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girl!”
    Tense, Penny waited to see what Faye would do. Faye let the first pitch go by; it was too low. She let the next one go by;
     it was also too low.
    “Make it be in there, Faye!” Coach Parker’s advice came from the third-base coaching box.
    Two-and-nothing. Faye should let the next pitch go by, too, whether or not it was going to be a strike, Penny thought. If
     it was a strike, Faye would still have two chances left to hit. If it was a ball, the chances were better that the next pitch
     would be a ball and she’d draw a walk.
    The pitch came in. It was a good one, and Faye swung at it. She walloped it hard into right center field and stopped on second
     base for a stand-up double. Edie held up at third.
    “Way to go, Faye!” Harold cried, his face beaming again as he made the proper notation in the scorebook. Penny could not resist
     glancing in his direction to see the expression on his face.
    “The winning run’s on second, Shari!” Harold yelled then. “Get a hit, Shari! A hit will do it!”
    Shari stepped into the box, took three pitches, then slammed a waist-high pitch between the right and left center fielders
     for a stand-up double. The hit drove in Edie and Faye, ending the ball game, with the Hawks winning it, 12 to 11.
    Penny found herself cheering with all the other members of the team and the Hawks’ fans, but her heart wasn’t in it.
It wasn’t Shari who had hit that ball
, she told herself.
It wasn’t Faye who had hit hers, and it wasn’t Karen who had hit that home run. Something had taken over their bodies. And
     there was one person who knew what it was: Harold Dempsey!

NINE
    “P ENNY !”
    Penny had left the dugout and was running to catch up with Melanie when she heard the voice. She stopped running, turned,
     and stared in surprise at the stout, slightly bowlegged boy sprinting toward her, the score-book clasped tightly against his
     side.
    “Yes, Harold?” she asked as he came up beside her, puffing slightly.
    That beaming face again! Was he mocking her?
    “I’d like to ask you something,” he said.
    “Oh?” She started to walk on, hoping to reach Melanie at the gate. At the same time, she didn’t want to be left alone with
     Harold.She had become frightened of him. She was sure now he was responsible for Karen’s, Shari’s, and Faye’s strange behavior and
     abnormal athletic abilities. She had questions to ask him, too, but she wasn’t prepared to spring them on him now.
    She stared at him. “What is it you want to ask me, Harold?” she said, trying to keep her voice under control.
    “Will . . . will you go to a movie with me this Saturday afternoon?” he asked in a soft, pleasant voice. “The one that starts
     at five P.M., because — ”
    Penny’s hazel eyes widened as she heard his invitation. “You asked me once before, Harold, and I said I couldn’t go.”
    He nodded, his head bobbing as if it were hooked onto a spring. “I know. And you said you were going to be busy that Saturday
     afternoon. I thought — ”
    “I’m sorry, Harold,” she interrupted. “I mean . . . I don’t know. I’ll have to see if my mom and dad have anything planned.
     Okay?”
    She had to get out of it somehow. And she didn’t want him to think that she suspected him of any villainy. Not now. She felt
     she would be in danger now.
    She flashed him a weak smile. “I’m sorry,” she said again, and started to run toward the exit, when another voice suddenly called out to her. “Penny! Wait a second!”

    She looked over her shoulder to her right and saw that it was Jonny Keech. Jonny! Her heart skipped a beat. She almost failed
     to see that Karen was with him. His head was bare, and his blond hair was tossing about like corn tassels in the wind. There
     was a humorous glint in his blue eyes as he and Karen came forward, and Penny wondered if it was because they had seen her
     talking with Harold.
    “What? Walking home alone?” Jonny asked, cracking a smile that