Adam got to the window just as the thundering steps reached the top of the stairs.
At the far end of the hallway he saw a tall figure clad in chain mail turn their way.
It looked like a knight. A black knight.
In his right hand he carried a long silver sword.
He didn’t look friendly.
Adam yanked the window open and pushed Sally headfirst through it and onto the broken wood roof shingles. As she groped over the slippery roof, Adam tried to squirm out the window, too. But the knight was coming closer. Before Adam could get all the way out the window, something hard and heavy knocked his legs out from under him. Toppling back inside the house, he caught a glimpse of the knight raising the sharp silver sword.
Adam felt sure he was about to have his head cut from his body.
There was a flash of light and everything went black.
13
When Adam awoke, he felt cold and sore. Opening his eyes, he found himself in a stone dungeon. He heard someone breathing beside him and rolled over on his back. He squinted in the poor light.
“Who’s there?” he whispered.
“Watch. Is that you, Adam?”
Adam felt a wave of relief. Until he realized his hand was bolted to the wall with a steel wristband. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw that they were ringed in by metal bars, trapped tight in a tiny prison.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Adam replied. “Where are we?”
“In the basement of the witch’s castle,” Watch said, moving closer, He, too, was bolted to the stone wall, but he had enough slack to maneuver so he could actually reach out and touch Adam. His eyes blinked as he stared at him. “You wouldn’t by any chance have my glasses, would you?” Watch asked.
Adam felt in his pocket. “As a matter of fact, I do,” he replied. He handed the glasses to Watch, who had to bend them to get them to fit his face. Adam figured he must have crushed them when he was knocked out. He checked his head for injuries, glad it was still attached to his neck. He had a large bump on the top of his skull but otherwise seemed OK. His back and legs, however, were cold and stiff from having lain on the hard stone floor. “How long have I been out?” he asked.
“They brought you in two hours ago,” Watch said, still adjusting his glasses.
“What about Sally?” Adam asked.
“Did she come through to this dimension?”
“Yes. I tried to stop her. Have you seen her?”
“No,” Watch said. “But that might be good.”
“Why?”
“I think the witch has an unpleasant surprise in store for us.”
“Have you seen her?” Adam asked. “What does she look like?”
With his free hand Watch scratched his head in the dark. “She looks like Ann Templeton, but with red hair instead of black. But for all I know Ann Templeton looks just the same as Madeline Templeton did.”
“You mean, the witch who died two hundred years ago might be holding us captive?”
“Yeah. Or else Ann Templeton’s counterpart in this dimension is keeping us prisoner. It’s hard to tell which.”
Once more, Adam remembered Ann Templeton’s words to him.
“I will see both of you later—under different circumstances.”
“I think it’s probably Ann Templeton’s counterpart,” Adam said, thoughtful. “I hope it is. Ann didn’t seem that mean.”
“You haven’t met her,” Watch said. “I have. She sends her black knight out to collect boys and girls. I’ve seen some of the kids who’ve been here awhile.
They’re all missing at least one body part—either a nose, or eyes, or ears. Or even a mouth.”
“You have such nice eyes, did you know that, Adam?”
Adam was horrified. “What does she do with these—parts?”
Watch shrugged. “Maybe she just collects them, the way I collect stamps.”
“You collect stamps? I collect baseball cards.” Adam shook his head. “I don’t suppose she’d want to trade our collections for our freedom.” He paused. “How did you get here? Did the black knight grab you?”
“Yeah. He got me as soon as I came through to this side. He was waiting for me
in the cemetery.”
“Then he must have known you were coming,” Adam said.
Watch was thoughtful. “I was thinking that myself. That means Ann Templeton must have been watching us from her castle and realized what we were doing.