Chapter 8

Kelly and Ryan set to work helping Tabitha and Juniper get rid of Skeeter's zoo while Kestrel finished Tabitha's cooking. After an hour, Kestrel came out of the kitchen and could hear a racket emerging from Skeeter's room. She listened closer and heard Kelly, Ryan, Tabitha, and Juniper getting into some trouble with an elephant, which, unfortunately, they'd saved for last.

Tabitha: Ryan, grab it! We can't zap it if it keeps moving.

Ryan: OK…nice elephant…

The elephant trumpeted.

Ryan: I can't do it!

Juniper: Oh, you little crybaby.

Kelly: Thank you! I'll do it. WHOA!

Kelly was launched back through Skeeter's door and slammed into the hall wall (no rhyme intended) when she'd grabbed the elephant's trunk and it had knocked her back.

Kestrel ran up to help her. "Are you OK?"

Kelly got up and brushed herself off. "I was fine until Dumbo here decided to smack me through the door."

Juniper emerged from the room, holding an elephant statuette. "Here. You can have the paperweight."

Kelly took it. "Thanks."

"Oh, but whatever you do, don't break it. It'll break the enchantment and the elephant will come back out."

"So you've done this a lot?" Ryan asked.

"Every week. Skeeter is seriously attached to his critters." Juniper went back into the room to collect their animal décor with Tabitha and Ryan.

Kelly and Kestrel, however, went back to the living room and went over the family tree chart again.

"Rather confusing, huh?" asked Kestrel.

"Totally."

"It's OK. I've been in this family for over 150 years and I still don't understand most of it myself."

Kelly smiled. She went back to the chart. Why was it so messed up because of the names? What I mean to say is: Brayden's side of the family (the triplets' dad) had names like Gretel, Kestrel, Skeeter, and Neptune. But Lainie's side (the triplets' mom) had simple names like Samantha, Anna, Matthew, and Christopher…names you'd usually give to mortals. Maybe her grandmother's side was simply mortal-positive unlike some of the other Witches like Karen or Juniper. She wasn't gonna know until she asked someone about this. "Kestrel…is there something different about my grandmother's side of the family?"

Kestrel looked at her. "Did your mother and aunts not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

BOOM! Before Kestrel could tell Kelly anything, Ryan, Tabitha, and Juniper jumped out of Skeeter's room.

"There was a lion under Skeeter's bed," Tabitha explained, sending a bolt of magic into the room. She walked up to Kelly and Kestrel while Juniper was walking into the room to fetch whatever Tabitha had zapped up from the lion. "So, Kelly, you prepared to meet the rest of the family, or do you need some time?"

"I think I'd prefer to wait, but I don't know if that'd cause any trouble or—"

"Oh, relax," said Juniper, coming in with a lion headband, "Clara is a little crazy, and your grandparents are still a little…off from losing Lainie and Brayden, but if you stay away from Skeeter, stick with us, and make sure not to talk too much to the twins, you'll be fine."

"Which twins?" asked Ryan, "There's 2 sets on the chart."

Tabitha looked at the chart. "Both sets."

"We'll wait."

Kelly sighed and looked out the window while Tabitha was shrinking the chart to give to Ryan. "Looks like it's getting a little late. Almost sunset. Maybe we should go back to the castle."

Ryan took the shrunken chart and put it into the guide book that Daniella had given them. "Kelly's right. We better get going. I'm hungry anyway."

"You sure you don't want any fruit salad or anything?" Tabitha asked.

"Trust me, we've had enough fruit this week," said Kelly, preparing for Ryan to zap them back.

"Ooh," said Kestrel, "Magic block?"

"Can only zap up pineapples."

"It'll wear off once you've worked on it enough."

"Good. 'Cause I don't think I can stand to even look at another pineapple this week. Ryan, zap us back."

Ryan nodded. "Here goes nothing. From cottage to castle, take us back…to where we're learning our magic to get us back on track!" He zapped them off.

Kestrel looked at Tabitha and Juniper. "Was that an improv?"

"Still the right spell," said Tabitha.

"Who cares?" scoffed Juniper, "Got 'em out of here."

"Juniper!" Tabitha scolded.

Karen and Carmen were walking through the castle foyer.

"They better get back here soon," said Carmen, "Arielle is not gonna be happy if her successors are not at the coronation dinner."

"Relax, Car," said Karen, "I'm sure they're zapping themselves back here right now."

Suddenly, they heard screaming in the distance. They looked up as the screaming got closer and Kelly and Ryan dropped from the ceiling and landed on them.

"Gotta work on my landings," said Ryan as he got up, helping Karen up after him.

"You said it," Kelly said, getting up and helping up Carmen, "Ow."

"You guys OK?" Ryan asked the twins.

"Fine," said Karen, "You?"

"Been better," said Kelly, massaging her neck.

"Maybe eating something at the coronation dinner will help you feel better," said Carmen, "Come on!" She started to lead them off.

"OK," said Kelly, "Anything but pineapple." They all started laughing at that one, even stingy old Karen. As they were walking through the halls, Karen and Carmen led them past Jupiter's hallway. Kelly stopped walking while they kept on, signaling to Ryan to cover for her. She snuck down the hall.

"Kelly?"

Kelly smiled and turned to face Jupiter. "Hey. It's me again."

"Your family…you've been gone for hours…"

"I know. They're totally crazy. I had to help my aunt and cousins sweep up a zoo in my uncle's room."

Jupiter smiled. "Wish I'd been there to see that."

Kelly smiled back and giggled. "Kind of wish you'd been there, too." She then remembered that she'd been meaning to ask Jupiter about that spell she'd cast… "By the way, what was that spell you cast with the…showing me your memories and…"

"Simple spell, really…hard to master, but simple to cast…memory-message…I can teach you."

Kelly half-smiled at the thought. "Sure. Later. I have to go." She skipped off.

Jupiter stared after her. "No idea what will happen tonight…"

Kelly ran up to Ryan and the twins as they were preparing to enter the banquet hall.

"Ready?" Carmen asked as she and Karen prepared to open the door. Kelly and Ryan nodded. Karen and Carmen opened the door.

Kelly and Ryan stared in awe and wonder at the magnificent corridor before them. The table was so long it could hold thousands of people. The walls bore brilliant tapestries that could only have been made by a seamstress Witch as talented as Shaya (or by birds and mice, but that's a different story).

"Wow," said Kelly. She looked at the wall behind the end of the table. It had the door to the kitchen and, above it, a giant star surrounded by smaller stars printed on the wall. "What's with the star symbol?"

Carmen looked at it. "Oh, that's Arielle's crest."

"Crest?"

"It's like a Witch ID. When they cast certain spells, their crest shows up. It's always the same for each individual Witch or Warlock. Since Arielle's reigning right now, her crest is shown. Once the 2 of you are crowned, your crests are gonna be up there instead."

"Yeah, one problem. We don't know what they are."

"Oh, don't worry. The wall's enchanted, it'll change by itself when you're crowned."

Kelly nodded. "Good." She gave a quick thumbs-up and started to walk off, followed by Ryan and the twins. As she passed a floating tray handing out the drinks, she grabbed a goblet.

Ryan did the same, the twins following. "Kelly, I'm sensing some tension. If this is about the magic, we're getting better. In fact, I'll bet that by the time the week is out, we'll be at apples!"

Kelly smiled and shrugged. "Pineapples to apples. Yeah, I guess that would be some progress."

"Gangway!" Mars zoomed over their heads, cutting dangerously close to their heads. They ducked just in time.

Ryan had been so startled that he'd fallen into Carmen's arms in an attempt to not drop the goblet. Carmen pushed him back onto his feet.

While Kelly tried to regain her composure, Karen stomped forward a foot and glared up at Mars, who was now rested on a banister near the ceiling. "What is wrong with you, you stupid parakeet?"

"Crow! And I just wanted to scare you out of your wits." He started laughing again.

Karen snarled at him and zapped her drink at him. "There. Your wings are damp with pumpkin juice and my spirits are perfectly intact. It's just like when we were going to school together." She summoned another goblet from the tray and kept walking, the other 3 following.

"I am so glad I broke up with her before dating Wendy," said Mars from under the goblet, his wings to damp for him to fly off the banister.

Shaya ran up to Kelly, Ryan, and the twins. "Man, can you believe what a jerk Mars is sometimes? It's ridiculous." She started drinking from her own goblet.

"Can't you wait until the banquet actually starts to gulp down your juice?" asked Karen.

Shaya waved her hand at them and then stopped drinking. "I'm am too thirsty to wait. So I put my goblet on the table already and zapped up some diet cola." She walked off.

Arielle came into the hall after Shaya walked off and approached the 4. "Shaya can be a little…frantic sometimes, but all-in-all, she's a nice girl…once you get to know her." She went to sit down.

Kelly and Ryan looked at each other and shrugged. They then sat down next to the twins.

The Coven was across from them.

"You know," Saffron told Kelly and Ryan, "usually we just walk into the kitchen and take what we want when we're hungry. When we do have a banquet like this, which is usually on rare and/or special occasions, it's mainly a normal sit-down of some sort. But for you guys she went all-out." She propped her elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand. "I can't imagine why."

"Saffron, these 2 are special," Carmen argued.

Penelope scoffed and raised a hand. "Oh, whatever you say, oh great and powerful Karen."

"I'm Karen!" Karen corrected.

"Whatever!"

Amanda glared at Penelope. "Penelope, you need some work." She started rubbing her temple if she had a headache. "And now I do. As soon as I get out of the Coven, I'm going straight to therapy!"

Joy looked at Kelly. "Pay no attention to her. She's been working too long. Hey! You want me to try to read your mind? I've been trying to work on spells like that. I joined the Coven at a young age, so…"

"I kind of get the idea," Kelly said, holding her hand out, "Sure."

Joy closed her eyes and began to trace Kelly's palm with her forefinger. "OK…you're thinking of…pickles."

"No, I'm thinking of home."

Joy opened her eyes.

"And now I'm thinking you're crazy."

"Huh, then I must be thinking of pickles."

Eric slowly turned to glare at her. "Joy, how many times do I have to tell you?" He raised a finger. "1: Keep your mind clear when you're doing spells like that. 2: You're an idiot!"

Joy glared at him, openmouthed.

Kelly sighed, rolling her eyes.

"You wanna know what I'm thinking?" asked Ryan.

"Ryan!" Kelly scolded her brother.

Before they could keep going at it, Haven appeared behind them. "Ahem." They all looked at her. "If you're done…" She clapped her hands and the food started coming out by itself. "Made it all myself." Kelly and Ryan looked at her in shock. "Yup, all of it in a week. By my own hands. Or rather my finger." She held up her zapping finger and smiled. "And some parts by my wand, but I tend to keep that one low-profile." She walked off.

"Yeah, Haven takes her cooking seriously," Carmen explained as the food started serving itself to everyone, "No food in this castle, even zapped up by the Witch/Warlock who wanted it, doesn't pass through her hands at some point or other."

"Even that pizza Saffron zapped up for the Coven yesterday?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, especially the Coven's and her sister's food," said Karen, "Mars' food, however, is a different story. Let's put it this way: this castle never has to call an exterminator."

Before Kelly and Ryan could say anymore, the banquet started.

While everyone started eating, however, Kelly got a vision… Kelly gasped and stopped her brother from touching anything. "Don't!" she hissed.

"What?"

"I just got a vision. It's…" She looked around to make sure no one was listening. "The drinks were—" Before she could finished, Brad zapped up some instruments, which immediately started playing and drowned out the last word in Kelly's sentence.

"What?" Ryan asked.

Kelly repeated it.

"What?" Ryan asked again.

The band stopped.

"OUR DRINKS WERE POISONED!" Kelly then realized the band had stopped before she'd said it. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at them.

Brad, without looking away from them, zapped the trumpet and it made the "wah-wah-wah" noise.

Arielle got up from her chair and raced over there, summoning Kelly's goblet into her hand on the way. She investigated it and then zapped Ryan's when she got there. "She's right. Someone tampered with their goblets."

Kelly stood up, too, Ryan following her example. "But it's just these 2. Everyone else was fine."

"I know. How'd you know?"

"Vision. Freak thing."

"Well, did you happen to see who did it?"

Kelly shook her head. "I don't control what I see or when I see it, I just saw the poison kicking in. It could've been anyone here."

The band instruments played the "dun-dun-dun" tune.

Karen stood up as well, Carmen following her example. "She's right. We were watching these 2 and almost everyone came into contact with them somehow after they got a hold of those drinks. And if they didn't come close enough, they could've zapped it."

"Well, you just said you were watching them since they came in here," said Penelope, "How do we know you didn't do it?"

DUN-DUN-DUN!

"Relax, people!" Arielle said, "Everyone's innocent until proven guilty."

"More like guilty until proven innocent," said Ryan, "Everyone we did come into contact with had a motive."

Haven took off her chef's outfit. "Surely you're not suggesting someone did this on purpose. Maybe the vision was wrong. Or one of you accidentally zapped yourselves. I mean, look at all the pineapples that have been zapped up by you 2 just in the past 2 days!"

Arielle put a hand on her hip. "Haven, you're smart enough to know that if they're so off, that same effect would be the same in every spell they cast until the magic block clears up. This was obviously on purpose!"

DUN-DUN-DUN!

"WOULD YOU STOP THAT?" Kelly shouted at Brad's instruments.

"Sorry!" Brad zapped the instruments and they clattered to the floor and disappeared.

Arielle sighed. "Excuse my brother," she whispered to Kelly and Ryan, "He can be…quirky sometimes." She looked back at everyone. "Look, someone here attempted to poison my successors. And until we know who it is…" She waved her hand and the doors to the hall closed and wouldn't reopen. "…no one leaves this room!"