Even as he climbed out the window, he was still wondering how he let Hedgehog talk him into this. "How are we gonna figure out what the witches are up to? They aren't exactly easy to track down," Oscar whispered as they crept up the hill leading to the counselor's cabins.
"I heard them talking about them having to go to someplace they called 'the site'," Max replied.
"That doesn't sound ominous..." Oscar muttered.
Soon they found themselves crouched in the bushes outside Susie's cabin. Slowly and carefully, they snuck up to her window. Susie, Betsy and Alice had packed three duffle bags, and were sitting on the couch watching tv in their pajamas.
Betsy looked up from the television, startling the campers to sink even lower in the window to avoid detection.
"Alright girls, it's time." She stood up, snapping her fingers and instantly dressing in her normal outfit.
"Ugh..." Susie moaned, following Betsy's lead. "When are we going to be done with this?"
"You know when, now lets get going," she replied sternly.
"Can't we just... trick them or something?" Alice asked, getting dressed and grabbing her duffle bag.
"You know we can't," Betsy replied, shouldering her bag.
"It sure felt like we were..." she mumbled as they made their way toward the door.
The three campers hid below the window as they left the cabin. They edged over to the side of the cabin as they summoned their brooms.
"Shoot, how are we gonna follow them now?" Max whispered.
"Alright, let's hit it," In a flash, they took off into the sky and off over the forest.
Now safely out of sight of the witches, they stood up.
"Now what?" Hedgehog asked.
"We could mess with Susie's stuff while she's gone," Max offered.
"That sounds fun, but then she'd know someone was out of their cabin," Hedgehog replied, biting her lower lip, trying to think of a way around this hurdle.
"But she wouldn't know it was us, right?" Max countered.
"True, but then she'd probably turn the entire camp into frogs just to be sure," Oscar added, scratching his head.
The trio stood in silence while Oscar had an internal debate. He had an idea of how to figure out where the witches went, but it would only put himself and his friends one step closer to incurring Susie's magical wrath. On one hand, he wanted to keep his friends safe. On the other, Susie being this secretive about something was bound to be huge. He had grown a lot since arriving here, and it seemed a waste to turn back now. Besides, being a frog might be cool.
"I got it!"
"What?" Hedgehog asked, his outburst startling herself and Max.
"I know how we can find where they went," he said, turning to the Moon. "Moon! Hey Moon!"
"Oh, hey Oscar! What are you three doing out of bed?"
"We want to know where the witches went," Oscar shouted.
"Uh... that's not really something I would know..."
Oscar pulled his sleeve up a bit and disapprovingly pointed at his friendship bracelet.
"Okay, okay... they went to the base of the mountain," the Moon admitted reluctantly. "But if you get caught, don't tell Susie I told you where she was!"
"Your secret is safe with us, Moon!" Oscar replied, before turning back to his friends. "Well, guess we better start walking."
The three of them begin their trek into the island's interior. Oscar became acutely aware that the normally abundant wildlife was nowhere to be found as they walked. In fact, even the trees had their eyes closed. The unsettling nature of the forest wasn't lost on either Max or Hedgehog.
"Pretty quiet tonight," Max said softly, even though his whisper seemed like a shout among the deathly quiet forest. At the outset of this adventure, they figured it would be just another fun secret Susie and the counselors wanted to keep for themselves. However, the further they ventured into the woods, the more uneasy they became.
"Yeah..." Hedgehog agreed, swallowing the lump in her throat.
After about a half hour more of walking, the mountain loomed large in the distance, and they approached the base. A glint of light shown through the trees as the trio took a more cautious approach to quietly investigate. Upon drawing closer, they saw Susie, Betsy and Alice stood over a cauldron, Betsy stirring, Alice adding ingredients and Susie impatiently checking her watch.
"Oi, why is she always late?"
"She's like a hundred and sixty," Betsy replied.
"So? I still managed to show up on time," Susie shot back, folding her arms.
"They locked us in our cabins so they could get together and make soup?" Oscar whispered.
"No, there's got to be a better reason than that," Hedgehog reasoned. Before she could offer an alternate theory, a rustling in the opposite bushes silenced the sneaking campers. From the forest appeared an elderly woman that both Hedgehog and Oscar recognized.
"Isn't that the lady in that picture with Susie?" Oscar asked.
"Yeah, she gave us the time cape!" Hedgehog replied.
"The what?" Max asked.
"Nevermind, I'll explain later," she answered.
"Ugh, finally," Susie huffed. "Put your ingredients in and lets get on with it."
The elder witch just smiled gently and waved her hand over the bubbling cauldron, her ingredients seeming to fall from her outstretched hand. The cauldron bubbled violently and changed color as Betsy stepped away.
"Alright, lets robe up," Susie ordered. In a puff of pink smoke, all four of them wore floor length black robes with their hats. The circled around the cauldron and grabbed each other's hands.
Susie loudly cleared her throat. "Moon!"
The Moon whipped around, "Oh, sorry Susie, here ya go!" The celestial body shone a beam of moonlight onto the cauldron, making it react even more violently than before. The four witches closed their eyes and recited an ancient verse, the contents beginning to shift in color as it bubbled. In an instant, a beam of energy shot out of the cauldron and into the sky before settling down again.
Soon after, they released their hands and began laying out sleeping bags.
"They're sleeping outside?" Max asked as the witches took a small cup and dipped it into the cauldron.
"Another summer, another batch," Alice said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.
"See you lot in a few hours ," Susie said, downing her shot of the mysterious liquid before climbing into her bed.
In minutes, the witches were asleep, but their bodies glowed with an eerie light, the same color of the potion they brewed.
Cautiously, Max, Oscar and Hedgehog emerged from their hiding spot.
Max tossed a rock towards the sleeping witches, though they were sound asleep.
They walked up to the cauldron and peered into it, their hands on the warm lip of the large black pot.
"What do you think it is?" Oscar asked.
"I mean, they took it and then fell asleep... maybe it's like a sleeping potion or something?" Max replied.
"But, why would they be so serious about a sleeping potion?" Oscar wondered aloud.
"Well, if what Susie said is true, it only works for a few hours," Hedgehog replied fishing for something inside her backpack.
Max glanced slyly at Oscar with a smirk. "Dare you to taste it,"
"What? No way! You taste it," the young elephant countered.
"What's the matter, scared?" Max teased.
"No!"
"Guys! If you're done arguing, lets just take some back to the cabins, we can taste it later," Hedgehog said, dunking a mason jar into the metallic looking glowing liquid. "Let's get out of here before the witches wake up."