by Tiegan Clyne
“Augh!!!” the young man screamed. “Augh!”
/Quiet,/ Charlie commanded.
“Quiet,” Matilda repeated. “You aren’t hurt - yet. What is your name?”
He was panting, terrified. Charlie could hear his heartbeat racing. “Eddie.”
“Well, Eddie, what were you doing to catch the attention of my friend, here?”
“Nothing!”
“Hmm. I doubt that’s true.”
Matilda took his shopping bags and looked inside. “Ew!”
She dropped the bag and Charlie raced over to have a look. There was a plastic Ziploc bag filled with dead, frozen rodent young. They were too icy to have a scent, but Charlie judged that when they thawed, they might be worth eating in a pinch. He looked up at his witch.
/Rats,/ he said.
“Why on earth are you carrying dead rats around?” she demanded of their prisoner. She looked into the other bag. “And fish?”
Eddie licked his lips. “Please just let me go. Please.”
“He has something in his pants pocket,” Henry advised.
“I am not sticking my hand inside his clothes. The heavens only know what he has in there.”
“It’s a jar of pickled peppers,” Eddie volunteered, “and it’s digging into my thigh. If you could take it out, I’d be much obliged.”
Matilda reached in gingerly and withdrew the glass jar, which came out along with a crumpled shopping list. She put the peppers aside with the dead rats and the plastic-wrapped fish. The look she gave him was pure stink-eye as she uncrumpled the list to see what was written on it.
As soon as it was opened, Charlie could smell Xander’s scent. Matilda frowned at the paper, then at Eddie. “This is a list of spell components. I know you’re working for Xander, and I can tell by looking at you that you don’t have enough magic of your own to manage an easy card trick. These aren’t for you.” She waggled the paper at him. “What is he trying to do?”
/Do you know the spell those ingredients are for?/
“By themselves, they’re nothing, but they can be used in multiple different spells. The fish heads are usually for ugliness, the mouse livers for illness, and the peppers are almost always involved with curses on language or on speaking.”
/Maybe he’s going to cast a spell that makes someone’s speaking voice so ugly that it makes other people sick,/ Charlie suggested.
“Or a singing voice,” Henry agreed. “I’ve heard some sailors who had voices like that.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know… it might be to make someone’s voice deliver a spell…” She snapped her fingers. “Agatha Winterhex is going to be giving a speech at the ball tonight! I’ll bet this spell, whatever it is, will affect anyone listening.”
“Clever,” Henry complimented.
“Too clever by half,” Matilda agreed. “Well, we’ll just have to get in the way.”
She beckoned to her mirror, which toddled over immediately, its reflective face angled upward hopefully. She ran a hand over the polished wood frame, and the mirror hummed.
“Mirror, mirror, in the hall,” Matilda intoned, “reach my mother. Make the call.”
There was an awkward moment as the furniture thought about what to do, but then the image that the mirror reflected was the inside of Olivia’s parlor. Solomon leaped across a couch and two end tables to appear in the center of the other mirror, looking through at them.
/Hello!/ the red squirrel chirped. /I’ll get her./
He hopped away, his long tail flowing after him like a wave. He returned with Matilda’s mother in tow.
Olivia leaned toward the mirror in her parlor, which by now reflected the inside of Matilda’s little house. Charlie stood up on his hind legs and raised his paws, and Olivia smiled.
“Good morning, darling. Good morning, Charlie.”
/Good morning, Grandma!/
Matilda smiled back. “Hello, Mother. I need your help.”
“Of course. Are you using Granny’s mirror?”
“Her name is Gertrude, but I call her Specs.”
“Ah. Wonderful. Good morning, Specs.”
The mirror rocked back and forth on her wooden feet.
Matilda explained the situation at hand, with Xander hiding on the Academy grounds and sending flunkies out to gather arcane ingredients. Olivia listened and nodded sagely. Charlie could see the resemblance between his witch and her mother, and he thought they were both quite lovely. He glanced at Henry, but the ghost only had eyes for Matilda.
“Well, I think you’re on the right track with your suppositions,” Olivia said finally, “and I agree with Charlie that he should go out trick-or-treating. The children are visiting the businesses in the Landing now, so he won’t have to wait for nightfall.”
Charlie hopped up onto his back feet again, resting his front paws against Specs’ frame. /I need a costume./
Olivia produced a wand from somewhere her mirror didn’t show. “I can do that.” She waved her wand, and the mirror’s surface rippled like water. Magic arced through, rose-colored and warm, and then Charlie was wrapped in a soft black sweater to which black bat wings had been affixed. He tried to turn to look at the wings and ended up spinning in a complete circle before he sat down.
/Am I cute?/
“The very cutest, dear,” Matilda reassured him, bending to scratch him gently behind the ear. He purred.
“I’ll escort our little friend here to the ferry,” Henry told Matilda. “That way he’ll be protected. He’s awfully little to go out there all alone.”
“Thank you, Henry.” She reached out to touch his arm, but her hand passed through him. She clenched her fist at her side, frustrated. Her mother nodded.
“Well, if you’d rather, Charlie, you can travel through Specs, here.”
The mirror took a step back in surprise.
“It won’t hurt either of you,” Olivia reassured. “When the glass looks like water, just jump through as if you were going through an open window.”
She whispered magical words, and the glass rippled again. Charlie looked at Matilda, uncertain.
“Go ahead,” she nodded. “And you can come back the same way.”
He was a little apprehensive, but he steeled himself and jumped.
His paws landed on the plush carpeting of Olivia’s living room, and he turned to look back behind himself. Matilda and their house were still reflected in a mirror that was attached to the wall. His witch smiled at him.
“Good job! Now be safe, and hurry. We haven’t much time.”
Olivia handed him a tiny bag from a jewelry store, and he took it in his teeth. He followed her to the front door, and when she held it open, both Charlie and Solomon trotted outside.
“Solly,” Olivia said. Her squirrel familiar stopped and turned around. She waved her wand, and a black-and-purple witch’s hat appeared upon his tiny head. She nodded. “Very nice.”
He put nodded to Charlie, who nodded back. /Right. Let’s go./
Matilda sighed, and her mother came back to the mirror. “Now let’s have a look at those spells, shall we? You in Granny’s books, and I’ll look in mine, and we’ll see which spells use those ingredients.”
“There are dozens,” the younger witch objected, “and I want to stop him before the Halloween ball begins. Whatever he’s going to do, he’ll do then.”
Both witches looked over their shoulders at the cuckoo clocks on their walls. Olivia was the one who said it. “We have three hours before the guests start arriving. Are you going to the ball, Tildy?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, I am, and you should too.”
Matilda was flustered. “I have no costume to wear, and no appropriate finery. I also have no escort.”
Henry cleared his throat. “If I were alive, Miss Matilda, it would be my honor to ask you to the ball.”
Matilda looked up into his blue eyes and stammered, “Oh…”
Olivia asked, “How did you die, Captain?”
Henry was surprised by the question, and his expression showed it. “I… Died? I didn’t die. I was contained in the spirit sphere while I was quite alive.”
Both witches’ eyebrows shot up toward their hairlines.
“Still alive?” Matilda echoed.
“Well,” Olivia said, sounding impressed. “That was a very strong spell that imprisoned you.”
“It was,” he nodded. “When it happened, my body was in the dungeon of the Academy.”
“Why were you…?” her mother began. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter now.”
“For casting transformative magics.” Henry shrugged. “It was the year the Academy chose to exclude all males.”
“Do you know why they did that, Mother?”
“Which? The excluding, or the punishment?”
“Well... both.”
Olivia sighed. “Males were excluded as revenge for the burnings. Mundane males, mostly ministers, were responsible for the Stake Days.”
The Stake Days. Matilda had heard of those. Three hundred years ago, there had been a week when female witches from Button Landing, which in those days was not connected to Button Hollow, were gathered and burned at stakes erected in the city square, roughly where there was a playground now. In Button Hollow, which had always been the home of the witches, there had been massive unrest in response, and the barring of male students had been part of the retaliation. The Academy had been enclosed in the high, stout walls and gates that now surrounded it during the Stake Days. Matilda had always known that before the burnings, there had been male students at the Academy. Afterward, there were none. She had heard the story since her childhood, and it had never occurred to her to ask what had become of those wizards.
Now, looking at Henry, she knew.
“It’s likely that my body was kept in the crypt beneath the Academy, where it decayed,” Henry shrugged. “But dead before the spirit sphere? No.”
“Your body may still be alive,” Olivia posited.
“Three hundred years later? No. I think not.” He smiled gently. “And I would hate for you ladies to see me the way that I probably look now.”
“I think that we could bear it,” her mother said, “but no matter.”
“This is very interesting, but we should discuss it later,” Matilda said firmly. “We have Xander to counter now. And I don’t think that we need to know what spell he’s going to cast. When darkness falls, I think I can use the Spirits of Halloween to make his magic reflect back on him. Whatever spell he thinks he’s going to unleash, he’s going to put it right back on himself.”
“You’re so clever!” Olivia praised her daughter. “Do you know how you’re going to do it?”
“I found a spell in Granny’s book, and it’s just perfect for enacting some Halloween revenge. I have everything I need but one ingredient: trick or treat candy, three pieces freely given by strange women to my familiar.” She sighed. “Now it’s up to Charlie.”
Chapter Eleven
Charlie and Solomon hurried to main street with their tails held high. The cat’s tail was high in excitement and because he felt so clever dressed up as a bat. The squirrel’s tail was bushed and arced over his back in anxiety.
/I don’t like being close to so many humans where they can see me,/ Solomon fussed. /Humans are so big and ungainly, and they could crush me if they step on me./
/You’re quicker than they are, and anyone seeing your hat will know that you’re no average rodent,/ Charlie reassured.
/You’re just saying that./
/Not at all. I think you look quite grand./
They reached the first store where children were going for their holiday treats. It was a hardware store, and the man behind the counter was giving out candy to the kids in costume. At his elbow was a bowl full of walnuts, still in the shell. Solomon’s eyes went wide.
/Why…. It’s perfect!/
The door was propped open, and Charlie and Solomon trotted inside.
The man took one look at the two familiars and threw a walnut at them. It hit the ground between them with a crack, and Charlie nearly dropped his bag as he jumped out of the way.
“You filthy monsters!” the man shouted. “No familiars in my store! Out!”
Solomon grabbed the walnut and thrust it into Charlie’s bag. He turned and gave the man a piece of his mind, swearing in purple squirrel-ese with his hands on his hips. The man threw another walnut, and Solomon grabbed that one, too.
/There! Two down./
/Those don’t count,/ Charlie said sadly. /They’re nuts, not candy, and they weren’t freely given by a strange woman./
/Candy for me, freely thrown by a strange human. I think it’s close enough./
Charlie only sighed.
At the next store, the woman in the shop closed the door in their faces and refused to give them any treats from the bin that she had. As soon as the door slammed, Charlie saw a piece of paper taped to it at the level of a human’s face. He couldn’t see it from where he stood, but Solomon scampered up the door jamb and ripped down the sign so they could read it.
A crudely drawn image of a black cat in a witch’s hat was accompanied by words in red text. “WARNING: By order of the Button Landing Health Council, beware of familiars. HALLOWEEN POX. Twelve gold pieces for each familiar brought to the Health Council, dead or alive.”
/Well, that’s stupid,/ Solomon grumbled. /First of all, familiars don’t carry disease, not even the hissing cockroaches. Second of all, there’s no such thing as Halloween Pox./
/I’ll bet that this is Xander’s work,/ Charlie sighed. /I don’t know why, but he’s making humans turn against us familiars./
/Well, if they kill or lock us up, our witches will be affected. Their magic will be limited,/ Solomon explained. /If a witch’s familiar is imprisoned, her power is cut in half, and if her familiar dies, then she can’t cast anything at all. Ooh, he’s clever… and mean./
A rock slammed into the cobblestones near them, and they leaped out of the way. A group of teenage boys shouted angrily at them, and one threw another rock.
“Familiars!” he yelled. “Get them!”
/Augh!/ Solomon screamed.
Charlie wasted no time on vocalizations. He dropped his bag and ran as fast as his feet would go. His companion scaled the side of the building and raced along the rooftops to safety.
Little Charlie couldn’t climb the bricks the way Solomon could, and he could only run so quickly. The hard ground hurt his paws, and the bat wings on his back impaired his speed. He careened around a corner, headed toward Olivia’s house as quickly as he could. The boys pounded after him, still slinging rocks and sticks. One hit him in the hip, and he tumbled. Charlie’s heart was pounding in terror, and he cried out piteously as the boys surrounded him.
A white mist appeared above him, and he shuddered, closing his eyes in terror. He didn’t know what was happening, but he was sure that he was going to die.
“Here, now!” a woman’s voice said harshly. “You get away from him!”
He opened his eyes to look up at the ghost of a witch. Her skin was green, and her nose looked like a bent cucumber, curling down over her dark black lips. Those lips were pulled back in a snarl, revealing snaggly teeth. Her black hair stuck out from her head in all directions, and the peaked hat upon her head was bent. It glowed in spots as if it were on fire, and the embers were eating through the fabric.
The boys who were pursuing Charlie screamed and ran away, shouting about ghosts and hollering for help. The ghost witch turned and looked down at the little familiar between her feet.
“Little man,” she said. Her voice was rickety and full of creaks like an old buggy. “You’d better get on home now.”
He meowed at her, too panicked to remember how to mindspeak. He bent to lick his bruised hip.
The ghost witch put her hands on her ample hips and stood squarely on her spindly ankles. Her feet were too large for such skinny legs to possibly bear.
“Think nothing of it.”
Running hoofbeats rang through the lane. Charlie was almost afraid to look. Oksana came toward them, driving a covered wagon packed with familiars. The Shetland pony drawing the cart lowered its nose toward Charlie and Solomon.
/Get in,/ she advised the other familiars. /We’re getting back to Button Hollow before the burnings start again./
The witches looked grim, and the familiars in the wagon looked afraid. Charlie understood how they felt. He and Solomon climbed aboard and took their seats among the others.
“Okay,” the Russian witch said. “Hold on. We going fast way.”
She took a wand out of her pocket and swept it in a circle, and a portal opened that connected the Landing’s residential street to the sidewalk outside the Familiar Emporium. The pony leaped through the portal, pulling the cart after her, and then they were safely in Button Hollow. Oksana closed the portal and glared over her shoulder toward the river.
“Oooh, people so bad,” she fumed. “Make me so angry! Well! No good Halloween for them!”
She swiped her wand in an angry arc, and the sky above Button Landing filled with dark clouds. Lightning flashed furiously over the town, and then buckets of rain began to fall. Oksana cackled at her mastery over the weather.
“There!” she chortled. “Try trick or treat in that!”
Charlie rubbed his face against her leg. /Thank you./
“Oh, you’re welcome. You good kitten.” She took the harness off the pony and opened the back gate to the covered wagon. “You all safe now. Go home.”
/She saved us,/ a startled-looking turtle told Charlie. /We had all been taken by the Button Landing Health Council, and she set us free./
/I don’t think I like Button Landing anymore,/ Charlie said.
Solomon fumed. /My tree and my witch are over there./
