Escape to Witch Mountain 1995 remake Original novel by Alexander Key Screenplay by Robert M Young Novelization by Judith Kenyon

(Disclaimer: Disney owns this story and everything in it. No money is being made. I wrote this to see how hard it is to write novelizations. The answer is harder than I’d expected.)

Want to hear an amazing story? I grew up in the shadow of a strange mountain. I used to hike up there when I was a little girl, but got scared when I heard stories about the mountain being haunted. Some folks worshipped the old rock. They thought she was magic and had the power to change your life. But nothing much seemed to change around here, except the steady stream of pilgrims passing through town. Most of them stopped at the Witch Mountain Café, where I worked. Lonely people, searchers, outcasts. They came from everywhere, hoping the mountain could turn their lives around. For some, maybe it did. But I never dreamed it would happen to me. It was a morning like any other. Behind the counter at the Witch Mountain Café, Zoë passed a sandwich to a woman with a Mohawk. In one booth two women dressed like gypsies were muttering over their herbal tea, as a small group of druids finished their pie and left politely. Sheriff Bronson came in with his usual attitude. “Gonna be pretty lively tonight.” He said with a sarcastic smile over the counter. Zoë smiled back. “I heard someone say the mountain’s pulse is strong tonight.” “Can you look me in the eye and tell me you believe in all that stuff?” “I dunno. What do you believe in?” “Hot fudge sundaes.” Zoë grinned and went to make him one. With so many souls in the universe, do you ever wonder why certain paths cross? Is it all just an accident or is there something else going on? The mysterious connection…. The old truck squeaked and rattled its way to a halt in front of the Witch Mountain Café. The door opened and a very ragged man stepped out. He slogged up the steps and into the café. Zoë gave the sheriff his sundae and turned to the ragged man, ignoring his beat-up clothes and the way he smelled. “Hi. Can I help you?” The man got out a single quarter and pushed it across the table. Zoë’s face clouded with pity. “I can get you a cuppa coffee, and free refill… and maybe I can find an extra slice of pie somewhere.” Sheriff Bronson’s voice broke in. “No. You can’t serve him.” “Why not?” “Because he hasn’t bathed in weeks, and he’s on his way out of town. Don’t look at me like that Miss Zoë, there are health ordinances.” He looked uncomfortable being glared at by a sixteen-year-old girl and turned to the ragged man. “Say pal, we’re a small community here. Why don’t you get yourself down to Mitford? They got a shelter there.” The ragged man didn’t speak, but he knew when he wasn’t wanted. “Hey wait—I’ll make that pie to go.” Zoë favored the sheriff with another blazing glare and went to do just that.

A few minutes later she came out the back door with a bag of trash, and saw the most amazing sight. A column of purple light stretched from earth to sky. Inside the light, two babies in lavender rompers were sitting on the ground. The light came from their clasped hands. Zoë fainted. ~is she ok?~ the little boy asked as their light faded. ~she’s just afraid.~ his sister replied. ~what are we doing here?~ ~waiting for someone who’s not afraid.~ The next person to see them was the ragged hermit. He stared at the two babies as if they were bug-eyed aliens and spun around in confusion as he tried to think what to do. ~hi, what’s your name?~ the little girl asked. ~oh no BABIES where’re their parents what should I do I can’t take care of babies where should I leave them who can take them somewhere safe? The sheriff no he would think I kidnapped them lock me up no good better just leave them here the nice girl will find them and take care of them.~ He picked up the girl and put her in the back of a supply truck standing nearby, and went back to get the boy. When the truck was unloaded, the babies would be found. Suddenly a neatly dressed man came out of the café and closed the back doors of the truck without looking inside. He hopped into the drivers’ seat muttering, “ok! Sixteen more stops. Boy, here we go…” His distracted babble drowned under the noise of the truck starting up. ~where’s my sister? I can’t hear her.~ The hermit picked up the boy and looked for a safe place to leave him. ~I can’t even feel her!~ The plaintive cry went unheard. Fate intervened. The sheriff burst out of the café ready to stop a kidnapping in progress. The hermit had no words to say that he had only wanted the babies to be found, together, by someone who would take them home. I tried to explain what I had seen, but nobody believed me. And they never found the other baby.

Nine years later…

He had been running for years and getting nowhere. Funny how life is when you surrender. It always seems to take you exactly where you need to be. The police car rolled up the long gravel driveway of the Ashton Children’s Home. The first person to get out was Sheriff Bronson, still on the job though nine years had added to his waistline and faded his hair further from blond to gray. He escorted a boy with shaggy brown hair and a face set in permanent sullen anger. Inside Ms. Phillips, the matron of her home, looked over the boy’s file and sighed in exasperation. “You have gone through a dozen foster parents! What, are you going for the Guinness book of world records?” “Danny here doesn’t know the value of a good home.” “They weren’t home.” Danny said shortly. He knew what the file said: Danny Malone, age ten, no known relatives, and comments about his habits of fighting and running away. Even shoplifting, once, but he had needed a new pair of gloves that winter and there hadn’t been the money. Sheriff Bronson was going on, “The last place you were at had two dogs, a swimmin’ pool, and you had your own room. What more do you want?” “A family.” Ms Phillips looked at him sadly. “I’m sorry Danny, but according to this file you don’t have a family.” “I know they’re out there.” “I wish we could make all your dreams come true. I don’t know if we have room around here for a troublemaker.” “Oh, Danny’s gonna be real good.” The sheriff assured her. Danny didn’t comment. After a few more formalities and some form signing, Ms. Phillips took Danny outside to show him around. “You saw our garage on your way in. We have one bus for field trips—there’s one this afternoon, you picked a good day to arrive. The lunchroom is behind those windows and this is the veranda, we read stories here in the afternoon. And here’s the yard.” She waved around an open space filled with trees and kids. “Kids, come on, gather round! This is Danny everybody, he’s going to be with us for a while. I know you’ll make him feel welcome.” A big boy with dark red hair and a roguish smile stepped to the front of the crowd. “Hi. I’m Zander. Want to see my tree house?” “It’s everyone’s tree house Zander, to share .” Ms. Phillips reminded him. “So that’s why he’s gonna be the guest of honor.” Zander and his friends showed Danny how to climb the ladder into the tree house, babbling all the way about how they’d built it. In spite of himself Danny was impressed. “Whoa, you designed this place? Awesome!” “Yeah, and you should see the submarine I’m working on.” Everybody laughed then Zander said, “You know, there’s something we like to do with new kids around here.” Danny scented danger. “Oh yeah?” “Close your eyes.” “Why should I?” “…yeah, I used to be scared too.” Zander stood radiating innocence. “Ok, I’ll play your stupid game.” Danny scowled and closed his eyes. Zander grabbed his shoulders and guided him two steps, three steps—Danny’s feet went out from under him and he fell down a slide into a pile of leaves. In the tree house all the kids laughed. Zander blew a victory blast on his duck- call. Danny jumped up in a fury. “Yeah you think you’re so great! Chicken, that’s what you are! Chicken!” “Make sure you can back up what you’re saying!” Zander handed his duck-call to Ben for safekeeping. He dived down the slide with a yell. “Come on, do I have to wait all day?” Danny taunted. “Hey, squash it!” Zander yelled. Danny did his best to squash him . They tore into each other, wrestling on the ground while a chant of “Fight! Fight!” started around them. “Stop!” yelled a voice. It belonged to the most beautiful girl Danny had ever seen. Light brown hair haloed a face set with wide blue eyes. She was wearing a necklace of purple plastic beads. And she looked very annoyed with Zander. “You promised no more bullying.” “It’s not bullying, it’s a new game, see he made it up.” The girl ignored Zander and knelt down to look Danny in the face. “Are you ok?” Then confusion shadowed her face. “I’m… Danny.” He got out. “Do I…” “…know you?”

The afternoon’s outing was to a park up in the hills. It was all overgrown, but Danny liked it anyway. He piled out of the bus with the other kids and headed into the trees hoping for a little time to think things out by himself. He saw a mountain shaped like a human profile standing against the sky. “A lady.” The beautiful girl had followed him. “I see her in my nightmares.” Danny whispered. Zander had followed them. “That’s because it’s haunted. You get cursed just by looking at it.” Danny asked half against his will, “What do you mean?” “Why do you think there’s so many weirdos in Wayne County? They’re all ‘witches.’ The most powerful witch in the world lives up there, she’s got this army of big hairy goons that sneak around at night and round up victims.” Zander sounded positively delighted. Danny did not need to listen to this. He glared at Zander and walked off in search of peace and quiet. Zander met a pair of accusing blue eyes. “What? Can I help it if he’s a wimp? Anna—!” But she had walked away as well.

Babble and the clanking of dishes filled the dining room. Danny was loading his tray when Zander shoved him aside with a distracted, “You’re in my way.” “Hey hey hey.” Ms. Phillips stepped in between them. “Here half a day and scrapping already. You should know better Zander.” “Hey he started it…” Zander began, but Danny wasn’t listening. M. Phillips followed the boys’ eyes. “Let me give you two Romeos some advice. You win girls like Anna with poetry, not yard fights. So lets shake and make up.” She insisted a few more times before the boys shook hands. Zander got his chocolate milk and went back to his seat. Danny took his tray and went to the only empty chair in the room: back-to-back with Anna. Danny unfolded his napkin and spread it in his lap. Anna unfolded her napkin and spread it in her lap. Danny put his apples in two corners of the tray and his rolls in the other two corners. Anna put her apples in two corners of the tray and her rolls in the other two corners. Danny banged his three straws on the table to get them out of their wrappers. Anna banged her three straws on the table to get them out of their wrappers. Danny sneezed. Anna sneezed. They both turned to say, “Bless you.” They looked at each other’s plates. They looked at their own plates. Identical choices! The mysterious connection. Unnoticed, Zander crumpled his attempt at poetry: Roses are red, birds can fly, I really like you, I don’t know why.

That night, he woke up from a dream and there she was. Danny had been dreaming he could fly. He often did. Waking up was like coming back to the ground to see Anna standing just inside the door to the boys’ bedroom, barefoot in her nightgown. Danny wondered what she had been dreaming. He climbed out of bed. They didn’t say anything. Anna held up her hands, and Danny mirrored her. Light was born between their hands. It blazed upward, dazzling lavender just on the edge of white. They pulled their hands back. “Whoa!” Danny gasped, “Did you know that would happen?” “N-no.” Anna smiled. “Good to see you again brother.” “I knew I knew you!” They had one thought between them: Will it happen again? And once again the light appeared. It tickled against their hands. Anna giggled. Danny began to laugh with delight. Behind them Ben woke up. He rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses. A second later the light was gone. “Danny what’re you doing up? What’s she doing here?” “Nothing.” Anna whispered and slipped away. Danny climbed back into his bunk. “Just go back to sleep.” Ben started to think what great blackmail he could do with this information— Danny had snuck a girl into the boys’ side! But he fell asleep.

Morning sunlight streamed in the windows of Ms. Phillips’ office. Danny and Anna sat in chairs while the matron shuffled papers. “This is unbelievable! Twins, separated as babies! It’s like a fairy tale.” The twins looked at each other and smiled. “The delivery man made eighteen stops that day and he didn’t discover you, Anna, until the very last one in San Pedro County. That’s why they didn’t link you two. “Well it looks like you two have a lot of catching up to do.”

Outside on the veranda, Zander was crouching with his ear against the glass doors. “Well?” Ben demanded. Zander sighed and straightened up. “It’s ok. He’s just her brother.” “I thought twins were supposed to look the same.” “That’s identical twins. Fraternal twins look different.” He started down the veranda steps, trailed by Ben. “What about that weird light I saw?” “Musta’ been a flashlight.” “It was purple!” Yeah right. “Oh, come on.” In the boys’ room the TV was on with nobody watching—not surprising since it was just the news. The local news reported Claudia Flord stood in front of a battered wooden sign with a huddle of trash bins behind it. She was an attractive Asian-American woman who looked out of place wearing her neat suit in such a place. I’m here at Witch Mountain Park in Ashland. It’s not much to look at since the city stopped spending money on it almost ten years ago. The mountain is a local landmark and an offbeat tourist attraction. It is said to have a unique magnetic field that attracts psychics and people with paranormal abilities.” That same newscast was playing on the TV above the bar in the Witch Mountain Café. Zoë looked up from her work to watch. “Now Edward Bolt, a local businessman, has offered to buy the park and spruce it up with campgrounds, a recreational area, and a full time staff of rangers.” Edward Bolt appeared on the screen. He was a middle-aged man with a charismatic smile and a kind voice. “I want to make a place for kids—and families— where they can come and just have fun.” The reporter continued, “The locals have mixed feelings about Bolt’s plan.” She cut to another interview, this one with a strange bearded man who was standing in front of a sign that read “Purple General Store.” His face shone with earnestness. “They mustn’t tamper with it. The mountain’s geocosmic harmonics are critical to the twins. This Sunday it reaches the return threshold! I hope they’re listening, because now is the time to come home to the light!” Zoë stared at the TV, entranced for some reason she didn’t understand. I had been searching for nine years and getting nowhere. Funny how life is when you learn to be patient and just listen. In nine years Sheriff Bronson had hardly changed. He might have a little more waistline and a little less hair, but he was still the same sheriff sitting at the counter eating a sundae. His opinions hadn’t changed much either. “Of all the Witch Mountain wackos, that one takes the cake. Oh I forgot, you believe all that stuff. Twin babies with magic light.” Zoë gave him her fiery look. “I know what I saw.” “Then why did we find only one boy? Because you fainted at the moment of truth.” The television was now playing an interview with a local resident wearing an apron and a chef’s hat. He was talking about the ‘wild men of the mountain’ who stole food from his barbecue at night. Strangely enough, he was half right. As Claudia Flord was finishing up the live part of her broadcast from Witch Mountain Park a man in ragged clothes watched her from the fork of a tree.

Chapter Two

Danny and Anna sat together on the porch of Zander’s treehouse. “So how long have you been here?” Danny asked. Anna’s soft blue eyes looked up at the sky. “Five years.” “Half your life!” “I tried foster homes. They just don’t work for me… do you remember our parents?” “No.” “I wonder if mom was pretty.” “She musta’ been!” Danny said without thinking. Anna smiled. “Do you think they’re still alive?” “If they are they sure didn’t want us around.” Anna couldn’t be so harsh. “Maybe they just… weren’t allowed to keep us or something.” “What, you mean like if they were spies or something?” “Or acrobats in a traveling circus!” Anna’s eyes sparkled and she grinned. “Astronauts!” “Mmhm, yeah. Something to do with flying.” The laughter in her voice faded. “That’s what the light reminds me of.” “Yeah.” Danny agreed. He had been on an airplane only once, coming back from one of the failed foster homes. “We’ve gotta find them Danny.” “It’s impossible! Where would we even start? The files didn’t say anything.” “Shouldn’t we at least try?” The idea held no appeal for Danny. He could only imagine parents as an intrusion to the family he had now. “I’ve found you. That’s enough for me right now.” “You’re right.” Anna said, looking at the sky.

The next day Danny returned to the boys’ room after dinner to find every bed but his stripped down to bare mattresses on bunks. “What’s going on?” he asked the only other person in the room, Ben, who was dragging a huge load of fabric out of the closet. Ben pointed out the window. Anna appeared in the doorway carrying her bedding over her shoulders. “Come on. Bring your blankets.” “Ok.” Danny wrestled his blankets and sheets off his bunk and tucked his pillow under his arm. Then he followed his twin. Anna headed outside. In the yard kids were running back and forth with blankets, ropes, and clothes pins; anything that could be used to improvise a tent.. “When it gets warm we sleep outside. We make our own tents. Ben had rigged his load of fabric to the tree house pulley. He pulled, the fabric went up like a circus tent, and Zander stepped out. He was wearing a blanket cape and a scruffy top hat. “You can join the club, but you must promise not to reveal the secret.” Anna started to nod; she’d been a member of the club all three summers since Zander had come to the home. But now she had a brother to consider. As usual Danny’s expression darkened when he saw Zander, and darkened further as Zander and Anna looked at each other. “Why don’t we just make our own club.” Anna shot an apologetic look at her old friend and went to help Danny choose branches to support their tent.

Later that night, Zander excused himself from the game of cards in the boys’ big tent without even bothering to eat his share of the jellybeans they were using as stakes. When he was gone Ben scooted into Zander’s spot. “Anna’s a witch! She put a magic spell on him, that’s why he acts lie a zombie around her!” “There’s no such thing as witches!” Said a very little boy who had been eating jellybeans on the sly all evening.

In their tent Danny and Anna sat together using folded blankets for seats. Anna’s voice was as soft as the evening light. “You were born first. You’re…one minute older.” “How do you know that?” “I can sense it! Can’t you?” Danny didn’t think he could. “How come we can do this stuff?” “The light?” Anna pulled the flap of their blanket tent closed. They put their hands together and the light flickered into being. “I don’t understand any of this.” “A mystery.” Anna whispered. Outside Zander watched the tent that glowed purple. Ms. Phillips called from the balcony, “Ok everybody, lights out!” Flashlights and lanterns were turned off. A minute later the purple light faded as well. “Do you feel that?” Anna whispered. “Loneliness.” “Zander.”

“Don’t you wish we had other powers?” Anna looked sweet even when she was grumbling. They were in the kitchen working over baskets of vegetables donated by the local farmers’ market. The home was not doing well financially, and while nobody was going to starve they were getting awfully tired of stews and ramen and donated vegetables. Now Anna was stuck peeling garlic, her least favorite activity. “Like what?” Danny asked, unable to think of a way purple light could help him slice tomatoes. A head of garlic lifted into the air and hovered, spinning slowly, in front of Anna’s face. “Whoa! How did you do that?” “I don’t know!” Anna lowered her eyes and the garlic drifted back into the bowl it had come from. “You try it!” So Danny tried. He looked hard at the bowl of garlic ad thought up with all his might. Nothing happened. “How does it work?” “I just imagined it.” As Danny tried again with no result she whispered in a different kind of voice, ~Use your heart .~ It took Danny a few seconds to realize just how her voice was different. Anna hadn’t been moving her mouth. ~Can you read my mind too?~ He wondered. “Mmhm.” Anna giggled and put an arm around Danny’s shoulders. The entire bowl of garlic floated into the air. They stared at it. Anna stepped back and the bowl fell, spilling off the table and sending heads of garlic spinning across the floor. “How’d that happen?” Danny gasped. “We were touching!” Anna’s voice was electric, “I guess it works best when we’re really close.” “Whoa.. We have to keep this a secret.” “At least until we figure things out.”

In her office Ms. Philips was trying again to make the lines of figures add up even. It just wasn’t working. The donations they had gotten were generous, but it just didn’t add up to food and clothing for three dozen children. At last she gave up; no amount of juggling was going to make the numbers work. Her eyes fell on a plaque set on her bookcase. It read: Ashland Children’s’ Home, Funded by Edward Bolt. Ms Phillips reached for the phone.

Once again in was lunchtime in the dining hall Zander renamed beggar’s banquet. He had saved two seats at the big table but Danny didn’t want to sit there and Anna followed her brother like she always did these days. Zander pulled out a miniature catapult and started firing peas at Danny. A few bounced off his hair before he noticed and Zander had to quit and look innocent. He got up to innocently return his tray. Danny’s eyes focused on the banana peel hanging off the edge of Zander’s tray. He imagined giving it a little tug, and it fell to the floor. Zander did a classic slip. Ms. Phillips rushed in to find Zander on the floor with his leftovers all over him. The rest of the kids were laughing. “Zander! What happened! Are you all right? Yes you are so get up and clean up this mess! Mr. Bolt is coming!”

Mr. Bolt sat at their lunch table and signed a fat check as the TV camera watched. The kids grouped around the table, uncomfortable at being taped. Ms Phillips was beaming as she took the check. “You’re an angel Mr. Bolt!” “No, I just love kids that’s all.” The businessman smiled engagingly and asked the reporter to turn the camera off. “Sorry about the cameras kids, I thought it’d help with the donations is all. What’s your name?” “Danny.” Danny said. “Danny, don’t you ever wash behind your ears?” Mr. Bolt reached behind Danny’s head and produced a silver dollar. “Here you go.” “Whoa, thanks!” Zander spoke up, “Do you have a pool?” “Why yes, yes I do.” “Whyn’t you invite us over for a swim?” The other kids were enthusiastic. Ms. Phillips elbowed Zander in the ribs. Zander argued, “He says he loves kids!” Mr. Bolt had been caught off guard for only a second. “Why that’s a great idea! How about a picnic Sunday?” The kids cheered. After some more conversation Mr. Bolt said he had a meeting and had to leave. Everyone yelled, “Thank you Mr. Bolt!” from the front porch. “Do you feel that?” Danny did just as Anna whispered it. “What is it?” Anna yelled, “Wait!” and jumped down to run after Mr. Bolt. “Don’t get in the car Mr. Bolt!” She said urgently. “Why not?” Their benefactor still sounded friendly. “I don’t know. I just know something bad is going to happen!” “What makes you say that?” Danny felt like he had to say something. “My sister has feelings about things.” Mr. Bolt chuckled. “So you’re a little psychic are you?” he turned to wave to his chauffer who was coming around the building in the big black limousine. Danny grabbed his sister, “We can’t tell him—“ Anna pulled away. “Please Mr. Bolt! I don’t want to see you get hurt!” “Well I’m sure you don’t young lady, but if you’ll excuse me I’m a very busy man.” He tried again to walk away. Anna was through trying to talk. She grabbed Mr. Bolt’s back pocket and yanked hard. His pants tore and everybody got a glimpse of red and white boxer shorts. Laughter and underwear jokes started and Ms. Phillips hushed them. Then a supply truck coming too fast around the road swerved and smashed into the side of Mr. Bolt’s car. Pellets of shatterproof glass went everywhere. The kids yelled and ran to check out the damage. Ms. Phillips ran to stop them. Mr. Bolt looked back at Anna. She was standing still with sunlight catching in her hair and her blue eyes.

The next morning Ms. Phillips hurried out of her office with a folder in her hand and a big smile on her face. “Danny, Anna? Wonderful news!” In the treehouse Zander couldn’t hear what they were saying. He got out a little telescope and looked. A kid standing on the steps saw the flash of the telescope lens and held up his arms in the shape of an A. Adopted. “They got a home.” Zander said to nobody.

Chapter Three

“This is great! When do we leave?” Danny couldn’t believe their luck. “Well this afternoon if you want, whenever you can get packed.” “All right!” He was ready to run off and get his suitcase. Anna said, “What if we don’t want to?” Danny gaped at her. “Oh Anna, I know it’s a bit scary, but you know it’s almost impossible to find foster homes for kids your age, especially the two of you together.” Their fate was sealed. Mr. Bolt’s limousine was already pulling up to take them to the new life that had only just been announced. Mr. Bolt’s chauffer had all the paperwork and it took just a few hours to get it all squared away. In the girls’ room Anna slowly packed her possessions into a cardboard suitcase. Her few books and her school notebooks went in first, then her clothes and a shoebox of little treasures, cheap jewelry and gifts from her foster parents. “Hey, can I come in?” “Sure Zander.” “So, you scored. This Bolt guy is super rich.” Zander leaned on the end of a bunk, watching her search for anything she might have missed. “Yeah.” “You don’t sound too happy.” “I’m ok.” Zander held out his hand and let the duck-call dangle. “Here. Now we both have one.” Anna smiled, finally. “Where did you get this?” “Snuck into town. I was saving it for your birthday.” “Thank you!” Anna blew some experimental quacks and hung the duck-call on a ribbon around her neck. From downstairs Ms. Phillips called, “Anna? Are you ready to go? Danny’s waiting.” “Coming!” “Anna—don’t forget me.” “How could I?”

The chauffer seemed nervous but friendly and talked all the way, telling them how nice Mr. Bolt was and how great his house was and how much they were going to like living there. The car went through a fancy gate, and then… kept going. It took Danny a few minutes to realize this was all Mr. Bolt’s land. “This is the stable, Mr. Bolt will meet you here.” Mr. Bolt, wearing a business suit, was talking to a man dressed like a cowboy. The chauffer hopped out, ran all the way around the car, and opened Danny’s door. The twins got out and Mr. Bolt hugged both of them. “Well it seemed like the least I could do, I mean, you saved my life young lady. Now, they call this temporary foster care but I want you kids to treat this place like it was home. I know it must be hard for you and kind of scary to find a family like this but that’s what I’d like to be to you. Your family. “I’ve been supporting the orphanage for years but I’ve come to realize lately that true charity is being the parent that kids like you need.” He clapped his hands and lightened the mood, “Here, let me show you around! This is the stable, now anytime you want to take out a horse just ask Mr. Flynn.” The cowboy tipped his hat, but Danny’s attention was caught by the horse in a pen behind him. The big black horse was snorting and pounding the ground in rage. “What’s wrong with that one?” “Ah, that’s Thunderbolt. No one’s ever been able to break him.” Looking at the beautiful horse Danny imagined he felt a connection between them.

Mr. Bolt and the kids piled back into the car and drove on. Anna had been looking at Luther, studying his face as well as she could from the back seat. Suddenly she said, “I know him.” “You remember?” Mr. Bolt said. “I’m not sure. I-I think so.” “Yes, you met him a long time ago before he worked for me. Can you remember when?” “I was a baby.” Anna offered, “He drove me somewhere.” “Your psyche is incredible.” Mr. Bolt did not sound surprised. “Luther is the delivery man who discovered you in his truck nine years ago. We realized that when we got your records. “Now, I don’t believe in coincidences. I think we’re all brought together for a reason, to share a common destiny.” Anna didn’t comment and Danny didn’t know what to say. But just then they came in sight of the house. It was huge, all brick and windows, at least three stories surrounded by sculpted bushes and flowerbeds. Danny could only stare. He didn’t think he’d ever seen such a beautiful house, even on TV. The limo glided into a brick garage and they all got out. Mr. Bolt had four other cars, all polished until they shone. Inside the house, they went through the big living rooms and up a long staircase. “Right up these stairs is the west wing, which you’ll have all to yourselves. This is your room, you can change anything you like. And through here is the playroom. I didn’t know what kind of toys you kids would like so I had Luther buy out the whole store.” Danny couldn’t believe his eyes; the room was a vision out of any kid’s dream and it was theirs, and all the toys…. Their foster father stopped, looking a little sheepish. “Forgive me if I go a bit overboard. This is all new to me too. Well, I’ll leave you to get settled in.” Neither of them could say anything as Mr. Bolt got the suitcases Luther had left outside their door, and left them to get unpacked. Anna just stood, looking stunned. Danny grabbed a pillow off his bed and swatted her with it. “Pillow fight!” Anna laughed and grabbed the pillow from her pink lace bed to counterattack.

“I’ve always been fascinated by metaphysics.” Mr. Bolt said at dinner. He put a wooden box on the table next to his plate. “Metaphysics. Psychic phenomena. Mysticism. Magic. This is Madam Blavatsky’s crystal ball. Do you know who she was?” “No.” Anna said. “She was the most famous psychic of the nineteenth century.” He balanced the crystal ball between his hands. “Now, you kids have been blessed with a special gift, but there’s no need for you to be afraid of it. I know you want to keep in a secret so if you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to. But if we’re going to be a family we have to start trusting each other.” He rolled the crystal sideways. Anna caught it. Danny waited for her to speak, but she bit her lip and said nothing. Candles on the walls lit the crystal, making it shine red.

Danny thought he’d never been happier. Mr. Bolt was always around to hang out, with a kite or an invitation to go riding. Anna usually didn’t join them; she stayed in their room reading or sat by the pool, or helped Mr. Flynn in the stables. She loved the smell of the horses and their deep gentle eyes. The horses were good company and Mr. Flynn said she was a “very intelligent young lady” and afterward treated her like one. But they didn’t make up for how much she missed Ms. Phillips and Zander and the other kids from the home. She missed her brother too, even though they saw each other every day and slept in the same room. They didn’t talk so much, since Danny was always doing things with Mr. Bolt. He invited her to come, but she never wanted to and then he accused her of moping.

Danny had made a decision. After Anna got in bed, he went downstairs in his bathrobe. Their foster father was reading in the den. “Good night Mr. Bolt.” Danny said. “Ah, Danny, how ya’ doing?” “I just wanted to tell you—I trust you.” “Well, sit down, let’s have a little chat.” Danny got back to bed late. He looked nervously at Anna’s bed but she was a still shape in the darkness.

Anna was up early. She came out of their room and found Luther playing solitaire on a card table in the hall. “You’re up awful early.” He said without looking up. “Couldn’t sleep.” Anna replied, “How ‘bout you?” “I always get up this early.” Anna went to look over his shoulder. In her few days here she’d never seen Luther anything but expressionless or dour. “Don’t you have any friends Luther?” “Sure, Mr. Bolt’s my friend.” “No, I mean real friends. The kind that give you that feeling.” Luther finally looked at her. “What feeling?” “Like you’ve known them forever.” “Yeah. Yeah, I got a friend like that. Only…” Luther looked away and started slapping down cards again. “Only what?” Anna pressed. Luther looked at her again. “He’s in my head.” Anna had to smile. “An imaginary friend?” A heavy sigh. “I dream about him and he teaches me things.” “Like what?” “Patience.” Anna wasn’t sure if that was a hint that she should exercise patience and stop the questions. She wanted to know more about Luther’s friend but she didn’t ask.

That afternoon she was reading in their room when Danny came in. He was pulling the long Chinese dragon kite behind him. Danny put one hand on his sister’s shoulder and the kite drifted into the air. ~stop it Danny~ she shrugged off his hand and the kite dropped. “What is wrong with you?” “I have a funny feeling.” Anna murmured. “About what?” “Everything. This place. Mr. Bolt.” “Why? He’s our friend.” Danny said. “I’m not so sure.” “No wonder you never left that orphanage, you can’t trust anybody.” The words stung. Anna took her book and walked out. Danny could only stare after her.

In another room that scene was being shown on a small television. Mr. Bolt turned off the set and tucked the remote in his pocket. Without it, the set wouldn’t connect to the hidden cameras in the kids’ room. Luther was saying, “I don’t know, I just have a bad feeling about those kids like something is going to happen.” His employer was trimming a cigar. “Well, we’re always afraid of things we don’t understand. In another time they might’ve been burned at the stake. But if you accept their miracle, make it your friend, then everything turns to gold. “I’m glad we got the chance to have this little talk. How long’ve you been with me now?” “Nine years.” “Almost a decade! Why that practically makes us family. I’d like to have you working here for a long time so I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I had some geologists examine Witch Mountain, and do you know what they found? Uranium! Now it’s going to take a lot of money to make that park beautiful and these rocks can pay for everything.” Luther looked askance from his employer to the plaster model of Witch Mountain. “Why are you telling me this?” “Those kids can make things fly, Luther! We can mine it without big trucks, or dynamite. And that way, everybody’s happy—including you when you get your bonus. I need your help Luther. I need somebody I can trust.”

Mr. Bolt and Sheriff Bronson carried their rackets onto the tennis court for their weekly friendly challenge. While they got out balls Mr. Bolt said, “Well, I hope I can count on your support next week for the Witch Mountain vote.” “Absolutely, but I don’t know that it’s going to matter much. Y’see, the chairman is dead set against you and she has the swing vote.” “Ah… that’s something I wanted to talk to you about. What if she didn’t make it to the meeting?” The sheriff wagged his racket in reproof, “Now you aren’t asking me to do something funny are you?” “Oh no, just a little mistake, that’s all. One of your deputies tows the wrong car and presto, Miss Lake misses the meeting.” Sheriff Bronson laughed heartily, not certain if the was a joke or not. “I don’t know sir.” “Why don’t we make a little sportin’ event out of it? You beat me, I owe you a big favor; and if I win, you help me do what’s right for Ashland. Think about it.” Danny and Anna came out, wearing new tennis clothes and squinting in the bright sun. Mr. Bolt greeted them, “Ah kids, thought you might like to be ball boys for a couple of old timers here. You remember Sheriff Bronson?” The sheriff grinned at Danny, “See, it all worked out. You finally found your family.” Danny grinned back; Anna’s smile was hesitant. “Sure hope you don’t run away from this place.” “Oh he loves it here, don’t you Danny.” The men went to their sides of the court, and Danny and Anna sat down on a bench to watch. “So, are we on?” Mr. Bolt asked casually. “Sure, go ahead.” Mr. Bolt shot a look at Danny and raised his racket to serve. Danny grinned ands put his hand over Anna’s. He breathed in power and Anna frowned, trying to figure out what he was doing. The first serve sent the ball off like a rocket. The sheriff gazed in awe at the neat hole in the mesh of his racket. Then he noticed the hole in the chain link fence of the tennis court.

Chapter Four

“Did you see the look on the sheriff’s face?” Mr. Bolt laughed, leaning on a pillar in front of the house as they watched the sheriff drive away. “I haven’t had this much fun in years! You know, it seems so right having you guys here. I never realized how empty this house was. I know this may seem kind of sudden but I was hoping you’d consider letting me… be your father.” “What do you mean?” Anna asked, her soft voice cool. “Well I mean adopt you. You know, putting on paper what I already feel in my heart.” They’d been there barely a week. Danny wasn’t ready to give it up. “So what do you think?” Danny asked, fiddling with a toy rocket in their room. Anna was sitting on the bed, cuddling her stuffed bunny. “I want to run away.” Danny snorted. “Are you nuts?” “I’ve been getting this feeling like we’re supposed to be going somewhere.” “Well you always have weird feelings!” “He never lets us go anywhere! This whole place is surrounded by fences! Can’t you see we’re prisoners?” “That’s ridiculous. Come on, I’ll prove it.” Danny turned on their intercom and asked Mr. Bolt if they could go out for ice cream. Mr. Bolt protested that they’d spoil their appetites then that there was frozen yogurt in the fridge but Danny insisted and Mr. Bolt agreed to have Luther drive them into town. “See.” Danny said, “Anything we want, it’s like heaven. What’s wrong with wanting it to last forever?” Anna sighed. She felt that she knew why, but it was a feeling she couldn’t put into words. Something about how it was sometimes very wrong to have everything you wanted… because there was nothing left to… but the thought slipped away. They were drifting apart; both of them could feel it. He still wasn’t ready to let in the light. Meanwhile fate was leading me closer and closer to the mystery. The ad actually looked very boring. It wouldn’t have stood out from the rest of the newspaper—except that to Zoë it did.

You’ll feel right at home when you come to The Purple General Store On Main Street in Ashland Two for one sale this Sunday only.

Somehow it struck a chord. Zoë put the paper back on the bar and called, “Jose? Take over for me will you? I’ve got to go to Ashland!”

Zoë parked her bike next to a limousine and wondered what it was doing outside the Purple General Store. As she was taking off her helmet the limo’s phone rang. The chauffer used speakerphone so she couldn’t help hearing. “Where are they?” “They’re getting’ their cones.” The chauffer answered. The phone practically exploded. “What are you doing in the car? Get in there! Don’t let them out of your sight! And don’t let them talk to anyone, and get them back here right away!” “Yes sir!” Zoë’s eyes narrowed. What was going on here?

Inside, the two children dug through the icebox looking for another cone with nuts. Anna already had hers unwrapped; the storeowner didn’t seem to mind. He was a funny man, very tall and dressed in purple, and he seemed to be watching them. “Found one!” Danny dove into the icebox, came up with another cone—and knocked Anna’s to the ground. “Oh no! You can have mine.” Anna looked at the purple man. He was looking away. Anna glanced down at her cone and it spun back up to her hand. “I knew it was you!” The store man exclaimed, coming over to them. “Ready to go home kids?” They stared at him, baffled. “What do you mean?” “No time to explain. Meet me at sunset on the mountain.” “Which mountain?” Danny asked. “Exactly!” “Exactly what?” “He means Witch Mountain,” Anna began, when Luther burst in. “We’re leaving.” The chauffer said and started herding the kids out. The purple man said, “Come back soon!” And winked, before Danny and Anna were out the door. “That guy was creepy.” Danny muttered to his sister. They headed for the limousine, passing a girl with a motorbike. “What was he saying about the mountain?” Luther asked. “Nothing.” Anna said. “Nothing?” Neither of them replied. Zoë watched the limo pull away. It was one of those moments. A mysterious connection. I felt like I knew them somehow, like they had a message for me. She wandered inside, looking around the homey rough-board room with its candy barrels and purple accents on everything. Purple light blazed around a door marked ‘private.’ Zoë ignored the sign and pulled the door open. The man dressed in purple stood surprised, holding one hand in the air. “The light! I saw it!” “The light?” The man sounded confused, “You mean this light?” He opened a copy machine and blue light spilled out. “I know about the twins, I saw you on TV!” “Does the word private mean anything to you?” “Tell me where you’re from!” Zoë demanded, too excited to stop. “I’m from Kansas, if it’s any of your business.” Zoë, lost in revelation, missed his tone completely. She was just realizing, “Those kids—they’re the babies I saw!” She ran for her bike. Behind her the door of the purple store swung shut and the sign turned from ‘open’ to ‘closed’ with no hand touching it.

Zoë hadn’t followed the limo half a mile when a siren started behind her. She pulled the bike over and called, “This is an emergency, you have to let me go!” It was Sheriff Bronson. Well, he only had two deputies; it was a one-horse town. “All right Zo’ slow down, you were going fifty miles an hour through a school zone.” “It’s Sunday!” “Nobody goes fifty miles an hour in my town.” “Oh they’re getting away!” Zoë groaned as the limousine soared out of sight. “I have to get after them!” “Who?” “You know those twins you never believed in? Well they’re in that car and they’re being held against their will!” “The magic light twins?” The sheriff was totally unmoved. “Yeah, those are the ones!” “You’re really somethin’ y’know that. I’ll let you go this time, drive carefully.” I had just missed them. The mystery still eluded me.

Swans, white and black, glided on the pond on Mr. Bolt’s property. Danny sat on the bridge watching their graceful heads move. He’d forgotten to bring a piece of bread for them. “What are you doing?” Anna demanded, running up. “What does it look like I’m doing?” “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! We have to make our escape plans.” “I’m not going.” “Are you crazy?” “Look, this is the best thing that ever happened to us, do you want to ruin everything just because we meet some weirdo? That’s what I call crazy.” “He was wearing purple!” Anna protested illogically. “What does that prove? He could be a witch, why d’you think he wanted us on the mountain?” “Oh, Zander just made that stuff up!” “Then how come we’re so scared of it?” Anna paused, then went back to what she was sure of. “I just know we have to get out of here.” “I’m sick of your weird feelings!” Danny exploded. “I want to find our real home.” “Running away will just get us sent back to that stupid orphanage!” “It’s better than this fancy prison!” “Well go then! Just go back to that stupid little boyfriend of yours, you don’t need me do you!” Danny’s face twisted. He turned and ran. Anna stood in the golden sunlight above the beautiful misty lake and the swans, hating it all.

Mr. Bolt and Luther hummed up in a golf cart. They watched her for a minute and Anna looked back with blazing eyes. “Been looking for you. Where’s Danny?” Anna shrugged a little and blinked hard. “We had a fight.” “Ah, that’s too bad.” But Mr. Bolt was smiling. “Well I’ve got something to take that off your mind.” Inside the house, a metal tube and a handful of rocks were sitting on a glass table, almost certainly scratching the surface. “This is a lead cylinder. Can you make it fly?” The clock sounded very loud. Anna said, “No.” “Danny told me all about it. We got to be good friends you know. I won’t tell anyone your secret.” Anna didn’t move, and neither did the cylinder. “Telekinetic power is just like any muscle; you’ve got to exercise it or it’ll atrophy. I’m just trying to help you kids.” Luther unscrewed the top of the cylinder and Mr. Bolt said, as if talking to a small child, “Can you make those rocks fly into the tube?” They weren’t ordinary rocks; they were decorative stones studded with amethyst crystal. Luther must have gathered them from the house’s coffee tables. Anna narrowed her eyes and tried halfheartedly to lift the stones. There just wasn’t any power. “This won’t work.” “Why won’t you trust me?” Mr. Bolt put a caring hand on her shoulder, “It hurts my feelings, I open my house to you, open my heart, and still you act like we’re strangers. What is it you don’t like about me?” “It isn’t that.” Anna choked. Couldn’t he tell? Her heart was broken from the things Danny had said and she didn’t think she’d be able to call the light again ever as long as she lived. But Mr. Bolt was waiting for some explanation. She said, “We’re too far away.” “Well then, let’s move closer.” Mr. Bolt guided her a few steps towards the table. Anna took a breath to say this wasn’t what she meant, but her voice failed. Mr. Bolt gestured her to try. She didn’t know what to do.

Chapter Five

Danny had ended up at the stable. Thunderbolt was snorting and stamping the sawdust floor. He looked at Danny as Danny climbed the gate, them ignored the boy. Danny watched the beautiful horse and wondered where his sister was.

“I’m losing my patience young lady, now try and move those rocks!” “What’s this about anyway?” “It’s too complicated for you to understand, now do what I’m telling you!” It’s too complicated for you to understand. Anna had heard that before and it never came before anything good. “I can’t.” “Now I can be mean if I have to. Nobody wants anything… bad to happen now do they?” His hand tightened on Anna’s shoulder, “Don’t you love your brother?” That Anna had never heard before. She’d never had anyone to be threatened with before and now it just made her angry. She whirled to her feet, “I won’t help you! I hate you and I hate being here!” “Now listen to me you little witch!” Her foster father snapped, “I don’t care what you think but nobody says no to me!” He looked about to slap Anna but Luther’s voice broke in, “It’s not her fault, she can’t do it by herself.” Mr. Bolt growled, “Whaddayamean?” “They have to be together for their powers to work.” “How do you know that?” “I dunno. I just know.” “Is that true?” Anna turned her eyes away.

She found herself dragged upstairs and locked in an upstairs closet with Mr. Bolt’s ties and shoes. It smelled funny, like dry cleaning. She looked around then called to Danny.

~Danny? Help me Danny! I’m a prisoner!~ Thunderbolt reared and kicked the ground, surely saying the same thing. Danny blinked, “Is that you Thunderbolt?” He unlocked the big gate and pushed it open. “C’mon Thunderbolt, you want to run around out here?” Hmmf! Thunderbolt turned away, maybe scared, maybe just arrogant. A white limo pulled up behind them. Danny realized, “I bet you’ve been locked up so long you don’t even know what freedom is anymore!” ~You’re a prisoner too Danny, you just don’t realize it!~ “Want to go for a spin Danny?” Mr. Bolt said coming up behind him and jingling the car keys. “You can drive.” “Me?” “Ever driven a car?” “No.” Danny was six years too young. “All the way back to the house if you like.” ~let in the light brother! I don’t want to lose you again!~ Danny didn’t get to decide. Mr. Bolt grabbed his sweater and dragged him to the car.

By Sunday morning I had the feeling time was running out. I needed to find someone with answers. Zoë’s motorcycle putted through the college campus. She knew the university; she took a class or two whenever she could save up enough money, counting up credits towards a degree in, well, something or other! But the Cosmology and Astrophysics Department was way beyond her grade level. She found the person she wanted to see in a lab with little lights in the shape of constellations on the wall and chemicals of different colors bubbling in flasks. “Professor Raffige?” The professor was adding something to a solution in a fishbowl. He didn’t hear. Zoë tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped and sputtered, “You scared the living leptons out of me! What are you doing here?” Zoë was just as startled, “Um, I, I read about you in the paper, and I snuck past security and I—“ “Well you just turn around and sneak back out! You ruined my cumulus dispersion!” Zoë flinched; this little white-haired guy was tough! She took a deep breath and pulled her determination back. “I drove fifty miles to get here and I’m not leaving until you talk to me.” She didn’t know it, but the lofty otherworldly look was shining in her face just for a moment. “Haven’t you heard of office hours?” The professor asked more mildly. “I’m not a student. I just want to know if—if people can go through space on a beam of light!” “Like Star Trek? Wonderful show! ‘Beam me up Scotty!’” “Kind of. But purple.” “Ultra frequency? The technology for that’s probably two thousand years away.” Zoë had found a kindred spirit. “How come in movies aliens are always slimy and weird? Couldn’t there be aliens who look just like us? I mean humans, from outer space.” “Now there’s a wicked controversy! The missing link. No one can explain the transition between animal and human consciousness.” “Are you saying… we could all be from another world?” “Well yes, if that’s what you want to believe. Of course it’s a radical explanation, proposing some sort of evolutionary leap catalyzed by… well, by a…” Zoë had left on the word ‘yes.’ The door clunked shut behind her. “I think therefore I am… I think. I think therefore I… think I am..?”

“Adoption papers.” Mr. Bolt waved them at his charges, “Already signed by the judge. That means you’re mine. I’m a powerful man in this county, nothing I couldn’t get away with. After all, who’re the police going to believe, me or a couple of orphans?” The twins looked at each other, Danny hurt and betrayed, Anna simmering with helpless anger. They heard children shouting outside before Luther came in and said apologetically, “Uh sir? There’s a busload of kids outside.” “Ah damn, the picnic. Completely slipped my mind. Send them away, make some excuse.” “There’s also a news crew.” “All right, I’ll make it quick. Lock them up. Separately.” “But,” Luther began and couldn’t think of a reason besides his conscience. Mr. Bolt snapped, “Do as I say!” And went out.

By the time he got outside he’d put on the friendly politician mask and was holding out his arms calling, “Hello, hello, welcome, how are ya’?” Soon kids were splashing in the pool while the reporter pointed her camera crew around to get good shots. “The station wants to turn this into a half hour special.” “Well I’m flattered.” Mr. Bolt wouldn’t turn down good publicity. “Orphan stories.” Claudia Flord explained with a chuckle, “Big ratings.” “Where are your pair?” Ms. Phillips asked. “Ah, I’m afraid they’ve been taken ill.” Zander had been hovering listening to the grownups. “Can I see them?” “It’s, ah, chicken pox I’m afraid.” “Chicken pox the first week? That’s what I call a crash course in the joys of foster parenting!” “Oh I’m lovin’ every minute of it!” Zander casually wandered off, going behind the bus. Mr. Bolt had picked the wrong sickness; Anna had already had chicken pox, at the same time as Zander and most of the other kids in the home. Something was fishy here. Looking around to make sure nobody was watching, Zander sauntered towards the big house.

Anna was back in the closet, this time handcuffed to the bar. She had a suspicion the handcuffs were borrowed from Sheriff Bronson, and a suspicion the sheriff didn’t know they’d been borrowed. She’d tried to fold her hands small and slip them out, but the cuffs were too tight. She’d tried to get the closet rod to come off the wall, but she just wasn’t strong enough. Then she heard a distant familiar sound. Zander’s duck call! “Zander? Zander!” She fumbled her own duck call into her mouth and blew with all her might. Zander answered, and Anna kept making noise so Zander could follow it and find her. Then the closet door burst open and Zander looked in. As soon as he saw her his expression changed from gleeful to angry. “Sick maniac! Are you ok? I’m calling the cops on him!” “No, I’m fine, he’s friends with the cops. Just help us get out of here, can you crack these?” Zander got a piece of wire out of his pocket and snorted, “Handcuffs? Piece of cake!” “I never thought I’d be glad to see you picking locks.” Anna thought she’d never been so glad to see anybody. Soon the handcuffs were on the floor and Anna was rubbing her sore wrists. “Ok, let’s find Danny.” “Don’t I get a hug?” Zander hadn’t changed. “Later. She reached out her thoughts and listened. “The stables.” “How d’you know?” “I have some things to tell you.”

She gave him a quick breathless explanation as they ran down to the stables. Zander wasn’t impressed. “Superhero powers, magic light, ESP?” “It’s true!” “I think all the caviar’s been going to your head.” A yell came from the big box stall, Danny calling, ‘Hey! In here! I’m handcuffed!” “We’ll get you out.” Anna looked at the lock on the door, a huge rusty old thing. “Zander?” “No way, I can’t break that monster.”

Upstairs Luther went to check on Anna and found instead an open door and unlocked handcuffs. “Oh brother!” He groaned and went to tell his boss.

Anna put one hand on the lock and the other to her head. “What are you doing?” Zander said. “Superhero stuff.” Anna said a little sheepishly and closed her eyes to concentrate. ~let’s use the light!~ “We’re too far!” Danny stretched out his hand but there were still six feet between him and the door. ~don’t think, use your heart~ A bolt of light burst from Danny’s fingers, purple sparks exploded around Anna’s hand, and the lock dropped open. “Whoa! How’d you do that?” “I’ll explain later.” Anna’s fragile hands fumbled the door open, “Get the handcuffs.” Freed, Danny muttered a thanks at Zander and they turned to flee. Luther ran into the barn doorway and skidded to a stop, trying to look determined and not really succeeding. “Hey kids? This is the only way out of here and I can’t let you pass, so…” Anna pleaded, “You’re not like him! You won’t hurt us!” “Now nobody’s going to hurt anybody! I’m just doing my job, Mr. Bolt’s a nice man once you get to know him…” Yeah right. Danny stopped listening and concentrated on using the light for a very small, very complicated job—tying Luther’s shoelaces together. “Come and get us then!” The kids ran. Luther dodged left—dodged right—tripped and fell on a pile of manure. Yuck.

Danny, Anna and Zander ducked behind some hay bales in another barn to catch their breath. Danny said, “I’m sorry for not believing you.” Anna smiled and forgave him, and they put their hands together. Zander jumped back out of the way of the light. “You guys weren’t joking!” “It’s still me inside.” Anna smiled. “Thanks Zander.” Danny held out his hand. They shook, and Zander looked relieved when his hand didn’t get zapped. Outside Luther’s voice groaned, “Oh I’m gonna get fired…” and the kids snickered silently and ducked back out of sight. “We’ve got to get out of here.” Anna said when Luther had gone. “I know! Thunderbolt!” Zander looked at the snorting Thunderbolt, “You can’t ride that horse.” “No, it’s ok, I made friends with him.” “How’re we going to get Thunderbolt out with Luther around?” “Diversion?” Danny suggested. “Diversion.” Anna looked at Zander. “Diversions are my specialty.” Zander grabbed something hung with cowbells and headed for Luther’s golf cart while Danny grabbed Thunderbolt’s saddle.

Luther was off chasing his hijacked golf cart but the twins still had an audience for their escape. Mr. Flynn was the first to chase them, shouting that it wasn’t safe to ride Thunderbolt. Then they came into the front yard just as Ms. Phillips and the kids were gathering up to go home. Kids stared and pointed at the two children on the big black horse. “How do we get out? The gate’s locked!” “We’ll jump the fence over there!” “We can’t jump that!” Anna protested, then had to hang on for dear life as her brother yelled Thunderbolt to go. They got closer, closer, then Thunderbolt stopped, uncertain. Mr. Bolt was coming. “Come on Thunderbolt, try again, try again!” Thunderbolt backed up for another try. He ran—jumped—Danny and Anna reached for the light and wished they could fly—they soared over the hedge and were free.

Chapter Six

Thunbderbolt carried the kids right to the Purple General Store and stopped in front when Danny tried a hesitant “Whoa.” The man dressed in purple stuck his head out the door. “Inside, quickly, quickly!” The kids slid off Thunderbolt’s back and went inside. The door closed and locked itself behind them. “Whoa! You have the light too!” “We all do! Everyone has the light inside!” said the odd man, who was now pulling the blinds closed—by hand. “Most humans have forgotten about it.” “But then who’re we? Where do we come from?” Anna asked as she and her brother sat down at the bar. “We come from a parallel dimension. A planet just like earth except everyone has a twin.” “So we’re from outer space?” Danny asked. Their new friend chuckled, “Something like that.” “Cool! I’m a Martian!” “Martian, Earthling, space cadet, they’re just names. It’s what’s inside that counts, and inside we are all from the same place.” Heaven, Anna thought. “So, what are we doing here?” “We’re here to learn. On earth we have emotions, we can learn to feel.” “But if we’re from another world how come we look like everybody else?” Danny asked. “Millions of years ago, our ancestors came here for a visit. They had so much fun they decided to stay. Well, that’s when the trouble began. Twins started fighting over…oh, worldly things. They drifted apart and lost their powers. Soon they’d forgotten where they came from and become human.” “You mean everyone comes from our world?” “They’ve just forgotten the light.” He nodded, looking very sad. “Since you were only babies when you came, you can’t remember where you’re from. I’m a kind of chaperone, here to make sure you all get home safely.” “When do we leave?” “Tonight. Unless you’d like to stay for another nine years.” They might have considered it, but just then Danny looked up and said, “I just got a weird feeling.” “Me too.” Said his sister. “Me three.” Then they heard knocking and voices outside. The three of them looked at each other and Danny and Anna ran to hide in the back of the shop to hide. ~policeman~ they heard as they slid under a table. “Sorry we’re closed.” “Looking for two kids.” The young cop called through the glass door, “Boy and a girl about ten years old?” “Kids? No, can’t say that I have.” But the deputy had seen Thunderbolt outside and wasn’t going to be put off by a country bumpkin imitation. Still polite he called, “Can I come in and look around?” “Certainly.” The man in purple waited a long moment before he reached down and unlocked the door. The policeman walked slowly into the back of the store. “Kids? I know you’re back here. Nobody’s going to hurt you, come on out.” Not likely, but in a few more steps he would be able to see the children. They looked at each other and dived for the delivery flap in the back door. Anna made it out but the policeman grabbed Danny’s foot. Danny yelled, “Go on, run! Or we’ll both be caught!” “I’m not leaving you!” Anna grabbed her brother’s hand and flash! The poor cop slid across the floor, hit a stack of feedbags, and got buried when they fell. The man in purple hurried over to dig him out.

They hadn’t gotten two steps away when two more police swooped in and grabbed them. They dragged the kids around to the front of the building. They saw Thunderbolt tied up with a lasso around his neck, their friend helping he young cop dust himself off—and Zander rummaging under the hood of the police car! All three officers yelled and went after Zander, and Danny and Anna yanked free and ran for it. The policewoman chased them around a building—and no one was there. Only a battered pickup truck with a load of junk in the back, driving away. The junk shifter, a tarp was pushed up just enough for her to see two faces under it before they ducked down again. When she got back she found her fellow officers tired out from trying to catch Zander. Zander had escaped in the golf cart and the man wearing purple… well, he seemed to have disappeared. “Call the sheriff. Those kids got away and another kid stole our spark plugs.”

Mr. Bolt was pacing outside his beautiful home. “If anything happens to those kids I’ll never forgive myself.” The sheriff said, “S’not your fault Mr. Bolt. Some kids’ll just always be runaways.” “It beats me why anyone would want to run away from a place like this.” The reported said, “Didn’t you say they were sick? Why would sick kids run away?” “I can’t imagine.” Mr. Bolt said and beat a hasty retreat. Luther caught his employer and tried to say that this whole situation was falling apart. Mr. Bolt just snapped at him and went to stand somewhere else where he could look the worried father and not be bugged by people asking questions! The sheriff had gotten a call on his radio. He put it down and called, “Mr. Bolt, Ms. Phillips, one of my men saw them in a truck that belongs to an old hermit who lives on the mountain. Can we borrow your bus to pick up my patrol?” “I’m coming too.” Mr. Bolt insisted. “So am I.” Ms. Phillips headed for the bus. But when Claudia Flord tried to follow Mr. Bolt got in front of her. “No press. These kids have a right to privacy.” “The public has a right to know.” Mr. Bolt grabbed the keys to the news van and tossed them into the bushes. “If you were a parent you’d understand.” As they got into the bus and the squad car, Ms. Phillips maneuvered to sit by Luther. “Nobody really had the chicken pox did they?” The two vehicles pulled out with sirens blaring as Claudia Flord marshaled the kids to search for her car keys.

Danny and Anna were hiding under an old smelling tarp in the back of the pickup. The truck rattled and bounced as it climbed steep mountain roads and the kids had to brace themselves on the gritty bed of the truck. They felt the truck pull to a stop, heard the door open and close, heard the hermit get out and walk away. Only then did they dare to get up. “He lives in a cave?” Danny observed. “Should we go in?” “Now I have a bad feeling.” They heard the man coming back and ducked down again. The old hermit was carrying a big ax. Danny whispered, “He’s one of the witches, let’s get out of here!” “No wait, we’re miles from the road, we don’t know whee we are. We need help!” Anna hopped out of the truck and ran into the cave. With nothing else to do, Danny followed. It as an interesting cave with stacks of magazines and books and heaps of old bottles on the floor and stuff hanging from the ceiling. And strangely, a game of solitaire spread out on a table. Then they heard the hermit coming back. He saw them immediately and raised his ax. Anna screamed, Danny yelled, they both tried to run. The hermit hollered wordlessly, he looked confused, but he was between them and the exit. The ax swung— and came down, splitting a piece of wood. Ax and firewood dropped to the floor. ~you don’t want to hurt us~ Anna realized, ~I can sense it~ ~you babies kids~ “I remember you! You’re the one who separated us. It happened at Witch Mountain, that’s why we’re so scared of it!” Anna put one hand on the ragged man’s shoulder. Danny got up and did the same. Two tired, tearstained kids and an old hermit who couldn’t even speak. “We need you.” Danny said, “We need your help.” By facing their fears, they had made a new friend. Funny how life is. For years I’d been avoiding the mysterious circle where I saw the two babies. Now I knew it was time to go back. When the story of the babies had first come out, some of the mountain people had made a circle of stones and planted two bushes on the spot. It looked a little like a grave. Zoë sat down by the two plants and said slowly, “Kids? I don’t know your names but maybe your spirits are still here. Maybe you can hear me. I don’t know why, but I feel connected to you. I want to know where you’re from, where you’re going, maybe help you get there if you need it.” She stopped and sighed, “Oh this is stupid.” She heard a loud throat clearing and jumped. A man in a fancy purple suit was standing behind her. “You’re sincere aren’t you?” He said, “Maybe there is a way you can help.” “How?” “Go to the mountain.” “When?” “Now. You’ll see why.” And he disappeared into thin air. The miracle of miracles! The mysterious connection. I had to go where I hadn’t been since I was a little girl.

“You were probably the first one to see us land.” Danny said as the two children and the hermit walked out of the cave, “Now you can watch us leave.” “Where’s your family?” Anna asked curiously. The hermit couldn’t talk so Danny answered for him, “He doesn’t have one.” They piled into the pickup and headed up the mountain. The road was getting steeper, and the view spun out below them. Up ahead they saw a woman fiddling with the engine of a motorcycle. When she saw them she jumped up and started waving. “Stop! Help! My bike broke down, I’ve gotta get up the mountain!” The truck pulled up and Zoë got a look in the window. She stopped yelling with a gasp. “It’s you! You!” The twins looked at Zoë, looked at the hermit, looked back at Zoë. It’s who? “I’ve been waiting nine years for this.” It was such an amazing feeling, like I’d known them forever, even the lonely hermit in his squeaky truck. We were together now. The mysterious connection. Zoë abandoned her bike and squeezed into the cab of the truck. They introduced themselves, except for the ragged man, as they drove on. “How much farther to the top?” Danny asked a few minutes later. “Less than a mile.” “There are police cars chasing us.” Anna said, and she was right. The old truck labored higher and into a tunnel. On the other side they could see Witch Mountain, the witch’s profile looking almost friendly in the late afternoon sunlight. Until the bus from the home pulled up and blocked the view. Two police cars came screaming up to block the way they’d come in. They were trapped. Police with flashlights got out of their cars and Sheriff Bronson got out with a megaphone. Mr. Bolt got out the other side of the police car and leaned on the door, chuckling. “Daddy’s here.” He said under his breath. The old hermit’s thoughts were babbling with fear, Zoë was thinking she didn’t want a criminal record at her young age, and Danny and Anna were thinking fast. The sheriff called through his megaphone, “Ok, come out of the truck. Let the kids go and no one will get hurt.” Danny looked around and saw faces. Mr. Bolt, gloating. Ms. Phillips, worried. Zander, how had he gotten here? A crowd of police, ready to do their duty and unaware of what was really going on. “Ok, you’ve got thirty seconds to come out peacefully.” Danny held up his hands, “Let’s use the light!” “Ok!” The light flickered, brightened, shone. The old truck rose a few inches in the air— And dropped, rattling their teeth. “We don’t have enough power!” Anna cried. “Oh no, now what do we do?” “Can they help?” “What?” “Everybody has the light remember?” Anna held one hand out to her brother and one to the ragged man. “Yeah, make a circle!” Zoë squealed, “This is it! This is why I’m here! The purple guy, he knew you’d need my help!” The old hermit was not so enthusiastic. He hung back until Anna looked at him with her jewel eyes and said, “Don’t be afraid. Let in the light.” This time it was like four stars were born inside the clunky truck. The light blazed, everyone outside shaded their eyes. Zander and Ms. Phillips grabbed onto each other in amazement, the truck spun in midair and flew out of the tunnel and into the sky. As it went, a bunch of junk fell out of the back and someone’s stray thought made sure it went down right on Mr. Bolt. Mr. Bolt was hit with a bucketful of something yucky and tarry, it got all over his expensive suit and the other stuff landed close enough to raise a cloud of dust. He coughed and cursed and tried to wipe off the black ooze. The sheriff gave him a handkerchief. A minute later Mr. Bolt had worse problems. Ms. Phillips stomped over. “Your chauffer told me everything Mr. Bolt. You had those kids under lock and key, you were going to force them to use that—that power to make yourself more money!” “You ungrateful little turncoat! You’re fired!” Mr. Bolt snapped. Luther snapped right back, “Too late, I quit a half hour ago. I’m going where I belong!” “Hey, I need you to testify!” Luther stopped, got out a fat notebook with keys jingling inside the front cover, and tossed it to the sheriff. “Look in the desk in the front office.” Zander was waving from the foot of a path, “They’re going to the witch’s shoulder, come on!” Ms. Phillips followed him, Luther coming after both of them. Sheriff Bronson looked in the little book and found combinations to three safes and keys to the locks in the Bolt mansion, along with Mr. Bolt’s schedule. He tossed the book into the car and helped his deputy put Mr. Bolt in the back seat. “Take this guy back to the station. I have to go see something.” And he started up the dusty path to the witch’s shoulder.

The truck sailed down on the hill called the witch’s shoulder and clunked to a stop. Doors were shoved open and the four people jumped out. They could see a small crowd of people and Zoë and the twins ran towards them. The hermit followed clumsily with his walking stick. The man in the purple tuxedo was waving a fancy cane and saying, “All right everybody, form a line, in pairs.” The people were lining up and Danny and Anna could see they were all pairs of twins! Two young men in cowboy hats, two African-American girls with identical beaded braids, a pair of blonde women, a boy and girl who looked Asian… Danny and Anna got in the back of the line and the man in purple waved hello with his cane. Then he went off a little way by himself and held his free hand in the air in a strange formal gesture. “What are you doing?” Danny asked, Baffled. The man in purple shot him a look. “You’re not the only one with a twin around here you know.” Light burst around his hand and a column of light came down from the sky. It swirled like amethyst cloud, connecting the earth to the heavens. “His twin’s on the other side!” Anna realized, “Where we’re going!” The other pairs gasped and exclaimed and Zoë just stared. It was the miracle,. The same as before! The two young men stepped into the circle and, grinning, tossed their cowboy hats out. Then they put their hands together. Their light blended with the pillar’s light and they rose up, their feet leaving the ground. The two men didn’t look back. Their bodies faded into the light and they were gone. “Next, next,” The man in purple waved to the next pair and they went ahead eagerly. The ragged hermit came up to Danny and Anna and tried to speak. Danny said, “Goodbye. We couldn’t have done it without you.” But the nameless man shook his head and pointed at the circle. “He wants to go with us!” “Can he come?” Anna asked. “Not alone. He needs someone else to make the light.” The man in purple said with regret. The twins looked around. “What about you Zoë?” But Zoë shook her head. “Somebody has to stay and tell the story.” She said nobly. Rocks clattered and a breathless Zander and sweaty Ms. Phillips climbed up. They saw the pillar of light, stopped, and stared. Finally Zander tore his eyes away and ran to Anna. “Whoa, you really are a superhero!” “So are you, Zander.” Anna smiled her sweetest smile and put up her hand. “My turn to give you a present.” Their hands touched and a little star glowed between them. Anna said, “See? You have it too.” Zander’s voice was hoarse, “I’ll never forget about you.” “I gotta go.” Zander didn’t argue, but if he wasn’t such a tough guy someone might think he was almost going to cry.

Luther got to the top of the hill and stood panting. His sallow face was flushed with exertion but the chauffer uniform was still immaculate. He and the old hermit stared at each other. ~can you hear me?~ ~it was you!~ The hermit pursed his lips and struggled to speak. “Uh—bru—bru-ther!” “Brother?” Luther stammered, and they threw their arms around each other. “I thought you were a dream!” They were both crying. “They’re twins!” Danny half-laughed. What a mismatched pair of twins! “Ah, I’ve been wondering when those two would show up. They’ve been missing the ride home for forty-five years!” “They’re the ones who discovered us.” “We’re all drawn together. It’s in the stars. Come, don’t you want to go home?” He turned back to Danny and Anna to say, “You go last, to seal the doorway.” “What about you?” Anna asked. “I have to stay here, to welcome the next group of visitors.” Last of all Sheriff Bronson made it up the hill, in time to watch Mr. Bolt’s chauffer and the old tramp walk into the circle of light, rise into the air, and disappear. “I’ve never been a believer, but that’s a miracle!” Zoë smiled at him, “Better than hot fudge sundaes?” “Now it’s your turn. Don’t be afraid, come.” Danny grinned and they stepped into the circle. They looked up and saw only the light and the sky. They looked at each other, smiled uncertainly, and put their hands together. The light blazed up, flickered, and faded away. “Why isn’t this working?” Anna bit her lip. “I don’t know. You scared?” “I just don’t know what it’ll feel like. How do we even know we’ll like it up there?” “I’m scared too. But that’s what’s fun about it. The mystery. Nothing bad can happen now. We’re together again.” ~don’t be afraid. Use your heart. Let in the light.~ The light returned. The pillar of light came up from the earth, fading off into the sky, carrying the children to the other world.

So that’s the amazing mystery. The light carried us down here many years ago and now we’ve forgotten about it. It may be hard for you to believe, but look into your heart. I’m not the only one that feels they don’t quite belong. We’re all castaways here. Don’t be afraid. Let in the light. You’ll see it too.