Page 10

Chapter 10

Somewhere in Magea

“N ow be a good boy and push your magic into the vial,” Crooked Nose said with a fake smile. The tall male witch’s name wasn’t really Crooked Nose. It was Pete. That was a dumb name, but not dumb enough for the dickwad standing in front of Sky. He lifted his chin a little at that thought. Dickwad was a good one. He’d heard his daddy say it once and it cracked him up. A dick was a penis. And Crooked Nose was definitely as ridiculous as a wad of squishy penises. And Sky was sick of being a good boy.

Sighing, Crooked Nose Dickwad straightened and reached out a long arm, grabbing ahold of Moon by her upper arm and yanking her close. “I see that look in your eyes, kid.” The fake smile was gone now. Which was better. But also worse. The smile was creepy. But if the adults weren’t pretending to be nice, that meant they were about to get mean.

“Push your magic into the vial, you little shit, or it’s your sister who’ll suffer.”

Sky felt his eyes water and his bottom lip went all wobbly at that. He didn’t like it when the big witches hit Moon. He could be a good boy if it was for Moon.

Reaching out his hand, Sky took the vial of spring water from Crooked Nose. Wrapping his fingers around the glass, he held the vial close to his chest and closed his eyes. Then Sky did what the witch wanted. What they always wanted, when they weren’t trying to get him and Moon to activate weird icky spells for them. He located his magic deep inside himself and pushed it outward, focusing on the vial.

At first it was okay. But then Crooked Nose yanked the vial away and shoved another one into Sky’s hand. Halfway through enchanting the second vial, Sky started to get dizzy, and his head hurt. By the time he was done with the third vial, he felt like he was gonna puke, and everything looked all hazy around the edges.

“Let go of me, you big jerk,” Moon said, and Crooked Nose yelped when she bit his hand. But the stupid adult had gotten what he wanted, so he let her go. “Sky, are you okay?” she said, patting his head.

Sky opened his mouth to reply that no, he wasn’t okay. But the big stupid witch talked over him. “Your turn, girlie. Come on, hurry up.”

Moon squinted her eyes at the big witch, and Sky knew the guy was gonna get it. People said girls were sweet. But he didn’t understand why. Moon was the meanest person he’d ever met. Meaner than Dicknose. Hey! Dicknose. That was even better than Croooked Nose. Sky’s vision went in and out in floaty waves and he laughed to himself as he imagined stupid Peter with a penis for a nose. Peter was another word for penis. Ha. Penis. He felt tired.

Moon growled like a guard dog they had once back home. She was gonna let that guy have it. And Sky didn’t even feel sorry for him, the way he normally would. Because that guy deserved it.

But then a voice spoke in his head.

No, little one. Don’t fight him. Now isn’t the time. I can’t protect you yet.

Moon stopped growling and he knew she heard the voice too. The goddess had been talking to them for a while now. She helped them find extra food when the adults weren’t looking, and figure out ways to stay warm and keep from getting hit. But she always said “not now” and “not yet.” And Sky wondered when it was ever going to be “now.”

Moon let out a huff and took the vials the man pushed at her, using her own magic to imbue them, just like Sky had done. When she was done, she was all gray and shaky. But Dicknose was happy. He put one of the vials to his lips and chugged it down. Then he tucked the other corked vials into his pocket.

Gross. He just ate my magic . For some reason that really did make Sky gag. Peter wrinkled his big, crooked nose at Sky and hurried to the door of the dog cage they were currently in, wrapping the thick enchanted chain around the post and locking the padlock before he strolled away.

Sky’s tummy heaved a few times, but he didn’t really puke. He hadn’t had anything to eat yet today, so there was nothing to come back up. Moon wrapped her arms around him, and they sat down in the straw, both of them swaying and shaking. Mommy always said to be very careful about pushing our magic outside themselves that way. And to never tell anyone what they could do with it. But the witches already knew about that when they came and took them away. When they burned their house and… Sky hiccupped as he started crying. He wanted to go home.

“Sweet ones,” the goddess voice said, out loud now that there were no adults around, not just in our head. “I promise this terrible time won’t last forever.”

“I shoulda blasted him,” Moon grumbled into Sky’s shoulder. “I’m sick of stupid adults and their stupid… stupid… everything!”

Now she was crying too. They clung to each other and cried, but quietly. Too afraid to attract attention. They had already found out the hard way that if they weren’t quiet, the big witches would get mad. And that was never good.

“No,” the goddess whispered, and it felt a little bit like Mommy or Daddy rubbing his back. “You shouldn’t do anything to make them mad. Not now. Not yet. You are strong, brave little witches. But even you can’t fight against a whole group of grownups.”

Sky’s tummy hurt. He was hungry and cold, and he was sick of the big people who said they’d help them hurting them instead. He felt… empty… like a big empty bucket, when they made them push their magic out into those vials. And every day he wondered if one time the emptiness would just swallow him up and poof , no more Sky.

“We’re gonna die, aren’t we?” he said, his voice feeling like it didn’t belong to his body.

But the goddess sent a strong, warm feeling their way. “No!” she said, her voice sounding angrier, and a bit more real than usual. “I won’t let that happen. I’m here. You are not alone. We just have to wait until help arrives.”

Sky looked over Moon’s shoulder and gasped. “Moon! Look!”

There, standing right by them, was a faint, see-through outline of a person. Like a ghost. He couldn’t make out features. Just misty light and flowy bits. But he knew it was their goddess. Mommy said the goddess was love. And that was what he felt from this person. She was angry, but not at him and Moon. She was angry like mommy got sometimes, when she went into what daddy called “mother bear mode.”

Then the person shape faded away, and the goddess’s voice was once again only in their head, faint and fading. I have to go. But I’ll be back little ones. Rest. I promise I won’t go far.

Sky and Moon cuddled up under their old blanket in the straw. For now, they were in an old chain-link dog pen. But he knew the witches would move them again soon. Maybe this time they’d get a shed with walls to keep the wind out. Or… maybe if they were really good and didn’t argue with the big people, they’d get to stay inside an actual house like they did that one time. Even if it was in the basement, still, that was so much better than sleeping outside in the dirt.

And with that hopeful thought, Sky drifted off into an exhausted sleep.

He woke up when one of the big witches rattled the chain on their pen. “Wakey, wakey, it’s lunch time.” The witch walked away, leaving a couple pieces of bread and some hard jerky just inside the pen. Barely enough for him and Sky to share. And it would probably be all they got today, unless their magic came back enough for them to do a spell for the other witches.

Moon groaned and stood up to go get the food. But when she did, something fell out of the folds of the blanket.

Two shiny red apples, a couple of unwrapped granola bars, and… a big piece of chocolate. He looked up at his sister. “Where did this come from?” he whispered, looking around, hoping no one else had seen.

She shook her head, quickly crouching back down to cover up the things with the blanket. “The goddess. It has to be.” Her eyes were big and round as they met his. “She showed herself to us. Maybe she brought us these. But we can’t let the others see. We’ll wait ‘til it’s dark to eat them.”

Sky nodded in agreement. Then he looked around the empty yard where they were currently camped out by an old, run-down house that the witches probably kicked someone else out of. “Thank you,” he whispered to the air. And to the goddess he knew was watching over them.