The Golden Thread by Suzy McKee Charnas Page A

turned Peter into a deer, Lennie. Right in front of our eyes. Now you have to believe me, about the Leaf-Taker.”
    He said, “I do believe you.”

 
    8
Sorcerer’s Apprentice
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    M IMI STARTED TO QUAKE AND GROAN. “I want to go home, I just want to be in my own room until I can come back down , okay?”
    Lennie and I put her on an uptown bus. Then we headed for the park, after Peter.
    Poor Peter. The woman in the jeans store had been turned into some animal from another world—Bosanka’s world—for about half a minute. But Peter—that deer was of our own world. It looked like a change that could stick because it belonged here. It fit. I still had the dried spit thrown from the deer’s panting mouth on my hand.
    Lennie walked alongside me. “Hey, Val. Say something.”
    â€œIn a minute,” I said.
    â€œWell,” he said, “then I will. I didn’t really believe that stuff you told me last fall about messing around with magic and your Gran being a—a bruja , a good witch, and all. But I do now. I also believe we’re in trouble.”
    We walked across the park toward the north side of the rowboat lake. Nobody was out there, of course; the lake was mostly iced over.
    â€œIt’s all my fault.” I groaned out loud. I felt a wave of dismal anger: I needed Gran’s help! How could she leave me on my own like this?
    There’s a little wooden gazebo on the west shore of the lake. I stumped inside and sat down, hunching deep into my coat.
    Lennie put his books down on the bench next to me and stood looking out at the ice on the lake. There wasn’t much to see, just the sawhorses lined up crookedly about fifteen feet out on the ice, with cardboard signs in red lettering hung on them that said Danger plus a lot of smaller print. I wondered who had walked out on the ice to set them there, and how come whoever it was hadn’t fallen through because of the Danger.
    â€œIt’s my fault ,” I muttered.
    Lennie sighed patiently. “Come on,” he said over his shoulder. “You didn’t turn Peter into a deer, Bosanka did. I keep wanting not to believe it, but I saw those horns.” He let out a whistle. “They were sharp . And where did that thing come from, if it wasn’t Peter?”
    I said miserably, “I never should have called the meeting. I thought everybody would just naturally listen to me and act sensible because I told them to, right? And look what happened! Suppose a taxi hits him? I mean, he’s such a jerk as a person, imagine how he’s going to be as a deer!”
    Hot tears began to run down my face. I didn’t even try to hide them.
    Lennie, who wasn’t easily ruffled even by somebody crying, gave me a friendly bop on the shoulder. “Hey, come on. We’ll work out something with the Brass Breastplate of Jefferson High. We’ll be okay.”
    â€œYou don’t understand,” I said, sniffling. “The family talent has always been dangerous, but it was also always sort of—I don’t know, an adventure . Now it looks like my mom is right. It looks more like the family curse.”
    He flopped down on the bench opposite, legs sprawled out. “Listen, mothers get nervous. They can’t help it, it’s programmed into them by Nature, you know?”
    â€œNo, really,” I said, calming down now and starting to think about what I was saying. “It’s always been me and—well, somebody older, with magic of their own. Now it’s just me, and other kids are involved, and I’m really worried, and I don’t know what to do. I mean, look what just happened !”
    Lennie waggled his high-tops, frowning in concentration. After awhile he said, “Another kid was involved once. That first time you told me about: the monster in Castle Lake, and the fighting statue. Joel was part of that, wasn’t he?”
    â€œYes. I