"Nancy Springer - Snickerdoodles" - читать интересную книгу автора (Springer Nancy)

and maybe you wonтАЩt go blind.

Trying to leave the fantasy woman behind on the bedsheets, he got up and
went to his high, narrow window. It was dusk. An orange September moon was
rising. Just outside the glass, so near that he could see their ugly little faces, bats
were swooping down from the eaves, as they did every nightfall. Things that flew in
the dark, like the succubus he could still feel writhing in his brain stem.

Far below, on the stones of the alley, sat a sleek black cat with its aristo-cratic
head tilted back, looking up to-ward him.

тАЬHey, Geek,тАЭ Jason Trovato cheer-fully greeted him the next morning out-side
the school. тАЬHowтАЩs your love life?тАЭ

тАЬTalk to your dad lately?тАЭ someone else put in.

тАЬLong distance?тАЭ another butthead, Dane Orwig, suggested. More had
gath-ered, grinning. They never let him for-get. As kids they had chased him down
and rubbed his face in the dirt. Their tactics hadnтАЩt changed much since.

тАЬIтАЩve had it, you guys,тАЭ he told them, his voice coming up squeaky out of his
narrow ribs. тАЬLay off. IтАЩm not going to take your crap anymore.тАЭ

He knew they loved it when he tried to act tough. As he had expected they
would, they laughed and stepped closer. But this time instead of wincing he smiled.
For once he felt strong in his secret way, because he had a plan.

тАЬLook,тАЭ he told them quietly, тАЬIтАЩll warn you once, because hex magic is
nothing to mess with. IтАЩve got hex witch blood, and now IтАЩve been anointed.
Any-time I want I can put a curse on you.тАЭ

He did not himself believe any of this. His plan was to scare them, nothing
more. Most of them had been nurtured under an incense cloud of Catholic
mys-ticism. The few Protestants among them had received their share of fiery
Rev-elation under revival tents pitched in cow pastures. He hoped all of them would
at least halfway believe him. Maybe they did. They were still laugh-ing, true, but it
sounded forced.

тАЬHey!тАЭ called a big freckled football hero named Patrick Sullivan. тАЬHowтАЩd
you manage that? Does the coven meet in your maтАЩs garage, or what?тАЭ

тАЬYeah, geek!тАЭ Jason Trovato sounded genuinely eager. тАЬTell us the details.тАЭ

тАЬYou stop calling me geek and you can come watch.тАЭ

тАЬSure, geek.тАЭ

тАЬSo they meet in your maтАЩs garage,тАЭ someone else put in conversationally,
тАЬand they have rites, like? What do they do, geek? Dance naked?тАЭ