by Mikey Brooks
“NO!” Hazel roared.
Jax stood a few feet from Ethan, a wand held over his knee. The platinum blonde witch was on the ground in front of him, hands clasped as if praying. “Please,” Luna cried. “I was just following orders. I would never intentionally do wrong. This is all Belladonna’s fault. Don’t break us, break her.”
“Quiet, you traitorous twit,” Belladonna hissed as she tried to break free of the golden whip’s hold. “Griselda stop standing there like a stick in the mud and do something!”
Griselda lifted her hands and a ball of fire formed between them. In an instant Mama J swung out her other whip. It caught Griselda’s wrist in a flash of sparks. The fire quickly died and both Belladonna and her sister shouted curses at Mama J.
“Do it now, boys. Break them!”
Ethan pulled his hands down and pushed up with his thumbs. There was a loud crack and a gust of wind blew him and Jax back onto the grass. Both Hazel and Luna cried out but their screams were cut short. Ethan quickly got to his feet to see the two witches had frozen in place, mixed expressions of fear and anger distorting their beautiful faces.
“Enough!” Belladonna roared. A whirlwind blew out from her sending Mama J and her whips across the blacktop, crashing into Jax. Griselda’s wand flew to the ground, rolling toward Ethan. Jax and Mama J tried to get up, but Belladonna shot a ball of fire toward them. It struck the grass barely missing them by inches. Jax and Mama J crawled away from the fire, both trying at the same time to get to their feet.
Griselda went for her wand at the same time as Ethan. He dove down and his knees met the blacktop, ripping the silky fabric of his ninja costume and skinning his palms. Just as he took hold of the wand, Griselda grabbed hold of his belt. He felt her tug something from the fabric strap. His plastic sword clattered to the blacktop.
“I got it!” she shouted. “Sister, I got it!”
No! He couldn’t let them win. He had to stop them. Rolling onto his back, he looked up at the witch proudly holding Belladonna’s wand in her hand like a trophy. In an instant his hands gripped Griselda’s wand across his bloody knee. With one great pull it snapped with a resounding crack.
A gust of wind flew out from Griselda and she stood frozen as a statue.
Ethan wasted no time. He climbed to his feet and grabbed hold of Belladonna’s wand. He posed his thumbs to break it when something shoved him hard in the back toppling him forward. The wand flew from his hands as he went down, rolling across the blacktop. He turned in time to see Belladonna charging toward him. He sucked in a breath waiting for the witch’s glossy red fingernails to sink into his skin.
Golden sparks ripped through the air as Mama J’s whip caught hold of the witch around the waist. Mama J yanked back and once again Belladonna crashed to the blacktop. Mama J dragged her away from Ethan and past her sister’s frozen body. Ethan let out a held breath as he shakily got to his feet.
“You’ll not break me! I won’t go back to prison,” Belladonna hissed. She grabbed hold of Ethan’s plastic sword and a sudden flash of light transformed it into a stainless steel blade. In an instant Belladonna cut through the golden whip as if it were made of butter. Mama J stumbled back just as the witch shot a ball of light toward her. It struck Mama J square in the chest and she flew back, landing in the grass, motionless.
“Mom!” Jax cried.
Belladonna turned to Ethan, her eyes flashing. “Give me my wand you stupid, stupid boy.”
But Ethan didn’t have it. Belladonna’s wand rested on the three point line of the basketball court, exactly in the middle between him and the sword wielding witch. It was hopeless. He had failed big time. Again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Witch Hunters
Ethan’s in trouble! What have I done? Emmy looked around the circle of unfamiliar faces hiding beneath black pointed hats. She’d promised her brother she’d help him defeat the witches and instead, she was joining forces with them. The strange power that she’d felt fill her just moments ago with elation suddenly felt like an ache in the pit of her stomach. She’d made a mistake, a huge mistake. Again she had leapt before looking, not thinking things through before she acted. Now Ethan would pay the price of her actions.
“Crown her now, Matilda,” a woman with long silvery hair said. “The hunters are here. We don’t have time to delay.”
Miss LeBeau shot a worried look from Emmy back toward the commotion coming from the school. The silver haired witch shoved a ruby encrusted tiara into Miss LeBeau’s hands. “We have not the time to waste. Finish what we started or we’ll all pay for it later.”
Emmy stepped back. Crown her? She didn’t want to be crowned anything. She had to get to Ethan before it was too late. Miss LeBeau moved forward but Emmy shook her head. “No. I don’t want to be your queen. I don’t want any of this.”
“What’s going on Matilda?” A witch with red horned rimmed glasses demanded. “You were to get the girl on our side. What is the meaning of this?”
“You said she was under your control,” snapped another.
“Crown her now!” ordered the witch in glasses. “I have not risked my whole coven for nothing. If this alliance is to work we need a queen.”
Miss LeBeau took the tiara and turned to Emmy. “You said you’d be our queen. We need you, Emmy. You have such great talent, such great gifts. We need them if we are to defeat the Olc Coven. Think of your parents—of your family.”
That was the point wasn’t it? Emmy hadn’t been thinking of her family at all. She’d been so star struck with Miss LeBeau that everything else came second to her. Had she been thinking of them she would never have agreed to this ridiculous plan. Her family was all she had and yet she was betraying them, and for what, a bunch of strangers? She left her brother to face four very skilled witches all on his own. He needed her and she wasn’t there.
Emmy looked at Miss LeBeau but didn’t see the beautiful spellbinding teacher she once had. Now she saw someone that had been charged to bewitch her, manipulate her, and control her into doing something she should never have done. Emmy shook her head. She had to get away from here. She had to find Ethan.
The silver haired witch wagged a knobby finger at Emmy. “We don’t have time for this, you silly girl. The full moon rarely falls on All Hallow’s Eve. The time is now or never.”
“Then it’s never,” Emmy shouted.
The witch stepped back as her eyes flashed bright blue. The women around her began to hiss and growl. Emmy took another step back as the witches moved forward. She looked to Miss LeBeau but her beloved teacher just stood there, unmoved. So much for her being my friend.
Before the witches could move any closer, Emmy rushed them, screaming like a banshee. Taken by surprise, the silver haired witches fell back, revealing a break in the circle of witches. Emmy went for it. They grabbed at her arms but she dodged them. One caught hold of her tutu and threads popped as Emmy tore away from her grip. Once free of the witches, she ran. She heard Miss LeBeau calling after her but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop.
***
Belladonna followed Ethan’s gaze to the wand lying a few feet from either of them and a smile exposed her glossy white teeth. For her, she’d already won. And who could blame her? Ethan was no match for her. Even without her wand she was still able to harness some fierce magic, and she had a ninja sword. It was hopeless.
A moan came from Hazel and Ethan glanced toward her. While she still couldn’t move, the spell that froze her was slowly ebbing away. If he didn’t think of something fast all of their work would be for nothing. Ethan thought of what Emmy would do. Wouldn’t she risk everything to do the right thing? Wouldn’t his parents? Ethan was an Orion, he came from a long line of witch hunters. He couldn’t give up.
Without a second thought he raced toward the wand. Belladonna’s face fell as she too, charged forward. He had just ten steps. Six steps. Four steps. Ethan dropped down and skidded the rest of the distance snatching up the wand
just as Belladonna’s sword came down striking the blacktop with a resounding clang.
Ignoring the burning in his skinned thigh and hands he pulled the wand close to him to break it. Belladonna kicked his shoulder and he fell back. She lifted her ninja sword and it glinted silver in the moonlight. Ethan tried to back away but the more he willed his body to move the slower he seemed to go.
“I’ll teach you for taking things that don’t belong to you,” Belladonna hissed. With furry in her eyes she brought down the sword.
CRACK! Golden sparks erupted around Ethan as the whip wrapped its way around the sword. The sword was yanked from the witch’s grip, crashing to the blacktop. In an instant it transformed back into a plastic toy. Jax stepped forward ready to have another go with the golden whip. “Get away from my friend.”
“Ethan!”
Ethan turned to see Emmy racing across the schoolyard and relief instantly filled him. She was safe. She’d gotten away from Miss LeBeau. He turned back to Belladonna but it was too late. She grabbed hold of him with the strength of an elephant, lifting him by the neck. Ethan squirmed, desperately trying to catch his breath. One hand held onto Belladonna trying to lift himself, the other held the wand away from her reach.
Jax swung the whip, but quick as lightning Belladonna caught it with her free hand. She tore it from Jax’s grip and sent a blast of air toward him. He staggered back, helpless.
“I really do hate children,” Belladonna shrieked, squeezing tighter on his neck. “You waste perfectly good food because you’re all too busy chatting, you never say thank you, and you never eat your vegetables. Now, you little runt of a witch hunter, give me my wand!”
“Ethan!” Emmy skidded to stop just under the basketball hoop. Her hands went to her face and Ethan could see tears in her eyes. If he didn’t get a breath soon he’d pass out, he knew it. But he couldn’t give in. He couldn’t give the witch back her wand.
He had to break it. Break the wand and she would freeze like the others. But try as he might, he couldn’t let go of Belladonna’s arm, it was the only thing keeping him from passing out. He looked once again to his sister. He’d never told her how pretty she looked in her costume. Even with it all torn up around the bottom she still looked like the perfect ballerina. All she needed was a stage, not some worn out blacktop and basketball hoop. The basketball hoop!
With the fight for air drowning his thoughts he did the only thing he could think of.
He shot a hoop.
The wand sailed over Belladonna’s head and through the air. With a swoosh it went through the net and landed in the waiting hands of Emmy. How had she known he wouldn’t miss?
Belladonna let go and Ethan crumpled to the ground. The witch turned her red polished claws on Emmy, but before she could even move a loud snap sounded followed by a gust of wind. They had vanquished four witches.
They were witch hunters.
Chapter Thirty: No More Secrets
Everything seemed to pass in a blur. Emmy was under the basketball hoop one minute, in the arms of her brother the next. Soon she saw Papa Washington and four other men in suits race onto the blacktop. Two of the men had golden whips that they used to strike out at the frozen witches. As if by magic, golden cages encircled the lunch ladies and they vanished with a little pop.
A shaky Mama J leaned on her husband as they both embraced Jax in a family hug. It seemed to take ages before anyone noticed her and Ethan were even there. Together they sat silently looking up in the sky, the belt of Orion twinkling brightly against the black night.
“Are you two all right?” Mama J asked.
Emmy gave a slight nod. She wasn’t sure they were all right or not. Ethan was hurt. His hands and knees looked like he’d ran a belt sander over them. Despite his obvious discomfort, he was smiling.
“Where did the witches go?” Ethan asked.
“They went to the witch prison in New Jersey,” one of the men answered. “They’ll await trial there.”
“Trial?” Emmy asked.
“Every witch is given a trial. Once we can get some hunters here to investigate what they were up to.”
Emmy could tell the W.H.O. what they’d been up to but it would land her in a lot of trouble. Part of her wondered if they had some sort of witch detector. If they found out what she’d become would they send her to the prison in New Jersey? She hadn’t done anything wrong so how could a trial do her any good?
Something made her look back toward the woods. When she saw a shadowy figure step behind a tree she knew instantly it was Miss LeBeau. Would she go into hiding now that Emmy had ruined her plans? The other witches didn’t seem very happy about what she’d done. Part of Emmy felt guilty about betraying her, but mostly the guilt was for betraying her own family. Without so much as a wave of her hand, Miss LeBeau disappeared back into the line of trees and Emmy wondered if she’d ever see her ballet mistress ever again.
“Can we go home?” Emmy asked.
Mama J smiled. “Of course we can, sugar. Jefferson, are you coming?”
“Let me help these agents clean up. We want to perform a thorough check on the kitchen to make sure there’s no remaining potion hiding. Then we’ve got to figure out what happened to the original lunch ladies. It’s a good thing it’s a weekend.”
“Remember you’re retired,” she said, hands on hips. “Get them started then get yourself home.”
Papa Washington agreed and kissed her, which normally would have made Emmy feel sick, but she let them do it without her usual sarcastic interruption.
“Can you believe we broke the witches?” Ethan whispered as they headed back to the minivan. “I heard those W.H.O. agents say they couldn’t believe kids did what we just did.”
Emmy squeezed his hand. “You were very brave.”
“I wish Mom and Dad could have seen it.”
“Me too.”
The drive back to the Washington’s seemed to take forever. There were still kids meandering about with trick-or-treat bags filled to the top with candy. She even caught sight of Robbie Maser running down the street, dressed in his normal school clothes. Mama J said that with the vanquishing of the Halifax sisters, their spell over the bully was gone. Emmy hoped he learned his lesson. If not she’d remind him by showing him a dirty dish.
They turned down their street, and Emmy saw another group of kids trick or treating. She felt her heart give a tug when she saw a girl dressed as a witch. Her thoughts went to Miss LeBeau. Was her teacher serious about wanting to help Emmy’s parents? Had Emmy just wrecked everyone’s plan to stop this supposed Olc coven from bringing down the W.H.O.? Then again, the W.H.O. hunted and imprisoned witches, why would they want to stop the Olc coven from doing that? There were so many questions and not enough answers. Questions she should have asked before she’d gone so willingly into the woods.
“We’ll get home and look you both over,” Mama J said, looking in her rearview mirror. “Best we clean up those cuts on your hands, Ethan. You sure you don’t want me to take you to an instant care clinic?”
“Are you kidding? These are my first battle wounds from witches,” he said with a laugh. He and Jax high fived, and Emmy couldn’t help but smile. As usual he was being a boy—a stupid boy. But what did it matter? He was safe.
“Be glad that’s all that happened to you,” Mama J said. “After this is all over, we need to discuss the seriousness of what you kids have been up to. I don’t know much about Hazel or Luna, but the Halifax sisters and Matilda LeBeau are witches I would never face without years of training. You kids are lucky.”
Silence descended on them and once again Emmy felt sick at the guilt plaguing her stomach. Ethan kept looking at her but she avoided looking back. She knew that if she did she’d either cry or he’d figure out she was hiding something.
“I found out some stuff about Mom and Dad,” she said, trying to veer Ethan’s focus away from her.
“What?” Ethan and Jax asked in uni
son. Emmy could feel Mama J’s eyes bearing down on them as she pulled into the driveway.
“Miss LeBeau knew all about them. She said they were captured by the Olc coven.”
Mama J pulled to an abrupt stop. Emmy felt herself fly forward. She’d forgotten to buckle her seat belt.
“I’m sorry,” Mama J said. “Now what exactly did she say?”
“Who are the Olc coven?” Ethan asked.
“Miss LeBeau seemed to be a little afraid of them. She said that they were as bad as witches come.”
“Matilda is right about that,” Mama J said. She turned off the engine and opened her door. The way Mama J said Miss LeBeau’s first name made Emmy think she didn’t like her teacher at all. “It’s better we go inside to talk, especially on a night like this.”
They got out of the minivan, remembering to grab their bags of candy. Ethan took Emmy’s hand again and they walked to the house. Emmy thought she caught Ethan looking at the wand in her hair but tried to ignore it. She didn’t need to get all paranoid. She leaned into him and smiled as they headed inside.
***
Ethan was ready to head out to North Carolina the second he heard about the Olc coven kidnapping his parents. If answers to where to find them were in Transylvania County, then they needed to get there before the trail went cold. The Washingtons said they shouldn’t be rash. They needed to think things through first. Sometimes, adults overthink too much. The evening grew late and Mama J told everyone to go to sleep.
Ethan headed reluctantly up to his room, replaced his shredded ninja costume with pajamas, and got into bed. The night felt so anticlimactic after defeating the witches. He thought there should be more to it. Is this how it will feel after every witch I vanquish? Thrill replaced by boredom?
Ethan resolved before he closed his eyes that he would go to North Carolina whether the Washingtons agreed to go or not. They had stopped the witches of Roosevelt Elementary. It was time to rescue his parents and the other witch hunters from the Olc coven. He didn’t know much about the band of witches, but he knew he’d learned enough from the books he and Jax had read. Witches longed for power and it seemed the Olc coven were the most powerful. If a witch called them bad, they had to be the worst.