"What's happening, Mack." Yo Yo called out to him.
Mack didn't answer. He got ahead of the pack and turned and faced them. "Not one step closer," he said. Over his shoulder, he called out to Yo Yo. "Some of these folks got to thinking you a witch tonight. Came to pay a visit. Maybe have them a lynching."
"Nobody going to lynch nobody," said Lamar.
"Me? A witch?" said Yo Yo. And she laughed.
It was a glorious laugh, warm and resonant. It seemed to reverberate from the hills on either side. It seemed to make the stars twinkle clearer overhead.
More people were walking up the hill and down the hill to converge at her house.
"Sherita!" called out Ebby. "What happened?"
Sherita burst into tears and hid behind Yo Yo.
"She nearly got raped, that's what," said Yo Yo. "She was asleep in her own bed having this dream, and she woke up at a friend's house and there was her gangbanger brother getting all set to start a train on her. Yeah, that's what! And you know why it didn't happen? Cause Mack saw her dream and told Ceese and he called his buddies on the force and they got there in time. Isn't that right, Sherita?"
They could see that Sherita was nodding.
"What you people want here?" demanded Yo Yo. "Leave this girl alone. I just brought her here to clean up and borrow some clothes before she went home. She didn't want her daddy and mama to see her with nothing on."
Lamar turned to Mack. "All that proves is the two of you got your stories together."
"Give it a rest, Lamar," said Osie Fleming. "The girl isn't denying it. And Mack's right. It's crazy to be going after a witch like this. What were we thinking?"
"He believes in magic, dammit," said Lamar. "It's not like he's saying there's no such thing as a witch!"
"And I'm saying we're crazy to treat this like an emergency," said Osie. "What were we thinking?
Plenty of time to talk about this tomorrow. Find out how much of what Mack Street here told us is the truth. We can talk to Ceese. We can talk to the Chums. We can talk to Byron. Let's go home and go to bed. Witch hunt in the middle of the night. We must be crazy."
Yo Yo called out from the driveway. "Any of you need a ride up the hill, I'll be back outside in a minute!"
Shut up, Yo Yo, Mack thought but did not say. You're not making any friends teasing them like that.
"I heard that, Mack Street," she said to him as he approached.
"You did not."
"Did so."
"What did I say?"
"You said, 'I'm your hero now, Miz Yolanda, cause I kept them from breaking up your house.' "
"I didn't know you wasn't inside," said Mack.
"So you were saving my life."
"Take that girl inside, Yo Yo."
But Sherita didn't go. She turned to face Mack. Now that the crowd was dispersed, she didn't feel so ashamed. "Officer that saved me said it was Ceese Tucker told him to come save me. And Ceese told me it was you saw what I was getting into," she said.
"I know you didn't choose to do it," said Mack.
"Thank you, Mack," she said. "And for what it's worth, I never thought you was crazy."
Behind her, Yo Yo waggled her eyebrows. But Mack didn't laugh. "Thank you, Sherita. Now you go on inside with Yolanda."
It was near three A.M. before Yo Yo got Sherita back to her folks and extricated herself from tears and hugs and thanks. And not long after that, Mack joined her, along with Ceese and Grand Harrison down Cloverdale, between the Snipe and Chandress houses.
"What's he doing here?" asked Ceese. Yolanda was just as suspicious.
Mack smiled. "He was my ride?"
"You walk everywhere, Mack," said Ceese.
"He helped me dig out Miz Ophelia," said Mack. "He knows what he saw. He knows you got powers, but he believes you're not a witch. There's no reason to leave him out now. And we need all the friends we can get."
"If I can," said Mack. "I'll hold on to him and Ceese and get them inside."
"And what about me?" asked Yo Yo.
"You don't need my help."
"You ever seen me inside there?" she asked.
"No."
"Then how do you know I don't need your help?"
"Puck—Mr. Christmas—he gets in and out just fine."
"That's cause it suits my husband's purposes to let him. But me? I don't think so."
"If he's watching everything you do," said Ceese, "then how can you expect to fight him and win?"
"He's not watching," said Yo Yo. "He just made this place so it locks down hard if I come up."
"So what makes you think Mack can get you in?"
"Cause he's such a lucky boy," said Yo Yo.
"That's why I'm so rich," said Mack. "Come on, let's see if we can all go at once, holding on to each other. If we can't, I'll take you one at a time."
Chapter 19
COUNCIL OF WAR Puck was waiting for them inside the house. The living room was furnished exactly like Yo Yo's living room. In fact, it was her furniture, right down to having Sherita's blanket tossed on the couch.
"Puck," said Yo Yo, "just keep your hands off my stuff."
"I never know what's going to show up here," said Puck. "The boy comes in bringing you—so your stuff appears. Bingo! Presto! Abracadabra!"
"Bite me," said Yo Yo.
"You always offer, but you're all talk."
"I know what he does to his servants who, uh, bite you."
"We got a situation," said Ceese, "and we got to figure out what to do."
"You?" said Puck. "You don't have a situation, my lady and I have a situation."
"This shit tonight didn't happen to you, it happened to people in our neighborhood, and we're going to do something about it," said Ceese.
"Ceese, he knows that," said Mack.
Puck grinned cheesily.
"Asshole," muttered Ceese.
"Bad language exacerbates the situation," said Puck. "I know they taught you that in cop nursery.
Always stay calm."
"What in the world is going on with you people?" said Grand Harrison. "Tonight I was just minding my own business, and then I get my tools and my SUV borrowed, I dig up a grave, open a coffin, and take my next-door neighbor out. Then I get brought down here into a house that doesn't exist and listen to a bunch of fools argue about nothing. You know what I want? I want to know how you all going to keep this stuff from happening again."
"What stuff?" asked Puck.
"Wishes," said Mack.
"Mack's dreams," said Ceese.
"He's cut loose a big one tonight, Pudding," said Yo Yo.
"That means he's got himself a pony to ride," said Puck—again talking as if Yo Yo were the only person in the room.
"Yes," said Yo Yo.
"A pony?" asked Ceese.
"Some human he can work through. Kind of like the way my lady and I using these two bodies."
Grand didn't like hearing that. "You telling me that you—that these bodies are possessed?"
"Leased," said Puck. "With option."
"This old coot," said Puck, "be eating out of dumpsters and licking sweet roll wrappers and walking around talking to his dead dog named God, cause he figured as long as he knew it wasn't really God, just a dog with God's name, he wasn't actually schizo."
"We don't take bodies somebody actually using," said Yo Yo. "And that's the truth, Mr.
Harrison."