Any Witch Way (22 page)

“Please, take me instead of my daughter. I’m the one who really wanted to thwart your efforts, not her,” she begged.

Grimm laughed. Sadie felt as though her heart would burst out of her chest. She couldn’t move no matter how hard she tried.  

What kind of magik does he have?  

Grimm walked around Sadie once before returning to sit in front of her. He licked his paw as the anxious crowd nervously held back their magik. Small bits of it crackled and popped above their heads. Adrienne implored him once more.

“Please, Grimm. I am her mother and cannot let you harm her,” she said.

“I really don’t see what you can possibly do without causing her death to come quicker and your own to come inevitably slower and more painful. I will have my revenge. There’s nothing you can do,” he replied.

“No, but there’s something I can do,” cried Mrs. Felis as she leapt from one of the plant stands.

She hit Grimm with monster force, and they began a catfight the likes of which had never been seen. Adrienne ran to Sadie as the cats rolled on the floor, tufts of hair flying and hisses and screams echoing in the party hall. Mother and daughter watched helplessly as the two felines raged in battle. The crowd parted to let the fight move around the room. There was no stopping them.

Sadie’s heart began to pulse furiously, making her entire body tremble. Slowly, as Grimm was putting all he had into the tussle with Mrs. Felis, his magik over Sadie began to wane. In her mind, with the power of all the magik she had inside of her, Sadie began to formulate the correct spell to break his hold on her. She wasn’t quite sure how, or why, but the words came to her as if they had always been there with her. She burst free from the paralysis in time to see the two cats hit a wall and then come rolling, fighting towards her.

“Mom, what do I do? If I try to stop him, Mrs. Felis will die, also,” she asked Adrienne.

“Sadie, you must destroy him. Sometimes the good of the many outweighs the good of the one,” replied Adrienne. “This is your battle, and one only you can fight.”

Sadie’s heart broke. How could she let Mrs. Felis die after all she had done for her, after all she had been to her? When she had no one back in the human world, when she was all alone, Mrs. Felis had been her friend.

She watched as Grimm sliced a huge rip in the old cat’s side. Wincing, Sadie reluctantly raised her hand.  

How can I do this to her? She’s always been so good to me. And she’s our cat; I should be protecting her.

Grimm took another slice out of Mrs. Felis, and her friend screeched in agony. Speaking in a tongue she barely understood, Sadie pointed her right finger at the cats while her left went into the sign of W over her chest. Grimm bit off a part of Mrs. Felis’s ear, and Sadie heard her cry in pain.

With every ounce of her magik, Sadie called for complete and total force. A bolt of light shot from her finger and hit the cats full on. There was an explosion, some settling of smoke and sparks, and then total silence. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of either cat.

Sadie cried and went into her mother’s arms. Adrienne tried to console her. Tara also went to wrap her arms around them both. All of the creatures and people in the room murmured consolations to them and each other, as the party was no longer. It had taken on the somber tone of a wake.

“She was a good cat, a good soldier of the Guild,” said Ms. Cabot.

“She’ll be missed, that’s for sure. She taught me many things,” said a young cat that belonged to another witch.

Sniffling and wiping away tears, Sadie spoke. “I feel so horrible; I didn’t want her to die.”

“You’re forgetting I’ve got nine lives,” spoke Mrs. Felis as she stretched in her best Halloween cat arch. She leapt down from a ledge high on the wall.

“Grimm was on his ninth; me, I’ve only used six. Sadie, don’t you think you should keep better track of your talisman?”

Mrs. Felis strutted over to Sadie who picked her up immediately.

The crowd roared with happiness and music began to play. Satyrs played flutes while nymphs strummed harps. All in attendance began to dance and sing, and the party became a party once more. Sadie set Mrs. Felis down while Tara and Adrienne hugged her once more.

“Please, I can’t breathe,” choked Sadie.

“Sorry, Ladybug, I just can’t believe what a strong, brave, and smart young woman, sorry, young witch, you’ve become. Have I told you how proud I am of you?”

“The lass has definitely got strong character,” said Tara, beaming. “I’m proud to call her my friend.”

“I’m just an average girl with not-so-average friends whom I love very much,” said Sadie. “I may not be unremarkable anymore, and I’ll NEVER be normal now, but I’m still just…me. All of you make me who I am.”

*  *  *

Sitting on the foot of her bed, Adrienne watched as her daughter put her book and her talisman into her trunk. Sadie whispered a few words and the leather crate magikked shut, locked up tightly. She then turned and ran and jumped into bed, like she used to do when she was much younger and thought monsters lived under there.

For some reason, even though the party had gone on until the sun began to rise, Sadie felt giddy and wide awake. She felt as though she was right where she was supposed to be and that all was right in her world. As she got under the covers and pulled them up to her chin, she spoke her thoughts aloud.

“I don’t feel so…awkward anymore. Why is that? Does magik make your problems go away?”

Adrienne smiled at her daughter. Standing up and then moving to sit next to her on the bed, she stroked her hair.

“No, you make your problems go away. I think you’ve finally become comfortable in your own skin; that’s all. You’ve come into your own, Ladybug. But remember, you’ve still got much to learn. Life is about learning the whole way through, not just what you learn in school or what you learn when you are young. You learn and grow and change the entire time you’re alive. I’m still learning. I’ve learned much from you,” Adrienne said. “Hopefully, you’ll learn many things from me. We’ve got each other again, and we’ll go through life together, learning, laughing, making mistakes and changing along the way; it’ll all be worthwhile ‘cause in the end, you, me, all of us, will have lived a full, open life with, the Gods be willing, much happiness.”

“But what about the Seether? He’s gonna come back,” said Sadie.

“Yes, and you’ll battle him again, I’m sure. You two share two parts of one heart remember? Even though the Ataraxia Heart and the Core are no more, you two will always be connected because of what happened.

“But also remember, he’ll always be there for good reason. Without bad, how would we know good? Without love, how would we know hate? There’s always gonna be bad and evil in the world, just like there will always be good to fight it and overcome it. All you have to do is follow your heart. Don’t you worry about that now, Sadie. When the time comes, you’ll be able to do what you have to do,” said Adrienne.

Sadie smiled, beginning to feel sleepy. Adrienne tucked the covers in around her daughter and kissed her on the forehead.

“I’m so glad to have you back, Mom. Even when everyone was telling me I was crazy and picking on me and teasing me, telling me you were dead and I was nuts for thinking otherwise, I knew you were still alive somewhere, somehow,” Sadie murmured, getting sleepier.

“But you stayed strong—strong enough to keep on going even when you were at your saddest. Strong enough to handle learning you were a witch and strong enough to save me and the whole world, not to mention all the other worlds,” replied Adrienne.

“When can I see these other worlds?” asked Sadie.

“Soon, very soon, but for now, get some sleep, little witch. Tomorrow you’ve got some much-needed training, and I want you to clean your room, and then we’ve got some sea nymphs to visit this weekend along with the mountain trolls.

“We’ve got your cousins Hannah’s and David’s trial to attend. Your Uncle Marcus wants to visit you, to get to know you now that he’s been restored to his former self. Though he’s chosen to still live without his powers in the human world, he’s family. Some family we want, like him; some we don’t and just have to accept, like David and Hannah.

“Oh, and I told the North Wind you’d come by to visit; he’s so lonely you know. And I want you to help Tara with the herb garden, and I’m sure you’ll have much homework, and….”

“Geez, some things never change,” Sadie mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.