The Wonky Witch

“What is it, Maude? It’s late, you know,” he blinked in the candlelight from the hall’s candelabras.

“I got it,” she breathed.

“Got what?” There was a pause, then his eyes widened. “The paper?”

“Yes,” she rolled her eyes.

“Oh, come in. Come in,” he waved her inside. She snuck over to the little bit of light that was left in the fireplace, and they crouched down together in front of it. Their shadows bounced off the wall behind them, and the few flickers of light danced in the dusty hearth. Maude felt safe to be back with Adair and wondered if Evel had realized yet that she was gone. “Well, open it.” Adair’s face shone back at Maude.

Maude untied the black ribbon, and the paper unrolled itself. Both children leaned in to look at the delicate handwriting on the page.

“It’s a list of ingredients. So what?” Adair sighed sleepily.

“Well, it’s got to mean something. I wonder what potion it’s for.” Maude looked over the list. “Moosegrain, Wolfbite, CandyCain, Mugrats pellets, Monkey Mind…,” she read. “What is all this?”

“Sounds like pretty wicked stuff to me,” Adair commented, looking over her shoulder.

“Yeah, but what is it for? Why would her father give her a list of ingredients? That doesn’t sound much like a plan to me.” Maude sat back and pondered over the list.

“I don’t know. I don’t get it, Maude. I’m sleepy. Can we pick this up in the morning?” Adair yawned.

“You mean, you can actually go back to sleep, without knowing what this is all about?”

“Yeah. Watch me.” Adair got up and stumbled to his bed. Maude groaned and headed for the door. She would just have to go look it up by herself.

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After getting a lantern from her room, Maude continued down the hall, list in hand, to the dark, creepy library. She hoped that no teachers would see her out this late, but many other students seemed to be up. Noises and laughter leaked out of their doors as Maude crept down the hallway.

When she reached the library and opened the heavy door, she inched inside and found the potion section to be in a small corner towards the back. She dimmed her lantern to be less suspicious, pulled it up near her eyes, and began scanning the potion section. She found a big brown volume entitled “Wolfbite” and lugged it down from the shelf. Maude heaved it and the lantern over to a desk and dropped them both, with a thud that made her cringe. She held her breath for a few moments, to see if she would be caught by a teacher. No one came, and she sighed with relief. After blowing off the dust, Maude flipped the book open and looked at the Wolfbite descriptions.

“Wolfbite is only used in advanced potions, as it is hard to obtain. One may retrieve it late at night and must be careful when handling a fresh concoction of it. There is a well known potion containing Wolfbite, which is not often used, as it has put many wizards away for eternity, due to its evil nature. This potion is the Wonky Wash. It is only for advanced wizards and involves a wand, a spell, and the sucking of power from nearby witches or wizards. Not many wizards will tell all of the ingredients of this potion, as everyone is scared of its power, but a few other items in that list are Monkey Mind and CandyCain.”

Maude gasped, as she looked over from the list she held and back to the book. She pulled her hands away from the pages and sat back in disbelief. CandyCain and Monkey Mind were some of the ingredients that were listed on Sini’s paper. But, was Sini going to try to steal someone’s powers? And, whose powers did she want to take?