Magic in the Mix by Annie Barrows Read Free Book Online Page B

count of three,” she whispered, trying to work up her nerve.
    Molly turned, and Miri caught a flash of her usual fearless smile. “Three,” she whispered, and sprinted toward the house.
    â€œMolly!” groaned Miri in an undertone, and raced after her, hoping Flo was far away.
    Seconds later, she was ducking into the rhododendron bushes. They had no flowers now, in the fall, but their leaves grew thick and full against the sides of the house, and as Molly had predicted, the two of them were well hidden within. Molly crept forward, taking the lead, and Miri followed, concentrating on careful, silent steps.
    Cookie squirmed again, desperate to free herself, to leap into this paradise of branches and
climb
! Wildly, she wiggled against the arm that imprisoned her, only to have it clamp around her even more tightly. Branch after tempting branch flashed by,unclimbed, and Cookie decided that the time had come to deploy the ultimate weapon. She dug her claws into the arm.
    â€œYow!” squeaked Miri, and tripped over a root. She fell with a crash into a tangle of branches. The noise was astounding, even without the shriek that she managed to keep bottled up inside her.
    Molly pulled her quickly from the thicket to crouch against the house. Are you okay? she mouthed. Miri nodded, trying to ignore a stinging something on her forehead, but there was no time to investigate, because a window above them rose with a rumble. They froze as a girlish voice said, “Why, it must’ve been some awful
animal
of my sister’s.”
    â€œDidn’t know you had a sister.” A deep man’s voice moved toward the window.
    â€œOh my,
yes
!” tinkled the girl. Miri and Molly shared questioning looks. Could this be Flo? It sounded like her, but with frosting. “She’s just a
child
, of course. And she’s wild about animals, ’specially cats—and pigs, too, if you can believe that. She talks to them just like they’re
people
. Isn’t that crazy?”
    Miri could almost see Flo shaking her head in aren’t-children-silly amazement.
    â€œI’m real fond of pigs myself,” the man said.“Nobody gives them any credit, but think of it—they spend their lives eating and rolling in the mud. They don’t work and they don’t fight. That’s pretty smart in my book.”
    Flo burbled out a lot of fake-sounding giggles. “Aren’t you a card!” she trilled. Miri and Molly rolled their eyes at the idea of Flo trying to be sweet. “Now, I want to show you something I just
know
you’ll be interested in, a military man like you!” Her voice faded as she moved away.
    â€œI’m not a military man anymore,” he called after her. There was no answer, and Miri and Molly heard him sigh. They smiled at each other. The poor guy, stuck with Flo.
    Back she came,
tap, tap, tap
. “My grandfather’s medals, from the War Between the States—”
    â€œWe call it the Civil War,” interrupted the man drily.
    Giggle, titter. “You Yankees! Anyway, see, he got the Southern Cross—that’s this here.”
    Molly batted her eyelashes at Miri, who batted hers back.
    â€œVery nice,” muttered the man.
    â€œBut here’s what’s
interesting
,” enthused Flo. “Look at this!”
    There was a silence. “From Lee,” the man said. This time he did sound a little interested.
    â€œ
Yes
. General Robert E. Lee, commander in chief—see, he signed it here. See?” Miri could picture Flo shoving whatever it was in the man’s face. “It’s a safe-conduct. See? ‘Bearer must in no way and for no purpose be detained from the pursuit of his duties. Let neither his costume nor his demeanor cause his arrest. He is in my service. General R. E. Lee.’
Now
,” cried Flo, “don’t
you
think that means my granddaddy was a
spy
?”
    â€œWell,” said the man slowly,