Witched!

by Rebecca McRitchie

  ‘Can we find beetle worms here?’ Cora asked. She pulled out Dot’s pocket watch and looked at the time. The less time they spent finding the items on Belle’s list, the sooner she could get back to Dot, make sure she was okay again, and then start the search for her brother. As she watched the second hand tick past the first, she hoped Dot was alright. Maybe Dot knew something that would help them? Maybe she knew something about Kaede? Or her parents? She remembered what Dot had said to Kaede: I did what her parents asked of me.

  Tock shook his head at Cora. ‘No, we definitely won’t find any beetle worms in Squilp.’

  ‘Too clean,’ added Tick.

  ‘But,’ said Tock, thinking, ‘I am pretty sure Mill Town was the last town to have a beetle-worm infestation . . . they wouldn’t have been able to get rid of them all; it takes years.’

  ‘I don’t know if going to Mill Town is such a good idea,’ said Tick, unsure.

  Cora frowned. Mill Town was the first place the fairies had magicked her to after leaving Urt. And it was the place where . . . Archibald Drake lived.

  ‘He might not even be there,’ said Tock. ‘And you saw him in Tynth. He was not his usual self.’

  Going to the town where the warlock, who would do anything to find them, lived was definitely not a good idea. It would be like walking into Kaede’s hands. Cora’s mind returned to Dot. The old woman needed her. She needed the items on Belle’s list. Cora paused. Perhaps they could go to Mill Town quickly, grab some beetle worms and then leave? In and out. Just like the fairies had said when they first took her to Mill Town. It would be as if they weren’t even there. And as Tock mentioned, Archibald might not be home.

  Cora looked at the fairies and nodded. ‘Mill Town.’

  ‘First,’ Tock said, ‘we need to go there.’ The fairy turned and pointed to a shop in the centre of the small village. It was white and round, like the rest of the buildings, and the name of it was scrawled above the door in fancy off-white lettering. Implements and Instruments.

  ‘And to go in there, we need disguises,’ said Tick excitedly.

  Cora remembered the disguises Tick and Tock had first used when they had walked through Urt. They had dressed as businessmen on their way to a business meeting. And then in Tynth they had worn flying wigs. But to avoid being recognised, Cora knew they probably needed something a bit more than suit jackets or wigs.

  ‘What did you have in mind?’ Cora asked hesitantly.

  The fairies looked at each other and smiled.

  Chapter Eight

  Cora stepped out into the main street of Squilp, almost tripping on the long hem of her flowing dress. She managed to catch herself from falling onto the spotless pavement.

  ‘I don’t know about this,’ she said to Tick and Tock as she looked down at her disguise.

  With their magic, the fairies had disguised Cora as a witch. She wore a long, black dress over her brown boots, and her red hair had been transformed into a mottled grey that stretched down in a tangled mess underneath a wide-brimmed pointed witch’s hat. Tick and Tock had given her a boil on her nose and another on her chin. The fairies had also insisted that a hunchback was completely necessary.

  Her newly hunched back pushed Cora awkwardly forward, giving her the stoop of an elderly woman, causing her to nearly trip several times.

  ‘You look great!’ said Tick happily.

  ‘Exactly like Bromhelda of the Bile,’ said Tock. Then with a soft POP! of magic the fairy held a gnarled walking stick in his hand. He gave it to Cora.

  She leant down on the wooden stick and immediately felt more comfortable.

  ‘Can’t I be a witch my own age?’ Cora asked. She had only ever met two witches, the witch in the Black Market of Gwell, and Hythia Halfache — the witch who was part of the council, and from whom she had syphoned magic.

  In front of her, Tick and Tock were disguised as witches, too. Their clothes were almost identical with their long dresses hiding their wings, except instead of giving themselves boils, hunched backs and mottled-grey hair like Cora, the brothers had adorned themselves with lush blond locks beneath their matching hats.

  ‘We are a coven of witches,’ said Tock. ‘We can’t all be young.’

  ‘That would be suspicious,’ said Tick, flicking his long, blond hair over his shoulder.

  Cora rolled her eye.

  The three of them walked along the glimmering street of Squilp and towards Tomorrow’s Turnips Today. Well, Tick and Tock walked, Cora kind of shuffled across the stones as best as she could, the walking stick clonking on the pavement with her.

  They stopped when they reached the shopfront that had the Orders of Removal stuck to its wall. They gazed at the moving images of themselves on the shining sheets emblazoned with the red, round seal of the council. On the poster, Cora glared meanly and the fairies snarled, their wings sharply beating behind them.

  ‘That’s new,’ said Tock, pointing to a line of symbols written across the bottom of the sheet.

  The words on the Orders of Removal were in a language Cora didn’t understand.

  ‘What does it say?’ Cora asked.

  ‘Anyone seen helping us will be removed from the magical world, too,’ said Tick.

  Immediately, Cora thought of Belle. The hobgoblin was putting herself at risk by helping them. Cora suddenly felt like pulling the Orders of Removal down and ripping them up into tiny pieces.

  Next to the glimmering sheets, Cora caught a glimpse of her reflection in the shop window. She didn’t look anything like the Cora who scowled at her from the Order of Removal. Her hair, her boils and her hunchback all made it look like she was someone completely different. And her missing eye didn’t stand out as much. Maybe their disguises would work after all?

  ‘You there!’ came an angry voice from behind them.

  Cora winced. Or not.

  Beside her, Tick and Tock froze.

  ‘You shouldn’t be here!’ the angry voice continued.

  Cora couldn’t believe they had been recognised already. Then she realised with regret that they had been standing right next to the Orders of Removal with their faces on them! How could they be so silly!? Quickly, Cora tried to think of what to say, who she was, and what they were doing in Squilp.

  ‘Be cold,’ whispered Tick.

  ‘Cool,’ corrected Tock.

  Slowly, the three friends turned on their witchy heels to face whoever it was who had shouted in their direction.

  The owner of the voice was Mayor Squilp and he stood on the opposite side of the street. But he wasn’t talking to them. Or even looking at them. Instead, he stood with one hand on his hip, and his other hand pointing to a piece of paper on the stones in front of him.

  The small mayor picked up the paper, folded it angrily and then blew on it. In his hand, the paper magically stretched and curved until it blossomed into a lacy white flower. Pleased, Mayor Squilp placed the flower in the buttonhole of his white coat.

  Cora and the fairies let out a relieved collective sigh.

  The mayor must have heard it because he turned and looked over at the three of them. He raised one of his bushy, white eyebrows.

  Tick and Tock waved to the mayor and Cora quickly did the same.

  Mayor Squilp nodded at them and then continued walking down the main street, pointing and shouting at things that did not belong.

  ‘We need to hurry,’ Cora said.

  The three friends walked into the centre of the pristinely white village as though they had done so many times before.

  A man and his son, both with blue skin and ruffled white hair, exited a nearby shop. They stopped at the sight of Cora, Tick and Tock. Cora waved to them but the pair avoided eye contact and hurried away in the opposite direction.

  When they reached Implements and Instruments, Tick and Tock pushed open the shop door and Cora stepped inside.

  Like the rest of Squilp, the inside of Implements and Instruments was just as white and pristine as the outside. On the walls, oddl
y shaped tools that she had never seen before hung from hooks. There were nets to catch giants, rakes to gather wood mice, a pixie pest machine, a Siren Horn 3000, and werewolf jaws. Cora eyed the shelf below the pixie pest machine. There was sea-monster repellent, mermaid-scale makeup, grow and shrink serums, and, next to a collection of fairy-hair wigs, Cora saw a tall spray bottle. Across the front of it were the words: Jinx Away. Cora ran her hand over it. Where was this when she needed it?

  The shopkeeper, a woman with a pair of blue tentacles for legs, stood in the middle of the shop and greeted them with a sharp-toothed smile.

  ‘Good morrow to you,’ said Tick, a little too enthusiastically.

  ‘Good morning,’ the woman said, taken aback by the fairy’s choice of words.

  Cora was taken aback by them too. Good morrow? She eyed the shopkeeper’s name badge. There was just one letter on it — V.

  ‘Can I help you?’ V the shopkeeper asked.

  ‘We are from Mill Town,’ said Tock. ‘And, would you believe it, there is another beetle worm infestation.’

  ‘Those darn beetle worms,’ said Tick, shaking a fist in the air. ‘They ate all my cabbage. And I needed that cabbage for spells.’

  V nodded, knowingly. ‘We don’t stock cabbage, but we do have a few things that might help.’ Then the shopkeeper moved to the corner of the shop, near the front window, and grabbed a small brown bag from the shelf.

  ‘You’ll need this,’ she said, passing it to Tock. ‘And this.’ V handed Tick a large metal pot with a lid.

  The fairy opened the lid and put his hand inside it. Then his whole arm, his shoulder and then his entire head disappeared inside until he was just a torso with a metal box for a head.

  ‘How many beetle worms can this store?’ Tick asked from inside the box.

  ‘Two hundred,’ replied V.

  Tick pulled himself out of the bottomless box and nodded, impressed.

  ‘And you will probably need these,’ said V. She opened a drawer on the wall and pulled out a collection of clothes. Cora could see that they weren’t regular clothes. V showed them shirts with interlaced chains and armoured chest plates, pants with sharp spikes sticking out the sides, and boots with metal coverings. The clothes resembled those that Cora imagined magical beings would wear when going into battle.

  ‘These are some of our bestsellers. They’re woven dragon skin,’ V said pointing to a pair of red gloves. ‘And these are made from the bones of a giant,’ she added, holding up a pair of intricately shaped, pointy helmets.

  Tick tugged on the dragon-skin gloves and Tock threw on one of the bone helmets. Cora could see that both were far too big for the fairies’ small hands and head, but thankfully the shopkeeper didn’t seem to notice.

  ‘Oh and you will definitely need one of these,’ V said as she pulled out a long, metal object from the drawer and held it upwards. With one of her tentacles, she pressed a button on the side and a stream of fire shot out the end of the metal object with a loud and sharp WHOOSH!

  ‘A flamethrower!?’ Cora gasped.

  Tick’s and Tock’s eyes widened in delight.

  ‘Is this all really necessary?’ Cora asked V the shopkeeper. ‘They’re just worms.’

  Tick, Tock and V turned to Cora.

  There was a pause and Cora knew straight away that she had said something she shouldn’t have. Cora saw Tick and Tock wince from the corner of her eye as V the shopkeeper tilted her head at her.

  ‘They’re not just worms. They’re beetle worms,’ said V. ‘They are the most vicious worms in all the land.’ The tentacled shopkeeper looked at the fairies suspiciously.

  ‘Uhh,’ said Tick. Then he chuckled. ‘Oh, Esmerelda! You are hilarious.’

  ‘She is from out of town, you see,’ said Tock quickly.

  ‘And she has trouble seeing things,’ whispered Tick.

  ‘And is partially deaf,’ added Tock.

  ‘What!?’ said Cora to the fairies.

  ‘See,’ said Tock.

  V the shopkeeper glanced at where Cora’s eye used to be and nodded in understanding.

  Cora glared at the fairies.

  ‘We’ll take all of these, please,’ said Tock, grabbing a pair of giant-bone helmets and dragon-skin gloves in addition to the metal box and the brown bag. The fairy handed V the shopkeeper two gold coins.

  ‘Fare thee well!’ said Tick, as he pushed Cora towards the door.

  V waved goodbye to the fairies with a tentacle, though one of her bright blue eyes remained on Cora as the three of them hurried out of the shop.

  Outside, Tick, Tock and Cora walked through the shining town of Squilp until they reached the alleyway they had arrived in. The fairies let out a loud breath of relief.

  ‘Phew,’ said Tock. ‘That was close.’

  ‘We gave the performance of a lifetime!’ said Tick. ‘Ten out of ten.’

  ‘Okay, let’s get to Mill Town,’ Cora said, straightening her hunch. They needed to be on their way, but between the beetle worms and Archibald Drake, Cora was starting to feel anxious about what could be waiting for them all in Mill Town.

  Tick and Tock walked over to her, jostling their purchases from Implements and Instruments between themselves. Then the fairies held onto Cora’s hands and transported all three away with a POP! of magic.

  Chapter Nine

  Cora’s boots landed on soft, grassy earth. She opened her eye to find that the fairies had magicked them to a lush, green field. Beyond the field lay more smaller fields, and in each one of them stood a stone house.

  Cora gazed out at the sprawling farming town. Not far from them, in the centre of the cluster of fields and houses, stood a very tall, very large windmill. The incredibly huge structure was made out of shimmering black bricks. The matching black blades of the windmill turned slowly, filling the air with a pleasant creaking sound.

  Cora watched magical beings go about their morning, tending to their gardens, fields and animals. The morning sun sparkled on the green grass. Hay bales floated in the air behind a round magical being with a pair of long green horns on his head. Another magical being with purple scales for skin watched as a shovel dug holes in neat rows in front of him. There was a calmness about the town. It reminded her a little bit of Tynth. Or perhaps . . . what Tynth could have been.

  To Cora, Mill Town was so beautiful, she wondered why someone as cruel and sinister as Archibald Drake would choose to live in such a place. She thought perhaps he might have preferred somewhere darker, somewhere more isolated. Perhaps a cave of some kind. Or Whimpering Bog.

  And then Cora spotted it. In fact, it was hard to miss. Atop a large hill, nestled in a field of its own, was a familiar white house. Towering menacingly over everything else in the town, except for the windmill, loomed Archibald Drake’s manor. The warlock’s house was completely different from the other houses in Mill Town. The houses around them were small, made of stone, wood and concrete. They looked like they had been standing in the town for hundreds of years. But the imposing Drake Manor looked like it had appeared overnight, with its large, dark windows and multiple ornate storeys.

  ‘Maybe we should hold onto these disguises,’ said Cora. Despite how uncomfortable she felt dressed as an old witch with a hunched back and boils on her face, the anxiety in the bottom of her stomach only grew as she stared up at the warlock’s house. ‘Just in case.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Tock.

  Cora was about to ask the fairies where they should begin looking for beetle worms, when Tick and Tock strode confidently ahead of her. She hastened along with her walking stick to catch up to them. They walked through the field and soon found a stone path that wove its way through the town towards the windmill.

  ‘Beetle worms are notoriously difficult to exaggerate,’ said Tick.

  ‘Eradicate,’ corrected Tock. ‘Even if they destroyed a lot of them, chances are, there will still be one or two here. Somewhere.’

  Cora wasn’t sure how they were going to find one or tw
o worms in the green sprawling fields of Mill Town.

  ‘Keep an eye out for any signs,’ said Tick.

  ‘And . . . those signs are . . .’ asked Cora.

  ‘Destruction,’ said Tick.

  ‘Beetle-worm dung,’ added Tock.

  ‘And a patch of dirt in the shape of a circle,’ finished Tick.

  Cora nodded. She hobbled along the stone path as quickly as she could behind the fairies, her eye glancing left and right for beetle-worm signs. By the time they had reached the creaking windmill, she was almost completely out of breath.

  ‘It arrived when Archibald did,’ said Tick, looking up at the tall structure uncertainly.

  ‘Powered by warlock magic,’ added Tock, before moving along.

  Cora stopped and stared up at the gigantic windmill. Her neck needed to crane all the way back to see the top of the structure. Was the windmill for the town? Or for Archibald?

  Passing the windmill, Cora and the fairies moved closer to the hill where Archibald’s house sat. Cora glanced up at it every now and then as they wove through the fields.

  ‘Good morrow,’ said Tick, continuing his strange greeting to the magical beings in town. Some magical beings waved to them. Some stared. Cora tried her best to seem friendly.

  As they walked through the centre of Mill Town, Tock suddenly halted in front of her. Cora, who had been too busy looking for beetle-worm signs, bumped into the back of the fairy.

  ‘Oof!’ Cora gasped.

  Her walking stick slipped from her hand and her hunched back threw her off balance causing Cora to tumble ungracefully to the ground.

  Tick helped Cora to her feet.

  ‘Oh Esmerelda, you must really watch where you are going,’ the fairy said loudly with a chuckle.

  Straightening, Cora saw that a few magical beings had stopped what they had been doing and were looking over at her. She held up her hand to show that she was alright.

  ‘Look,’ Tock whispered, pointing to something on the ground by his foot.