Sasha and Puck and the Brew for Brainwash

by Estrela Lourenço

  Butta nodded and turned to go execute the order.

  In that moment, Sasha knew that her plan was doomed to fail, since the baron was going to ship the deed to Rozny before nightfall, and even if she could change her plan, Sasha had two terrible obstacles, Barza and Butta.

  Sasha looked around for ideas.

  Sisal was greedily stuffing rice pudding into her mouth.

  Her mother, Rose, sat with her glass of tea, sipping it peacefully.

  Sasha felt all hope slipping through her fingers until she made eye contact with Mrs. Gentry. When Rose saw her—panicked at the thought of Butta shipping the deed to Rozny—she put down her tea and said, “Butta, before you leave, could you please attend to me?”

  Butta was already at the door, but he turned back.

  “I’d like a bowl of pomegranate,” said Mrs. Gentry. “Would you peel one for me?” Butta nodded and began the slow process of plucking the seeds from a pomegranate. Mrs. Gentry took another sip of her tea and gave Sasha a mischievous wink.

  That left Barza.

  Sasha was imagining a sudden move to lunge away from Barza’s grip. But right then, she heard the chef whisper, “Go. You’ve been a good worker, and I hate to lose you. But go.”

  Sasha felt Barza’s hand lift from her shoulder.

  She had finally won the chef’s respect. Sasha was overwhelmed with pride. But she didn’t have time to bask in her accomplishment. She reached into her satchel, took out the potion labeled, DISTRACTION, and popped the cork.

  The bottle began to whistle and fizz immediately. Sasha rolled the bottle across the floor, toward the middle of the room, just as a massive purple cloud burst and swirled out of it, filling the entire parlor.

  The servants ran to open the windows. Baron Gentry shouted, “What is the meaning of this?” For a moment, it was chaos.

  Sasha ran to the door and slipped out before anyone noticed.

  As she ran down the hall, she could hear Sisal shouting, “Girl! Girl, get over here and fan me. Girl!”

  But Sasha didn’t waste a second. She sprinted to the stairs that led down to the kitchens. Then she descended again to the dungeon floor.

  But that was as far as she got.

  The second basement was so far underground that it was completely dark, even in the daytime. And this time, the baron’s office wasn’t lit up. Sasha found herself in blackness so thick that she lost all sense of direction.

  She spun around but couldn’t see the stairs anymore.

  Sasha was lost.

  She put her hands out to protect herself from walking into anything, but she couldn’t even see her hands.

  Sasha was afraid.

  Any moment, the distraction potion would fade, and Butta would come down with a torch and catch her. Sasha reached into her satchel and felt around until she found the potion from Mama that would have read ANTI-DARK, if she could see it.

  She held it as far away from herself as possible. If it was anything like the distraction potion, it would probably shoot fireworks all over the place.

  Sasha winced as she popped the cork. The thin vial of glass began to glow as gently as a firefly. “Thank you,” said Sasha as a warm globe of light surrounded her and showed her the way through the long hall. Sasha rushed to the office door and pushed it open.

  She was almost there.

  All she had to do was—

  Sasha stopped in her tracks when she heard the sound of a dog’s growl.

  Abrus the guard dog stepped into the light.

  He had been sleeping on the carpet in front of the baron’s desk. “Easy,” said Sasha, taking a step back. Abrus bared his teeth and growled again. He knew that this was his master’s secret office. No one else was allowed.

  Sasha was nearly frozen with fear. Crumbsy bumsy, she thought. If only she had that superpower potion. Mama really had thought of everything. Facing the angry dog without the potion seemed like a terrible idea. Even though she still didn’t believe in magic, at least it would give her a little confidence, or the smell would distract Abrus or something…

  Right then, Sasha remembered something even better than magic.

  Soup.

  Papa’s bottle of bone soup. She reached into her satchel and pulled out the very not-magic potion. Abrus barked as soon as she moved. Sasha flinched. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s okay. Here.” She opened the bottle and poured the soup onto the stone floor. Abrus’s ears went back as his snout filled with the aroma of soup. He bounced over and began to lick it up.

  Sasha breathed a sigh of relief and stepped aside to let the big dog enjoy the tasty puddle. She walked over to the painting of Rose Gentry and pulled it aside. She stuffed the deed and the vial into her satchel, then tiptoed back across Abrus’s path and into the dark hall once again.

  Sasha ran up the stairs, through the kitchens that had been her bedroom, and to the back door. But when she was just about to open the door, she heard a familiar voice.

  “What are you doing, girl? How dare you?”

  It was Sisal.

  Sasha turned slowly.

  Sisal stood in the kitchens with her hands on her hips. “Are you running away? I called for you, like, a thousand times. I want more strawberries. But you were sneaking around.”

  “I’m leaving,” said Sasha.

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I have the persuasion cure,” said Sasha.

  “But you’re a fool, and you didn’t drink it yet,” said Sisal. “Now, come here.”

  Sasha walked over.

  “Get the potion,” said Sisal.

  Sasha reached into her satchel and took out the bottle.

  “Open it,” said Sisal.

  Sasha popped off the cork.

  “Now,” said Sisal, “you’re going to be my servant forever. Pour it out.”

  Sasha didn’t.

  “I said, pour it out.”

  “There’s just one thing,” said Sasha.

  “Pour it out!” said Sisal. “Now!”

  “You didn’t ask in the form of a suggestion.”

  Sisal’s eyes went wide as she realized her mistake. Before she could say anything, Sasha took a big gulp from the vial. “No!” cried Sisal.

  Sasha shrugged and put the cork back in the vial. She would need the other half of the antidote for Papa. Sasha turned and walked out the door. She didn’t have anything more to say to Sisal. She only wanted to taste the fresh air of springtime in the valley as she ran down the hill toward the Village.

  She was free.

  Her heart felt featherlight.

  It was lifted with the hope of a better future.

  Papa could stop peddling soup.

  They had a home again.

  Mama was safe.

  And Puck was maybe magic—but also her best friend.

  Sasha laughed as she ran to the village market and felt her worries fall far, far behind.

  CHAPTER 10

  Dear Mama,

  We did it! We got the house back. Papa was so happy when he heard the news, he threw Puck into the air and caught him a bunch of times. Papa can cook a really good bone soup now. You’ve got to try it. He says he’ll make lesser potions for now, and things can be calm for a while.

  We had to spend half the money we got from the persuasion potion on a hedge knight army to go into the Willow Wood and fetch Otto. He caused a lot of trouble. Then the constable came by, and we returned the rest of the coins to the baron and showed our deed, and everything was back to normal. The constable said the baron wanted to hire his own soldiers to come take our deed, but Rose forbid it. You two must have been good friends.

  Thank you for the potions. I hope you come back soon.

  Love, Sasha

  P.S. I’m starting to think Puck is magic.

  DANIEL NAYERI was born in Iran and spent a couple of years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age eight with his family. He is the author of several books for young readers, including Straw House, Wood House, Bric
k House, Blow.

  ESTRELA LOURENÇO was born in Lisbon, where she later studied animation. She moved to Ireland in 2009 and has since worked as an animator, animation director, and episodic director. She is currently storyboard revisionist for Hasbro. Past clients include Disney Television and Cartoon Network. As a freelancer, she works in comics and illustration.