Read What the Witch Left for Free Online

“Now, eat away.” He sat down on Nora’s bed to watch her.
    Nora stood in front of the desk. She shut her eyes tight and thought hard. Then she started to eat the hard old fudge. Nora thought she was going to choke, but she kept right on eating and thinking. First she ate one piece, then two, then three. Nora’s nose twitched and suddenly she felt very hungry. It wasn’t hard to eat the last piece of fudge.

Nora opened her eyes.
    What was wrong? Where was she? What were those two strange things? She heard a harsh grating noise. Nora looked up. Now she understood.
    The two things in front of her were Tad’s feet. The noise was the sound ofchewing—a giant chewing. Tad was eating the fudge.

    When he finished the second piece, Tad said, “The fudge is still magic all right. You look good as a mouse.”
    “I’d better not waste time,” said Nora. “Tie the bag of powdered fudge around my neck.”
    Tad tied the little package around Nora’s neck with button thread. She ran into the closet and slipped through the crack under the baseboard.
    It was dark between the walls, but here and there a crack let in a little daylight. Nora trotted along the mouse trail. It turned and twisted between the rooms, went up and down wooden slats, and traveled into the house next door.
    At last Nora saw a hole that would be easy to run through. She came out into the light, blinking her eyes.
    Her nose warned her. Something terrible was near!
    Nora looked up into two cold blue eyes. Henry! She had gone into Maggie’s apartment by mistake!
    Without knowing how she did it, Nora turned around and dived back into the mouse hole. Her heart was beating fast. She had to stay very still until it slowed down.
    Then Nora went on following the mouse trail. She had to hurry before Mrs. Hastings made that phone call.
    Nora poked her head out of a crack and looked all around. She saw the stairs that led down to Mrs. Hastings’ part of the house. She slipped out onto the stairs and jumped down, step by step. She wished her feet didn’t make such a scratchy sound.
    When she reached the hall at the foot of the stairs, Nora squeezed under the door into Mrs. Hastings’ living room.
    Mrs. Hastings was talking on the telephone. “Department of Health? I want to report a dangerous condition. My tenant, Mrs. Brown, has a great number of animals in her apartment—cats, dogs, birds, snakes, even rats. It smells dreadful. You’ll send someone tomorrow? Thank you.” Mrs. Hastings gave her address and hung up the telephone.
    Nora crouched under the sofa. She was too late! Even if she managed to get the fudge into Mrs. Hastings’ coffee, the effect would wear off before tomorrow. Sadly Nora crept out of the room.
    She sneaked through Mrs. Hastings’ dining room and kitchen and out into the yard. From there it was easy to get into her own yard and creep under the back door into the kitchen.
    Tad was sitting at the kitchen table. Nora tugged at his shoelace. Tad looked down. When he saw Nora, he picked herup and put her in his shirt pocket. “I don’t want Mother to see you,” he said. “What happened?”
    “Take me to my room,” Nora said. “We can talk there.”
    Tad left the kitchen and went upstairs with Nora in his pocket. “Why didn’t you use the fudge?” he asked, untying the packet from Nora’s neck.
    “Mrs. Hastings was just telephoning the Health Department. I was too late.” Nora sat on the pillow and scratched herself. She ran her fingers down her long tail. “Hold me up to the mirror, Tad. I want to see what I look like.”
    Tad held her in front of the mirror. Nora stroked her whiskers and admired her soft pink ears.

    “When are they going to inspect Maggie’s apartment?” Tad asked.
    “Tomorrow,” said Nora.
    “That’s Saturday. Maggie will be busy feeding people’s cats.” Tad put Nora back on the pillow. “If we could go over and clean the place, that might help. And maybe we could hide the kittens and the sparrow