T*Witches: The Witch Hunters by Randi Reisfeld, H.B. Gilmour Read Free Book Online

through?”
    “And she does it without crystals, candles, and incense,” her sister added. “Okay. Now I’m through.”
    “Sukari’s out of the question. She’s a rabid realist, a skeptical show-me girl,” Cam announced, beginning to feel sleepy. “That leaves … Kristen? Could she be a witch?” she asked doubtfully.
    Alex shook her head. “Only if it would impress Bree. Cam —” She turned serious. “How could he know about us unless he’s a witch — or a warlock — himself? And if he is, why is he on this rampage against, you know, his own kind?”
    Cam had been mulling that over. Her talk with Dave had reminded her of what Brice Stanley had said about the man — that he probably had some advanced degree of intuition or ESP.…
    Alex picked up on her twin’s thoughts immediately. “You’re saying he’s not a dues-paying, initiated member of the witches union?”
    “I didn’t
say
anything,” Cam reminded her, annoyed. “If you’d use your mind for something other than eaves-droppingon mine, you might come up with some other possibility.”
    “Why bother?” Alex was too intrigued to argue. “Come on, spill. If he isn’t a warlock or a full-fledged fledgling, then what? You think he’s a Sensitive?”
    “A Sensitive or — ” What had Dave called it? Cam stretched drowsily. “A failed Protector. Someone who was supposed to support and take care of a young witch or warlock but hadn’t or couldn’t.”
    “A failed Protector?” Alex shivered, which let her know that Cam, with Dave’s help, was onto something. “I’ll tell you what I can’t stand,” she announced. “In addition to not knowing who or what this guy is, I can’t stand not knowing
where
he is! The whole idea that he’s creeping around the school, hanging out in the lunchroom —”
    “Als, did you see Mr. Golem, you know, the maintenance guy or whatever? There’s something creepy about him. Did you see him in the lunchroom today?”
    Alex leaned forward expectantly. “Why? Did you get a vibe from him?”
    Cam shrugged and fell back onto her bed. “No,” she said, snuggling back under her soft summer blanket. “No vibe. Nothing. It was just a thought.”
    “How ’bout tomorrow we sneak down to Mr.Golem’s office in the basement and scope it out,” Alex suggested.
    It was lunchtime. There’d been a Golem sighting in the cafeteria again — complete with Bree pointing and whispering, “Yeuw, he reminds me of the nutcase at the premiere.” And Beth’s blasé response, “
Everything
reminds you of the premiere.”
    With less than twenty minutes before classes began again, and who knew how long before Golem himself decided to return to his den in the bowels of Marble Bay High, the twins jumped at the op to check out the maintenance man’s home base.
    Knowing they had to work quickly, they crept down the fire stairs, Cam noting the big ax hanging next to the foam canister on the first landing, Alex sniffing the cool, dank air hoping to pick up the putrid scent of the Witch Hunter.
    The school basement was a maze of rooms. But only one door had a hand-lettered sign on it that read KEEP OUT. That was the one Alex pushed open after a quick nod from Cam.
    Golem’s habitat reminded Alex of a cave. And since the most memorable cave she’d ever been in was the one on Coventry Island where she, Cam, and Jason had been held captive, the place gave her the heebie-jeebies.
    Cam, whom Alex would have bet would be even more spooked poking around the school’s subterranean depths, seemed oblivious to the fact that they were underground.
    To be fair, Golem’s domain was much nicer and totally better kept than the dungeon where Sersee and her pals played.
    There was nothing visibly strange on the maintenance man’s desk or on the thick wooden table above which his tools were neatly arrayed.
    Using one of his ladders, Alex checked out the tops of what seemed like miles of insulated pipe hanging from his workshop ceiling. Cam