The Witch in the Lake by Anna Fienberg

my living this way,’ Merilee said. ‘And then we’ll just run away, we’ll escape like two birds out of a cage, and fly!’
    â€˜
Mamma mia
, Merilee,’ Leo grinned, ‘you’re beginning to sound like me! Why don’t you play another song and we’ll pretend we’re in Venice, in that grand Piazza San Marco, with all the gondolas gliding up and down the canals—’
    â€˜And the fat merchants in their silk robes strutting around the streets like pigeons—’
    â€˜Calling out, “Who’s that pretty musician in the square, I’ll pay her 1000 lira for a song!”’
    And so Merilee played on until the air amongst the thick trees grew cold and sunlight hardly glimpsed through the leaves.
    â€˜Oh, Leo,’ Merilee groaned, when they both came back to the world of the forest and looked about them, ‘why do we always do this?’
    â€˜Because we never have enough time, that’s why.’ Leo suddenly looked fierce again, like he had last Wednesday coming back from the lake, and Merilee’s heart sank.
    â€˜I told Aunt Beatrice that I was late last time because I was looking for her wretched rosemary and thyme,’ Merilee said. ‘So now I’ll have to go and pick some. Only I’m going to be late again.’
    Leo sprang up. ‘I’ll help you. We’ll do it together, it’ll be quicker.’
    But just then, as Merilee was packing her recorder into her bag and Leo was putting on his hat, they both heard a noise. It sounded like a branch snapping, further up the path.
    â€˜Quiet!’ hissed Leo. They both held their breath. Merilee’s heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t hear anything else.
    A whiff of perfume, thick and spicy, drifted up. Merilee’s stomach tightened. She smelled dried herbs, rosemary, marjoram. A feeling of dread so deep settled in her that her body felt bound to the earth, as if she’d grown roots and could never get up.
    A thick-bodied woman in a long black dress strode out of the bushes.
    â€˜There you are, you sneaky little wasp!’ Aunt Beatrice cried. She dived at Merilee, pulling her up by her long dark hair.
    â€˜Leave her alone!’ cried Leo. He tried to catch hold of Merilee’s hands but Beatrice swung around to face Leo. Scarlet rose up into her face, colouring it completely the way a drop of paint colours a glass of water in a second.
    â€˜You devil!’ she spat. ‘You dare to talk to me like that? What are you doing with my niece, sneaking around like the viper you are!’
    â€˜Aunt Beatrice,’ Merilee whispered. Her voice shook with shock. ‘We just happened to meet here in the forest. I was looking for more herbs, because the ones I collected the other day were not good, not—’
    Beatrice let out a bark of laughter. Her mouth opened so wide that Leo and Merilee could see the great black gaps where her rotting teeth had been pulled.
    â€˜More lies you’re going to tell me? Come on then, give me some more rope to hang you with!’
    Merilee was silent. Her legs trembled so much she was sure they’d just fold under her, and she’d sink to the ground like someone in a stupor.
    â€˜I knew you hadn’t been looking for herbs, my girl,’ Aunt Beatrice hissed. ‘Since when have you ever interested yourself in my work? I ask you to learn the slightest thing about it, the slightest thing, and you sigh and tap your foot and the next day forget anything I said.’
    Glancing up at the crimson Beatrice, Merilee found it hard to remember how such a face had ever broken into a smile.
    â€˜So when you told me you were out late collecting herbs,’ Beatrice went on, ‘I wanted to laugh in your face. And sure enough, you left none on the table, and there was not a hint of them in your room.’
    Merilee looked down at the ground. She noticed a small brown cricket hop near the toe of her