The witch, followed by the cat, breezed by Lulu and Reggie and as the witch passed, one cold, wet tentacle actually spathered across Lulu's cheek. She could barely contain a shriek. The witch passed through the curtains behind them. This was their chance, if Lulu was right about the painting, anyway.
“Come on, Reggie, follow me.” Lulu was still surprised that Reggie didn’t even bother to argue. There were advantages to having him under a wicked witch curse, Lulu thought. In fact, there would be advantages to leaving him behind. She thought for a moment about the Jerusalem Cricket, then decided it wouldn’t be very nice for her mom if she left Reggie. Besides, if anyone ever found out she had intentionally, or even on purpose, left Reggie behind, she’d likely be grounded forever. Then she tried her very hardest not to picture a pet monkey, which made it impossible not to think of a pet monkey, which made her think of her mom some more and her mom's reaction to the pet monkey. She had to actually look at Reggie to blot out the mental image of the monkey, which returned as soon as she thought that and superimposed itself over the sight of Reggie.
Their mom actually liked the snot-nosed creep. She felt a little bit bad. (Just a little.) He was sometimes okay. They had fun making forts together and he was good at catching water skippers. Lulu's mom often told her that when she got mad at Reggie she should try to think of something good about him, and she'd realize that there was more she liked about him than what she didn't like.
The real truth was that the fort and water skipper stuff was all she had, and it was getting a little worn out, too, since she didn't like catching water skippers any more and she didn't particularly want to build a fort with him because it would mean having to let him into it, which would defeat the whole purpose of a fort. At least, though, an idea occurred to her.
She led Reggie to the painting to test her hypothesis. It was a landscape, or rather a flower-scape, in which beautiful blooms of every color were rendered in thick paint and in such profusion that the surface practically squirmed with color. Or maybe the flowers were actually stirred by a faint breeze, it was difficult to tell.
As Lulu drew near the painting, a figure appeared in it, coming closer as she did, the face looking out of the painting at her when she got near. It was as if she were looking into a mirror, except that her face had the appearance of a decorated sugar skull. She had bright red lips and a purple butterfly on each cheek.
The history of paintings, Lulu knew, was replete with examples of magic portals and this was clearly no ordinary painting. There was an engraved piece on the bottom of the frame that read, “Ever Nearer To Elysian Repose.” Lulu recognized it immediately as an acrostic; the first letters of each word spelling out “Enter.” Acrostics, Lulu knew, were an important witch communication strategy.[66]
The screaming continued in the background even as she held her hand up to the painting and reached out to touch the surface. Her hand went right through, her arm, in skeleton form, appearing as part of the painted image as it went into the surface. She had no idea where this painting lead, but she was hardly in a position to quibble, or to be very picky for that matter. Besides, the flowers looked lovely.
“I hope this gets us far from the witch and her wickidity, and in time for dinner, too,” Lulu said. She would soon have reason to be glad she’d made this wish. “Now, climb through there and make it fast,” she ordered.
She gave him a leg up and Reggie was swallowed up by the surface, becoming an image and then falling out of sight leaving no trace on the painting itself. Lulu paused. She was suddenly not so sure this was a good idea. The painting could land them in a worse place than this, after all.
“Let’s go take care of those pesky kids,” she heard the witch’s voice proclaim behind her. That made up her mind for her and through the frame she went.
As she did, she heard the witch call out: “They’ve tricked me! They’re getting away!” The witch sounded so mad Lulu couldn't help but feel good.
As she entered the painting she was surrounded by light. It seemed like she and Reggie were just floating there.
“Reggie, are you okay?” Lulu called out.
“What happened?” he shouted back, apparently cured of his cursedness.
“We went through a magic painting,” Lulu called to him.
A few seconds later the landscape began to materialize around them.
Lulu felt soft grass tickling her legs. Raising her head she looked around. They were surrounded by enormous flowers.
[66]How she might have known this is anybody's guess.
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