Grand & Humble by Brent Hartinger Read Free Book Online Page A

pointer. That was the answer; that’s how a Ouija board worked. Harlan remembered that he’d read about it in a book somewhere. The two people with their fingers on thepointer interacted with each other, each pushing it a little bit. The result was that it felt like neither one was really controlling it. But it was definitely the two people doing it. That’s why a Ouija board didn’t work when the players were blindfolded.
    Except, Harlan realized, Amber hadn’t even been looking at the pointer the last two times it stopped. Not only that, she was also reading the board upside down.
    “Hey, Harlan,” Jerry said. “You okay?”
    “Huh?” Harlan said. He coughed. “Sure. Why?”
    “You’re being kinda quiet.”
    “No.” Except that he was being quiet. Everyone in that room knew it.
    Harlan was actually relieved when the pointer began moving again. This time it stopped on the ‘D.’
    “D,’” someone said, even as it was moving again.
    “‘A,’” someone else said when it stopped.
    “N,’” someone said on the next letter.
    “Water Dan?” Brian said. “Who’s that?”
    “Shhhh!” Rachel said. “It’s still moving.” She looked down at the board and read the next letter. “‘G.’”
    Harlan’s heart skipped. He wasn’t having a premonition. He just had a sense that whatever this Ouija board was spelling out, it wasn’t good.
    “‘E,’” someone said.
    “‘R,’” someone else said.
    “D-A-N-G-E-R,” the board had spelled.
    Danger!
    “Danger?” Brian said.
    “H 2 O danger,” Jerry said, and no one spoke for a second.
    Harlan’s pores were bursting with sweat—millions of tiny firecrackers exploding on his skin. Somehow he knew the message had something to do with his swimming.
    “Well,” Ricky said. “I guess the board’s saying that if he runs for president, he’ll definitely lose the mermaid vote!”
    It wasn’t a funny joke, but then, Ricky hadn’t said it to get a laugh. He’d said it to break the tension of the room—and to remind Harlan just how silly this whole exercise was.
    It worked. A couple of people laughed, and Jerry snorted. As for Harlan, the tension fell from his body like a heavy robe.
    Harlan was a swimmer, and he and Amber had subconsciously spelled out the words “H 2 O” and “danger” on a Ouija board. What was so strange about that? There were plenty of dangers in a swimming pool. Two years ago, a swimmer from Maple Park had dived intothe shallow end, hit his head on the bottom, and almost ended up paralyzed.
    “My fingers are cramping,” Harlan said. “Someone else go.” He shifted as if to lift his fingers from the planchette.
    “Stop!” Amber barked. “We’re not done!”
    “What?” he said.
    “It’s still moving!” Amber said.
    He glared at her. Why was she doing this? A minute ago she’d been annoyed that the Ouija board wasn’t answering her question; now she wouldn’t let him stop.
    So why was he even listening to her? Why didn’t he just pull his fingers from the pointer? But for some reason, her voice had commanded him, freezing his fingers on the plastic. And even as Harlan kept staring at her, the pointer slid an inch or so to the right and stopped again.
    “T,’” someone read.
    It shifted to the next letter over.
    “‘U,’” someone else read.
    Then, without warning, the pointer swept its way up and left, almost to the end of the upper arc of letters. It stopped suddenly, like it had caught on something, at exactly the spot to be pointing right at a letter. What were the odds of that?
    “‘B,’” someone read. “Tub.”
    And in an instant, Harlan realized what it was spelling.
    Harriet Tubman High School. They had a swim meet there the following week.
    H 2 O danger Tub!
    And suddenly Harlan saw himself in water. A premonition! But in his mind, he wasn’t on top of the water, being supported by it. No, he was sinking into it. The water was washing over him, pulling him down. He was gasping for air,