It has taken Agatha over an hour to get back to the cottage, and she is tired. Her feet are aching and her stomach is rumbling. She is so hungry that she doesn't even toast her bread before slathering some butter on it and taking a huge bite. This is not a nutritious lunch, but it sure tastes good! But Agatha can't pay much attention to the taste of her lunch—not with Wanda missing and upset.
Wanda is such a sweet girl, but with her powers, she can be quite dangerous. She already is quite dangerous. Whoever or whatever stands in Wanda's way has no chance against her. Agatha decides to fly high into the air—maybe she will be able to see where Wanda is from above. She really hopes that Wanda hasn't gone far. If that doesn't work, she will try again once it is dark. Wanda's magic glows red, making it much easier to spot her at night.
Once Agatha has finished eating lunch, she gets dressed to go back outside. She pulls her cloak back over her shoulders and shoves her feet into her boots. Her hair is a mess, but it will only get more messy after being whipped around by the wind high up in the air.
Agatha steps outside. The weather has changed since this morning. Now there are grey clouds covering the entirety of the sky—not a ray of sunlight or a patch of blue to be seen. The temperature must have dropped too, Agatha realizes, as she shivers from a cold wind blowing through her clothes.
Agatha takes a deep breath and puts her hands at her sides, her palms facing the ground. A second later, she shoots into the air, purple magic streaming out of her hands. She flies up and up until she can see what is probably miles of trees beneath her. This is too high. Agatha can't see anything except a carpet of treetops beneath her. She lowers herself down a couple hundred metres. That's better. Agatha uses her powers to propel herself over the treetops, gazing in the gaps to see if there is any indication of where Wanda is.
She looks and looks, squinting until her eyes hurt, but there is no sign of Wanda. Agatha sighs. She had suspected this might happen, but she hoped it wouldn't. Agatha decides to head back to the cottage, but not before sending her magic out to try to feel Wanda's presence. Nothing. Wanda is completely off the grid, and Agatha doesn't know how she is going to get Wanda back before something bad happens.
Agatha flies back to the cottage and lands on the ground. She heads into the cottage and puts a kettle on the stove before grabbing a blanket. She is cold after being in the brisk winds in the air and wants to drink some tea.
Agatha brainstorms ways to get Wanda back to the cottage. She will look again at night, but what will she do if she can't find Wanda then? Her only other option is to use the Darkhold. Agatha remembers seeing a spell that would reveal any witch's presence to her, regardless of the spells they used to conceal themself. She just has to hope it would work for Wanda too, the Scarlet Witch. It is a shame she doesn't know it off hand or she would use it now.
Her hands are itching to try the spell. She'd just have to find the Darkhold and then she could do it. No. Agatha will not betray Wanda's trust unless it is absolutely necessary. She decides to start making dinner to keep herself distracted.
Agatha loves cooking. Tonight she is making a delicious lasagna and a salad. She hopes that Wanda will come home and they can enjoy it together, but she realizes that is a feeble hope, unlikely to happen.
By the time Agatha puts the lasagna in the oven, it is almost dark. She throws on some warm clothes and rushes outside. She is going to find Wanda and be back here before the lasagna finishes baking. She has a good feeling about this.
Agatha shivers as she steps out into the cold night air. It is surprisingly bright and Agatha can see the full moon shining over the lake. She is ready to find Wanda. Agatha flies into the air, her purple magic propelling her higher.
She flies so high she can feel the air getting thinner, making it harder for her to breathe. She gasps for air as she looks over the miles and miles of trees, trying to spot a pinprick of red magic. Her eyes travel over the trees, not spotting anything of interest. With a sinking heart, Agatha prepares to head lower to look more closely at the trees. She had hoped she would be able to spot Wanda's magic from all the way up here.
Then she sees it—a faint red glow coming not from the island, but from a sea of green trees on the mainland. Almost automatically, Agatha uses her magic to shoot forward in a dive to get to the red magic as fast as she possibly can. She is almost there when she can see the trees zooming closer to her at an alarming speed. Agatha slows down just in time to maneuver her way through the web of tree branches. Now that Agatha has slowed down, she can see what is causing the red glow. There are bodies of animals, red magic flowing through them as they writhe on the ground.
Agatha lands on the ground without making a noise and examines the horrible scene in front of her. So this is what Wanda had told her about with the wolves. She feels terrible for forcing Wanda to go back into the woods and do magic again when this is what happened before. Deep down inside, Agatha knows that this will be an essential part of Wanda's healing process and all parties involved will be glad it happened.
Now, Agatha needs to figure out how to get to Wanda to help her. There is a trail of bodies engulfed in red magic leading out of both sides of the clearing, and Agatha doesn't know which direction to take. Then she remembers—Wanda doesn't want to hurt anything, so once she realized what was happening, she would try to get as far away from any creatures as she could. One path led uphill—up a mountain. There would be fewer and fewer animals and plants as she got higher and higher up. That must be the way Agatha will have to take.
Agatha flies through the trees, following the trail of magicked animals Wanda left behind her. It is difficult to maneuver through the trees, but Agatha doesn't want to risk losing the trail. She flies through the trees for over half an hour—longer than she has ever flown before—when the trees start to thin. Now Agatha can fly faster and higher up, but the trail of animals is beginning to diminish. Agatha needs to catch up to Wanda before she leaves the area.
It's too late. She got to the place where the trees stopped growing and there was a layer of snow on the ground. She is having trouble breathing again and guessed that she's almost at the summit of the mountain. How is she going to find Wanda now?
Agatha lands on the ground again and walks around. She looks behind every rock and small bush she sees, but with no luck. Wanda is nowhere to be found. Agatha continues looking for Wanda, smiling as she feels like she is playing hide and seek with a small child. Then, her jaw drops and her hands fly to her mouth as she sees a figure sitting on the ground, shaking and curled up in a tight ball.
"Wanda?" Agatha calls across the clearing. The figure sits up and turns around to look at Agatha.
"Why did you come?" Wanda demands. Her voice is strong and echoes across the clearing. "I'm only going to hurt you. Didn't you see what I did?" She gestures to the trail of animals in the forest. "And I wasn't even trying to do magic." Wanda's voice shakes. "Get away from me. Leave, and don't come back. Forget about me and move on with your life." Wanda turns away from Agatha.
Agatha was too stunned to speak during Wanda's monologue, but now she finds her words.
"And what are you going to do, Wanda?"
"I will stay here."
"Forever? What will you eat? The snow?" Agatha's feeble attempt at a joke falls on deaf ears.
"Forever. And why should I eat? What have I done to deserve food?"
"Wanda, you need food to live." Agatha says softly. She starts to walk towards Wanda, who still has her back facing Agatha.
"And why should I live?" Wanda snaps. "I'm just a danger to everyone—no, everything—in this world. If it saves the world to kill me, then it should be done. I should have let them shoot me when Hayward wanted to." Wanda crumpls forward and starts sobbing into her hands.
Agatha rushes to Wanda's side and hugs her. Wanda turns and squeezes her back. The two women embrace each other for several minutes until Wanda finally breaks away.
"I shouldn't be doing this. I never should have talked to you."
"No Wanda, I want to help you. Please let me help you."
"You tried to help me and this is what happened." Wanda says coldly.
"And I am so sorry. I should never have made you go into the woods or made you do magic when you weren't ready yet. But I can help you. I promise."
Wanda looks at Agatha, with tears dripping down her cheeks.
"O-Okay. But just one more try."
"That's the spirit."
"And one last thing. Are the animals—are they…"
"They're still alive. I can't remove the magic out of them, only you can." Hearing the answer to her question, Wanda looks hopeful and then crushed as she realizes what she has to do.
"I know you can do it, Wanda. You are so powerful. The most powerful and extraordinary woman I've ever met. Except for maybe me, of course." That gets a slight chuckle out of Wanda. "You can do this."
The two women stand up and Wanda raises her hands in front of herself. She closes her eyes and begins concentrating, her face scrunching up.
"Come." Wanda is concentrating so hard that she doesn't even realize that she spoke the word out loud.
Agatha watches as red streams of light drain from every affected animal at the same time. Within a few seconds, all the light enters Wanda's body and Wanda is the only one glowing red. Every animal runs back into the trees, shaken from the ordeal.
"You can open your eyes, Wanda."
"Did I—wow, I'm glowing!"
"It sure worked all right!" Wanda smiles, her eyes tearing up. "Now Wanda, I have a favour that I need to ask of you. I may have put a lasagna in the oven before leaving to find you."
"You made lasagna instead of finding me?"
"I needed it to be dark to see your magic glow. Anyway, I thought you didn't want to be found. Nevermind, that's not important. So, about the lasagna. I put it in, let's see…" Agatha checks her watch. "Almost an hour ago. It should be ready by now. I can't use my magic to affect the cottage, but you should be able to. Can you take it out of the oven for me?"
"Agatha, I thought we agreed. No more surprises where you make me do magic."
"I know, I'm sorry." A light sparkles in Agatha's eye.
"No, you're not." Wanda says, waving her hand in the air. "There. It's done."
"That's great, Wanda. Ready to head back to the cottage?"
Wanda hesitates before answering.
"Yes—do we have to walk?"
"Oh dearie, of course not. Permission to pick you up?" Agatha walks over to Wanda. Wanda's eyes widen as she realizes what Agatha is about to do, but she nods anyway. Agatha scoops Wanda up into her arms and flies into the air. Wanda laughs in Agatha's arms.
"I forgot how fun it is to fly!"
It only takes a few minutes to return back to the cottage. Agatha lands on the ground and sets Wanda on her feet before they start to head inside.
"You're really quite strong, Agatha." Wanda comments.
"Thanks!" Agatha winks at Wanda.
"Wait… were you using your magic to lift me?"
"I may have… but you'll never know." The corners of Agatha's mouth turn up in a smirk.
After removing the outer layers of their clothes and taking off their shoes, Agatha and Wanda walk into the kitchen. The still steaming hot lasagna is sitting in the middle of the table on a red table cloth, with two place settings across from each other on the table.
"Did you do all of this?" Agatha's eyebrows raise as she glances at Wanda.
"I may have… but you'll never know." Wanda steals Agatha's line as they sit down at the table.
"I'm glad you're starting to get your confidence back, Wanda."
"There weren't any living things around—that made it easier."
"Still, you did it!" Agatha opens her arms and gives Wanda a big hug. Wanda finds Agatha's hugs very comfortable. If doing magic will give her more hugs from Agatha, that sure is motivation to do it.
The witches sit down at the table to eat the delicious meal. They are both quite hungry after the adventures of that day. Wanda is especially hungry because she hasn't even eaten lunch.
"This is delicious, Agatha." Wanda says, shovelling forkfuls of lasagna into her mouth.
"Slow down there, honey." Agatha advises. "You should drink something too."
Wanda pours herself a glass of water and downs it in one gulp before continuing to eat.
Once their bellies are full, the women realize how tired they are. Agatha had left the cottage when it was already dark, and by now it was getting late. They need to prepare a room that they could both sleep in, in hopes this will help Wanda's nightmares.
Wanda and Agatha brainstorm ideas for the new room set up, but when they walk into the corridor going to Agatha's room, nothing is there. Her room has completely disappeared, leaving a dead end in the hallway. Wanda's room is still there, and when she walks in, there are two beds. That's strange. She didn't even mean to do anything. Agatha is gathering blankets from the closet, so Wanda calls her to see what happened.
"Agatha! Come look at this!"
"What is it, Wanda?" Agatha drops all the blankets she is holding and rushes towards the sound of Wanda's voice. When she enters the room, she stares at the two beds, then turns her head to Wanda, a look of disbelief on her face.
"You did this, Wanda?"
"No—well, I mean probably—but not on purpose." Wanda smiles and flops onto the bed closest to the window.
"I choose this one."
"Well, I guess I'm stuck with this one then." Agatha says. She rolls her eyes and the corners of her mouth tighten.
"You can have this one, if you want. It doesn't matter that much to me." Wanda's eyes look worried as she glances back at Agatha.
Agatha chuckles.
"Oh, Wanda! You can't even tell when I'm joking." She shakes her head. "And this is the bed I would have chosen anyway."
Wanda sighs in relief and the women get ready for bed. Agatha gets up to turn the light off, then turns to face Wanda.
"Remember—if you have a bad dream, wake me."
"I'll remember, Agatha." Wanda reassures Agatha. "It's not like you wouldn't hear it anyway."
"It'll be okay, Wanda."
Wanda sighs. "Good night, Agatha."
"Good night, dear." The women smile in the dark as they lay their heads down on their pillows to go to sleep.