Eventually, the carriage with the two siblings slowed to a stop. Sofin hopped out of the carriage, and Amber followed closely behind. She was about to close the door when she suddenly shrieked in alarm. "Vampire squirrel!"
Sofin whirled around, but realized Amber had just seen Whatnaught jump out of the carriage and scurry across the ground. "That's not a vampire squirrel," he said, "It's just Whatnaught dressed up as a vampire." Whatnaught continued running across the ground, past Sofin and towards the village. "Wait!" called Sofin. "Whatnaught, come back!" But the squirrel either didn't listen or didn't hear him, and he turned around a corner, gone from Sofin's sight.
Amber brushed off her swan costume and huffed. "Who's Whatnaught?" she asked.
"He's one of my animal friends," said Sofin. "He dressed up as a vampire and asked me to take him trick-or-treating. But I guess now he's run off." He sighed, disappointed.
Amber gave the prince a look like he was totally insane. "And after the squirrel… Whatnaught… after he dressed up as a vampire… he asked you to go trick-or-treating?"
"Well," said Sofin, "it was more like a game of charades."
Amber put her face into her hands. "Oh Sofin, what am I going to do with you?"
Sofin didn't really know what that meant, so he just brightly responded, "You're going to be my sister and go trick-or-treating with me! And then we'll get lots of treats."
Amber sighed, then smiled. "Yes, Sofin. Yes we will. Come on, let's go find Jade and Ruby." Then she started walking towards the village, taking careful steps so the swan costume wouldn't get dirtied on the path.
Sofin fell into step beside her. "Jade and Ruby live that way," he said, pointing in the direction of his old home. Then he squinted at a group of blurry figures on the horizon. "Or, you know, they could just be right ahead of us." That was convenient.
Sofin waved to the group as he and his sister approached. Jade and Ruby were there, but so was the witch he had met the last time he visited Dunwiddie. Her name was Lucinda, and Sofin remembered how the witch had tried to hex all the children at first, but eventually learned how to reverse her hexes and become friends with everyone. All three of the girls were wearing pointed hats, not just Lucinda.
"Witches!" yelled Amber, surprised, when she saw the pointed hats and Lucinda's wand. She tried to duck behind Sofin, but her tall stature and puffy swan dress were impossible to hide.
"Jade and Ruby aren't witches," said Sofin to his cowering sister. "And Lucinda's a friendly witch. She won't hex you, I promise. We're friends now."
Slowly, Amber pulled herself out from behind Sofin, then patted down her skirt and adopted a regal posture once again, as if she hadn't just hid in fear.
By now, the girls were within calling distance. "Sofin!" called two voices in unison, as Jade and Ruby dashed off from Lucinda to greet their old friend. The witch, too, followed at a slower pace. Sofin ran ahead of Amber to greet his friends, too.
"Jade! Ruby!" said Sofin, just as excited to see his friends again. It hadn't been so long since the three of them had sung the Enchancian Anthem together at the Harvest Festival, but every day spent away from his friends felt like an eternity. He greeted each of them with a warm hug. "I'm so glad to see you guys again."
"So are we!" said Ruby. "How has life been in the royal castle?"
"How has James been, you mean," guessed Sofin, and he was rewarded with the sight of Ruby's cheeks blushing a bright red against her dark skin. The prince laughed. "We've both been okay. I'll have to tell you guys about everything later while we're trick-or-treating."
Jade winced a little. "About that…"
"What's going on?" asked Sofin. Lucinda and Amber finally caught up to the trio.
"It's just, we thought you'd be trick-or-treating with the royals, this year," said Jade. "So Ruby and I asked Lucinda if she wanted to go with us."
The witch in question spoke up. "My other friends are busy this year, so I said yes. We decided to go as a witches' coven." So that was why Ruby and Jade had the pointed hats on.
"Oh," said Sofin. "It's just that Amber has never gone trick-or-treating before, so I wanted to bring her here so that she could enjoy going with all of us. He motioned to his sister.
The princess curtsied. "I'm Princess Amber. Ruby, Jade, it's a pleasure to see you again. Pleased to meet you, Lucinda."
Lucinda stood up straight and looked the princess in the eyes. "I'm Lucinda," she said. "You've really never been trick-or-treating before?"
Princess Amber shook her head. "I've never lived in the village before."
Lucinda's eyes widened and she shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no, that won't do at all!" she said. "Halloween is the most important holiday of the year!" She turned to face Sofin. "Thanks for bringing her here, Sofin. I'll take care of this from here." Once again, the little witch looked at Amber. "Amber, you're going trick-or-treating with us this year," she said forcefully.
Amber looked at Sofin. She mouthed, "do I have a choice?"
Sofin shook his head in response.
"Okay then," said Amber. But if you're all going as a coven of witches, what should I do? I'm dressed up as a swan, not a witch."
Lucinda twirled her wand. "I can take care of that. Hex!" she said, pointing her wand at Amber's costume. A bolt of magic flew from her wand and touched Amber's swan costume, changing it from a ballgown to a more form-fitting white and gold dress, adorned with pearls. Golden bands circled around Amber's neck and wrists.A white, pointed witches hat materialized atop Amber's head, another gold band circling around its edge. The princess poked at her new hat experimentally, then admired her reflection in a nearby glass window.
"Wow," said Amber, surveying her appearance. "I look just like a witch!" She struck a daring pose.
Lucinda twirled her wand again, then stuffed it into a pocket of her dress. She was wearing the same outfit that Sofin had met her in. Though since she was a real-life witch, the dress fit in perfectly with everyone else's. "Princess Amber," she said with excitement, "for this night, you can be Amber the Light Witch!"
"Ooh!" said Amber, who seemed to enjoy the name. "Do you all have titles, too?"
Lucinda nodded. "I'm Lucinda the Trickster Witch!" She struck a pose, one hand on her hip, the other pointing her wand in front of her like a knight pointing a sword.
Ruby took this moment to join in the conversation. "I'm Ruby, the Fire Witch!" she exclaimed. Her red pointed hat was adorned with orange designs in the shape of fire. She wore a red-and-orange version of Lucinda's outfit, complete with dark crimson fingerless gloves. She held one hand up, as if to summon a fireball.
Jade piped in, too. "And I'm Jade, the Nature Witch!" She wore a pointed green hat, and Sofin realized with a start that there were real branches encircling her hat. The rest of her dress was green and blue, and thick, dark green vines circled around her dress and up her arms. All the witches looked fabulous. Sofin couldn't wait to get his own costume.
"Ooh!" said Sofin, excited. "What do I get to be?" Would he be a Water Witch? Or maybe a Wind Witch?
Lucinda's face fell. "Well, Sofin, that's just it. A coven of witches is only for girls. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a coven anymore." She sounded really sad.
"But Sofin needs to go with us!" exclaimed Ruby, turning to look at Lucinda. "We've always been trick-or-treating together!"
"Yeah!" added Jade. "Isn't there anything you can do?" she pleaded to the little witch.
Lucinda took a closer look at Sofin, her face twisted into an expression of deep thought. Suddenly, she noticed Sofin's cat ears and tail, and her face brightened up. "I have an idea!" she exclaimed.
Sofin's face lit up in joy. What was he going to be?
"Some witches have familiars," said Lucinda excitedly. "You might not be able to go as a witch, but you could go as a familiar instead! Like an animal friend."
"Really?" said Sofin. "Like a raven?" He'd always wanted to try flying by himself. Wormwood made it look so fun.
Lucinda shook her head. "Ravens are good for sorcerers, but any good witch will have a cat familiar! And you're already dressed the part, so the transformation won't be too tricky. She pointed her wand at Sofin. "Ready, Sofin?"
A cat wasn't as good as a raven, but Sofin was willing to try it out at least once. "Yep!" he called, and braced himself.
"Hex!" cast Lucinda. The magic bolt flew from her wand and struck Sofin, and he felt his legs and arms shrinking. Before he even knew it, he had transformed completely into a cat in midair, and he landed instinctively on four feet. Sofin had light lavender fur with a white underbelly, and if he looked down, he could see his long whiskers on either side, extending from right above his mouth. He pawed at the ground and took a couple hesitant steps forward, then flicked his purple tail experimentally. The amulet around his neck jangled, not having transformed with all his clothes. Then, with light blue eyes, he looked up at the group of witches. They were all so tall from down here! Sofin didn't even come up to the other girls' knees.
"Sofin, you're so cute!" exclaimed Amber, grabbing him and pulling him up to her chest. "And even smaller, too."
"Hey!" responded Sofin in response, then smiled. "Being a cat isn't so bad."
Sofin could feel Amber's arms stiffen. "Could you say that again?" she said, sounding slightly nervous.
Sofin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Being a cat isn't so bad?" Amber's eyes went wide.
"Uh oh," said Lucinda, who was watching the pair.
"What's wrong?" asked Sofin, starting to worry.
"Sofin, we can't understand you at all," said Jade.
"Yeah, you're just meowing and purring," added Ruby.
"It's fine," said Lucinda with a shaky voice. "I—I can fix this, I think. Hex!" She pointed her wand at Sofin, and a magical spell flew out to strike the cat.
This time, when Sofin opened his mouth to speak, all that came out was the loud "CROAK!" of a frog.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Lucinda. "I'm so sorry! Unhex!" Another bolt flew from her wand to hit Sofin, and when he opened his mouth, no frog croaks came out. Thank goodness. The less remembered of that experience, the better.
Lucinda sighed and put her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, Sofin. I'm still getting used to being a friendly witch. I don't think you'll be able to speak if you stay as a cat. Do you want me to turn you back?"
Sofin thought about it for a moment. He didn't really want to spend the night without being able to talk to his friends…but if he switched back, then he wouldn't be able to go as a witch, since this was a witches' coven. So they'd have to switch up their plans entirely. He could feel Amber's arms still holding him protectively, and he looked up to see her concerned face and a pointy witch hat on her head. She'd still be able to enjoy the night if he stayed as a cat…and it might give her a better opportunity to talk to Ruby and Jade. Sofin remembered what he had promised to his mom before they came to the village. 'Make sure Amber feels accepted.' Here she was, dressed up in a witch's costume just like everyone else. He really did want her to have fun her first time going trick-or-treating…
Having made up his mind, Sofin shook his head. If it meant they could all go as a witches coven and Amber could fit in, then he could manage not talking out loud for the night.
"You don't want to change back?" asked Lucinda, confused. "You still want to stay as a cat?"
Sofin nodded his head.
"Okay, I guess," she said, putting her wand away. Then the witch looked up at the sky. The sun had finished setting, and it was finally nighttime. "It's time to go, everyone! We've got trick-or-treating to do, and then we can go explore the corn maze."
Sofin leaped out of Amber's arms. "Let's go, everyone!" he exclaimed.
Amber sighed. "Even if I don't understand you, Sofin, you're still cute. Come on, Jade, Ruby, we've got to go!" She made to follow Lucinda, then paused, looking like she was thinking. "Wait… Ruby… Jade… Amber…"
"What?" asked Jade.
"All of our names are gemstones!" exclaimed Amber.
Jade gasped. "You're right! I never even realized!"
Ruby was similarly shocked. "We have something in common with Princess Amber!" she exclaimed, turning to Jade as she did so.
Lucinda's eyes widened at the front of the group. "That's what we can call our coven tonight! Lucinda and the Gems!"
Jade, Ruby, and Amber all seemed excited about the name. The two village girls yelled "Yeah!" in unison, while Amber agreed, "Great idea, Lucinda!"
Lucinda turned to face the village. "Alright, gems, are we ready to get the most candy out of anyone in the village?" The other witches cheered. "Then let's go!" The four witches started down the walk to the first house.
And Sofin padded along beside them.
Lucinda and the Gems ended up visiting nearly every house in the village that night. Each of them took turns going up to the house and trying to scare the person at the door. Lucinda would waggle her wand and pretend to hex the people giving out candy, which terrified them. Ruby would pretend to summon and shoot fireballs, and Jade would scare them with the vines and branches tangled around her arms. All in all, they made quick progress, getting tons of treats and very few tricks.
Sofin couldn't hold his bag of treats, but Amber kindly offered to hold it for him. Best sister ever.
The first time it was Sofin's turn to scare people, he jumped ferociously towards the old woman at the door, teeth bared and claws unsheathed, yowling in a battle cry. But the woman had just thought he looked more cute than scary, and gave them some blue taffy which actually turned them all blue for a few minutes. After they turned back to normal, Lucinda said, "Maybe we should skip your turns, Sofin. You're a little more cute than you are scary." Though he was sad he couldn't join in with his friends, the prince had to agree.
Amber was hesitant when it was her turn. "Are you sure I can scare people?" she asked. "I'm just a light witch, I don't think I'm very scary at all!"
Ruby and Jade nodded their heads in unison. "Of course you can, Amber," said Jade.
"Yeah, just focus on being scary!" agreed Ruby.
Amber turned to a small cottage, their next target, and took in a deep breath. Hoping to encourage her, Sofin trotted up to her feet and gave one of them a gentle nudge with his nose. Amber looked down to see Sofin and smiled. "I guess I can give it a try, just for you." With those words, she walked forwards and knocked on the door, which opened to reveal a middle-aged man with yellowed teeth, living in a rather dirty space. The tables were cluttered with uncleaned trash and litter, and Sofin's enhanced cat senses could pick up on the stench of spoiled food from all the way back. It was very clear that this was a man who didn't take care of himself very much.
Amber recoiled in disgust. Her nose scrunched up. "Ewww!" she said. "You live in this dump? Oh, someone needs to get this dingy place cleaned up for you! Here, as soon as I get back to the castle, I'll order someone to come over here and fully clean out your house. They'll probably have to search all your belongings, too." The lights of the Jack O'Lanterns were slowly rising from 'small spook' up towards 'very scary.' Amber continued without noticing. "I think we'll have to get you a bath, too. Honestly, I can't believe this is the sort of reception you give to a princess of Enchancia." The Jack O'Lanterns in the 'completely terrified' part of the scale had started lighting up. "You know," said Amber, " if I weren't so kind of a princess, I might ask someone to punish you for this sort of reception."
"Just—take your treats and go!" yelled the man, grabbing two entire handfuls of candy and putting one into each of the bags Amber was carrying. "And please don't come back," he said, slamming the door in front of the princess.
Amber turned around. "Huh. I wonder what that was all about?" she asked. She was met with two wide-eyed stares of shock from Jade and Ruby, a knowing smirk from Sofin, and a loudly clapping Lucinda.
The little witch let her hands fall to her sides. "Great job, Amber! Maybe you were a little bit less on the scary side and more on the deeply emotionally distressing side, but you know, whatever works."
"Wait, I scared him?" said Amber.
Lucinda nodded. "Yep, and it was super scary, too! You're a natural." She put her arm around Amber. "Now come on, we've got more houses to check! Lucinda and the Gems, here we come!"
Amber smiled. "Did you see that, Sofin?" she asked the cat sitting near her feet. "I was scary! And all I did was be myself."
Sofin nodded, and meowed, "Great job, Amber!" though he knew his sister couldn't understand him. Then he jumped to his feet to follow the group, off towards the next house.
Part of the way through the night, Ruby spoke up. "If we're a coven of witches," she asked, "why don't we all have wands?"
Lucinda gasped. "Great idea, Ruby! I've got to get you all wands." The witch spotted a tall, barren tree from the nearby woods. Its leaves had already fallen out for the winter. "And I know just where to start," added the witch.
The four witches and Sofin walked up to the tree, and Jade, Ruby and Amber each snapped off a branch.
"Hey Amber, can you get me a stick too?" asked Sofin, forgetting his sister couldn't understand him. "I can't reach that high with my paws."
Amber was looking at her branch, which had extra twigs and leaves sticking off it. She held her stick down to Sofin and asked, "Sofin, do you mind scratching off some of these twigs? I don't want to get my fingernails dirty."
Sofin sighed and clawed at the branch, careful to only remove the twigs. He didn't mind helping his sister, really! She was already doing a great job at fitting in with the other witches. He just wished he could get a wand, too.
Amber grabbed the now-empty stick out of Sofin's paws. "Thanks so much, Sofin," she said. "I don't know what I'd do without you." The cat smiled. At least he could help out his sister that night.
'Now,' thought Sofin to himself, 'it's time to get me a wand!' He backed up, eyeing a low-hanging branch. Eyes focused on his target, he tensed his haunches, preparing to jump and swipe the branch out of the air.
"Hey, Sofin!" called Lucinda, breaking his focus. "Everyone's got their wands, let's go! We've still got to do face-painting, and then the corn maze! No time to lose!"
Sofin sighed, giving the branch one last look of longing. He had really wanted a wand to carry in his mouth, but he guessed 'familiars didn't have wands,' anyway. With a small huff of annoyance, the cat followed Lucinda and the others off towards the face-painting station, just outside the corn maze.
The line for face-painting was very long, but Lucinda and the others passed the time making scary faces and telling each other ghost stories. When they reached the end of the line, Lucinda got a painting of a wand, Ruby got a red moon, Jade got a blue butterfly, and Amber, to her delight, got a unicorn. Sofin tried approaching the face-painting lady too, but she started sneezing horribly. It seemed like she was allergic to cats. So Sofin wouldn't be getting a face-painting either.
Laughing at a joke Ruby had told, Lucinda led the witches into the corn maze. Sofin sadly padded along behind them.
"You know, we make a great team," said Lucinda after a few minutes of walking through the maze. "And it's gonna get pretty boring searching through this maze for a while…"
"You're right," agreed Amber. She thought for a moment. "Oh, I have an idea!" she exclaimed. "Why don't we sing a song? Covens do that, don't they?"
"All the time!" exclaimed Lucinda. "Great idea, Amber. It's like we're a real witches coven already!" Amber smiled. "Now come on, it's song time!"
Lucinda: The strongest team on this spooky night,
This wicked coven's gonna give you a fright,
So go and open all your doors tonight,
All: It's Lucinda and the Gems!
Lucinda: You see us coming? Well, it's crystal clear,
You better run away and get out of here!
Cause if you stay, you'll be shaking in fear,
All: From Lucinda and the Gems!
Jade: Yes we're the spookiest witches in town
Ruby: And you won't find any better around,
Amber: We are the fabled witches of renown!
All: We're Lucinda and the Gems!
The witches dissolved into laughter as the song ended. Sofin, seeing them stop and congratulate each other, sat and curled up into a ball. The feelings hit him all at once. All night, he hadn't been able to do anything with the other witches. Tears began to well up in his eyes. Was this Halloween doomed to be a failure?
Sofin: I tried to smile, even from the start,
But there's an ache, deep within my heart,
Oh how I wish, I could be a part,
Of Lucinda and the Gems.
Sofin sighed, still curled up in a ball. He just wanted to feel like a part of the group. But instead, he couldn't do anything the others had done, even Amber. No trick-or-treating, no wand, and no face-painting. Could this day get any worse?
Sofin stretched and rose to his feet. But when he did, he realized he couldn't see any of his friends. Lucinda, Amber, Jade and Ruby: they were all gone, lost in some different part of the corn maze.
Sofin started running forwards, hoping to find some of his friends. "Amber?" he called out, hoping someone would hear his meows. "Jade? Ruby? Lucinda? Is anyone there?" Sofin was starting to panic now, horribly lost in the twists and turns of the corn maze, totally alone, with no way out. "Someone please… help me…." Collapsing into a heap on the ground, Sofin began to cry, large tears falling down his fur and through his whiskers. "Anyone…"
"Kitty!" screamed a high-pitched voice. It wasn't any of Sofin's friends. Sofin looked up in alarm to see a tiny girl who he'd never met running directly towards him. She looked younger than Sofin and had two blonde pigtails poking out of her ghost costume. Sofin tried to run, but he was just a little too slow. The unknown girl grabbed Sofin with both hands and held him close to her chest. "My kitty!" she exclaimed.
"Hey!" yelled Sofin. "Let me go!" He tried clawing at her and escaping, but found he was thoroughly stuck in the little kid's tight grip. His amulet jangled as he struggled to break free. But in his tiny cat body, he was just too weak to do anything.
"Cute kitty come with me now!" said the girl, running off towards a different part of the maze.
"Wait, no!" yelled Sofin. "I'm not a cat! I'm a person! I need to find my friends! Let me go!" But the girl didn't understand him and kept running. "Someone help!" he called out again. But there was nobody to help. With a sigh of resignation, Sofin went limp in the girl's arms, hoping he'd find a chance to escape—and see his friends again.