In the morning when I got up, I'd actually forgotten all about the terror in the night until I went downstairs and saw Glen sitting in his highchair. The cold dread came back. I felt like I weighed three hundred pounds. I wanted to sink down onto the floor and stay there, but there was too much to do. Where should I start?
"Cam, are you all right?" my mother asked, feeling my forehead.
"Fine," I said, trying to smile.
"Well, go get your chores done. Your cousin Angela's coming later. She's going to stay with us awhile, won't that be fun?"
I heaved a huge sigh and looked at the ceiling.
"Cam, what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing!" I yelled, and ran out the door. Crap! Crap, crap, crap! I couldn't deal with Angela right now, not on top of everything else.
I opened the chicken coop door and filled the feeders, slamming the lid back onto the grain can, making the chickens squawk and run. Bard, the rooster, bobbed his head and sidled toward me with his wing down, spoiling for a fight, but I plowed past him like a tornado. I fed the possums and changed their bedding, opened the greenhouse, fed the Old Man, checked on the baby bluebirds and visited my tadpole ponds. I still hadn't gotten the teepees made.
What would it be like, I wondered, when the Watchers took me over? Would I remember who I was? Would I go out at night and do terrible things? Maybe I'd have to be locked in a mental hospital.
Mom called me in for breakfast. I wasn't hungry but forced myself to eat. I had to keep my strength up. Luckily it was Sunday and there weren't many chores to do. We picked what had to be picked and washed the coolers. The next market day was Wednesday. I'd be taken over by then.
As soon as I could, I went to the tunnel. The Hedge Queen had made herself a crown out of some copper foil and a piece of cardboard. I figured she'd taken the foil from Dad's shop, but didn't say anything. There were some ribbons hanging off it and red buckbrush berries woven in.
"What do you think?" she asked, turning this way and that.
The crown drooped low on one side, making her squint.
"It's nice," I said. "What do you know about dispersing agents?"
"Dispersing agents!" She sat down on her stump throne and crossed her skinny legs.
"The rain disperses the dust. The spring disperses the winter. Flowers disperse pollen." She looked pleased with herself for being so smart.
"See, here's the thing," I said. "The retarded spirits from the sink hole are going to take me over unless I can make a medicine to transform them. We're talking white magic here."
"Hmmm," said the Queen. "I and my subjects have been concerned about these beings. Let us discuss it. Come back later."
Not until I left did I realize she hadn't even asked for any rent.
In the corner of the front field was a big patch of goat's rue plants with yellow and pink blossoms. The goat's rue warriors were the most powerful beings on the farm, except for the Great Farm Spirit whom I'd only seen once or twice. The warriors were very tall, with hard, ropy muscles and solemn faces. They never smiled, and didn't talk much, but I trusted them. Sometimes they walked beside me when I went to the creek. There were three of them, two men and a woman. I explained about my problem and though they didn't speak, they looked at me so directly I knew they understood. The cold weight in my chest lessened some and I felt stronger.
I started for the creek, but a voice stopped me.
"Yoohoo. Cam!"
Angela. My heart sank. She was wearing pink shorts and a white t shirt with a teddy bear on it, and yellow thongs. Her toenails were sparkly pink and she had a fringed purse over her arm.
"I'm eleven now," she said, snapping her bubble gum. "Let's see, you don't turn eleven for seven months yet, do you?" She fluffed her pale hair.
"So what," I said, and set off for the creek again.
"What are you doing?" She ran to catch up.
"Working on the Peoples' Agricultural Project. I have to cut cane."
"What people?"
"The ones who live here." I walked as fast as I could, but she kept coming, puffing a little, her thongs slapping on the ground.
"I guess that includes me then, at least for the next week." She popped a purple bubble and laughed.
All day I had to put up with her. She talked so much I couldn't think. I felt like throwing her in the canoe and sending her off downstream, but she outweighed me by about twenty pounds, so I didn't think I could manage.
I didn't see the Watchers anywhere. Maybe they'd gone. Maybe last night had just been a bad dream after all. But I knew it wasn't. I had one more day. Tomorrow was it. I would have to get my medicine made. And I'd have to do something about Angela.
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