Chapter 6:49 Coven

Rabbit's feet, a mysterious fig, a vial of tears from an unfathomable sadness, lightening in a bottle, a jar containing the saddest laugh in the world, a fairy's tail, the tooth fairy's teeth, beeswax, hourglass sand, star dust, jars of paresthesia and brain freeze, other knickknacks and various paddy whacks all line the potion cabinet.

"Few more minutes for the frog soup." Beatrix says intensely, staring at them with wide, menacing eyes. She stands over a kettle, stirring, drinking from a skull cup. Her hair's a hive with snakes crawling through it that hiss at them. "If you try to drop frogs in boiling water they'll hop right out," she says. "But if you put 'em in cold water and bring it to a boil and they'll sit there 'til they croak."

"Oh." Theo says.

"Are we going to eat the children?" she asked Lady when they walked in.

"She's kidding." Lady laughed, although they suspect it wasn't a joke. She has a particular interest in Mr. Bear who she's been staring at for some time. Mr. Bear worries she wants to trap him in the empty bird cage. He doesn't want to know what happened to the bird.

Sitting around a crooked table, they grimace as they eat bug pudding with wooden spoons.

"Filling, isn't it?" Lady asks them.

Contrary Mary nods in agreement. She sits in a crooked rocking chair reading a book backwards.

Whenever they came in she patted their heads. "Uoy era woh? Yeh." she asked.

They couldn't understand her but there was a kindness in her eyes.

A white moth keeps trying to land on Oliver and he swats it away.

"There's not much east of here." Lady says. "Where are you really headed?"

"We're trying to get home." Maise says.

"Where's home?" she asks.

"A place different than here. We have to find the timekeeper to help us get back."

"Maise." Theo says, nudging her.

"Wasn't the timekeeper forgotten?" Lady asks.

"Yea. That's why we're going to the old castle to find him." Maise says.

Beatrix bursts out laughing. "Stupid kids."

"Eziminim tnod." Mary scolds her.

Lady studies their tired faces and muddy clothes for a moment as they force down their food.

"Why do you live all the way out here?" Maise asks her.

"Well, it's not a very pleasant story," Lady says. "But if you'd like to know— back when there was still light, Baby Beatrix saw a bad omen so we started preparing for the worst. But when the darkness fell people blamed us for their misfortunes. As you may know, joy in this life can be fleeting. It's like a candle. You want to share it with others— especially ones you care about— however if they try to put out your candle, it's better to take it away. So we ran off to hide in this awful swamp where no one would ever find us. Until you."

The wind outside picks up, rocking the crooked door.

Mary looks up from her book when she sees a strange shadow in the mirror: a slender hand with pointed fingers. She lifts her reading glasses to get a better look and gasps—

"Totu Gnab!" she shouts as she bolts up, dropping her book.

"What?" Lady asks, all turning to her.

"Totu Gnab!!" she points.

Beatrix shouts, "No one knows what you're saying!"

Before Mary can say another word the shadow grabs the white moth out of the air and yanks it into the mirror; gone.

They stare, frozen with fear as the mirror grows completely dark and the shadow spills out into every direction, shrouding the entire corner of the room.

Beatrix grabs one of her potion bottles and throws it at the shadow. It shatters in a plume of smoke and fizzles out and the shadow keeps growing.

"Boj taerg." Mary says.

"I don't see you doing anything!" Bea shouts.

A shadow arm springs from the darkness and grabs Theo by the throat, choking him, dragging him into the mirror. Theo grabs at his neck, unable to breathe. Maise clutches the Kixi flower, shaking with fear.

"No! Stop it! Theo!" she pleads.

Angry rain batters the crooked tin roof and the wind outside rushes, slamming the window panes. Lightening outside explodes.

"Help him!" Lady shouts.

"I don't know how!" Beatrix says.

Mr. Bear runs at the shadow; kicks and punches the walls to no effect. The shadow grabs him too, dragging them both into the mirror.

Maise trembles as a single tear drops from her cheek onto the flower in her hand. In that moment her own shadow grows ten times its size into a giant, heaving monster. Her shadow grabs the Bang Utot and squeezes the life out of it. It lets go of Theo and Mr. Bear.

Maise's monster bashes the Bang Utot with its fists until it withdraws, retreating back into the mirror and it disappears completely.

The wind slowly settles and the storm begins to ease.

Maise's shadow shrinks back down to Maise size and the Kixi flower in her hand withers and dies.

"Oh, my." Lady says.

Mr. Bear runs to Maise and hugs her leg.

"What just happened?" asks Theo.

"Rewolf maerd eht gnisu erujnoc nac taht eno. Tuanorieno na sehs." Mary says.

"You have abilities beyond this world, girl." Beatrix tells Maise.

Lady grabs a cast iron pot from the kitchen and smashes the mirror to bits.

"Bad luck!" Bea shouts.

"We already have bad luck. Maybe that'll fix it." Lady says. "You children have to leave now. The Bang Utot is after you. That puts us all in danger. It'll be back. You're not safe here. Beware of mirrors. Inspect your shadow to make sure it's still your own. Where you're going you're going to need this—"

Lady hands Maise a small succulent plant. The bioluminescent leaves glow in the dark like black fire. "And this—" she hands Theo a crooked dagger.

"Do NOT give them that." Beatrix protests.

"Quiet." Lady says.

"Blahblahblah." Beatrix sneers.

"Why are you helping us?" Theo asks.

"How do you hold up a boulder? With help. Besides, like Mary used to say, only a positive can cancel out a negative."

"I did, did I?" Mary asks.

"What??" They all look at her.

"Gnihton." Mary sighs.