I hummed and swayed as I stared out the window of the cart. Spider clattered happily as they sat on the railing. A bright green light flashed, we heard something smack on the cart above us, and saw the witch splash into the water. Suddenly the witch came out of the water in a giant bubble being pushed up by the water.

"What's she doing?" I asked as she started to make her amulet glow like before. The Ferris wheel was suddenly covered in green lighting and shot towards her. Spider jumped as they were zapped and the lightning turned gold with spiders. "Are you ok?" Spider flexed their front legs like arms to show off their gained muscles. "That gave you a power boost?" Spider nodded.

It was our turn to get off the Ferris wheel. The man at the controls jumped as Spider gave him a wave. We ran over to where Emma's family stood, Cheyenne nowhere in sight. As soon as I reached them I heard the witch scream "to Egypt" and we were engulfed in green smoke.

I felt myself slam into sand and Spider landing on my head.

"So, who thinks the evil witch tricked us?" Fay asked.

"That would probably explain why we're now in Egypt." Max stated the obvious.

"I wouldn't say she tricked us." I got up and shook the sand off me. "She did say "to Egypt."" Spider nodded in agreement.

"This isn't a problem. We are getting out of this desert and finding that witch." Emma tried calming them down. "Lizzie's a witch and can probably cast the same spell to send us back."

"Um," I nervously kicked the sand. "I only heard that last part, not the whole spell. But I could try to look one up." Spider sadly held out my broken phone. "Or not."

Fay grumbled and folded her arms. "The curse took away my phone but not yours. This stupid mummy costume."

"Now how are we going to find the witch, or even go back home for that matter?" Max sounded scared.

Emma had a serious look on her face. "Follow me, we are getting out of this desert." She walked forward and we all followed suit.

As we walked on Max started panting. I pulled a mini water bottle from my purse and handed it to him. "Thanks." He opened it and drank it all down.

"How come he gets water?" Fay complained.

"Are you covered in fur in the middle of a desert?" Max bit back. "You're a mummy you should be used to the desert."

"Just because I'm a mummy doesn't mean I'm used to the desert." Fay growled.

"Children please," Emma started but then stopped. "Look, do you see what I see?" She pointed towards a rock and some cattle animal skeleton.

"Water!" Fay squealed in delight.

Frank made a pleased noise. The three Wishbones sprinted towards the skeleton and dove into the sand like water. Frank was backstroking across the sand, Emma was riding the skeleton, and Fay seemed to have dived head first into a hole.

"Have they gone crazy?" I asked.

"I think they're having a mirage." Max guessed. "Mom, dad, Fay it's not really!" He shouted to his family.

Emma was the first to snap out of it. She fell off the skeleton in horror. Fay was next, who pulled her head out of the hole and vomited sand. Frank was still backstorking and spitting a fountain of sand.

"What just happened." Fay hacked up another mouthful of sand.

"You've all had a shared illusion, a mirage, from being in the sun too long." Max explained.

"How were you two not affected?" Emma asked.

"I just had water and," Max hummed in thought. "I don't know why Lizzie wasn't affected."

"Hat," I pointed at my boat hat, "and both my parents' families live near the deserts in Mexico. So I'm used to the heat."

"That doesn't make any sense." Max reasoned. "There's a complete difference between Mexico deserts and Egypt deserts."

"Explain that to my summer vacation that had me in 130F outside being dragged by my younger cousins."

"Wow, that's hot." Fay's eyes widen in disbelief.

"Alright, let's stop dilly dallying and get a move on." Emma said. "We still need to find a way out of this desert."

We started our walk again. The sun was starting to set so I offered everyone that could eat food. Fay took a bag of chips, Max took a bag of gummy candy, and Frank took a meat stick.

As the sun finally went down so did we. Spider crawled from my bag and offered to be my pillow, which I gladly accepted. But morning came earlier than I wished for. We all groaned as the heat once again greeted us. But the only thing we could do is march forward and eat my snacks for energy.

Emma fell to the ground and Max ran to her in worry. "Mom!" He placed his hand on her back. He gasped at what he saw on the ground. "Mommy, look I found footprints!"

Emma jumped, hitting Max in the process. "Footprints?" She stood back on her feet. "We just followed them and we're saved."

Everyone shouted in joy and Frank picked both his girls up. "Ouftah!" He shouted. We all shouted the word and Spider clapped his mandibles in excitement.

Max's face fell. "Mommy."

"Yes?" Emma responded.

"These are our own footprints." Max revealed.

Frank dropped his daughter and wife in shock. "What?"

Fay curled up in a ball.

"Everything will be ok." Emma tried to comfort her.

"How?" She cried in frustration. "Look around, we are in a giant, enormous, sand pit." She flung her arms around.

"You're making it sound like it's my fault." Emma scowled.

I tuned the two out in favor of my spider. "Ok Spider, can my magic help us in any way?" I asked, they shrugged their legs. "Could I use that quick transportation spell." They quickly shook their head and made a motion to slice their head off. "That dangerous huh?"

I tuned back into the argument. "Why can't I have a daughter who is nice, who doesn't beat up her brother, who doesn't flunk school, and who doesn't make me feel like an actual monster." Emma ranted off angrily. Ok, maybe I shouldn't have tuned them out. Both Emma and Fay had a heartbroken face after that rant. "Oh, I'm so very sorry, sweetie." Emma reached out after her daughter.

Fay turned around and glared. "Then maybe you should find another daughter." She started to walk away into the desert.

"Fay, come back." Emma called out. "I'm counting to three. One, two, three..." Emma kept counting. Fay didn't come back. Emma looked at me. "Can your magic do anything?"

I looked down at Spider who shrugged. "That's a maybe, can I make her come back?" Head shake. "Transport us to her?" Head shake. "Figure out where she went?" One leg made a "so-so" motion. "Let me try something." I took out my wand. "Child we have lost, please be found without a cost." The tip of the wand shot out black smoke with gold glitter. The cloud of smoke trailed to where Fay walked away. "I'm guessing the smoke points to where she is."

"Then we can find her!" She smiled.

Max grunted. "Even if we do find her, will she even come back with us?"

"Max, I'm sorry, but that really doesn't help at all." Emma scowled.

Max huffed and turned around "Oh great! Fay's not here, so you're yelling at me." He turned to glare. "I'm through with this family. I'm a lone wolf now." He started to walk away too.

Emma stomped her foot. "Max! I'm counting to three. One, two..." she frowned and added the numbers she continued with Fay. She let out a hurt whine and turned to glare at her husband. "Why is it that whenever I need you the most, you just stand there, and don't say a word?" She shoved a finger in his chest.

"Ouftah." Frank shrugged.

"Well it's too late to start now." She slammed his chest.

"Ouftah?" He sounded concerned and confused.

"I can't deal with this anymore." She shouted, throwing her fits into his chest.

"Emma." I called out.

"Just go away!"

Frank gave out a sad grunt and started to walk away. "Ouftah, Mem-ma?" He called out weakly.

"And you!" She pointed at me. "You've done nothing but," se sobbed, "nothing but be kind through this whole ordeal."

I wrapped my arms around her. "Emma, you're my friend and none of this is your fault." I rubbed her back. "If anything it's mine."

"What do you mean?" She wiped away her tears.

"On the night we were cursed, I was doing some research." I explained. "I kind of forgot that I found out how to break the curse."

"Wait," Emma pushed me away, "you could have broken the curse all this time?" She threw her hands up. "Why didn't you do it before I drove my whole family?"

"The curse doesn't work that way." I felt tears coming up. "You have to break it yourself by being happy."

Emma gasped. "But," she grabbed her head, "we always fight but in the end we're a happy family. But you," she looked at me, "that might take a lifetime."

"Or next month." I joked. "Depression doesn't mean I'm unhappy all the time. It's just rare to feel a genuine bount of happiness."

"Oh Lizzie." She had a look of pity then it was replaced with determination. "We're going to find that witch and make her turn you back." She grabbed my arm before I could say anything. "Come on, let's find civilization."

We walked for what felt like hours when Emma fell to the ground.

"Emma." I knelt next to her. "Are you ok?"

She grabbed her stomach in pain, and her open mouth showed her extended teeth. "I'm so hungry." She propped herself on her hands. Looking up she looked like she spotted something. "I need blood." She doubled down and I placed a hand on her shoulder. She hissed and pushed me aside. "It's dinner time."

She used her vampire powers to jump far away. I shielded my eyes from the sand and lost sight of her. I quickly pointed my wand towards where she jumped. "Disappear pronto!" My black smoke and glittery spiders took me to some palm trees. Nearby I heard a scream.

I turned to see Emma infront of two tourists, a man and woman, on camels. The man said something but I was already running towards them. "Emma no, don't!" I screamed. "I don't know how to get rid of the leftovers!" The woman also said something but I only managed to hear "little pale."

Emma laughed. "And you look delicious." She jumped on the man's camel and exposed his neck.

"Spider, can my magic help hide dead bodies?" I asked, I got a nod.

Before Emma could bite them however, a familiar pill flew into her mouth. She grimaced and gagged after she accidentally swallowed the pill. Her balance was off and she fell face first into the ground.

The tourists encouraged their camels to run away.

A chuckling came from the trees. Dracula stood there in his leather outfit and helmet holding the pill box. "My dear friends need me, and here I am." He walked over to Emma and held out his hand. "May I?"

Emma smiled and took the offered hand to stand.

"You both seem lost." He looked at me. "Would you like a lift?"

"That sounds wonderful." Emma said.

"I guess so." I reluctantly agreed. I might even get to finish the wine I was drinking.

"Then let us take off." He extended a hand in my direction. I ignored it and looped my arm through Emma's. He blinked in surprise with a frown and led us to his plane.

We found ourselves back in his fancy jet. I spotted the wine I was drinking in an ice bucket, on a side table that wasn't there the first time we were here. A wine glass was sitting right next to it.

Dracula walked to the table and poured a glass of wine. "Here you are my dear." He handed me the glass.

"Uh, thanks." I took it looking at it suspiciously.

Emma probably felt my suspicion and asked him a question. "How did you find us?"

"Oh," he looked taken back, "um." He started tapping his chin rapidly. "I was flying around the neighborhood." He shrugged his shoulders nervously.

"I'm guessing he spied on us." I pointed the glass towards him before drinking it.

"Me, spy?" He placed a hand over his chest in mock hurt. "Never."

"Mhm." Emma and I mocked in agreement.

"So, where are we going?" Emma asked.

"To my castle," Dracula smiled. "I believe I have a way to find that witch. The witch I have no knowledge about."

"Now this I have to see." I downed the last of the wine. "More wine please." Dracula happily refilled my glass.