Episode 19: Birth of the Blood-Stained Witch

"Don't hurt her, please! Stop it!" begged Blair as she tried to free her kitten from Medusa. But days without any proper nourishment took its toll. Her body could no longer move as she wanted it to. What little strength she had left was barely able to keep her sister from totally crushing the life out of the small animal. "Stop it! Please!"

But she didn't. Instead, she laughed upon seeing her distraught sister in so much pain and agony.

Meanwhile, their mother had just finished sifting through the various books and papers kept in the bedroom. At last, she was able to find what she was looking for. Safely hidden between the masterworks of Dante Alighieri and the arcane tomes of Juno Valesti was a small bamboo container. With its seal still intact, she breathed a sigh of relief. It has been a long and arduous journey from Greece and, quite frankly, a bit of good news was most–

"What?" she gasped. When she opened the container, a small black widow popped out and landed on the palm of her hand. It was lying on its back with all eight legs pointed up. She checked the container and found nothing else inside. The research scrolls that were supposed to be there were gone.

"Arachne," she cursed that name as she crushed the dead arachnid.

When she returned to the living room, she was rather surprised to see her daughter stomping a defenseless girl. As a witch, engaging your opponent in a fistfight was considered barbarous at best for it was always kept in mind that, 'Why should a magical being of my caliber degrade myself by taking part in the primitive rituals of animals?'

"Medusa," she called, "Stop playing around. It's time to go."

Hearing this, the young witch stopped just as she was about to break her little sister's fingers. "But, mom-" she wanted to protest, but the stone-cold stare she received prevented this. "Fine…mother," she sighed, disappointed. She put on her wraith-like cloak and then followed her to the door.

"Mother! Please wait!" Blair cried out.

"?" she turned to find the battered girl struggling to her feet. Her hands and feet were almost blue from the beating. Her head was covered with blood that it seemed to have dyed her hair red.

Unfortunately, the older woman had no intention of complying with the request. In fact, seeing such a shameful sight only hastened her desire to leave. She quickly began reciting the necessary incantations to forge a magic circle and–

"Mom!" All of a sudden, Blair grabbed her by the arm …

SLAP!

Her disturbance earned her a strong slap across the face, sending her back to the floor.

"Don't touch me you filth!" shrieked the mother.

It all happened so fast that Blair was more surprised than hurt. She couldn't believe what had just happened. But when she wanted to ask the proverbial question why, her mother immediately said something she never expected…

"I am NOT your mother!" she sneered. "And you are not my child! You're just a mistake I made years ago!"

Medusa was taken aback by this. Seeing her sister got what was coming to her, she felt so happy and relieved that she wanted to celebrate this beautiful mother-daughter moment by poking fun at the little 'brat'. But then again, seeing the ever stoic expression of her mother twist into that of a deranged loony… perhaps this wasn't the best time to enjoy herself.

Anyway, those words hit Blair like a dagger through the chest. She could no longer hold back the tears that swelled up in her eyes. The words of her mother seemed to have been the final nail to the coffin. She wanted to speak, but could say nothing. When she looked at her mother, her heart was torn in anguish for the woman looked down on her with nothing but hate and disgust in her eyes.

After saying all that had to be said, her beloved mother and sister closed the door and left her there…

"Huh? W-Where am I?" Liz groaned. She looked about, bewildered by her surroundings.

The last thing she remembered was confronting Kid in the library before everything went blank.

Now, she was in the infirmary for some reason… "STOP IT!" someone suddenly screamed.

"What is going on here?" she was surprised to see Blair there. She had fallen to the floor, screaming in horror as she tried shielding her eyes from something unseen.

"Cut it out, nyah!" Holding her precious Okami-sama in her arms, the cat hissed at Kid who was standing there with a shocked expression on his face. It seems that he hadn't expected to be sucked into the dream world himself.

"Kid-kun, you alright?" asked Patty, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Patty!" gasped her sister. "Where did you come from!"

"Eh? I dunno. I just woke up here," she chuckled.

"Hey, stop him, you guys!" pleaded the cat as her Okami-sama violently struggled against Kid's phantasmagoria.

"OK!" Patty saluted as she grabbed hold of a nearby bedpan…