Shantilla wishes for longer hair.Lorelei, who feels that her nose is too big, wishes for a smaller one.Hortencemakes a wish for plumper lips andViseliewants bigger, more beautiful eyes.Terylindesires shiny hair.Andso on and so on—all of them wishing and several of them making multiple wishes on multiple flowers.
BeforeIknow it, the bush is almost bare, which gives me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.Afterall, the witch might not notice if four or five of her flowers go missing—even ten or twenty might not be missed.Butwhen almostallof them are gone, she’s bound to notice.Andwhen she does…well, let’s just say that one doesn’t become a witch because one’s heart is flowing with the milk and honey of human kindness.They’reusuallySorceressesorPriestesseswho have gone bad—like cream curdling in a pot because of some wickedness that takes root in their heart.
Still, the girls go on recklessly snatching flowers and wishing until the entire back yard of the witch’s house looks like its full of swarms of magical, multicolored fireflies.I’msure they would be happy to pick the bush completely bare…until a startled scream stops everything.
“Oh, myGoddess!”It’sMirabella.She’sstanding in the center of the yard, her hands on her hair.“OhmyGoddess—what did itdoto my hair?”
We all stop and stare at her and in the light of the floating seedlings,Ican see that something is, indeed, strange about her hair.Herpreviously silky locks have gone rigid on her head.Insteadof flowing down her back like a waterfall and moving naturally with her when she turns her head, the long strands seem to have gone rigid and fused together somehow.Herhair is all one mass now and it has an odd, metallic sheen.
“Oh myGoddess—it’s actually turned to gold.Realgold!”one of the other girls says.Sheknocks onMirabella’shair, and we all hear a hollow soundingclang-clangwhen her knuckles make contact.
A collective gasp goes up and everyone stares atMirabellain horror.Apparentlythe flower she wished on took her words literally when it granted her wish.
Then, as the floating seeds begin to touch down, other wishes start coming true.
“My head…why is my head so heavy?”Shantillagasps.Shereaches up to touch her head and gets a handful of hair.Acloser look shows that her wish for longer hair has come true…in a truly amazing fashion.Herhair is in a massive twist beside her on the ground and it’s still growing—shooting out of her scalp at an alarming speed to add to the pile of hair at her side.
“Oh myGod—just likeRapunzel!”Loreleigasps.Thenshe clutches at her face.“Oh…why can’tIbreathe right?”
A look at her face tells me why—her nose, which was just a little larger than normal before—has now shrunk down to the size of a fingernail.It’ssmaller all right—just what she wished for—but there’s no way she can breathe through those miniature nostrils, each no bigger than a pin prick.
Hortence has the opposite problem.Shewished for plumper lips—and got more than she bargained for.Herlips are huge and rubbery now, taking up over half her face.They’reso big in fact, she seems to be having trouble seeing over them.
Seeing isn’t a problem forViselie, who wished for bigger, more beautiful eyes.Hereyes are now the size of teacup saucers, and they’re fringed thickly with dark lashes as long as my index finger.
“Oh stop it—stop it!”she moans, trying to cover her oversized orbits with her hands.“Don’tshine that light in my eyes!”she begsTerylin, who made a wish for shining, shimmering hair.
“What light?”Terylinmoves her head and her hair—which is now glowing brightly, throws beams of light everywhere.
“Oh stop!”Viseliebegs again.“Oh, why is everything so bright?”
“I can’t move!”Shantillamoans, and indeed, she’s now sitting on the ground, slumped to one side as the heavy pile of hair continues to grow—shooting from her scalp at a dizzying rate.
In short order, they’re all blundering around the witch’s backyard, moaning and crying as their wishes are granted in the most literal way possible.Ifeel a tingle run across my skin and know this can’t be a mistake.Thisis malicious magic—but the kind that only activates if you steal or break some kind of rule,I’msure of it.
SoIwas right not to pick a flower and make a wish.Why, ifIhad tried wishing my freckles away, who knows what might have happened?Themagic might have made big holes in my face where the freckles used to be!Ormaybe just made my entire face invisible—no thank you!
I’ve always been sensitive to the magic of others.Thoughmost of the acolytes have to work to pick up traces of another magic-worker’s craft, it’s like a sixth sense for me.Imight be nothing but a half-breed, butI’mgood at feeling and recognizing magic signatures.
And suddenly,Ifeel something new—a magic so strong and malevolentIshrink away from it.Imove to leave the yard, but it’s too late—there’s a blinding flash that makes all of us gasp—and makesViseliepositively shriek as she claps her small hands over her enormous eyes—which does no good at all.
“So!Youdareto steal my flowers!”a cracked and angry voice rings out.
Oh dear—Ifear that things are about to get very sticky and it’s too late to run.
4
ELOWEN
The witch, whenIcan focus on her—because my eyes are still half blinded by the flash she made when she appeared—looks taller than a tree.She’sdraped in black lace and has a grim look on her lovely face.Becauseshe’s quite beautiful—surprisingly so.
I thought all witches were supposed to be short and squat with long, crooked noses that have warts on them, but this witch—Grizalyn—is dazzlingly gorgeous.Herhair is midnight black, and it swirls around her face, making her look even more frightening.
“How dare you?”she thunders again, glaring at all the girls.“Anddon’t bother lying and saying you didn’t do it,” she adds.“Ican tell just by looking what you’ve done!”
The other girls cower away from her and some of them start to cry, butMirabella, unsurprisingly, is the only one who isn’t frightened.
“Youdid this!”she exclaims, marching up toGrizalynand poking a finger at the witch’s chest.“Justlook what your filthy flowers have done to my hair!”
