Chp 2- Witch Hitch
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” Sonata screamed with joy as she jumped off a nearby roof with a broomstick, only to yet again land on the ground below with a resounding thud. “Ouch!” she yelled “This one doesn't work either” she threw the broomstick away, and folded her arms giving the broomstick a sour look.
Aria stepped forward and pulled Sonata back to her feet. “This isn't working.” She said resoundingly, turning to face Adagio behind her. “Maybe there isn't any truth to this whole witch thing after all.”
“NO” Adagio yelled, stamping her right foot again. “I’m not ready to give up yet. Maybe the broomstick thing is false, but perhaps there is still some truth to this whole with thing. I mean they had to have seen SOME kind of hocus pocus hoopla to go all crazy about catching witches like this.”
“Hocus Pocus Hoopla?” Aria repeated with a sneer. “You’re beginning to sound like Sonata”.
Adagio scowled at her, and then turned her attention back to the piece of paper she had obtained earlier that had started this whole witchy business. “It also says here that witches are known to turn children into frogs and recall other’s from the dead” she recited. “There is also something in here I forgot to mention about making potions.”
“Potions?” Sonata asked “You mean like that anti sunburn stuff with the girl flashing her butt around all the time?”
“No stupid that’s suntan LOTION, were taking about POTIONS!!!” Aria replied, placing her head in her hand in disbelief.
“Oh” Sonata replied sheepishly.
“I think making a potion would be our best bet here of getting Sonata into the Witch prison” Adagio interrupted them.
“Yes, but do any of us know how to even make a potion?” Aria asked raising an eyebrow. The three of them stood silently lost on contemplation before Sonata had a sudden strike of inspiration and spoke up.
“What if we figure out where one of the witches currently imprisoned lives and steal her book. Then we can use it to make a potion!” she cried happily, bouncing up and down in her excitement.
The other two started at her in shock. “That’s…..Actually not a bad idea.” Adagio said surprised.
“Alright who are you and what have you done with the real Sonata?” Aria accused her playfully. Sonata shrugged her off “What, I can have good ideas of my own, you just hardly ever listen to me enough to hear them.”
“Whatever” Adagio broke their conversation “Let’s just find out where one of these witches lives already and take her book. The sooner we do, the sooner we can get back home.”
“Hey, can we use me flashing my butt as the picture for the potion?” Sonata asked gleefully.
“NO!!!!” Aria and Adagio screamed.
Soon after lurking around the tavern and talking to various people, they found themselves in front of an old abandoned house, once belonging to accused witch Kiana Gato. Kiana’s house was clearly unkempt as the girls could see shingles teetering from the roof, all the windows were broken, and there were pieces of paper, feathers, and a whole assortment of things scattered around the house. Going inside, they found the interior to not be much of an improvement from the outside. The furniture was broken, much of it turned upside down, there were books and even more pieces of paper scattered around the floor, and a strange odor hung over the house that neither of the girls could identify.
“Boy this place is a pigsty.” Sonata said, picking up a few of the books on the ground to examine them.
“Spread out and search for that book” Adagio ordered “The sooner we get out of here the better. The stench in here is driving me crazy.” She pitched her nose and preceded upstairs to check the upper rooms, leaving Sonata and Aria to check the first floor. Hours of searching had produced nothing, and soon the girls were about ready to give up when suddenly…
“ARIA, ADAGIO, OVER HERE!!!” Sonata shouted from just outside the house. Aria and Adagio followed the sound of her voice to the backyard behind the house. There in the yard was a small campfire, the coals barely still burning after being left untouched for quite some time, and on top of the campfire sat a large cauldron, some kind of liquid sitting inside of it.
“We don’t have to make a potion after all.” Sonata said gleefully “We have an already made one right here.” Sonata began jumping up and down on the balls of her feet, Aria and Adagio however shared a concerned look before turning back to the cauldron.
“I don’t know” Aria said concerned “Something about this doesn’t seem right.”
“What’s the problem?” Sonata asked, turning around to face her “We needed a potion to pretend to be witches, and now we have one.”
“The problem” Adagio interrupted “Is if the witch who leaved here has been in imprisoned for 3 months, then who made this” she pointed to the bubbling cauldron in front of them. “It’s still hot so I doubt it was left over from before her arrest, someone made this recently, but no one lives here.”
“Or supposedly no one is living here” Aria finished. Sonata nervously moved her hands to her mouth.
“Yyy you ma ma mean to ssss say this ppp place is HAUNTED!!!!!!” she shrieked nervously.
“No you dimwit, there is no such thing as ghost.” Aria said sternly. “We mean someone has been living here, but not the witch in the prison. So whatever is in the cauldron was probably not made by a witch, and therefore might not be a potion after all.
“So?” Sonata said pulling her hands away from her mouth and shrugging. “All we have to do is convince the villager’s that it is a potion. How hard can that be? I mean it is in a large cauldron. What else would anyone make in a large black cauldron like this?”
The other two had to agree with her, and together they lifted the large cauldron out of the fireplace, careful to not spill any of its content’s, and carried it out of the house toward the village. Just after they left, an old hermit appeared from the other side and entered the house, carrying a large basket of clothing. Upon reaching the house he went into the back yard to find the cauldron that had been there before missing.
“Hey, who took my Laundry cleaner!!” he shouted.
A few hours later they were back in the village with the bubbling cauldron. Aria and Adagio had taken cover behind a small shop while Sonata was with the cauldron, stirring it constantly with a large ladle and offering it out to anyone who passed by.
“Excuse me sir, want to try my magic potion? Excuse me mam, you look really, really old, but my potion can make you look younger! HEY UGLY, WANT SOME POTION TO GED RID OF THAT DISGUSTING THING ON YOUR FOREHEAD?”
Aria and Adagio were snickering from their hiding place behind her. “This is better than slap stick comedy.” Aria said laughing.
“Yea but unless she actually gets someone to try the potion, Well never convince them she’s a witch.” Adagio said sternly.
“They might just arrest her for being a public nuisance.” Aria replied hopefully.
As they were about to give up hope, a portly young man approached Sonata and the cauldron.
“Excuse me sir, want to try some of my potion?” Sonata asked sweetly, holding the ladle up to the man’s face.
“What does it do?” the man asked cautiously.
“Anything you want” Sonata replied smiling. “I call it Heart’s Desire, it grant’s you the deepest and darkest desire of our hearts.”
The man slowly inched his hand cautiously to take the label, but pulled it back last second. “It’s freeeeeee” Sonata said playfully pushing the ladle toward him. The man again stretched his hand out, but pulled it back last second. Sonata however had had enough.
“JUST TRY THE FREAKING POTION!!!!” she screamed, shoving the ladle forcefully into his mouth.
The man swallowed it, and then back off gagging, his hands shot upwards toward his throat. He then fell on to the dirt road below twitching and gagging.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to be so rude!” Sonata replied angrily watching him.
The whole town gathered around as the man continued wreathing on the floor gagging until finally he stopped moving altogether, and lay silently still on the floor, eyes staring sightlessly in front of him.
“Awww, he fell asleep.” Sonata said staring at him smiling. “I didn't know you could sleep with your eyes open?”
“SHE POISONED HIM!!!” one of the gathered villagers shouted, pointing at Sonata. “SHE’S A WITCH, ARREST HER, ARREST HER!!!!” Suddenly everyone was pointing at Sonata shouting WITCH, WITCH, WITCH, all the while Sonata stared back at them unsure as to what to make of the sudden commotion. Just then two men wearing long cloaks, and a golden badge shaped like a star stepped forward, grabbing and wrapping Sonata’s hands behind her back tying them together.
As the two man took Sonata away, Aria and Adagio watched from behind the shop. “Well that worked out un-expectantly” Aria said surprised.
“I almost thought Sonata was going to ruin it for us” Adagio said relieved.
The man on the ground was pulled away and the crowd slowly began to disperse. “So what’s next?” Aria asked as the two slowly began making their way back out of the village.
“Now we wait for nightfall” Adagio replied. “I instructed Sonata to sing so we can follow her voice. Then once we find where the witches are being held, we can release Sonata and steal their magic together.
“Providing they actually have any magic” Aria said resoundingly.
They two of them left the village and made their way to a small pond in the nearby forest just outside the village they had chosen as sanctuary to await for nightfall. Hoping feverishly that by night’s end they would have their magic back, and be able to return home once more.