“So…” Monahan looked around.
Axell shrugged.
Ellie met Prospero’s eyes. “Should we go home?”
Prospero was at a loss. She’d been dreading this since Aggie shot Scylla, but here they were, facing her nemesis, and Walt simply grabbed her and disappeared. “I honestly don’t know what to do. I suppose we—”
Her words were lost under a noise that was somewhere between a hiss and a growl.
42Ellie
Before they could do anything else, the chief witch was back, and in his arms was a growling badger. An angry badger that was biting and kicking and clawing. It snarled at them with a flash of sharp teeth.
“I had a talk with Dr. Jemison,” Walt said, holding the badger by the scruff of its neck, keeping it at arm’s length. “She suggested that badgering before siphoning might save Aggie’s life.”
“I can’t do much with abadger’smind.” Prospero stared at the snarling creature.
“But you needed to face her,” Walt said quietly. “And I wasn’t sure I wanted the boy to try to siphon her over at home.” He shook the badger. “Monahan.”
Dan looked over at the badger-shaped witch and sighed. “I’m sorry. I hope you survive this,” he told her as he approached.
She extended a paw toward him aggressively.
And Ellie moved between Dan and Prospero. She wasn’t going to risk another episode of Dan hurting Prospero, accidentally or not. Shesuspected that was why the chief witch brought her. He was a canny witch—bring Axell to calm Dan, bring Ellie to stop Dan’s heart, and bring Prospero because there was no way she’d be calm if Ellie went without her.
They stood there, an odd collection of witches surrounding a badger at a campground. Then as the badger struggled against her restraints, Dan did the same as he’d done with Allan. This time, the witch who was being drained flailed and resisted.
But as Ellie watched, she could tell that Dan was doing something. When he stumbled back, half falling, Axell caught him.
Dan rested on his haunches. “She’s unmagical.”
“She knows all about Crenshaw,” Prospero pointed out. She sounded confused. “I can’t do anything with her mind in this shape. Do you want to transform her back?”
“No.” Walt looked vicious in that moment. He held the badger up to his face. “You are powerless, Agnes, but I think I’ll let you remember everything.”
Ellie flinched internally. She wasn’t sure what the chief witch had been like before he assumed this role, but right now, he seemed callous. She watched as he walked over to the edge of the river.
“You might want to all leave before she catches up. I don’t know how fast badgers are,” Walt called and then he tossed the angry badger into the shallows.
Then Walt teleported away.
“Jackass,” Ellie muttered. She grabbed Dan’s wrist, and Prospero extended a hand toward Axell as though she had all the time in the world. Then all four witches vanished.
They arrived at the infirmary, where the doctor was waiting at the door.
“Well?” The doctor looked directly at Prospero.
“She’s a badger, memories intact, life intact, magic gone,” Prospero reported. “No one died, Mae.”
The doctor smiled. “It worked then. She’ll be able to think about it every day.”
“And that’s better?” Ellie asked.
“She’s alive. With life there is a chance for joy,” the doctor said. “So yes, it’s much better.” Then she turned and went back to her infirmary, leaving the four of them alone in the hallway.
Ellie looked around. “So… that encounter went better than the last time.”
“Yes,” Dan and Prospero both said, although she realized that they were obviously referring to different “last times.” Prospero’s last encounter with Agnes and Dan’s last siphoning were both difficult experiences in different ways.
