A/N: A bit of a different chapter but I thought it was an interesting idea. Hope you enjoy. The italic writing is the people talking in the story.

Chapter Twenty

Even though Esmerelda was at home for the next two weeks, she hardly saw her parents at all. She saw them once or twice but the rest of the time they were working, but she didn't mind, in fact she was happy about it, it was just her and her sisters, just the way she liked it.

"Tell us one of your stories Esmerelda!" Ethel said. The girl had promised her sisters she would tell them one of her stories but had not got around to it because of the chaos of Christmas, but now they sat on Esmerelda's bed and she smiled.

"I have being thinking about one" Esmerelda said smiling at them.

"Tell us!" Sybil said sitting on the bed and jumping happily, excited.

"Okay okay, this story is about a young girl, she was a witch like us, she was an exceptional student, she loved to study magic and potions" Esmerelda started by saying.

"What was her name?" Ethel asked curiously.

Esmerelda stopped to think. She hadn't thought of that but she thought of one of the top of her head. She didn't know why it came to her it just did.

"Miriam" Esmerelda replied after a few moments "That's it, her name was Miriam" Esmerelda told her sisters.

"Tell us more!" Sybil said enjoying this story.

"Miriam was very smart as I said but she did have one flaw and that was that she was very gullible, she was the type of person who could be told it had been confirmed the moon was made of cheese and she would think it was true" Esmerelda went on.

"But that is silly" Ethel said laughing.

"Yes, but Miriam would of believed it" Esmerelda told her sisters, thinking some of the story up as she went along.

"So what happened next?" Ethel asked, hanging on her sisters every word.

"One day Miriam went out on a school trip with her classmates, they were visiting a witch who grew some of the potions ingredients to they used, the point of the trip was to try help them understand the hard work that went into it, she lived deep in the woods surrounding the school, away from any other people" Esmerelda went on looking at her sisters who were sitting crossed legged and looking at her interested so she carried on. "The young girl was fascinated by what she was learning on the trip and ended up getting separated from the group because she was to busy trying to inspect everything" Esmerelda went on with her fictional story.

"Oh no!" Sybil said worried about the girl being lost.

"At first Miriam didn't panic when she realised she was alone, she was after all smart, and she would use her brain to find her way back, but she was not the best with directions and only ended up going in circles, back into the deep of the forest" Esmerelda said doing hand motions and talking slowly to try make the story more dramatic.

"She walked for a while, now starting to get worried and scared, it was getting dark and she knew she was not making any progress, so when she came across the potion growers house she knocked, the woman opened it and invited her in" Esmerelda went on.

"I can't find my way back" the girl said to the woman. "I need to get back to school" she told her worried.

"The code says witches help themselves, I can help you but for a price" she told the young girl.

The young girl looked at her wondering what she meant, when the woman suddenly noticed the locket around her neck.

"I will take that locket as payment" the woman said. The girl gasped and grabbed it with her hand, protecting it. It was her most prized possession, she couldn't give it up.

"No you can't….it was my mothers" the young girl said "Please anything else but that, there must be something you want" Miriam said to her looking at her worried.

"There is one thing I want, I want to be the most powerful witch that ever lived, but I can't do that alone, I need the powers of another" the woman told her and Ethel and Sybil gasped at this point.

"She wants her to give her her magic?" Ethel said unable to think of anything worst.

"That is horrible!" Sybil said, tears forming in her eyes.

"What did she do Esmie?" Ethel said looking at her older sister

"Well.." Esmie said as she carried on the story.

"Okay..." Miriam said "I will give you my powers but you can't have my locket" she told her.

"Alright let's do this" the old lady said.

"With a flash of light the powers of the girl were transformed to the old lady, the girl felt the magic leave her fingertips and then fell down weakly to her knees, losing her strength!" Esmerelda told her sisters.

"OH NO" Ethel said shocked and upset

"That was what Miriam said too, the woman laughed evilly and transferred away in a puff of smoke, she realised she had being a fool, the woman had tricked her, she wasn't going to help her" Esmerelda said feeling sad for the girl.

"What happened next?" Sybil said slowly, not sure she wanted to know.

"With her magic gone the girl felt weak, she didn't know how to live without magic and be normal, she cried to herself softly as she thought of her mother, she missed her mother so much, and in that moment she wished she was with her, not knowing what else to do the girl fell asleep, thinking of her lost powers and her lost mother" Esmerelda went on, getting to the sad part.

"It was hours later when the woman returned, she saw the young girl still in her house and was surprised, she thought she would of left by now, she walked up to her, shaking the girl to wake her up"

"Why are you still here child? You have lost, I am not giving you your magic back" she told Miriam harshly.

The girl sat up facing the woman, feeling empty inside now she was a mortal, she knew she was right, a life with without magic was nothing, she had nothing left

"I suppose now you wished you gave up that stupid locket instead" the woman said laughing evilly.

At the way the woman spoke, the girl felt an anger inside her like she had never felt before, the locket was not stupid, it was the last thing her mother had gave her before she died, she would not part with it, with her life, that was when the girl realised something

"Being a witch is not all about magic, I have something you have never had and that is unconditional love, even though I am apart from my mother, her love runs through my veins, that is something you can never take from me, I have a power you will never have" Miriam said to the old woman.

"Love is for losers" the old woman replied, trying to break the girl down.

"I have the one thing you have always wanted, I can see it, you are lacking affection and you always wanted it, you can't have the one thing you always wanted, being the strongest witch is not about having the strongest magic, it is about having the biggest heart, I might not have powers anymore, but I am not going to let you win" Miriam said.

"So what happened?" Sybil asked desperate to know the ending.

"She went to live in the non-magical world" Esmerelda said, saying what had happened to her.

"But how did she cope without her powers?" Ethel asked not understanding.

"She realised she didn't need them, having powers did not make her who she was, she still had the same heart and the same personality, she missed her powers but having the locket helped her cope, she could live without her powers, but that locket was something she would hold with her life" Esmerelda told her sisters.

"That is….inspiring" Ethel said lost in thought.

"Yes losing your powers must be hard, but there are more important things, like friendship and love and who you are inside aside from your powers" Esmerelda told them glad they understood.

"I would give mine up too if you and Ethel were in danger" Sybil replied happily

"Me too" Ethel said without thinking.

"As would I" Esmerelda said smiling

She didn't know at the time, that in two years her story would no longer be fiction but her reality, it would scare her when she looked back on it. That story was closer to home than she could ever imagine.