A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic by Lisa Papademetriou Page B

with a strategy for what to do if a friend headed into a creepy-looking graveyard, expecting her to follow. Kai was not someone who was very accustomed to being brave. In fact, the bravest thing Kai’d ever had to do was perform Mozart’s Concerto #4 in D Major for Susan Laviere, which was terrifying, but in a completely different way. So you will please excuse her for thinking that it might be wise to just leave Doodle in the graveyard and head on home, preferably at top speed.
    But she only thought that for a moment. Then she realized what a lowdown thing it would be to let a friend go into a graveyard full of hunching, hulking white stones all alone after dark. And so she forced one foot in front of the other.
    Kai followed an elegant stone footpath, and shuddered as the wind blew behind her, making the gate creak like it thought it was a gate from some scary movie. “Doodle?” she called, as she wound her way between massive headstones. A white marble woman looked up at the sky, rooted to a pedestal that read, M. Jonas 1835–1913 .
    She tried not to think of M. Jonas under the ground, waiting to reach up and grab at her ankles. She called again.
    â€œOver here!” Doodle cried.
    Kai spotted her nearby, leaning over, looking at something at the base of a large tree. The tree was hunched and twisted, with a cluster of branches on one side that seemed to reach for the marble statue. This was clearly the Lightning Tree. Kai forgot her fear and hurried to join her. “Did you find one?”
    â€œLook.” Doodle’s voice was a whisper. She pointed at the trunk.
    Kai clicked on her flashlight, but Doodle snapped, “Turn it off.” Kai did.
    â€œI don’t see anything.”
    â€œWait.”
    So she did. Kai stared at the trunk of the tree, where Doodle pointed to a black hollow. Kai stood on tiptoe, looking down into the darkness. Slowly, something began to appear. Something long and luminous, like a misshapen pearl, glowed faint blue. “That’s not a moth. Is it?”
    â€œNo, but it could be a cocoon.” Delicately, Doodle plucked it from the bark. “It’s covered in resin.”
    â€œLike a bug in amber?” Kai had seen a display of prehistoric insects at the natural history museum.
    â€œExactly.”
    Doodle shone her flashlight on a red flower growing near the base of the tree. “Hm, I’ve seen this flower before. There’s a bunch of them that grow in a field close by. But the factory always mows it.” She peered again at the cocoon.
    Kai was just about to ask if Doodle thought it was a cocoon for a Celestial Moth, when a loud crack snapped behind them. Kai wheeled; Doodle leaped to her feet.
    Something flashed—a movement between the gravestones. Kai let out a little scream.
    Doodle lifted her eyebrows. “Really? You’re screaming?”
    Kai couldn’t catch her breath. She wanted to say, “Something’s there!” but she couldn’t make the words come out. Not that it mattered. The thing moved again, and Doodle started chasing it.
    â€œDon’t leave me!” Kai called, running after her friend, who was pounding up the footpath.
    The thing was on the other side of the iron gate, near the side of the coffin factory. At the sound of Doodle’s footsteps, the thing raced off.
    Oh, thank god, Kai thought, immediately followedby— Why did Lavinia let me out after dark? Why? “Stop!” Doodle shouted. “Stop, you stupid jerk!” She dashed after the thing, but it had disappeared around the corner of the building. She shook the net angrily in the general direction of the escapee.
    â€œWhat was that?” Kai asked.
    â€œNot what,” Doodle said, “who.”
    Doodle looked in her net. The cocoon was still there, unharmed. She looked over at Kai. “Come on,” she said.
    Kai didn’t know what to make of any of this. “What was that all