The Scars We Bear
Chapter 9: Sorting Out The Shadows
As it turned out, Leah was a rather good helper in the potions lab. She knew many of the different ingredients, what they were used for and how to handle them. She didn't mind helping at all, in fact she'd rather be in the potions lab than in jewelry design.
"Miss?" Leah questioned, as she placed a jar of spider's egg powder on the front table. "What are the third years making with this stuff?"
Constance paused in writing instructions on the blackboard and turned around. "They will be making a potion to turn themselves into trees." She replied.
Leah frowned. "Trees? Why would you want to be a tree?"
Miss Hardbroom came over to the table to check the ingredients that her pupil had laid out. "How might turning into a tree benefit a witch?"
Leah thought about this. "I suppose if you were being chased by an evil witch, and you turned yourself into a tree, she wouldn't find you."
Miss Hardbroom nodded her approval. "Precisely, Leah. It's an escape method."
"I'm not sure I'd want to be a tree though. What if they could tell I wasn't actually a tree? I wouldn't be able to run away because I'd be a tree and I'd have to wait for the potion to wear off. I don't like not being able to run away, Miss Hardbroom." Said Leah.
"Yes." The teacher agreed. "That is a rather unfortunate side effect of this potion."
Before long, the bell went and the third years started to trickle in. Leah insisted she should stay in the lab until Eva came looking for her. She didn't want to run into 'Miss Cackle' again. Constance relented. In all honesty, she felt better with Leah in the lab where she could keep her safe from Agatha.
Leah sat herself in a corner and watched curiously as Miss Hardbroom demonstrated the potion, which effectively turned Ellie Feverfew into a small oak tree. There were several gasps from the older girls as they watched.
o0o
Eva, Leah, Hannah and Tansy had gathered in the twins' room to draw up an 'emergency plan of action', as Tansy put it.
"So you're telling me that the witch we think is Miss Cackle, isn't Miss Cackle at all? That she's Miss Cackle's identical twin sister who is evil and also trying to take over the school?" Said Tansy incredulously.
"Yes." Said Eva. "If you don't believe us, go and ask Miss Hardbroom."
"We believe you." Hannah assured. "But if that woman is Agatha Cackle, then where is Amelia Cackle, our headmistress?"
Eva shrugged. "Your guess is as good as ours. HB said Agatha likely hid her somewhere in the castle, maybe under a spell of some description. It apparently isn't the first time something of this sort has happened."
"Alright then. If Miss Hardbroom says to look for her, we better get looking." Said Hannah as she stood up from where she'd been sitting on Leah's bed. "Where do you suppose we should start?"
"Um." Tansy hummed. "Maybe she's locked in her bedroom. Or one of the hidden rooms. Or, uh, the staffroom cupboard?"
Leah frowned, finally deciding to speak up. "Surely Miss Bat would have come across her already if she was in there."
"True." Said Tansy. It was common knowledge that the eccentric chanting teacher had a tendency to hide in strange places.
So the four girls headed out to start their search. They checked the teachers wing first, with no luck. Then it was onto the secret rooms, which was easier said than done considering the amount of them. They also checked the linen cupboards (one could never be sure), the towers (Tansy suggested that if she was going to kidnap a witch, she'd hide her in one of the towers, as no one went up there that often) and the storeroom under the stairs by the great hall.
"This is hopeless! We've checked everywhere!" Hannah exclaimed, frustrated.
Eva frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe she's not in the castle anymore." She whispered, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.
"Maybe." Said Tansy. "But there's still one place we haven't checked yet."
"Where?"
Tansy looked towards the stairs that led down to the kitchens. "The dungeons."
"I thought the dungeons were repurposed into kitchens." Said Leah.
"Part of them were. But they say there are tons of rooms and passages below the school. They say it's like a labrinth down there." Tansy explained.
The four girls looked at each other.
"It's off limits. We'll surely get into trouble." Hannah reasoned.
"Yes, but it'd be the perfect place to hide someone. And this is an emergency. We can stretch the rules a bit." Said Eva. She normally wouldn't, though. Stretching the rules always resulted in bad, typically painful things happening as punishment in her experience.
"Fine. But it was your idea." Hannah warned.
They headed down into the kitchens, where was in the middle of cooking dinner.
" !" Tansy called.
The cook turned around and eyed her visitors. "What-a brings you down 'ere today, bambinos?"
"You've not seen anything strange today have you, ?" Eva questioned.
"That-a depends on your definition of strange-a."
Eva looked around the room and lowered her voice. "Agatha Cackle is trying to take over the school. She's kidnapped Miss Cackle and hidden her somewhere in the castle."
"What?" The cook gasped.
"Miss Hardbroom sent us to look for her. We've not found anything yet."
was silent for a moment before she spoke. "I saw Miss-a Cackle come down 'ere and go through that-a door earlier today." She said, pointing to a door in a rather dark corner of the already dimly lit room. "It leads into the unused part of the dungeons. I don't think-a she saw me."
"Was she wearing thick, round glasses?" Leah questioned, remembering what her teacher had said earlier.
The cook nodded. "Yes-a"
"It had to have been Agatha then." Said Leah. "Miss Hardbroom said she wears thick, round glasses."
"She must have hidden Miss Cackle in there!" Tansy said excitedly.
"Shhh!" Eva hissed. "We don't want her to know we're onto her!"
o0o
The light from their candle flickered eerily against the damp, stone walls of the ancient tunnels and their footsteps echoed and sloshed in puddles. Cobwebs stretched across the ceiling and the sounds of life continuing on high above them was muted to a barely noticeable degree.
The dungeons had clearing been abandoned for centuries. The air was thick with dust and smelled of mildew. The sound of water dripping from the ceiling was the only audible sound besides their footsteps. Long extinguished torches were mounted on the uneven stone walls. A rat scurried across the ground in front of them, making Eva stop abruptly and Hannah scream.
"Shhh!" Eva hissed. "We don't know if Agatha has allies!"
"Sorry. This place gives me the creeps. No one's been down here in ages." Said Hannah.
Tansy nodded. "I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea. What if we get lost?"
Eva stopped again and turned around to face her companions. "We are not going to get lost." She declared.
"But what if we do?" Leah said nervously.
"Then we transfer back upstairs." Eva replied. "Now come on, we've not got all day."
They started walking again and a few moments later, Hannah spoke up. "What if she does have allies, and they're guarding Miss Cackle?"
"Then," Said Eva, "we deal with them. Does everyone know an animal transformation spell of some description?"
"Yes." Hannah and Tansy affirmed.
Leah bowed her head. "Of course. You know I do."
"Good."
The farther they went the colder it got. Several twists, turns and bypassed doors later, something caught their attention. There was a dull orange glow coming from around the next corner and they could hear voices arguing. Eva doused the flame of their candle and crept forward, carefully peaking around the corner.
Ahead, the tunnel widened into a room lined with prison cells. There were two middle aged witches standing in the centre facing each other and arguing. Their clothes were ragged and their hats were crooked. They looked like they'd climbed out of a sewer into a war zone and flown away only to promptly crash land in a dumpster. Eva wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Well? What do you see?" Leah whispered from behind her.
Eva whispered back. "Agatha definitely has allies. There are two of them. And there are a bunch of prison cells. It's hard to tell from this angle but I think there's somebody in one of them."
"It must be Miss Cackle!" Tansy whispered excitedly.
"Shhh!" One of the older witches suddenly hissed to her companion.
The other looked at her. "What?"
"I thought I heard voices."
They both looked into the darkness where the four girls still hid around the corner. Eva ducked out of sight just in time and turned to her companions.
"Alright. I'm going to distract them. Leah, when I say go, transfer across to the mouth of tunnel on the other side of the room. Once they're facing you, we'll slugify them."
Leah nodded and peaked around just enough to see her destination. "Okay. I'm ready."
Eva, with her back pressed against the damp wall, stuck her hand around the corner and fired a bolt of purple magic that flew across the room, missing the two witches by a hair and smashing into the wall by the doorway.
"Go!" She hissed.
Leah vanished in a swirl of blue smoke and reappeared in the aforementioned location, just as both of the older witches whirled around in surprise.
Eva stepped out from behind the wall and together the twins chanted the incantation to the spell.
"Alverix Orcus, Transfrogamorphus, Limax Cochlea, Transformus!"
Eva and Leah both flicked their wrists simultaneously and the two older witches vanished in puffs of smoke, only to reappear on the floor as two rather large, slimy slugs.
Hannah and Tansy peered out from their hiding spot, eyes wide. "That was epic! Nice work you two!" Tansy exclaimed.
"Not bad, I suppose." Eva smiled proudly as Leah picked up the slugified witches. "Anyone got a jar?"
Eva held out her hands and summoned a jar from thin air, earning gasps from her friends. Leah dropped the slugs inside and took it from her sister. "That'll do."
All four girls looked around the gloomy chamber when a muffled sound caught their attention. It didn't take them long to spot Miss Cackle, bound and gagged, locked in one of the cells.
"Miss Cackle!"
Eva, Hannah and Tansy all rushed forward and Eva cast a quick spell to unlock the door. It protested loudly as it creaked open on rusted hinges.
As her companions hurried to free their headmistress, Eva stayed back and watched carefully, ready to protect Leah if need be. After all, if Agatha was cruel, what was stopping Amelia?
Leah backed away nervously, what Agatha had done to her a few short hours ago still fresh in her mind. She wasn't going to believe Miss Cackle really had a twin until she saw them standing side by side.
"Miss, are you alright?" Hannah questioned now that they'd freed her and helped her up.
"I am now." She said. "Thank you girls. How on earth did you find me? I thought I'd be stuck down here forever!"
"Miss Hardbroom sent us to look for you after we discovered Agatha." Said Eva. " said she saw Agatha come down here earlier."
"Ah. Well it's a good thing she did. I think we'd better be getting back before my blasted sister causes too much more trouble though. Come along girls." Miss Cackle replied as she stepped out of the cell towards the tunnel entrance. "You too Leah." She added when she saw the fourth girl standing against the wall.
Leah chewed her lip as she watched the headmistress' every move with the same nervous obsession she'd used in class with Agatha. She didn't fancy being trapped in a narrow tunnel with the woman and having nowhere to run. "I'll meet you up there." She said quietly, and vanished into thin air.
Miss Cackle still could not get over the fact that the eleven year old twins could transfer. The only other witch she knew who could pull that spell off with such ease was Constance Hardbroom. She watched her pupil disappear before turning questioning eyes on the three who remained.
"Agatha was awful to her, Miss." Said Tansy, when no one else spoke. "She scared her so bad in spells class that she transferred off somewhere and it took Miss Hardbroom to find her."
Amelia was furious with her sister. Leah already had major trust issues, and now she was probably afraid that the headmistress would turn on her as her sister had. "Best not waste time then. Follow me, girls."
o0o
Leah materialized outside the potions lab door and peaked in through the small window in the door to see the room in question was empty. She turned and hastened down the corridor, afraid of bumping into Agatha alone. It didn't take her long to get to the staffroom and she pressed her ear to the door to see who was inside. Once she was certain that Agatha wasn't inside, she stepped back and knocked, waiting for the muffled "come in" before pushing open the old wooden door. Miss Drill was sitting at the table with a cup of tea while Miss Hardbroom was in her usual spot in front of the fireplace. They had clearly been discussing the current situation.
"Leah? What is it? Have you found her?" Miss Hardbroom questioned.
Leah nodded as she shut the door. "Yes Miss. They had her locked in the dungeons."
"They?" Miss Drill inquired. "I thought it was just this Agatha woman."
"There were two witches down there guarding her. We slugified them." Said Leah, a note of pride in her voice. She held up the jar in her hands, which still contained the slugified witches in question. Miss Hardbroom took it and eyed the contents. "What did they look like, Leah?"
The girl wrinkled her nose. "Like they'd crawled out of a dumpster."
"Ah. I see. Betty Bindweed and Millicent Coldstone, no doubt."
"What are you going to do with them, Miss?" Leah questioned.
Constance opened her mouth to reply but cut herself off when the door was thrown open and Agatha, still masquerading as her sister, swept in. Leah's eyes widened fearfully as she backed away from the older woman. No, she definitely didn't want to be anywhere near this witch who brought back so many memories of her grandmother.
"Leah Mills. Where have been, girl? You can't just go disappearing from lessons whenever you please." Agatha addressed the scared young girl.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry Miss." Leah stuttered as she wiped her sweaty palms on her gymslip.
The woman stepped farther into the room and Leah practically leaped behind Miss Hardbroom, who blinked in surprise.
"What on earth are you doing girl?" The potions mistress twisted to look at her pupil cowering behind her.
Leah's eyes never left Agatha. "She's going to hurt me again. I don't want her to hurt me again. Please Miss, can't we make her go away?"
Constance turned back to Agatha. "Yes, I think now would be a good time to 'make her go away'. Don't you agree Agatha?" She placed the slug jar on the table and slid it across to Miss Drill before raising her spell-casting fingers.
"What? How dare you! I am your headmistress!"
At that moment, Miss Cackle, Amelia Cackle, walked in. "Headmistress are you? I think not."
Agatha spun to face her sister. "No! How did you escape?"
Amelia looked past her to Leah. "With a little help from the first years. Now what do you have to say for yourself, Agatha?"
"You'll not have me today, dear sister! This school will be mine yet!" With that Agatha made a dash for the slug jar and yanked it out of a startled Imogen Drill's hands. As Constance started chanting a spell under her breath, Agatha pulled a bottle out of her cloak pocket and downed the contents. She cackled manically as she vanished from sight and ran from the room.
Leah looked around nervously, fearing the older witch might appear behind her and huddled a little closer to her teacher.
"It's alright, Leah. She's gone. She won't hurt you again." Said Amelia.
"What if she comes back?" Leah worried, before loud voices in the courtyard drew the room's occupants to the window.
Outside, Agatha, who was invisible from the neck down, was running for the gates. Eva, Hannah and Tansy had chased her out. Eva sent a fireball sailing through the air after her but it missed, hitting the stone wall and only making her run faster.
"And stay out!" Eva shouted, already having formed an intense dislike for the woman who had terrified her sister in front of their class.
The scene was quite comical, as all they could see was Agatha's head bobbing in midair as she fled, while Eva yelled threats at her back.
"Oh Eva." Sighed Leah. "What would I ever do without you?"
Thanks for reading, please review and happy 2019!