Read Online One Witch at a Time by Stacy DeKeyser - Free Book Online

eyes melted into the usual expression of trust and adoration. She took his hand once more. “Let’s go, then, so we can go back home.”
    They walked toward the village on a lane packed with a winter’s worth of snow. Up the slope, past one weathered house, and then another and another. Sprigs of mistletoe were nailed to each heavy wooden door. Rudi wondered if it was meant for decoration, or for protection, or both. Shutters stood open, once brightly painted but now faded to only a suggestion of color. Soft light glowed behind thick panes of glass. The sharp aroma of wood smoke filled the air.
    Now Rudi heard voices ahead, around a bend in the lane. A lively conversation was under way, though Rudi could not make out any words. One deep voice laughed. Another, deeper voice exclaimed loudly, and the first voice laughed again.
    â€œThose folk sound ordinary enough,” Rudi said, though he remained wary.
    Susanna quickened her step. “Let’s go ask them where their witch lives.”
    â€œWait!” Rudi reached out and grasped her by the elbow. He turned her to face him, and he spoke with all the authority he could muster. “We can’t just barge in and announce such a thing. We’re the foreigners here, remember? We must be on our guard.”
    She blinked up at him and nodded obediently. And now, with proper caution, they rounded the bend and continued toward the voices.
    Ahead of them, in the gloom of the narrow lane, Rudi made out two large, ghostly figures. They looked like great gray bears walking upright.
    Then, as Rudi and Susanna drew nearer, the ghostly figures became two men, dressed in thick coats of shearling trimmed with fur. They wore fur-lined hats pulled low and tied under their chins. The men were busy unloading bundles of kindling from a sled andstacking them next to the nearest house. Rudi loosened his grip on Susanna’s hand, which meant he had been squeezing it more tightly than he’d realized.
    The men’s noisy unloading stopped abruptly as they noticed the two children standing before them.
    â€œHo now, what’s this?” boomed the first man. He was the man Rudi had heard laughing. “Look here, Franz. Visitors!”
    The other man pushed his hat back on his forehead and regarded Rudi and Susanna. “So they are, Ludwig.” Then he squinted at them. “Are ye lost? I never have seen neither one of you before, have I?”
    â€œNo,” squeaked Rudi in answer to both questions, though he could find no real reason to be worried. The two men seemed friendly enough, if perhaps a bit loud. “We’ve come on an errand.”
    â€œRudi!” hissed Susanna Louisa, tugging his arm. “I don’t see any icicles on their noses.”
    Rudi’s face burned with embarrassment, but neither man seemed to have heard, much less to have taken offense. Then, deciding Susanna had raised a good point, Rudi asked, “We are in Petz. Aren’t we?”
    â€œWhere else?” said the first man, Ludwig, who seemed ready to burst out laughing again at any moment. “What’s your errand, if you don’t mind my asking?”
    Rudi struggled to find the proper answer. He wanted to be polite, but he still thought it wasn’t a goodidea to announce his intentions to the first strangers they met.
    â€œWe’ve come to find out where your great giant witch lives,” blurted Susanna Louisa. “Do you know where that is?”
    Rudi stared at her in horror.
    â€œYou want to go home, don’t you?” Susanna shivered and pulled her coat tightly around her against the bitter cold.
    Ludwig sputtered and choked, as if his laugh had gotten tangled on its way out. “Hold on, now,” he said, shaking his head and tugging off his thick gloves. His fingers loosened the rawhide laces beneath his chin, and he pulled off his furry hat, revealing an unruly mop of thick red hair. “Now then, let’s try