Jane placed her hands on her face, completely at a loss on what to do about the situation. She peaked out of her fingers and saw that the cat wasn't clawing at the window sill, it was trying to grab it at the crack near the bottom. She had thought she had closed it all the way, but she must have missed an inch or two. No, it wasn't just grabbing at it, either. It was trying to push the window up.
"Catie," she whispered to her sister, astonished at what she was seeing. "Catie!" She said again, only stirring her this time. She looked over and, unbelievably, the cat had moved the window an inch. Panicking, Jane cried out, "Catherine!"
"What?" Catie woke up with a start. "What's wrong?"
But before Jane could explain, it was too late. The cat had opened the window just enough that the bird came swooping inside the room. Both of the girls cried out in shock as the sound of its wings filled the space.
"What should we do?" Jane asked. She looked around to see if the cat was chasing it, but to her surprise, it wasn't. It merely sat on the floor waiting patiently.
The strangest part of all, though, came when the raven flew down to the center of the floor and wrapped its wings around itself. The Gracey twins looked at one another, confused and worried. They were at a loss for words when, suddenly, the bird began to grow into the shape of a woman. They stared at the figure with wide-eyed horror.
"Don't be frightened, girls," the figure spoke in a soothing tone. "I'm not that scary," she snapped her fingers and sparks flew from them. Jane and Catie let out a cry as the lamp on the nightstand turned on. Standing in front of them was a beautiful woman with black hair wearing a dress and hat to match and in one hand she held the strangest looking broom the twins had ever seen.
"See," she smiled warmly with her lips the color of night, "that wasn't so bad, now was it?"
"Who- who-" Catie stammered.
"Oh, come, come, dear Catherine," the woman ordered, "I'll turn you into an owl if you don't start speaking properly." There was a hint of mischief in her voice, as if she were enjoying their shock.
"Who are you?" She finally got out.
"Ah, yes. Where are my manners? It is obvious that you've met my faithful companion, Elvira, here," she gestured to the cat.
"Hello, girls," the animal bowed its head.
"It TALKS?" Jane couldn't help herself, she nearly shrieked out the question.
"Yes," Elvira said, taking some offense to her outburst. "I'm a cat," she said this as if speaking was the most obvious thing for her to be doing.
"And you can call me," the woman continued, "Mrs. Macabre," she snapped her fingers again and two cards appeared between them. With a simple flick of her wrist, they were both sent out of her hand and landed on the laps of the twins perfectly.
Jane and Catie looked at one another for a moment, as if the cards were going to bite them. They picked them up, and on the bone-white cards read: Mrs. Lenore Macabre. Witch For Hire, 1313 Hallowland.
"How do you know our names?" Catie asked.
"Elvira told me," Mrs. Macabre explained, "every witch has a familiar and she is mine, so we share a psychic link between one another."
"The cat can read minds?" Jane covered her head, as if that would shield her brain from being tampered with.
"I'm a cat," Elvira sighed, "that's how I found you both," she turned to her companion, "they were so smart at school, you would think that would carry over afterwards."
"Rude!" Jane retorted.
"Why are you here?" Catie ignored the absurd squabble.
"As you can see from my card," Mrs. Macabre sat on the edge of her bed, "my occupation is one of service, but one of the things that I am most fond of doing is helping ostracized children in need. That is to say, lending a hand to those that others define as strange and unusual. Elvira and I took a sabbatical of sorts from assisting children such as yourselves. But we are delighted to say that we are ready to get cracking again! So, I extend an invitation to spend some time with me in my homeland. Just for a short holiday."
"Where do you live?" Jane asked
"It is called the Hallowland," her eyes blazed with wonder, "a place filled with monsters, ghosts, and ghouls. You humans see glimmers of it when the gates become visible to you once a year. All Hallow's Eve, I believe you call it?"
"We know it!" Catie turned to her sister, their eyes locked with excitement, Halloween was their favorite day of the year.
"Oh, wonderful!" Mrs. Macabre exclaimed. "I'll pack your bags!" She snapped her fingers and their suitcases were pulled out of their closet by invisible hands, drawers opened and clothes began to fly out of them and into the luggage.
"Wait a minute," Catie said. The clothes hung in mid-air and their guest turned to them. "This is all happening so fast. Can I talk to Jane for a second?"
"Of course! I just got so excited, I forgot what you poor dears must think of everything. Talk amongst yourselves," Mrs. Macabre's pale cheeks grew less so, as if she were blushing. She walked over to Elvira and petted her.
Jane and Catie got out of their beds and leaned in close towards each other.
"So, what do you think?" Catie asked.
"I think this is crazy," Jane replied.
"Crazy cool, you mean," her sister smiled.
"I mean, yeah. She looks awesome and where she lives sounds doubly awesome. But. . . " she trailed off.
"I know. It's weird."
"Not weird in a bad way. I don't know," Jane shook her head, confused. A hundred thoughts spun in her mind like bees. "Mrs. Macabre?" She asked the witch.
"Yes?" She raised her head.
"I don't mean to be rude, but. . ." Jane hesitated. "How do we know we can trust you? How do we you won't eat us like in Hansel and Gretal?"
"You don't," Mrs. Macabre stood up. "In fact, I'm very pleased you asked that question. I admire doubt in a person. If it is within reason, doubt is a testament to one's character. It shows that you are unwilling to follow someone bigger than you simply because they said so and that you are capable of making your own decisions. I also admire honesty. So, to be honest with you, Jane Gracey, I have done many terrible things in my long life. And helping others such as yourself and your sister is my way of making amends for that. Whether you trust me or not is up to you."
Jane thought for a moment. Like most parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gracey had taught their daughters not to trust strangers. And, as she assumed, especially not strangers who had just flown into her room disguised as a raven and then turned themselves into a witch. There was something enchanting about not just her offer to explore a realm of ghoulish delights, but about Mrs. Macabre herself. She was someone of both grace and beauty, as well as having a gleeful glint in her eye that seemed inherently warm somehow. She also thought that if she was a stranger who wanted to do harm to her and Catie, she would not be as candid as she had been just then. If she were in fact like the witch from Hansel and Gretel, she would tell her that she was trustworthy and that there wasn't a bad bone in her body. But, considering this witch had just admitted to once being bad and was now trying to make up for it, it would be wrong of her to not give her a chance, at least.
"Okay," she finally said, "let's go," she was almost knocked over by her sister hugging her so hard.
"Wonderful!" Mrs. Macabre smiled. The clothes came to life again and folded themselves in their suitcases. The cases zipped and buckled themselves without the aid of a single finger. "Come along, girls," she motioned to them, "Catie hold my hand and Jane hold hers."
They did what they were instructed to do. "What now?" Jane asked, now becoming more excited at the prospect of their adventure.
"Fly, of course," Mrs. Macabre snapped her fingers and the window completely opened. A slight breeze blew in as Elvira leapt out.
Jane nearly had the wind knocked out of her as she and her sister were carried off by Mrs. Macabre and her broom. All three of them flew out of the bedroom window like a human chain, their suit cases following behind them.
"Don't look down," Catie giggled.
"I'm looking down," Jane of course did look down for a moment and saw the cat waiting for them on the grass, her green eyes glistened in the dark. Jane shut her own eyes until they landed.
"Excellent work, my dears," Mrs. Macabre smiled. "Most children get sick on the way down."
"Don't say that," Jane said, holding back her dinner.
"Quickly now," Mrs. Macabre hurried down the front lawn. "We don't want the gate to close on us!"
The Gracey twins picked up their suitcases and followed the witch and the cat. Jane's feet felt wet on the damp grass and the sounds of crickets in the dark made her feel strange. True, this impromptu trip was thrilling, but there was something forbidden about it as well. Like sneaking downstairs to grab a cookie and trying her hardest not to wake her parents, Jane felt the rush of danger.
"Mrs. Macabre?" Catie asked, trying to keep her voice down so that the neighbors wouldn't hear them. "What do you mean by gate?"
"She means that," Elvira gestured ahead. At the end of the street was a huge black wall, not night exactly, but a curtain of darkness.
"That's the gate to the Hallowland," Mrs. Macabre said, "it opens every night at midnight in your time. Once the clock strikes one, it's closed until it strikes midnight again."
"Can anyone see it?" Jane asked, amazed that no one had called the police yet. The gate was massive, seeming to stretch to infinity both upwards and sideways.
"Only if you believe in such things. Most do not," Mrs. Macabre smiled then stopped once they reached the edge. "Hold each others hands again, ladies. It's very dark in there."
They did, Jane held Catie's damp palm, she knew that they both felt nervousness and excitement at that moment. All of them stepped through and Mrs. Macabre was right, it was very dark in there, but it was also very cold. The only light that came through was from the street, but even that stopped several feet beyond them. All there was going forward was a tunnel of black.
"See you on the other side," Elvira said, flicking her tail. She walked a few steps and was gone.
"Wh-where is she going?" Jane asked, teeth chattering, her voice echoing for miles.
"Home," Mrs. Macabre said, "cats can see in the dark. We on the other hand must use other modes of transportation,"she placed both her hands on the broom, planting it firmly on the dark floor. "Grab hold, children."
They did with shaky hands.
"Blasting off," she said with a smile.
And with that, the small light that shone through the tunnel disappeared. The darkness swirled around them. As it gained speed, wind blew through the twins' hair. It grew louder and louder, until the wind started to howl. Green lightning flashed over them and, for a moment, Jane saw her sister and Mrs. Macabre tightly holding onto the broom, their clothes whipping around them. She was terrified that her hands would lose her grip, that she would let go and be lost in the black forever. As the wind blew, it felt like ice on her skin. The lightning cracked and thunder bellowed once more. Her screams were drowned out by the howling of the gale force. Then, the tornado slowed down, the wind died, and it was no longer cold. The darkness slowly turned to smoke. As it evaporated around them, the Gracey twins were in someplace new.