Chapter 2

Witch's Brew

"Come on Mar-Mar, wake up!" Anne said, shaking her friend vigorously. This isn't good! We probably should have doublechecked to see if this place would have food that negatively affects humans! I just assumed given Luz here and having eaten Hop Pop's food that…

"Sorry girls," Eda said, sounding both amused and confused. "I didn't think that little bit of appleblood in wyrmroot tea would have that kind of effect. I mean, the rest of you seem to be doing just fine. Perhaps she can't handle her teas."

"Marcy is Chinese! There's no way she couldn't hold her tea!" Sasha huffed, helping Anne shake Marcy. Their friend giggled and drooled.

Well, I guess it can't be too bad if that's how she's reacting, Anne thought.

"The Boiling Isles are a lot to get used to," Luz said. "It's taken a while, but you can eventually stomach the food. Actually, Gus and Amity have gotten really good at adapting Earth recipes and recreating them here! Just you wait until you've cowslug cheese enchiladas!"

"Eh, I'm not too worried about the food you got here," Anne replied. Thumbing to herself she added, "I survived an entire summer eating crickets and grubs."

"Pssh! That's nothing!' Eda snorted. "I can get that kind of stuff in the market as snacks."

"Crickets the size of a human," Anne deadpanned.

"Oooooh!" the witches all said together.

"I have a good feeling about these three," the one green-haired, athletic girl named Willow said. "Just look at how quickly they've gotten used to this place. Other humans always freak out the moment they see anything from the Boiling Isles! I believe that you girls went to this other world, Emphirial."

"Amphibia," Sasha corrected. "That was where we were hoping to get too. Anne, we should take Marcy back and tell Terri and X about what happened. Something must have gone bust with the portal. We shouldn't be here."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Anne said. "Here, help me get her up."

"Oh, I'll spot you with a levitating spell," Luz said happily.

Anne observed the other girl motion for a weird snake creature worming around a nearby table. The cute, little thing winked and chirped as it flew over to Luz. Upon touching it, Luz's fingertips transformed the snake into a staff. Sasha raised an eyebrow and said, "That's definitely new."

"This is my palisman Stringbean. With her I can cast magic like any normal witch here on the Boiling Isles without having to use glyphs! Just give me a second and I'll have that spell up and going in a jif- Holy Titan!"

Marcy sprang up, wide and awake. Her eyes gleamed with a spark of excitement. Anne knew that look all too well. It meant that Marcy was about to do something crazy.

"Marcy, are you okay?" Sasha asked, concerned.

"Better than okay! Sasha, Anne, I just learned something incredible! Andrias taught me how to make a special truth seeing potion! And guess what? Everything we could possibly need for it is already right here!"

"Uh… Marcy, are you sure you're okay?" Anne asked.

"Yeah, having a dream about Andrias and brewing a potion sounds like your subconscious is working on overdrive," Sasha commented. "You were excited to return to Amphibia, Andrias had one of the biggest impacts on your life, giving you plenty of trauma, and now we're on a planet full of witches. It all came together after something got to you. Not that you can't hold your tea or anything!"

"Oh, that's nothing to be concerned about," Marcy said happily, waving an unconcerned hand. "Andrias said he expected me to get knocked unconscious by something here, and then he could talk with me. Turns out we have another mission! But first, we need a special potion. Excuse me, my good witches, I am but a humble apprentice in the dark and arcane arts, but I need to borrow some powdered sun crystals, the song of ghost raven, the dried peels of a galdrake-"

Anne couldn't help but feel concerned as Marcy went off on her list. The witches all shared highly uncomfortable looks between each other. It wasn't that they thought she was spitting out a bunch of nonsense. Their expressions clearly said that Marcy was speaking about stuff that they knew about. And as a supposed stranger to the Boiling Isles, Marcy's request seemed very incongruent with the three girls' story.

I don't know what to make of this. Marcy is practically a genius, but there's no way she should know how to make a potion from stuff that comes from this world. Not unless she really did meet Andrias. But that would mean…

"Marcy, did you really meet Andrias in a dream?" Anne asked.

"Sure did! And he's looking pretty good, too! All fixed up after what happened to him," Marcy mused. "Which is rather surprising. I had the impression that he was going to step down and everything after what happened at the end of the war."

Sasha made a cutting motion across her throat. Shut Marcy up!

The witches were looking even more uncomfortable now. One witch in particular, a young man Anne had heard named Hunter, scowled darkly at Marcy as she spoke. He was covered in scars and looked as if he had been through plenty of scrapes. Hunter stalked forward and growled at Marcy.

"If you've been having crazy dreams related to trauma it could mean that someone is trying to possess you! We'll need to check you immediately!"

"Hunter, you don't seriously think that this could be related to Belos?" Willow asked.

"Yeah," the shorter, darker witch named Gus added. "We cleared out all of his sick old laboratories and destroyed everything that he left behind. He's not coming back."

"We can't be entirely certain," Hunter insisted.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I've already been possessed once before. This was nothing like that. For one thing, I'm not screaming and writhing around in pain. And I am clearly in control of this body!" Marcy pinched herself. "Ouch! See?"

"You really shouldn't be so casual about what happened to you," Sasha grumbled.

"I've been working through it with my writing!"

Hunter pulled a piece of chalk out from a pocket. He got on the ground and began drawing a circle around Marcy. "Please stay put for a second. I'll check real quick to see if there's anything wrong with you."

"Ooo! New magic sigils?" Luz gushed, seemingly forgetting the heavy atmosphere and situation they all found themselves in.

What have these guys gone through? Anne wondered.

"I've been working closely with King in my free time to figure out how to make use of his growing powers. We've been cross examining everything I read in Belos' old library with what King has been discovering about himself. The glyphs are not just a series of patterns to command the elements, but each sigil conveys specific meaning that reacts to lingering power and remains of the Titan.

"Since the Titan itself is the source of all life and magic on the Boiling Isles, all you need to know is the language to connect with the Titans and there by harness their powers. But when King's dad moved on, as you know, the glyphs we've used all ceased to function like they once did. In a way, we are both discovering and developing King's new language."

"Wow! King's been holding out on me," Luz complained. "This looks so cool!"

Amity spoke up. "King and Hunter wanted to share some of their special discoveries with you. They've discovered so many different glyphs! And well, it's a secret," she added, blushing slightly.

"Amity! You were in on it?" Luz gasped, but smirked. "Traitor!"

"I didn't mean to! I just stumbled across them working at it over at the Owl House! I wanted to get there early to surprise you and…"

Anne was completely at a loss. Hunter obviously didn't trust whatever was going on with Marcy. For her own part, Anne didn't find this very copesetic either. And all this magic nonsense and shared history between the other friends left her totally lost.

"It's like trying to keep up with an inside joke," Sasha whispered to her. "Like when you and Marcy kept sharing all those laughs without me during dinner at the Plantars."

Anne gave her light shove. "Dude, that was so long ago. Give it a rest!"

Marcy oohed and awed, taking notes as Hunter drew not just one circle, but five. Marcy stood in the center of a larger circle, surrounded by four small ours conjoining borders. Odd symbols were sketched into the centers of the smaller circle. None of it looked familiar to Anne.

Hunter got up and gestured to Luz, "Tap it with your staff."

Luz complied. A pillar of light appeared around Marcy's feet, completely engulfing her. Hunter nodded with satisfaction. "If there's any corruption within her, this should burn it out, or least help us detect its presence."

The light eventually faded. Marcy looked windswept, but no worse for the wear.

"So, is she possessed or something?" Sasha asked.

Hunter scratched his chin. "She doesn't appear to be."

"Good. Because I would have hated to mess up my kitchen by throwing down," Eda said. "And Hunter, you drew it, so you get to mop it up! Owlbert, go to the Owl House and fetch King! I've got the feeling he's gonna want to see this. And if we have world hoppers coming to the Boiling Isles, we'll want him to alert the Collector."

Eda, tapped the owl carving on the top of her own staff. It appeared as though she had her own palisman. It came to life at a touch and flew off. Anne watched Owlbert soar out a nearby window.

There's really a lot more going on here than meets the eye. And that's saying something because so much is going on! I wonder what Mr. X is going to make of this place?

"Why should we let Collector know what's going on?" Luz asked.

Eda's sister Lilith answered. "Collector and King have been keeping in contact. According to Collector, there's been a lot of movement across the multiverse recently. He's concerned that others might make their way to the Boiling Isles. He says that in the distant past, there was far more traffic and travel between our world and others. The Titans encountered other peoples and it led to conflicts. The Collector hopes that we can avoid that."

"By locking up the Boiling Isles?" Gus asked, incredulous.

"No, we just want to make certain that we're not letting in the next Belos. We want the Boiling Isles and Earth to eventually have more open correspondence, but…" Lilith trailed off as she noticed Anne paying attention.

Yeah, this is definitely some alien ish that Mr. X will want to know about. Wait, are we about to be used as spies? Anne wondered. Trying to get back to the matter at hand, Anne said, "Well, if Marcy is not infected or possessed by anything, how about we get going. A lot's been going on and-"

"Not yet, Anne!" Marcy shouted, jumping out of the circle. Hunter was already loading up a mop to clean up and she had a perfect sketch of the spell in her notebook. "I need to make the potion Andrias told me about. He said it will help me and all of us see the truth. He said it would be super helpful with current events and some things that are coming up."

"Like what?" Sasha pressed.

"Don't know," Marcy replied with a shrug. "He was very urgent, and it felt like this was something I needed to do."

"Well, if you are convinced, then let's make this potion," Eda said, waving her sickle hand. "If she's possessed or something like, I'm certain that all of us could take her on. Come with me, kid. And tell me that recipe again."

The others in the room all shared uncomfortable looks. Their meeting had begun with quite a bang. Events were moving fast and made no sense to Anne. Her instincts told that she should retreat back to Earth. However, Marcy was already following Eda, and stopping that girl once she had her mind set to something there was little anyone could do to stop her.

"So, how about you two tell us about this Andrias guy. Or girl? I really don't know who this person is," Amity said.

Anne and Sasha quickly filled Amity and the other witches in on who Andrias was. The old newt king who ruled over Amphibia and who had manipulated them all to gather the powers of the Calamity Box in order to power his ancient empire once again and launch and invasion of Earth. The Frogvasion that Luz thought was just a movie. It had been covered up by the U.S. government while Andrias supposedly stepped down from the throne after switching sides at the last minute to help the girls beat the real enemy, the Core.

"Wow! It looks like we missed out on all the cool stuff that happened in the Human Realm!" Gus said excitedly. "I can't wait to go back and watch this Frogvasion movie with fresh eyes! Strange that you humans live rewriting history. It reminds me of Belos."

"And who exactly is Belos?" Sasha asked.

The witches all shared uncomfortable expressions before Hunter took over, simply stating, "Long story, he was a human who entered the Demon Realm long ago and used his tricks to hoodwink everyone and make himself the emperor. After that, he did everything his power to control and then destroy magic, nearly wiping out all of the Boiling Isles."

"It's a long story," Willow apologized.

"Yeah, it could take up at least five books if told properly," Gus said.

"Eh, I think our story could easily make a three season television show. We could fit a lot more in," Anne commented. "But Marcy, what are you doing?"

"Like I said, I need to make a potion! One that will help us see the truth of what is happening. Andrias told me it will be extremely helpful in things that are about to happen."

Marcy combed through the college's pantry of potion ingredient. Eda and her assistant Edric answered her questions about what was what. Marcy happily dove into the bizarre materials, tossing bags and bottles full of dangerous looking stuff. She swept off a table and began piling high everything she needed.

"Oh! So that's what dried galdrake looks like," Luz said as a bag tumbled open.

Anne and Sasha shivered. It looked like peeled, dried skin from a barely human face. They were beginning to realize just how weird this Luz girl was for finding nothing about this uncomfortable or disturbing.

"You probably don't realize this, but you have the incomplete list of ingredients for at least a dozen different potions," Eda commented dryly. "I studied potions specifically at Hexside, our local school-"

"Of course you have a school for magic! I've been waiting for my acceptance letter to come by owl for years now!" Marcy gushed.

"Well, we don't use owl to send out our acceptance letters," Eda said.

"What do you use?" Anne asked.

Eda pointed down the hall with her sickle hand, gesturing to an aviary where they kept a bunch of rabid-looking, pus-gushing, three-headed vultures. Anne pulled a disgusted face. There was no way she would ever go to a school that sent out their mail by whatever nightmare that was!

Marcy scooped up the ingredients and asked for a cauldron, adding, "There's just so much I want to learn! When I was in Wartwood I tried to learn a bit about the dark arts and making potions from the resident witch Maddie. I still have so much to learn and if I can take down notes about all your other potions and everything else, I would be delighted! It'll make great research for my webtoon."

"You make music out of webs?" Eda asked. "I mean, songs about witches are metal and all that, especially if you make a ballad about yours truly, but I didn't realize that humans had figured out the intricacies of playing fine notes on spiderwebs."

"We haven't, but that's something to look into!"

They soon had a crackling fire going under a cauldron. Marcy chopped up everything and tossed the random ingredients in, making mashes and weird juices from the other stuff. Eda went from humoring and condescending to genuinely curious. The witches had clearly expected Marcy to whip up some kind of sludge, but the potion seemed to be coming together.

"Marcy, did Andrias give you a good reason why we need this potion?" Anne finally asked her. "Like, what is coming?"

"He didn't say, and I don't know," Marcy admitted. "But it feels right to do this. Please, Anne, trust me!"

Eventually, the cauldron's contents began to glow a soft, light blue. There was a sharp, new smell rising with the fumes, something that Anne couldn't quite place. Eda was asking Edric if he had been taking notes. He hefted a notepad showing he had. Lilith and Luz had likewise been trying to keep up. Anne noticed that Luz's notes had a ton of little doodles, some involving her and Amity. Marcy was a little soot sullied. Her accident-prone nature had led to her catching fire no less than five times. But her face was lit up with a triumphant smile.

"This is it, everyone!" she declared, snatching up a ladle.

"Wait!" Eda cautioned. "This is something entirely new. Normally, I'm all for trying out crazy stuff like this, but you are a girl from Earth with no magic that I can discern, following the instructions of a known manipulator who spoke to you through a crazy dream. Kid, I've seen a of nutty stuff and done twice as much! My alarm bells are going off like crazy, it's making my head ring."

"My sister is right. I accidentally cursed her and by extension myself, using a spell that I didn't fully understand. Don't just implicitly accept the help of a stranger because it feels right," Lilith said.

"That's why I have Anne and Sasha here," Marcy replied. "To save me in case this ends up being a really stupid idea!"

"Oh no," Sasha groaned.

Marcy dipped the ladle and took a swig of the potion. She smacked her lips and said, "Mmm! Tastes like blueberry!"

Her eyes suddenly erupted in cosmic, blue swirls, filling the entire laboratory with a dark blue light and dancing stars.