“Yes,” Fen said humbly. “We’re sorry. We were worried so many people would gawk at the robot that it’d cause a traffic pile-up.”
“It’s so realistic,” said the second cop. “It’s incredible.”
Both cops stared at Norris. Carter tried not to look at Fen as she took the opportunity to remove Sugar from her blouse and hide him in the glove compartment.
“What are you going to use it for?” asked the second cop.
“I’m afraid we can’t say,” Carter replied, hoping the cops would assume he meant it was some kind of military project.
He was relieved that they did exactly that, glancing at each other and nodding. The first cop said, “I’ll radio someone to fetch that tarp.”
Carter shot a desperate glance at Fen, hoping she would pick up his unspoken cue. She promptly began chatting with the second cop, holding his attention while Carter made another attempt to turn off the fish drive. This time it responded normally. He turned it off, then disabled it.
Of course,he thought.Of course my electronic curse happens at the worst possible time.
It stopped happening at the best possible time,a monster growled.
Carter grudgingly conceded the monster’s point.
What seemed like the entire police force of the town arrived along with the tarp, ostensibly to help put it back on but actually to gawk at the hyper-realistic marine robot.
“I’ll drive the last leg,” said Fen.
He was happy to switch with her. With her hands on the controls, he was confident that the fish drive would stay off.
“Do you need an escort?” asked a cop hopefully.
Carter firmly shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s to an undisclosed location.”
The cops held off the looky-loos while Fen took the wheel and drove off. As soon as they were out of sight of everyone, Carter opened the glove compartment. Sugar leaped out, chittering angrily, and glided down to sulk atop Precious’s carrying cage.
“I’m going to murder Norris,” said Carter.
“I’ll help,” said Fen. “To think we gave him all those treats, too!”
“If the witch can’t help us, he can drive himself back to the swamp.”
“I totally agree.”
Kerenza Couch lived on the outskirts of town, in a small forest of oak, white pine, and hickory. Fen maneuvered the truck along a dirt road and came to a stop at a little log cabin that looked like it had been there since the American Revolution. Given what the porcupine witch had said about her ancestors, maybe it had.
He’d expected a skinny old lady with straggly gray hair, wearing a black dress and a pointed hat, but the woman who emerged from the cabin was comfortably plump and wore a bright pink velour pantsuit. She did have gray hair, but it was clipped short and topped with a sun visor. Her scowl, however, was exactly as expected.
She marched up to the truck and snapped her fingers. “Let’s have a look at your fishy friend.”
They hauled off the tarp and revealed Norris. Kerenza and Norris gaped at each other. She recovered first. “This is his natural shift form?”
Carter nodded. “That is, he wasn’t born a shifter. He was made into one by a wizard-scientist.”
“Oh.” Kerenza wrinkled her nose like she’d spotted a cockroach in her Jell-O salad. “Them.”
“You know about them?” Fen asked. “Can you tell us about them?”
The porcupine witch gave a disgusted snort. “They’ve been around forever. Since King Arthur’s time, though they were wizard-alchemists then. They have more power than wisdom—more power than they ought to have.”
Carter, intrigued, said, “Do you know where it comes from?”
“No, but I do know some tricks to counter theirs.” Kerenza gave a satisfied snort. “They stay away from me, let me tell you! One of them tried their silly freezing trick on me, and I sent him home with a backside full of quills.”
