Mermaid Queen dropped Finn into a giant nest filled with large green eggs. Finn appeared to be completely knocked out.
‘Oh, geez,’ said Jake. ‘Okay, then I’m back on the team!’
Jake struggled and scratched as he attempted to climb the tree that was holding Mermaid Queen’s nest. He could hear the sound of her eggs beginning to hatch.
‘I’ll save you!’ he called to his friend. ‘Don’t worry!’
But without magic, Jake couldn’t make any progress advancing up the tree trunk.
‘Hey, Finn,’ he called. ‘Can you help me to get up there?’
The hatchlings were starting to emerge from their eggs. They snapped their sharp, pointed beaks in Finn’s direction. The mermaid babies were hungry. Time was running short.
‘Oh, if only I had my powers back,’ Jake moaned.
The voice of the witch came rushing back to him.
‘The only way I’ll give back your powers is…’ he remembered her saying.
‘I know. I know,’ Jake said. ‘I have to apologise to that witch.’
All Apologies
Jake returned to the witch’s garden. He knew that the only way to rescue his friend was to say the magic words ‘I’m sorry’.
‘Witch! I need my powers back!’ he called, squeezing through the iron bars of the garden gate. ‘So I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I ate your doughnut!’
‘Apology denied,’ said the witch. ‘You took too long. Now you have to apologise while doing a variety of humiliating things.’
Jake was about to deny the witch’s request when his subconscious showed up and reminded him that it was the only way to save Finn.
Moments later, Jake was waltzing with Subconscious Jake.
‘I, Jake the dog, while slow dancing with my subconscious, with flowers in my underwear, do humbly apologise,’ Jake pledged.
‘Wait, wait,’ said the witch, grabbing her video camera. ‘Start over.’
‘You’re recording this?’ asked Jake. ‘No way! I have my dignity!’
‘Then guess what, cool guy? You can forget about getting your powers back,’ replied the witch. ‘Ever!’
Subconscious Jake began to cough and wheeze. He fell to the floor.
‘I’m dying, Jake,’ he gasped. ‘I’m the subconscious of your old magical self. Goodbye, Jake.’
‘No! No!’ Jake cried. ‘If only I were a humbler guy, my subconscious would be alive, and my best bud wouldn’t be trapped in a mermaid’s nest.’
‘Yes!’ said the witch. ‘I think you’ve learned your lesson. I forgive you.’
With a tap of the witch’s wand, Jake was restored to his magical self. Quick as a flash of enchanted smoke, Jake grabbed a doughnut and zipped off to the mermaid’s nest, carrying Subconscious Jake on his back. The witch thought Jake had learned his lesson, but she was wrong.
Jake called to the mermaid.
Jake puckered up and gave Mermaid Queen a smack on the lips so powerful that it sent her flying into the River of Junk. Then he turned to the hatchlings.
‘You guys are so cute I could just maul you to death,’ he cooed.
One by one, the hatchlings jumped from the nest.
‘Jake!’ Finn said as he hugged his best friend. ‘I never should have doubted you.’
‘Well, I’m glad you learned your lesson,’ Jake replied. ‘In a crunch, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.’
‘So that’s how you got your powers back?’ Finn asked. ‘You apologised to the witch?’
‘Um…no way,’ Jake stammered. ‘I mean…yeah. Uh, I don’t remember.’
Finn laughed and then rode his magical friend all the way back to the treehouse.
The Witch’s Garden
published in 2013
by Chirpy Bird, an imprint of Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, VIC 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
© 2013 Cartoon Network
CARTOON NETWORK, the logo,
ADVENTURE TIME and all related characters and elements
are trademarks of and © Cartoon Network. (s13)
A TimeWarner Company.
All rights reserved.
CartoonNetwork.com.au
AS SEEN ON CARTOON NETWORK
A CiP record for this title is available from
the National Library of Australia.
Text and design copyright © 2013 Hardie Grant Egmont
Design by Ash Oswald @ Hey There’s Me
Printed in China by WKT Company Limited
eISBN 9781743580929
The Witch's Garden Page 2