"I know what I'm doing, Alan," said the rabbit man calmly. As he held up the stone, Dolly sailed nearer on her broomstick and plucked it from his fingers. With Alan watching in despair, she cradled it in one hand while stroking it with the fingers of the other.
"Oh, yes," she whispered gushingly. "My precious."
Suddenly a flash of green light exploded from the stone, enveloping Dolly and casting weird shadows on her face. When it had disappeared as quickly as it had come, Alan saw that the whites of Dolly's eyes were white again, not red.
Her expression became increasingly contrite as she looked up and down the street at the children who had been afflicted by her dark magic. "Oh, sweet heavens," she said plaintively. "What have I done?"
"Reverse the spells, quickly!" Winslow ordered, but Dolly had already resolved to do so. Holding the green stone in one hand, she raised the other and fired streaks of white lightning that filled the air throughout the entire block. George shrunk down to his original size, the two Beats were thrust into each other and merged into one, Fern and Buster were split into separate bodies, Arthur was transformed from a cat into an aardvark with glasses, the golden statue of Muffy returned to life, the apple tree reverted to Binky's form, and the snakes slithered from the street and into the grass.
Last of all, Prunella reappeared in a burst of energy, and landed on her back next to Alan.
Dolly heaved a sigh of relief. "Now give up your magical powers," Winslow instructed her.
The witch girl, still hovering on her broom and holding the green stone, shrugged and looked confused. "I...don't know how."
As Winslow racked his brain for an answer, Dolly's eyes started to turn red again. Her face twisted into a wicked sneer. She began to crush the stone with her fingers. "Very clever," she said triumphantly, "trying to trick me with a larger version of the stone in your ring. But the effect only lasts a few seconds for someone as evil as myself."
Alan's heart plummeted when he saw the expression of fear and hopelessness on Winslow's face. If the alchemist didn't know what to do, then they were all equally doomed...
Prunella rose groggily to her feet. "How much did I miss?" she asked Alan quietly.
Dolly butted her broom against Winslow, who backed up nervously until he hit against the side of the sedan. Maria rounded the back of the vehicle and came to the side of her paramour.
Winslow was at the end of his rope, but he would never let Dolly know that. He might yet have a chance...if he could stall for time. "I destroyed all of my ingredients," he claimed, "and I told my associates to do the same. It will take three or four months to gather everything I need to create a new Cleansing Stone. But if you lend your Wicasta abilities, I think I can get it done in..."
"I have better things to do than look over your shoulder!" Dolly snapped.
Then she put her finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm..." Alan and Prunella fixed their eyes on her, wondering what mischief she was planning.
Dolly backed up on her broom, giving Winslow more freedom of movement. "Yes, I think I will lend my Wicasta abilities," she said slowly and sinisterly. "Stand aside, Mrs. Harris." Maria didn't budge.
Dolly cast her spell anyway. Waves of blackness shot from her fingers, completely enveloping Winslow's body like a cocoon. Several seconds passed, and the form inside the darkness seemed to change shape. Then Dolly put down her hands, and the shadows dissolved from around Winslow...
...but Winslow was no longer there.
In his place stood a blond rabbit woman, a foot shorter than Winslow, with shoulder-length hair, clad in a gray business dress, white stockings, and black pumps. The woman stood rigidly and stared directly ahead, displaying no sign of emotion or self-will.
Maria, Alan, and Prunella were stupefied by what they had witnessed. The other kids, freed from their curses, started to gather around the grim scene.
"Who is she?" Maria asked Dolly. "Where's Angus?" Dolly only smirked.
Then Maria examined the rabbit woman's face more closely, and realized that her facial features closely resembled Winslow's. She gasped in shock and anger. "No! You didn't!"
"I had to," Dolly explained. "No man can possess the gift of the Wicasta."
Alan stammered with disbelief. "Y-you mean...y-you turned him..."
"Th-that's exactly what I m-mean," Dolly mocked him. "Now that Winslow is a Wicasta like myself, he--or rather, she--can create a new Cleansing Stone in a fraction of the time."
"Oh, Angus, no!" wept Maria, stroking the unresponsive rabbit woman's face.
"Why isn't she moving?" asked Prunella.
"Because I haven't commanded her to," Dolly replied. Turning to the rabbit woman, she inquired, "Who is your master, Miss Winslow?"
"You are," the woman intoned robotically.
Maria turned to Dolly, her expression one of anguish and fury. "You monster!"
"No," replied Dolly. "You monster." She raised a finger and pointed it at Mrs. Harris...
...when Prunella suddenly realized what Alan was keeping in his rear pocket. Stealthily slipping her hand behind his back, she grabbed the object by the handle and pulled it out. Alan, guessing that she knew what she was doing, didn't try to stop her.
She sprang in front of Alan, sheltering him from Dolly. "Omigosh, Alan!" she said loudly and frantically. "What if she switches the rest of us, too? I don't want to be an icky boy!"
Upon hearing this outburst, Dolly pointed her finger away from Maria and toward Prunella. "You've just given me a fine idea," she said, grinning maliciously.
A bolt of darkness flew from her hand.
Prunella pulled from behind her back the object she had taken from Alan--the handheld mirror that Dolly had enchanted earlier with a deflecting spell.
The magical bolt bounced off the surface of Prunella's mirror, shot back to where it came from, and struck Dolly between the eyes. Strands of blackness enveloped her as she fell from her broom and plunged to the ground.
An instant later, the broom fell also. The rabbit woman who had been Angus Winslow groaned and collapsed to the ground in front of the sedan, and Maria crouched down in hopes of assisting her.
Alan, Prunella, and the other kids watched unblinkingly as the shroud surrounding Dolly dissipated. Where once had been a rat girl in a witch outfit, there was now a rat boy with short brown hair, wearing a plain sweater and blue trousers. The boy jumped to his feet, and his eyes bulged when he looked down at his new form. "NOOOO!" he screamed. "How dare you do this to me! I'll destroy you all!" He stuck out his hands and waved them at the surrounding children, but nothing happened.
"That was brilliant, Prunella," Alan congratulated his classmate. "Now that Dolly's a boy, she has no powers."
"Just wait!" growled Boy Dolly, waving his arms. "I'll have my powers working again any second now!"
In the meantime, the rabbit woman, whose back Maria had leaned against the car, came out of her faint. "Wh-what happened?" she mumbled. "What's wrong with my voice? Why do I sound like a...oh, no..."
"It's all right, Angus," said Maria, still a bit tearful. "The danger is past. We've won."
"Puny worms! Insects!" Boy Dolly threatened. "I'll crush you like nothing!"
The other kids paid no attention to his bluster, as they were engrossed by the drama of the hapless Winslow, who was examining her new body in speechless, gaping horror. Yet even more surprising than the awkward and embarrassing sensations she was experiencing, was the fact that everywhere she looked, things had taken on a new quality. As if she had developed a sixth sense...
"Help me to my feet, Maria," she requested. Mrs. Harris gave her a hand up, and she took a second to stabilize herself on the unfamiliar footwear.
"I feel so strange," muttered Winslow, taking a few halting steps. "Everything looks different. I think it's the Wicasta gift." Approaching Prunella, she took the mirror from the girl's hand and grimaced with shock when she beheld her new reflection.
"Will you be all right?" asked Maria with concern.
"I'll be more than all right," replied Winslow, the fear in her voice turning into confidence. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to the field of alchemy. I...I just wish I didn't feel so weird." She lowered the mirror and handed it to Prunella.
"You'll get used to it," Maria assured her.
Muffy turned to George and quietly remarked, "Some are born female, some achieve femaleness, and some have femaleness thrust upon them."
Hearing Boy Dolly's furious threats, Winslow stepped over to him and instinctively waved her right hand, which no longer bore the jade ring. The boy calmed down, then began to sob bitterly. "I'm a boy," he wailed. "This is horrible!"
"Yes, Dolly," said Winslow comfortingly, "we're both looking at life through different eyes now. But it's not so bad, you'll see."
Boy Dolly continued to weep. "I'm so sorry for doing this to you," he told Winslow. "But you're all that's left of the Wicasta now. You have to find a way to change us back."
"I'll do my best," said Winslow, although she couldn't help but feel that it was hopeless. Seeing with her Wicasta vision that the concentrated evil in Boy Dolly's soul was once again overwhelming the good, she waved her hand at him again...and then it occurred to her that she was doing it without the ring. How was that possible?
And if this was possible, then what else was she capable of?
"I hate boy clothes," Boy Dolly groused. "I want to wear a beautiful dress and tie pretty ribbons in my hair."
Without thinking about what she was doing, Winslow waved one hand at Boy Dolly, and the other at Muffy. A strange thrill passed through her body.
Muffy suddenly shook her head and made a horrified expression. "Omigosh!" she exclaimed. "My dad's lowered the prices on his cars so much, he'll go bankrupt!"
Then Winslow waved her hand at Binky. The bulldog boy glanced about and said, "This is getting boring. I think I'll go watch some wrestling."
A hand wave at Arthur followed. "I can't believe I watched New Moo Revue with my sister and enjoyed it," he remarked.
Beat was next. "Now you know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a curse," she snapped at Boy Dolly.
Again and again, Winslow drew from Boy Dolly's built-up evil and transferred it into the soul of a neighborhood dweller, restoring the balance that had been lost when Dolly exercised the power of the Cleansing Stone. "I can't believe what's happening, Maria," she commented. "With my knowledge of alchemy and my new witch powers, I can control good and evil without needing any kind of stone. Power like this must be what the Wicasta of old were afraid of."
Maria fell silent, fearing that any remark would be trite in the face of Winslow's overwhelming epiphany.
After a few more hand waves, Winslow lowered her arms. "Get in the car, Maria," she ordered. "We're going on a tour of the city, and you get to drive. Dolly, Alan, you're coming too."
While Maria slipped into the driver's seat and Alan and Boy Dolly climbed into the back, Winslow struggled to seat herself properly. She had to push up with her hands and adjust her dress several times, and positioning the shoulder strap comfortably had become a nontrivial task. She wondered which would be more difficult to adapt to--being a woman, or dressing like one.
Maria drove the sedan down the street, careful to avoid the gaping crater that Dolly had made. Winslow waved her hand at each house they passed, and Boy Dolly felt small amounts of evil going out of him. Alan passed the time trying to persuade him that it was fun and cool to be a boy, but he remained grim-faced and unconvinced.
"Your sand castle's a little taller than mine," Tommy told Timmy as the twins were frolicking in the sandbox behind the kindergarten building.
"No, I think they're about the same size," Timmy replied.
The sedan whipped past them, and they felt a strange influence.
"My sand castle's taller than your sand castle," boasted Tommy.
"No, it isn't," Timmy retorted, and a moment later the two were rolling in the sand, fighting.
"And every year they have a Pinewood Derby," Alan related to Boy Dolly. "We get to make cars out of wood and race them."
"Boring," Boy Dolly grumbled.
Meanwhile, Winslow was discovering that she no longer needed to wave her hand, but could repair the good/evil imbalance merely by thinking. As Maria drove her through one neighborhood after another, she started to ask some serious questions. "Maria, what's it like to have a baby?"
Maria thought for a moment. "You mean, besides the torn uterus and the episiotomy and all that?"
"Yes," said Winslow, feeling uneasy.
"It's the sweetest thing in the world," said Maria.
"Good." Winslow sighed. "I was hoping Dolly would grow up and get married and have daughters and pass on the gift, but now...well, now it's my job."
"You make it sound like a bad thing," Maria quipped, and they drove on.
TBC
