Hazel and I were on a mission. We were going to explore my house and find Esmerelda May's lost grimoire.

Now that my magic had come in full force, I was determined to find that book. Not only would it help me learn more about my magic, but finding it would also make for a stellar history essay that would be sure to win the contest (and beat Elspeth)!

On the floor in my room, Hazel laid out the map of my house she'd copied during our "research sleepover," as she called it. "Okay, so we're.... here," she said, pointing to a spot on the map.

"So what do you think all these symbols mean?" I wondered.

"Maybe they're special magical spots that make your powers stronger or something. Let's see if we can find one."

We turned the map around until we thought we had it lined up the right way. The symbol was at a spot next to my closet.

"Okay, I'll try my magic and see if it's stronger here." She concentrated and the closet door creaked open and then shut again. "Nope," she said. "Pretty much the same. You try."

I concentrated on the closet door. Open, open, I chanted in my head. It creaked open just a little and then stopped. I could do better. I had been giving it a lot of thought and it seemed like every time I had a strong feeling, my magic was stronger. So I thought back to recess and how angry I was at Elspeth. I felt the warm prickle on the back of my neck. I was so mad I just wanted to— The closet door flew open and then slammed shut.

"Woah," Hazel said. "Chill out."

"What's going on in here? Can't a cat have a nap?" Cat sat in the doorway and glared at us.

"Sorry," I said, "but we're doing research. We're trying to figure out this map."

He strolled over and I showed him the map. "We're trying to figure out what this symbol means."

He looked at the map and then walked over to the wall. He sniffed the baseboard and tapped it with his paw. "Maybe it has something to do with this hole here," he said.

"What hole?" There was no hole.

Hazel was already down on her hands and knees, poking around. She pulled on a nail that was sticking out, hardly noticeable. A square of wood came away revealing a small hole in the wall.

I remembered the clue about cats and mice. "Cat! You're a genius!"

"Yes," he said. He sauntered over to my bed, jumped up, and curled himself into a ball. "Keep the racket down, will ya?"

Hazel was reaching into the hole. "Something's in here!" she cried. She pulled out a small item wrapped in a piece of cloth.

We both sat back and she unwrapped it. It was an old-looking necklace with three red stones and a gold chain. "Wow, I wonder if this is an antique," Hazel said.

"I wonder if it's magic." We set it on my desk and went off to find the next spot marked on the map.

The hiding place in the living room was inside an old metal heating vent. We found a small gold ring with tiny red stones set in it.

Luckily, my mom was busy working in her studio so she didn't ask us what we were up to.

In a hole in the back of a kitchen cupboard, we found a large brooch with an oval red stone.

We found a gold bracelet shaped like a snake under a floorboard in my mom's room (I had to crawl under her bed).

Finally, on the third floor, we were stumped. The symbol was in the middle of the room, and we checked all the floorboards for over half an hour. Then Hazel had the brilliant idea of looking up. We had to pull over an old bench to climb on, but up in the dusty rafters we found a black iron skeleton key. None of the doors in our house had that kind of keyhole.

Hazel turned it over in her hand as we stood in the dim tower attic. "Wait a sec," she said. "There's something written on it."

We went over to the grimy window and she held it in the light. Engraved on the key were the words: "For witches only."

"What do you think it goes to?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I think we just participated in Esmerelda May's final scavenger hunt."

It was all pretty cool, but alas, still no grimoire.

----------

The next week at school kept us pretty busy, with a huge math test to study for and a final book report due. Things were finally going okay. This girl named Megan was pretty nice and sat with us during art sometimes. She was really good at drawing. Hazel also introduced me to her fifth grade friend, Louise, who was super into history, too, and was volunteering at the Historical Society.

I also started writing the first draft of my essay. I had a good start about living in Esmerelda May's old house, but without being the hero who discovered the famous lost grimoire, I wasn't sure it was enough to win.

Even with all that going on, I made sure to practice my magic every day. I was getting better at trying to pull up feelings to help me use my magic. I made strings dance for Cat to play with. I made the broom sweep by itself (but it wobbled a lot). I even heated up a cup of water, with magic, to make chamomile tea. It was lukewarm, but still, it was progress.

Warm drinks were needed, since it was the second half of October and the weather was turning chilly. I was even wearing my jacket as I walked to school on Tuesday.

I stopped to look at the pumpkins for sale in the parking lot of the church. "Hey Gwen," someone said quietly.

I turned around. It was Natalia. I hadn't noticed her there looking at pumpkins, too, or I wouldn't have stopped. At least Elspeth wasn't with her.

"Uh... hey," I said stiffly. I wondered what snotty comment she had for me this time.

"Do you like Halloween? I love it," she said. Why was she making small talk with me? Was this her way of taking pity on me? I felt the prickle of magic on the back of my neck, but I squashed it down. I had promised Hazel I wouldn't do anything mean with my magic. And I didn't want it to accidentally get out of control.

"Sure," I said awkwardly. "I like Halloween." The pumpkin saleswoman was sitting in the back of a pickup truck, reading the newspaper and ignoring us. "Well, I better get to school," I said.

Natalia started after me. "Me too," she said. Ugh. Seriously?

"Do you want something?" I said a little too grumpily.

She looked a little hurt, but said, "I'm sorry Elspeth is such a jerk to you. She wasn't always like this. Her dad's kind of hard on her, and... I dunno." She shrugged. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry about it."

She was apologizing? To me?  What was the catch? 

"I shouldn't always go along with her. It's just that she's been my best friend since Kindergarten." A cold wind blew suddenly and I pulled my jacket closed. "I know the good side of her."

I doubted Elspeth had a good side, but I just kept my mouth shut. Thankfully, we were just getting onto school property.

"Okay," I said, because I didn't know what else to say.

She looked down. "Okay. Well, bye." Then she walked away toward the front door, leaving me standing on the blacktop, cold and confused.

----------

When I told Hazel about my run-in with Natalia, she didn't seem surprised. "She used to be really nice," she said. "Elspeth is a bad influence."

"Is this something you'd like to share with the whole class?" Mrs. Knowles said. That was her way of telling us to stop whispering.

"No, we're cool, Mrs. K." Hazel said.

The teacher sighed a little. "As I was saying, your essay contest entries are due on October 27th. Remember, the winner will be announced on the 30th at the Fall Festival and Awards Assembly."

Elspeth raised her hand. "Yes, Elspeth?"

"My essay is about Full Moon Fields and Orchard, which as some of you know, was founded by my great-great-great grandfather in the 1800s. Our town would've been nothing if he hadn't hired people and helped them build houses and even the first school and—" Apparently my destroying her notes hadn't set her back too much.

"Thank you for sharing," Mrs. Knowles said, "but now—"

"And we have lots of old memorabilia and my dad says—"

The teacher cut her off. "Thank you, Elspeth."

Some of the other kids looked disappointed. Did any of the rest of us even have a chance of winning? Elspeth certainly didn't think so. Looking at the back of Elspeth's blonde head, I could imagine her smug face. I felt warm and tingly. Oh no! My magic.

Before anything bad could happen, I jumped up and rushed out of the room. I didn't even take the hall pass.

A couple minutes later, Hazel found me at the sink in the girls' bathroom, splashing water on my face. "I had to get out of there before my magic caused trouble."

"I'm proud of you."

I patted my face with a rough paper towel. "She's just so full of herself," I said. "Blah blah great zillionth grandfather blah blah—"

There was a bubbling noise. Hazel pointed to the floor where water was quickly flowing from under the stall doors. She kicked one open. Water was bubbling up from the toilet and overflowing!

My magic! "I didn't do it on purpose!" I wailed.

"I know," she said and ran to get the custodian.