Page 8 of Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches

Kieran barely had time to jump out of the way as a mushroom-covered monster soared over his head.

The creature in front of them was massive, standing roughly twenty feet tall and made largely of mud, moss, and mushrooms. It looked to be a mix of a giant toad and something more predatory, with clawed toes and no visible eyes—only a wide mouth full of sharp clay teeth.

It had swung first toward Kieran and Klaus, but as soon as it missed, it doubled back toward Sebastian and Elias.

It opened its mouth and let out a gurgling roar before swiping at them.

Klaus cried, “Run!”

Kieran floundered, turning to find Klaus already sprinting in the other direction. Someone cried out. Kieran whipped around to find that Sebastian had pushed Elias to the ground just as the creature took a swing at him. Elias ducked his head and managed to avoid getting hit.

Sebastian held out a hand to him, saying, “Come on, we have to—”

Just then, the creature roared and jumped at them, hitting Sebastian with a hard smack. He went flying, landing limply in a heap not far from Kieran. Sebastian moaned, lifting himself up onto his elbow as he struggled to stand.

Elias, meanwhile, screamed shrilly and scrambled to hide behind a mushroom.

The creature spun back toward Sebastian with impressive speed, given its size.

Sebastian was still on the ground, his expression dazed.

Kieran wondered if he’d hit his head on impact.

He didn’t seem to notice that the toad creature was descending on him, its moss-covered tongue lolling over its sharp teeth.

It lifted a clawed arm toward Sebastian, readying another blow.

In that moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl, the scene appearing to Kieran as if in flashes: The creature’s claws glinting in the sunlight. Sebastian trying to blink his vision back into focus. Blood seeping from a cut on his forehead.

If Kieran didn’t do something, he realized, he was going to watch that monster tear Sebastian to ribbons.

Which was why, despite the screaming part of his brain telling him to run, Kieran grabbed a rock from the ground and launched it, full force, at the toad creature.

As the rock left his fingers, he felt a spark of magic in his chest—the same sensation that had gripped him while writing the curse poem.

The rock struck the creature hard in the side of the head, embedding itself. For a second, it didn’t seem to make a difference. Kieran’s heart dropped from where it had climbed up his throat.

But then the rock exploded like a loose grenade.

The toad creature shrieked as chunks of mud and moss rained down around it.

A huge crater was left in the side of its body, revealing a network of pale roots inside, not unlike the ones Kieran had seen in the soil when pulling flowers out of their pots to be replanted.

Its head swung back and forth wildly, sending more clumps of dirt and mushrooms flying.

Kieran was momentarily taken aback. I…did that? I did that! Then, bolstered by the realization, he waved his arms in the air. “Hey! Over here! Come get me!”

Kieran turned on his heel and ran as the toad roared once again, leaping to follow him. Glancing over his shoulder to check on Sebastian, Kieran saw that the boy had struggled to his feet and was swaying in place.

Well, at least he’s up, Kieran thought, arms pumping at his sides. Now I just have to—

In a flash, the creature hit him with a bone-shattering smack.

Kieran sputtered a choked yelp as his body rolled across the moss. The wind flew out of him. He came to a halt beneath a giant mushroom, head swimming as he gasped for breath.

Okay, he thought, blistering pain zigzagging through every nerve in his body. Maybe that was a stupid move.

“Kieran!” Klaus shouted from the woods. “Don’t fight it! Just come this way and I’ll—”

Kieran didn’t hear the last part. Because at that moment, as he tried to haul himself up, the toad creature took another swipe at him, claws first.

And stabbed him straight through the ribs.

For a second, the pain didn’t hit him. Instead, he was just staring at the creature, trembling in terror.

Its open mouth waited to devour him, muddy saliva dripping from its teeth.

The claws were still inside Kieran, holding him aloft like a rag doll.

He felt warmth on his skin as blood began to leak from the puncture wounds, wetting his side.

Before the rattling agony of a punctured lung hit him, he glanced back.

Sebastian was staring at him, pupils blown out, with a hand clapped over his mouth.

Well, Kieran thought, at least I went out finally being able to help someone other than myself. Ash would be proud.

Kieran’s body slipped from the toad’s claws, landing hard on the ground. As his vision swam, he caught the briefest flash of movement in front of him. It almost looked like someone opening a hidden, moss-covered trapdoor in the ground.

Oh, good, he thought, vision going dark at the edges. Death hallucinations. That’s a new one.

A gnarled hand reached out to grab him. He felt it wrap around his collar, yanking him forward.

What in the—

Everything went black.

“Now, that,” a croaking, feminine voice said, “was quite a sight.”

Kieran’s eyes flew open. He sat up with a gasp, expecting pain from the toad creature’s claws piercing his flesh. Instead, he just felt…tired and heavy, as if his body were made of iron. Even opening his eyes and sitting up was a fight.

What he saw, though, immediately distracted him from his current physical state.

He was lying in a creaking wooden bed, the sheets well-worn and patched with random scraps of fabric.

He found himself in a strange combination of a rabbit’s burrow and a studio apartment.

Instead of standard walls, there was tightly packed dirt, and bright green moss acted as a carpet.

Mushrooms and huge pinkish crystals clung to the earthen walls, all glowing with faint light.

Dried herbs hung from the ceiling, and around the moss coating the ground bounced motes of bluish light, as weightless as balloons, occasionally ricocheting off each other and squeaking with dismay.

Other pieces of furniture looked as if they had grown out of the ground itself, with roots connecting them to the floor.

A fire in a stone woodstove at the other end of the room crackled, spitting smoke through a hollow stone pillar that went into the ceiling.

The most notable feature of this strange home, though, was the woman in front of him.

She looked to be in her late eighties, with a hunched back and deep wrinkles.

Her skin was light brown, and her glossy black hair was tied back in a braid.

She had huge milky-brown eyes and round glasses that sat on the edge of a stubby nose.

She wore ragged patchwork clothes, along with a cape made of moss, and atop her head was a floppy pointed hat decorated with mushrooms.

She leaned over Kieran, examining him. Her eyes looked enormous behind her round spectacles. “Are you alive, little witch?”

“Gah!” Kieran gasped, lurching back. His head swung around. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

“That’s no way to greet the person who just saved your life,” the old woman said. She used a walking stick to gently poke Kieran’s side. “Have some respect for your elders.”

“What? You…saved my life?”

The old woman gestured to his side. “Sure did. Wasn’t easy either. Took me nearly three hours.”

Kieran looked down to find his coat shredded where the toad monster’s claws had sunk into him. The skin underneath, though, was unblemished. He poked at the spot where the toad’s claws had stabbed his lung; it didn’t even ache.

“I thought that wound was going to kill me,” Kieran admitted, still poking at the skin.

“It would have,” the woman agreed, nodding her head. At the widening of Kieran’s eyes, she explained: “You’ll have to excuse the vein—it’s been temperamental these last few months. Especially since those men started trying to steal my magic.”

Kieran’s head cocked to the side. “ Your magic? Forgive my ignorance but…who exactly are you?”

The old woman let out an inelegant snort.

“Verbena Dropleaf, the Witch of the Woods. I’ve spent my whole life protecting this vein, just as my mother and her mother and her mother before her did.

It’s been our sacred duty since the first witch was gifted her magic from the earth.

I know this vein’s magic like no one else alive. ”

“Well, erm…it’s an honor to meet you, Verbena. I’m Kieran.” He dusted off his clothes as he straightened up. “How…did I get here?”

Verbena pointed to a ladder leaning against the wall. Tilting his head up, Kieran realized that it led to a wood trapdoor in the ceiling. “Luckily, that toad dropped you right by my front door. I pulled you in before any of the other men could notice.”

Kieran blinked. So he had seen movement in the moss when he and Klaus arrived—it must have been this woman watching them.

Regardless, it was hard to believe a woman of Verbena’s age and stature could have managed to haul him inside, but again, if she had some kind of connection to a magic vein, who knew what power she had at her disposal.

Kieran cleared his throat. “I should thank you for saving me, then. Considering the week I’ve had, I really thought I was a goner.”

Verbena, however, didn’t seem interested in harping on that fact any longer. “I have a question for you.”

“Oh, um—go ahead.” What in the world could a powerful witch like her want with someone like me?

“That boy up above,” she said, inclining her head as she gazed at Kieran. “From what I saw, you’d never even met him before. He’s a stranger to you, yet you nearly died for him. Why?”

Kieran thought back to the image of Sebastian lying there in the dirt, clearly too hurt to protect himself. He pursed his lips as he mulled it over. He thought of the silent scream on the other boy’s lips and the terror in his eyes.