Witch Ball - BK 3 by Linda Joy Singleton

go with him, but he made
me wait outside the booth where I couldn't hear
anything."
    I smiled to myself. Penny-Love thrived on being
in the middle of the action. Waiting must have
driven her crazy. "So how did you find out about the
prediction?" I asked.

    "Afterwards he told me."
    "And?" I paused on the sidewalk to face her.
    "He predicted Jacques would fall for a beautiful girl." She stretched out her arms, then pointed
to herself. "Me!"
    "That's great." But not at all what I expected.
Like going to a theater expecting to see a horror
movie and finding a Disney cartoon. "You sure that's
all Manny predicted?"
    "Isn't it enough? It's so cool we both have great
guys." With her cheeks blushing nearly as red as
her curly hair, she went on about love and dating.
I nodded at the appropriate pauses, but my mind
drifted. Why had Manny's prediction for Jacques
been so different from the ones he gave Jill and
me? Was the witch ball messing with us? Or maybe
the psycho spirit attached to it liked Jacques better.
    After Penny-Love went on to her house, I spent
some time with Nona. I felt encouraged as I watched
my grandmother bustle around the kitchen, showing
no signs of her illness. Vegetable stew simmered in
the Crock Pot and warmed the kitchen with delicious aromas.
    When I asked Nona if I'd had any phone calls,
she shook her head. So I tried josh's number, only the machine picked up. I'd already left two messages
and had too much pride to leave a third. I even
checked my email for a message from josh, but nothing. Skimming through my messages, I found a joke
from Dad, two emails from Amy, one from Ashley,
and a dozen spams that I instantly deleted.

    Unfortunately my problems didn't come with
a delete button.
    I hopped on my bike and headed for the
construction site where Penny-Love said Jacques
worked. It wasn't too far, maybe three miles, in a
part of town that used to be pasture but was quickly
turning into new housing developments.
    Right away I spotted Jacques in a group of
grubby guys in yellow hard hats, orange T-shirts,
and grimy jeans. He wiped sweat off his forehead
and raised his eyebrows when he noticed me standing outside the chain link fence.
    "Sabine?" he called, slipping a hammer through
a loop in his work belt and climbing off a ladder. He
met me outside the gate. "Watcha doing here?"
    "I was biking and ..." My mouth went dry;
my courage faltered.
    Away from school, Jacques seemed older,
rougher, and the narrow glint in his eyes bothered me. His tough-looking co-workers didn't reassure
me, either. I recognized one of them from school;
he was rumored to be involved in dealing drugs.
Of course, rumors weren't always true.

    Jacques shifted on the oil-stained pavement as
he faced me. "You okay?"
    "Yeah." I swallowed. "I wanted to ask you
something, but if you're busy. . ."
    "Work can wait." He gave me a wink. "This
something you'd rather Pen didn't hear?"
    "Well ... I guess."
    "You looking for some action?"
    I gave him a blank stare, my pulse jumping. I
wasn't sure if he meant drugs or sex, and didn't want
to find out.
    "No," I said coolly. "Definitely not."
    "Hey, I was just messing with you. I know
you're cool." He patted my shoulder as if to reassure me-but it did the exact opposite. "So what'd
ya want to ask?"
    "About the prediction you had at the carnival."
    "Oh that. I don't go in for that mystic stuff,
but Pen insisted, so I figured what the hell?" He
shrugged like he didn't take anything seriously, expecting life to be an easy ride where other
people did the driving.

    "Did anything strange happen when you talked
to Manny?"
    "Nothing, but that dude was totally stoned or
something."
    You would make that assumption, I thought. I
found myself liking him less and less. But I kept
my opinions to myself. "Did the crystal ball seem
... odd?"
    "Yeah. There weren't any electric cords yet it
blazed like it was on fire. It even floated off the
table. Way cool! How'd