The Witch Within

by M. Z. Andrews

  “Omigosh. Holly, are you allergic to avocados?”

  Holly’s head bobbed up and down as she tried to gasp for air. Her windpipe was closing on her.

  My brother jumped to his feet. “She’s allergic! Oh no. Alright, think. What do we do?”

  “She needs Benadryl or an EpiPen or something. If she doesn’t get it in time, she could go into anaphylactic shock!” said Sweets.

  I looked around. We were decades into the past! Where were we supposed to go? “But we’re back in time!”

  “We’re still on our campus,” said Alba. “Let’s get her to the nurse’s office. There’s got to be an EpiPen or something in there to help her.”

  That’s all it took for Reign to scoop Holly up in his arms. “Mercy, grab my bag,” he ordered, his face in a panic. “Just point me in the right direction.”

  “This way.”

  Bursting through the door to the nurse’s office with a nearly unconscious Holly in his arms, my brother nodded his head towards the metal medicine cabinet in the corner of the room. “Check in there,” he shouted as he gingerly laid Holly down on a small cot. By now, Holly’s face was covered in a rash of red hives, and she looked as if she’d been the victim of a Botox injection gone wrong. Her lips were triple their usual size.

  “Libby, Cinder, watch the door,” shouted Alba.

  “Sweets, help me search the medicine cabinet. Red, check the desk.”

  While Sweets and Alba tore apart the medicine cabinet, I just stared at them blankly. Fear over losing Holly had frozen my brain and made my limbs heavy.

  My brother looked up at Alba and Sweets, his brows knitted together and his face covered with fear. “I don’t think she’s breathing! You need to hurry!” He kneeled next to Holly’s cot and patted her face. “Stay with me, Holly.”

  “I’m not finding anything,” shouted Alba.

  “Me either,” said Sweets in a panic. “What are we going to do?”

  “Keep looking. This is a dorm. They’re not going to have a nurse’s office without some kind of emergency allergy kit,” shouted my brother. “Maybe I should give her CPR?”

  “Do you know how?” asked Sweets.

  “Yeah. I mean, we had to learn in a high school class once. I kind of remember what you’re supposed to do.” Reign nodded determinedly as he looked down at Holly lying lifelessly on the cot. He tilted her head back and leaned over her.

  Oh, Holly! I pleaded in my head. You need to wake up! You’ll want to see this! But I couldn’t seem to get my limbs to move. My eyes widened as Holly’s body took on a sort of halo-like glow. I couldn’t help but think I was going to see her ghost climb out of her body at any moment.

  Reign covered her mouth with his and blew. He did it again and then started doing chest compressions. “Find anything?”

  “Not yet.” Alba looked over her shoulder at me. “Find anything in the desk?” When I didn’t say anything, she hollered at me again. “Red? Did you find anything in the desk?”

  I swallowed. My mouth felt dry. It felt like I was in a dream.

  “Red! The desk!”

  Her last scream seemed to wake me up slightly. I shook my head and pulled out the desk drawers one by one. I shoved aside papers and pens and kept looking until finally I found a small plastic case. I opened it, hoping to find an EpiPen, but discovered it held only Band-Aids and gauze pads. “There’s nothing in here!”

  Suddenly Libby and Cinder burst inside the nurse’s room. “Bad news, girls. Sorceress Stone’s coming!”

  All eyes fell on Holly. Our time was up. There was no way we were going to save her now.

  23

  “We need a diversion to buy us more time!” I said. “Reign, Alba, can you stop Sorceress Stone from coming in? Throw up some roadblocks, get her to leave so we can get Holly out?”

  Reign nodded. “Of course, we’ll think of something. What about Holly? She’s not breathing.”

  “I’ll take care of her.” I shoved my brother towards the door. “There’s no time to explain. Go! Meet us at the portal as soon as you can ditch Sorceress Stone.”

  With that, Alba and Reign disappeared out the door.

  Libby, Cinder, and Sweets all stared at me.

  “Libby, you’ve got to freeze Holly. We have to get her to someone that can help her, but we need more time.”

  “Got it,” said Libby. “Give me some room to breathe.”

  Sweets, Cinder, and I all stepped back while Libby sucked in a deep breath of air. Then, just as she’d done to Sorceress Stone, she began to blow. Her frosty breath surrounded Holly, and within a minute, Holly was completely encased in a block of ice.

  “You promise she’s going to be okay like this?” asked Sweets as we all stared down at her lifeless frozen body.

  “Yes, but the second we thaw her out, she’s going to need medical attention.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

  Sweets lifted her brows. “Now what? How are we supposed to get her to the river? There’s no way we can carry a block of ice all that way. It’s too cold and too heavy.”

  I flexed my fingers out in front of myself. “Don’t worry. I think I can do it.”

  “Mercy…,” Sweets began nervously.

  “Shh, I’m concentrating,” I hissed, keeping my eyes closed as I accumulated as much energy as I could. When I felt ready to do the lift, I opened my eyes. “Get the door, Sweets.”

  I held my hands out in front of myself and felt the energy running through my body. Slowly, I lifted Holly off the cot. But the ice had made her so heavy that I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be able to keep her up. We had to go now, before I lost my strength. “Let’s go,” I muttered through gritted teeth.

  “We’ll cover you. Don’t worry about anything, just worry about Holly,” said Cinder, rushing to the door with her sister right by her side.

  I let Cinder lead the way. Libby followed behind me, and Sweets stayed right by my side to help me maneuver Holly through doorways. We went out through a back door, and as soon as my feet touched grass, I took off at a slow trot, keeping Holly hovering a few feet above the ground. I didn’t want to lift her any higher, just in case my powers gave way. I was afraid if she fell, the ice would break, and with it, Holly’s frozen body as well.

  It took nearly five minutes to get Holly’s frozen body back to our wormhole. I dropped her on the grass in front of the steam sauna as gently as I could, but the second my energy released, I found myself completely spent. I’d never lifted anything that heavy for that long before. I realized then that my magic was a muscle that needed to be developed, and I suddenly understood why my teacher had been so adamant about us doing all the lifts they’d assigned as homework during the semester. I’d thought being able to lift small things once or twice had been enough practice, but now I understood.

  Cinder and Libby kept watch. “I can’t believe they aren’t back yet,” said Cinder. “This isn’t good.”

  Libby paced the grass next to her sister. “Should we go after them?”

  Cinder shook her head. “Let’s give them another minute or two. If they’re not back, then we’ll have to go find them.” She pointed her finger back at Holly. “Get her inside in case we have to leave in a hurry.”

  I groaned. I wasn’t sure if I had enough in me to lift her again.

  “Mercy, can you do it?”

  “I don’t know, Sweets. I’m wiped right now.”

  “How about I help you?”

  “But you don’t do telekinesis.”

  “No, but I have two arms. You get that side, and I’ll get this side,” she suggested with a shrug.

  I sighed. I wasn’t even sure if I had the energy for that, but I knew I had to try. “Okay, let’s try.” The two of us squatted down low and got our fingers under the block of ice that encased our friend. The surface was not just cold—it was freezing. It burned our fingers to even touch it. We tried anyway, fighting like hell to get her off the ground, but finally we both stood up without
having moved her an inch.

  “She’s too heavy,” said Sweets.

  “And too cold. There’s no way we’re doing this manually. I’ll just have to muster up some more magical powers,” I said, falling down onto the soft grass. “Give me a second to catch my breath and I’ll try again.”

  Before I’d even had a chance to absorb a single electrical current, voices rang out across the field.

  “It’s them!” Cinder shouted back at us.

  “Why are they yelling?” asked Sweets.

  “I don’t know,” said Libby. “They’re too far away to hear.”

  “Mercy, you need to get Holly into the sauna, now!” shouted Cinder.

  “I tried, but my powers are weak,” I yelled back.

  And then Alba and Reign were only yards away.

  “Get in the portal!” shouted Alba. “Now!”

  Panicked, I found myself completely unable to summon any energy from the things around me. My heart was in my throat, and I couldn’t concentrate.

  “Hurry!” shouted Reign. “She’s right behind us!”

  Alba and Reign raced past Libby and Cinder. Sorceress Stone was hot on their tail but lagged slightly. She’d easily be upon us in seconds, though.

  “Alba, I can’t get Holly inside,” I shouted. “My powers are dead.”

  Alba and Reign immediately fired at her, lifting her off the ground, and together they carried her inside the steam sauna. Alba hollered at all of us. “Get in here! Now!”

  Sweets and I followed them in, but Libby and Cinder stood several yards away. Libby held her arms out on either side of herself and blew, casting a ten-foot-tall ice wall between Sorceress Stone and our portal. As I peered out the steam curtains, I could see Sorceress Stone firing an electrical current at the wall, trying to use her powers to break it.

  Libby and Cinder raced to join us in the portal. “Hurry, that’s not going to hold her for long!”

  With Holly inside our little circle, the rest of us held hands as Alba chanted.

  Magic portal, you must know

  The three Great Witches left to find.

  We’re in a rush with an injured friend,

  So now we’re flying blind.

  We seek to find a healing touch,

  And don’t know what to do.

  So take us where we should go,

  Because we don’t have a clue.

  The tunnel made a whooshing sound the second Alba finished her chant. We worked together to get Holly through the doorway and into the tunnel. Seconds later, we found ourselves on the other side.

  We exited the steaming sauna to discover we weren’t on the green grass by the river anymore. We’d appeared in the middle of nowhere on a gravel road beside a narrow creek. A small wooden railroad bridge ran across the creek and cut perpendicularly across the gravel road we stood on. Aside from the bridge, the creek, and the gravel road, the only thing we could see for miles was fenced green pastures and cows grazing peacefully.

  Sweets looked around. “Where in the heck are we?”

  “Heck if I know,” muttered Alba. “Looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

  Reign gently lowered Holly’s block of ice to the ground. “I don’t know, but we’ve got to get to a town so we can get Holly some medical attention.”

  Alba let out a puff of air. “You think there’s a hospital around here, Slick? We’re gonna be lucky if we see another living soul besides a cow for the next sixty miles.”

  Reign stretched his back and then stood up and put his hands on his hips. “Well, what other choice do we have? We can’t let her die.”

  “We’re not gonna let her die,” snapped Alba.

  “Then we need to start walking.” He pointed at the bridge. “I have a strong feeling about that bridge.”

  “I feel it too,” agreed Cinder.

  With one swoop of his magical fingers, Reign lifted Holly into the air. “Then we’ll head that way. Maybe there’s a hospital, or a medical clinic at the very least.”

  Alba threw her head back and groaned. “You don’t think this medical clinic is gonna have a few questions about administering an EpiPen to a Popsicle?”

  Libby shrugged. “Maybe there will be a pharmacy and we can sneak in and steal an EpiPen.”

  I shook my head. “Alba cast that time travel spell in a hurry. We have no idea where we are in time. Maybe we’ve gone so far back that EpiPens don’t even exist yet! We’re wasting time talking about it. Let’s just keep moving and see what we find, alright?”

  “Fine,” grumbled Alba. “Lead the way, Slick.”

  Reign led us across the railroad bridge. We followed the tracks for the next several miles in silence. I was lost in thought about Holly and what had just happened with Sorceress Stone when Cinder broke the silence.

  “So what happened with Stone back there?”

  Alba sighed. “What do you think happened? She just about killed us!”

  “Did you speak to her before she tried to kill you?”

  Alba kicked a rock off the tracks and shrugged. “She told us we weren’t supposed to be there.”

  “What did you say?”

  “We said we were meeting some friends, and she told us we’d have to meet them somewhere else.”

  “And then she just tried killing you? Jeez, that escalated quickly,” I said.

  “I might have told her off,” said Alba with a half-smile.

  “Alba!” breathed Sweets. “You told off Sorceress Stone?!”

  Alba’s mouth was in a full smile now. “You don’t understand. I’ve wanted to do that for such a long time. I figured now was as good a time as any. Plus we were stalling. We had to give you guys enough time to get Holly outta there.”

  “That’s still not a very good reason for her to try and kill you!”

  “She tried to use force to get us to leave,” said Reign from up ahead. “I wasn’t about to let her push me around, so I fired back.”

  “And then she fired back,” added Alba.

  “And then I fired back.”

  “Next thing we knew, we were running and she was following.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t believe it. I wondered if, because we were back in time, the present-day Sorceress Stone would remember seeing us. Maybe that was why she hated us so much.

  We’d only walked about two miles when we came to the edge of a town. We stood beneath a white-and-blue water tower that read Norwalk.

  I stopped and stared at the word. “Norwalk. Why does that sound familiar?”

  Alba tilted her head slightly as she looked back at Sweets and me. “Yeah, why does that sound familiar?”

  I put a hand on her hip as I looked down the main drag and into the town. “Didn’t one of the Council members say they were from Norwalk? Like Norwalk, Iowa?”

  Alba nodded then. “Yup. I feel like it was Elodie Goodwitch.”

  Cinder curled her lip. “So this is Iowa? Not much to the place. I’d put money on there not being a hospital in this town.”

  As we headed into the downtown area, it quickly became apparent that Cinder was right. There wasn’t much to see. I’d always thought Dubbsburg and Aspen Falls were small towns, but Norwalk had both of them beat.

  The main drag was little more than three city blocks of old brick and stone buildings along a pothole-ridden asphalt street. Less than a handful of beat-up cars were parked in front of the few shops along the street. For that I was thankful. A group of strangers carrying a girl encased in a block of ice was likely a strange sight and might be worthy of confrontation. So not to have anyone around was a blessing in disguise. Though I couldn’t help but worry about not being able to find Holly the help she needed.

  When we hit the second block, one of the buildings caught my attention. It was a narrow two-story brick-fronted building with a red-and-gold awning covering the front window. There was a pickup truck parked in front, and the lights in the shop were on.

  “Girls!” I said excitedly, patting Alba’s
arm. “Look!” I pointed at the painted front window, which read Goodwitch Magical Apothecary. My heart raced. “Who needs a hospital when you have a magical apothecary?”

  Libby smiled from ear to ear. “It’s Elodie Goodwitch’s shop! She has got to have something that can help Holly. Come on!”

  The doorbell jingled as we helped Reign navigate Holly through the narrow glass door. The shop was small, with glass shelving and lots of reflective mirrors, probably to make it appear larger than it was. On the shelves were assortments of crystals and charms, potion bottles and other magical ointments. We’d been in the shop for only a few seconds before a familiar witch with slumped shoulders walked out, carrying a box of merchandise in her arms.

  “Hello!” sang Elodie, a broad smile on her face. “May I help you?”

  We stared back at her, curious if she’d recognize us.

  “Elodie?” I said finally.

  She nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry, have we met?”

  “Not yet, but we’ve heard of you. We have a bit of a situation that we’re hoping you can help us with.”

  Elodie’s eyes scanned each of us, looking for the problem. Finally, Alba stepped aside and pointed to Holly. “It’s sort of an emergency.”

  Elodie sucked in her breath. “Well! I’d say so!”

  24

  “How in the world did she get like this?” asked Elodie, kneeling over Holly’s block of ice.

  “I froze her,” Libby admitted.

  “Froze her? Whatever for?”

  “She was having an allergic reaction and we didn’t have anything to help her.”

  “And we were running out of time,” I added. “We didn’t have a choice.”

  “But you can unfreeze her?” asked Elodie.

  Libby nodded. “Whenever we’re ready to save her life, I’ll unfreeze her, but not until then.”

  Elodie pushed herself up into a standing position and walked back to her counter. “Do you know what caused the allergic reaction?”

  “Avocado,” said Reign gruffly. “I didn’t know she was allergic to it.”