Paint by Magic by Kathryn Reiss Read Free Book Online

gardener.
And
Ashleigh."
    "Seriously freaky," Doug said.
    "Tell me about it." I scuffed my shoes on the carpet. There wasn't a single thing in the whole world to do. Doug just sat next to me, jingling his
Star Wars
key chain, looking around as if maybe something would happen. But nothing did.
    "So, did you see
Mad Scientist
last night?" he asked after a while. "It was the one about the gun dealers arming the Corpses, and then the scientist brought them back to life—it was so gruesome!"
    "Oh, yeah, I've seen that one before," I replied.
Mad Scientist
was one of my favorite shows, and I'd seen all the episodes. Now they were showing only reruns. Not that I'd be able to watch even reruns anymore.
    We sat in silence again, and I could even hear the ticking of the hallway clock. I could also hear Crystal whining down in the kitchen. Doug shifted on the bed, and I bet he was thinking about leaving, and I almost wanted him to leave because it was so embarrassing just sitting there.
    But then I had an idea of something we could do. Something I should have done already but didn't quite have the guts to do all alone.
    "Want to see something?" I asked Doug.
    "Sure." But he didn't even look at me.
    "Come on, then," I said, standing up. "But be quiet. We can't let my mom hear us or she'll go ballistic."
    Now Doug looked at me with a spark of interest. "Hear what?"
    I led him silently down the stairs to the living room. "There's a book you have to see," I whispered to Doug. But the big art book wasn't back on the coffee table. I scanned the shelves. It wasn't there, either.
    "What?" hissed Doug.
    "
Shhh,
" I said. "She's hidden it someplace. Come on, let's look." I peeked into the kitchen. No book, and no Mom, but Crystal was there, chopping potatoes with quick, angry thrusts. When she saw me and Doug, she raised her knife threateningly. We ducked out again and looked into the family room.
    Mom was there, knitting something out of soft green yarn.
    Knitting
? I didn't think Mom even knew how to knit. In fact, I
knew
she didn't know how, because she always laughed about ladies who did knit, and said she couldn't see spending time twisting yarn around little sticks when you could buy perfectly elegant sweaters ready-made from Nordstrom or Bloomingdale's or from any of the fine catalogs.
    And now, here was Mom, knitting. No, wait—she
had
been knitting, but now she was just
sitting
there with the yarn on her lap, her hands holding the needles in position like crossed swords. She wasn't moving a muscle.
    I felt a flutter of fear in my stomach—that moth batting against a lightbulb. "
Mom,
" I whispered.
    "What's she doing?" hissed Doug. He stared wide-eyed at my mom. We walked over to stand in front of her. "Look at that smile..."
    She was smiling the same teasing smile I'd seen in the art book, with the same lift to the chin and quirk to the eyebrows, as if she were playfully daring someone to snap her photo. Someone unseen—
    But in her eyes was a look of terror. Worse than terror this time. Her neck muscles were taut, bulging—as if she were struggling to move her head but couldn't. Her nostrils were flared.
    "Mom!" I grabbed her arm—and she suddenly relaxed.
    "Oh, Connor—thank you. I was—stuck."
    "
Stuck?
" I asked wildly. "What do you mean,
stuck
?"
    Mom just looked at me as if she had no idea what she'd meant.
    Then Crystal shouted a bad word in the kitchen and Mom jumped up, dropping the green wool. "No cursing in this house, young lady, or you'll be grounded for a month!" Mom called. "I'm ashamed of you."
    "Well, you should be ashamed of yourself," Crystal retorted, appearing in the doorway, "making me into your
servant
just so you can save money and not hire Mrs. White anymore!"
    I stood there, still holding Mom's arm. The skin felt cold—with the muscles underneath tight and hard—as if Mom really had been frozen and was just starting to thaw again.
    "Now you're being silly," Mom told