Witched!

by Rebecca McRitchie

  Next to the fairy’s heeled foot was a patch of dead grass. Not far from that patch was another and then not far from that patch was another patch. The patches of dead grass continued through to the furthest of the fields like a trail.

  ‘Is that a beetle-worm sign?’ Cora asked.

  ‘Either that, or someone hasn’t been watering the grass properly,’ said Tick disapprovingly.

  The three of them followed the trail of brown patches, moving away from the houses and magical beings in the centre of Mill Town. The patches of dead grass grew bigger and bigger until they came to an entire field of dead grass in a secluded far corner of town. The dead grass surrounded something that looked like it used to be a house. It was missing two of its four walls, half of its roof, and a good portion of the chimney. The house sloped awkwardly downwards into the ground, half eaten by what Cora could see were a thousand little nibbles. And there was something else that Cora noted worryingly: the house wasn’t made of wood or straw. It was made of stone.

  ‘Beetle-worm destruction,’ said Tock.

  Perhaps I should have worn some kind of protective clothing after all, Cora thought.

  Tick bent down and pinched free a blade of dead grass, then, putting it to his nose, he sniffed it deeply and nodded.

  ‘Just as I thought,’ Tick said.

  ‘What is it?’ Cora asked. Was it beetle dung? Or were they too late? Had all the beetle worms been destroyed?

  ‘Smells like dead grass,’ the fairy concluded.

  Cora swallowed her groan and moved past the fairies to the other side of the house. The destroyed house reminded her a lot of the houses in Urt. The ones that had been hit by the earthquake and abandoned. The ones in which she would scavenge for items and trinkets with Dot. There is always something, Dot often said to her.

  Cora searched the ground around the house for any signs of beetle worms. She peered inside a shattered window. There wasn’t much left of the inside either. A half-eaten chair, an almost-entirely devoured lampshade.

  When Cora reached the back of the house, she saw a group of fallen trees. She went over to them, and on the ground, she spotted a very faint outline of dirt in the shape of a circle. Beetle worms.

  ‘Here,’ Cora called out to Tick and Tock.

  The fairies joined her and nodded at the sight of the dirt circle.

  ‘Time for battle,’ said Tick.

  ‘Battle?’ echoed Cora.

  Tock held out the small brown bag to Cora.

  ‘Sprinkle that onto the ground over there,’ said the fairy, pointing to the circle patch she had found.

  Tick placed the metal box they had bought at Implements and Instruments on the ground next to them and opened the lid.

  The fairies then took two steps backwards and started to quickly throw on the protective helmets and gloves they had also bought from Implements and Instruments.

  Cora opened the small brown bag and poured the contents out onto the circular dirt patch. Red dust rained down, covering the ground, until there was nothing left in the bag.

  Behind her, Tock shrieked. ‘Too much! Too much!’ he said.

  ‘Oops,’ said Cora. She threw the empty bag aside, and unsure of what was going to happen, stepped backwards away from the red-covered ground until she was standing next to the fairies.

  Tick and Tock had finished adorning themselves. They each wore helmets and a pair of gloves that were three sizes too big for them.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want a glove or a helmet?’ Tock asked Cora.

  The fairies held their arms out in a fighter’s pose.

  Cora hesitated. She had her magic, but held up her walking stick, just in case.

  The fairies and Cora waited, their eyes on the red, dusty ground in front of them. Seconds passed. They waited some more. And then minutes passed. When five minutes had passed, Tick dropped his arms down from his fighter’s pose. Tock did the same. The pair straightened.

  ‘Hmm,’ said Tick. ‘That should have worked.’

  ‘Maybe there aren’t beetle worms left—’

  Then the red, dusty ground erupted in a thunderous bang. Red powder and dirt and chunks of earth flew up into the air like lava spewing from a volcano. Dust choked the air and the ground quivered beneath Cora’s boots. And out of a large, dark hole in the dirt emerged a huge worm.

  But it wasn’t like any worm Cora had ever seen before. The beetle worm was black, round and long like a blob of wobbling, jiggling jelly. It crawled along the ground on six short, spindly legs, and its mouth, which was opened wide, showed a pair of pincers and many rows of small, pointed teeth. The beetle worm was almost the size of Tick and Tock. And Cora could see why the fairies were concerned. In two mouthfuls, the beetle worm could swallow them whole.

  ‘Okay, what’s the plan?’ Cora asked, gripping her walking stick.

  ‘Don’t get eaten?’ Tock suggested.

  ‘Good plan,’ Cora said as she watched the beetle worm viciously devour all of the red dust that she had poured onto the ground . . . and then anything and everything that was near it. It ate chunks out of the ground, fallen twigs and branches, all of it went into the beetle worm’s chomping open mouth.

  As she stared at the beetle worm, Cora realised that she couldn’t see a pair of eyes on the worm’s head. Just teeth. Lots and lots of teeth. And, unusually, sitting behind the beetle worm’s head, was a pair of wings. Cora started to wonder how the small wings were able to carry such a heavy worm in the air, when suddenly, once again she felt the ground beneath her boots rumble.

  Cora paused.

  And then out of the dark hole in the ground in front of them, a second and much larger beetle worm emerged. And then a third beetle worm . . .

  Chapter Ten

  ‘How many worms exactly does Belle need?’ Tick asked, stepping back from the three ravenous beetle worms. They scuttled about, bumping into each other as they ate everything that lay in front of them.

  Cora fumbled with Belle’s list. ‘It doesn’t say,’ she said, skimming the words. She hoped that no more beetle worms would emerge from the hole in the ground, otherwise the three of them would be outnumbered. Cora also hoped that three beetle worms was all that Belle needed to help Dot.

  To her left, Cora spotted the metal box they’d bought from Implements and Instruments. Her mind tried to figure out how they were going to get the three huge, flying, pincer-wielding, crawling worms into the small metal box.

  The three lumpy beetle worms scurried over to the fallen trees nearby. They chomped them down into dust with a thousand tiny nibbles, drool spurting this way and that, until, in seconds, there was nothing left of the fallen trees.

  Cora swallowed.

  Then the three worms turned towards Cora and the fairies, their mouths opened wide. Then each of them made a loud sucking noise. Were they . . . sniffing? With their mouths?

  Cora took a step back.

  ‘One each?’ she suggested.

  The fairies nodded beside her.

  Quickly, the three friends spread out on the dead grass, their eyes unmoving from the large worms that started to scuttle towards them.

  Tick and Tock resumed their fighter poses and Cora grabbed hold of the princess’s magic.

  It didn’t take the beetle worms long to recognise that the three of them were food. Screeching, the beetle worms dove at Cora and the fairies.

  Tick and Tock threw fairy magic. The worms continued forward, bounding, faster this time, towards them. Two beetle worms headed for the fairies and the third beetle worm turned and leapt towards Cora.

  Cora took a step to the side to dodge the worm and immediately tripped on the hem of her dress. Thrown off-balance, she fell to the ground with a thump!

  Oof!

  She had forgotten for a moment that she was wearing her cumbersome old-witch disguise. Stupid hunched back!

  Looking up from the ground, Cora saw the wobbling, scurrying beetle worm hiss delightedly as it barrelled towards her with surprising speed
.

  Cora quickly crawled backwards on her hands along the dead grass away from the beetle worm that was now frighteningly close. The beetle worm dove at her and Cora had just enough time to hold up her walking stick in front her, jamming it lengthways inside the beetle worm’s mouth full of teeth.

  The beetle worm bit down on the stick hungrily as its pincers snipped and snapped at Cora. The creature’s breath stunk of mouldy cheese and unwashed socks. Surrounded by the stench, Cora coughed and spluttered. Then the walking stick starting to snap. Before the worm could completely chew through the stick, Cora grabbed the Jinx magic and pushed, sending the beetle worm flying backwards up into the air and across the field of dead grass.

  That was close, thought Cora.

  She rolled over and stood up from the ground. She steadied herself and looked over at Tick and Tock.

  Tock had stunned a beetle worm and was trying unsuccessfully to drag it across the grass towards the metal box.

  Cora ran over to him and grabbed the other end of the beetle worm. It was surprisingly heavy. She felt like she was carrying four sacks of potatoes.

  ‘Well done,’ Cora said as she helped the fairy walk the worm to the metal box.

  ‘Lemon squeezy,’ said Tock proudly.

  ‘But how do we get the worm inside,’ Cora asked as they reached the metal box. Then Cora heard the sound of small wings and . . . sniffing. Dropping the beetle worm, Cora turned just in time to see the other beetle worm that she had thrown across the field, fly straight at her, its tiny, sharp teeth bared.

  Cora used the witch’s magic and clicked her fingers, disappearing and then reappearing a few steps away. The beetle worm swerved around in the air before doubling back and zooming towards her again. Cora grabbed the princess’s magic and drawing on the air around her, she threw a wall of wind at the beetle worm.

  The creature tried to push against it, but its tiny wings were no match. Cora held the beetle worm suspended in the air. The creature’s mouth opened and closed as it tried to bite the air around it and its short spindly legs flailed about in the air. Then with a wave of her hand, Cora moved the beetle worm towards the metal box. She wasn’t sure how the beetle worm was going to fit inside it. She placed the creature over the box. The beetle worm paused, unsure of what was happening. It screeched loudly and then, as if hearing it, Cora felt the metal box grab the air that held the worm and pull down. Cora let go of her magic and the metal box sucked the beetle worm inside it with a slurp. Then the box burped.

  ‘I guess that’s how,’ said Tock.

  Tock and Cora pushed the stunned beetle worm on the ground over to the metal box where it was quickly sucked inside too. Another slurp. And another burp.

  Tock high-fived Cora.

  ‘Two down, one to go,’ said Tock.

  Cora and Tock turned to find Tick trying to scale a nearby tree to get away from the largest of the beetle worms. Cora could see that a chunk had been bitten from Tick’s witch disguise.

  The beetle worm jumped up and flew after him.

  ‘A little help!’ Tick called out to them.

  Tock threw fairy magic at the beetle worm. It stopped chasing Tick and turned towards them, snapping its pincers angrily in the air.

  Cora threw a ball of wind at the beetle worm with the princess’s magic. It screeched as she lifted it up and pushed it over to the metal box. The box slurped the beetle worm inside it and burped.

  Tick slid down the tree and made his way over to them. Then he bent over, out of breath, and placed his hands on his knees.

  Tock shook his head at his brother.

  ‘What?’ asked Tick. ‘They’re faster than they look.’

  Cora glanced around. There were no more beetle worms in the field of dead grass. She let out a sigh of relief. They had done it. They had found the second item on Belle’s list. A happiness lifted her spirits. Maybe Dot was going to be okay after all.

  Then Cora felt a pair of eyes on her. She turned around and spotted a small boy, watching them from behind the ruined house. When Cora met his gaze, the boy ran off, back into the centre of town.

  She paused. Cora wondered if the people of Mill Town had heard the screeching beetle worms and the zapping of fairy magic? And where was the boy going?

  ‘We should go,’ said Cora, worriedly. She didn’t want to stay any longer than necessary. She looked at her pocket watch. It was mid-morning.

  Tock walked over to the metal box and closed the lid. He put the box with the beetle worms inside it in his pack.

  ‘Where to next?’ asked Tick, no longer out of breath from his battle with the beetle worm.

  There was only one item left on Belle’s list. Cora took out the folded piece of paper and read the third item aloud.

  ‘Obsidian stone.’

  Suddenly, the relief and happiness Cora had felt only moments before disappeared like melting snow as the two words tumbled from her mouth.

  There was only one person she knew who had a ring with a stone as dark as night. Archibald Drake.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘No,’ said Tock, shaking his head. ‘Nope.’

  ‘You must have read the words wrong,’ said 1 1 Tick. ‘Belle has very messy handwriting.’ He walked over and Cora handed him Belle’s list.

  ‘See,’ said Tick pointing. ‘It says octopus stone. A completely different, other, not-attached-to-the-hand-of-a-warlock stone.’

  From where Cora stood, she could see the top of the manor house on the hill. Its large, dark windows stared back at her. After just escaping the warlock in Tynth, the last thing she wanted to do was go knocking on Archibald Drake’s front door.

  ‘There’s no such thing as an octopus stone,’ said Tock. He snatched the list from Tick. ‘It clearly says obsidian.’

  Tick crossed his arms.

  ‘Can we find obsidian stone anywhere else?’ Cora asked the fairies.

  ‘Doubtful,’ said Tock.

  ‘It’s very rare,’ said Tick.

  ‘Dann in Troll Town had obsidian stone,’ Cora suggested, remembering the troll stonemaker. Dann had made her the ice-stone necklace that stopped her from becoming a Havoc.

  ‘The northern towns are hours away,’ said Tock.

  Quickly, Cora’s mind turned to what would happen if they couldn’t get Dot all of the items she needed in time. She shook the thought away.

  ‘Then we have no other choice,’ said Cora, her mind made up. She strode ahead, over the dead grass and past the worm-eaten house.

  ‘We can go to another town,’ suggested Tick, chasing after her. ‘And find a new plan. Preferably one that doesn’t involve breaking into the home of a warlock that is hunting us.’

  ‘You heard Belle,’ said Cora. ‘Time is against us. We need to hurry back to her and Dot.’

  ‘A lot of things are against us,’ said Tick.

  ‘Like a warlock,’ said Tock.

  ‘And a syphon,’ said Tick.

  ‘And the council,’ added Tock.

  ‘That gnome I accidentally knocked into the river that one time,’ said Tick.

  Tock stared at the fairy.

  ‘Okay, three times,’ said Tick. ‘But that’s beside the point. Cora,’ the fairy stopped in front of her, blocking her path, ‘what if he is home? Or . . . what if Kaede is there too?’

  Cora stopped. The fairy was right. At first they had hoped the warlock wasn’t home when they arrived at Mill Town. But now they needed him. She searched inside herself for any sign of the tingling feeling that meant that another syphon was close. It wasn’t there.

  ‘I can’t feel Kaede,’ she said. ‘We can just take a quick look around inside. Maybe Drake left the ring somewhere?’

  ‘And if the ring is attached to his finger? How will we get it?’ asked Tick.

  That Cora hadn’t figured out yet. Every time she had seen Archibald, he was wearing his ring. But it wasn’t just the stone and Dot that pushed her feet forward towards Archibald Drake’s manor. ‘If the ring isn’t there, Arch
ibald is still working with Kaede,’ Cora said. ‘There might be something in his house we could use. Some information about my parents? Or my brother? Or how Archibald was able to break my protection bracelet?’

  Tock nodded.

  ‘We have to try. And we have to try for Dot,’ finished Cora.

  Tick sighed and moved to stand next to Cora. ‘Of all the stones, why this one, Belle?’ the fairy complained.

  ‘Hobgoblins are powerful healers,’ said Tock. ‘They need powerful ingredients.’

  They walked back into the fields that made up the centre of Mill Town. Cora noticed straight away that the boy who had stood watching them by the ruined house must have told the townspeople what he saw. As the three of them stepped through the fields, Cora noticed more and more magical beings stopping what they were doing to eye them strangely.

  A woman with gold, shimmering hair that stretched down to her ankles paused her sweeping and stood by her door, gazing at them interestedly. An old man with one eye and one eyebrow who was tending to his garden, stopped pruning a pair of twirling blue flowers to watch them as they passed.

  ‘We saved them from another beetle-worm infestation,’ whispered Tick. ‘Why are they acting so weird?’

  ‘We also attracted the beetle-worm infestation,’ said Tock.

  Heads down, Cora and the fairies moved quickly through the fields in the direction of the hill ahead. Soon, the path they followed began to steadily slope upwards as they approached the warlock’s home.

  Cora hoped it would be as easy as finding the ring on a table somewhere inside the warlock’s house, but the closer they got to the manor, the more Cora realised that deep down, she wasn’t completely sure of her plan. What were they going to find inside? Archibald? Servants? And if the stone wasn’t in the house and was with Archibald, what would they do? Where would they go next?

  The three of them crept slowly up to the large, white manor house. Using a few trees and some small, well-kept bushes for cover, they moved to the side of the house. Archibald’s home looked different in the daytime from what Cora remembered. The white stones that made up the facade seemed brighter, and the manor’s many pointed roofs and darkly lit windows seemed larger.