Page 3 of Bewitched By the Wicked Witch
"I can help you turn them back," Gran said, setting the tub down for a moment. "But if we can't find that missing frog, there's only one option left."
I shifted uncomfortably, my stomach twisting as the full weight of it hit me. "The null spell. Even if we search all day, she's not going to come back willingly."
Gran's eyebrows rose, understanding dawning in hereyes. "You really think she'd stay hidden just to cause you more trouble?"
"She's been trying to get me in trouble all year, and when I finally snapped..." I trailed off. "This is exactly what she wanted."
Gran was quiet for a long moment, studying my face. Then she sighed deeply. "Well then, if we can't find her, there's only one option left. We'd have to do a null spell."
"No!" The word burst out of me like a sob. "Gran, that would mean my friends too! Mr. Snuggles, Ms. Bubbles, Floppy - they'd never come back. Once the magic is nulled, it can never be cast again. They'd be gone forever!"
Gran's expression softened with understanding and sorrow. She reached out and touched my cheek gently. "Sage, honey, we take responsibility for our magic. And sometimes that can hurt us, but we're good witches and good witches always do what's right. Even if we have to sacrifice to do it."
Fighting back tears, I ran home, bursting through the front door and up the stairs. My room was filtering warm wintery light from the window. I’d left the shades open for my friends. The teddy bear, Mr. Snuggles, wobbled out, tittering on his unsteady legs as he faced me. The few other toys I’d spelled to be alive and my only friends, Ms. Bubbles and the bunny that I’d named Floppy, followed close behind.
“Sage,” Mr. Snuggles called, his fluffy arms outstretched for a hug.
I fell to my knees on the hardwood before him and scooped him up, squeezing him tight to my chest whileholding in the sob that threatened to escape. Breathing in the lingering scent of magic and my mother's perfume.Did I tell them what awaited them, that the next few hours would be their last?
I couldn’t.
“Snuggles, Floppy, and Bubbles, you are my best friends. I want you to know that, always.” I knew my lip wobbled and my voice cracked. “Let’s play together.”
One last time,I didn’t add.
So we did for a few hours. When the sun went low in the sky, I heard Gran's footsteps on the stairs. I knew I couldn't wait any longer.
"Are you ready, dear?" Gran asked softly from my doorway, her voice gentle but firm.
I looked at my friends one last time - Mr. Snuggles tilting his fuzzy head, Bubbles bouncing slightly on her springs, and Floppy twitching his cottontail. They didn't understand what was about to happen.
"I don't know how," I whispered, my voice breaking.
Gran stepped into the room and knelt beside me. "I'll help you. This kind of magic is too advanced for someone your age to do alone." She placed her weathered hand over mine. "We'll do it together."
She began the incantation, her voice low and steady, guiding me through the complex Latin phrases I'd never heard before. The words felt heavy on my tongue, like they carried the weight of undoing everything I'd ever created. As we spoke together, I felt the magic drain from the room like water swirling down a drain.
Like sand in an hourglass, I watched my only friends fall down and stare up at me with glassy, unseeing eyes.
For the first time since my magic awakened, I wished I really was an evil witch. The silence pressed in around us. Stuffed animals stared blankly from the shelves, their stitched smiles too still, too quiet, like they'd forgotten how to whisper secrets or chase the nightmares away. I stroked Mr. Snuggles' fur as tears flowed hot tracks down my face.
I'd never meant to hurt anyone and, in the end, I was just hurt even more. Then the pain in my chest cleaved me almost in two as I hugged my friends close and let it out. The sobs rocked my body as I wept.
"I'm sorry," I whispered into Mr. Snuggles' fur, my lip trembling. "I'm so sorry."
Being good meant making hard choices. That's what all the grown-up witches said. But they never mentioned how much those choices would ache, like a hole carved right through your chest.
I gathered up and set Mr. Snuggles, Bubbles, and Floppy on my pillow, arranging them just so. Maybe it was silly, but I whispered, "Good night," like I always used to. For a moment, I could have sworn his glass eyes twinkled in the fading light.
I waited to hear them say the words, “Good night, Sagey.”
But they would never speak to me again.
One
Callum
Sixteen years later…
