The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Broomsticks: Part Five

“You?” Marie asked dumbly. “Why would you want to give the Witches the Eye?” Then it came back to her: how she voiced her dislike for faeries; why had none of them seemed worried? Because she was our friend, Marie thought bitterly. We trusted our friend.

     “How could you?” Allison hissed, her eyes narrowed to slits. “You were our friend! And then you just went and... and...”

     “Betrayed us,” Kindle finished, with more amazement than anger. “But... we helped you; we treated you like our sister – and what did you do?”

     “Do you see why we don’t trust witches?” one of the faeries asked kindly, although turning to snarl at Tiggy. “Some of them – not all of them, admittedly – are treacherous, conniving little snipes.”

     “Of course,” Morguss said, appearing out of nowhere. “She is a true witch – she is one of us.” Morguss held the Eye clenched in her fist. “And now she shall know it.”

     Then all of a sudden there was a faint flash of light in Tiggy’s eyes and she walked over to Morguss, Edna and Sophie. “Yes, I am a true witch,” she murmured.

     “What a fine army,” Jhudora said, appearing out of the shadows, like a shadow herself. “What a marvellous plan of mine!”

     “Yours?” Marie asked, looking at her angrily. “How do you fit into this?”

     “Don’t you see? It was my design – always! I created the Eye, used it on Morguss, Edna and Sophie, and they created this army of fully-trained witchlets that you see behind them”—Marie, Kindle and Allison looked behind the Witches and saw hundreds of other uneasy-looking witchlets who had not been brainwashed with the Eye—“and now I can annihilate all other faeries besides the dark faeries – it’s genius!”

     “Tiggy,” Marie implored, “please! You’re our friend; we helped you, and trained with you, we helped you confront your fears; we’re the people you should be helping, not those complete strangers.”

     There was no flash of light this time, although it was obvious that something had changed in Tiggy. In a blindingly quick movement she had the Eye in her hand.

     It was so fast, but she shut her eyes and thought, Back to normal, back to normal, back to normal! and then everything was fixed.

     “Girl, what are you doing with that?” Morguss snapped, her old self again. “It should be destroyed, so that no one can use it anymore.”

     “Oh, no, you don’t,” Sophie said, taking it off her. “For all we know, if we give it to you, you’ll take it to Darigan.” She was joking, but everyone was a little worried. “I will destroy it, don’t worry.”

     Everyone breathed a sigh of relief: Sophie kept her word, and never did anything other. “Go along now, people, everything’s back to normal; nothing to see here!”

     And after that, there wasn’t. Everything was fine, and weren’t the witchlets glad of it! It seemed like the world was once again safe, a witchlet’s haven once more.

     “I’m just glad Fyora didn’t come to fix it like she usually does,” Tiggy said, still hyped-up. “I mean, usually she always comes and saves the day.” She rolled her eyes. “It gets boring after a while.”

     “Oh well, we did it,” Allison said. “Just... don’t ever, ever – and I mean this! – betray us like that again or I shall personally, to borrow some famous witch or other’s phrase, turn you into a mortog!”

     “And then I’ll turn you into a meeptog!” Kindle said.

     “Then I’ll turn you into a meoptogclops,” Marie finished smiling. “But first... let’s go and get something to eat!”

     “Yeah, I’m starved! I haven’t eaten anything since... oh, gosh, since before I came to the house; and then it was breakfast!”

     “Let’s just go,” Tiggy said, “before I get turned into a meoptogclops.” She grinned and ran off. “Catch me if you can!”

     * * * * *

     One Year Later

     * * * * *

     “Oh, I guess this is goodbye, then,” Marie said, tears in her eyes. “I don’t want it to be, though! It seems unfair that after a whole year together we just have to split.”

     “I know; it’s awful!” Allison said, already crying, a handkerchief at hand. “I don’t want to be a witch. I want to stay a witchlet forever, and stay here.”

     “Personally, I think that we should buy a neohome in Neopia Central and stay together,” Tiggy said.

     “Oh, but we’d get punished by the Society of Witches – or the S.O.W – because it was too un-witch-like,” Kindle put in. “If you must stay together, then it must be in a little hovel somewhere secluded and even then you can only have three people, no more, no less.”

     “Can’t you even live next to each other?” Marie asked, frowning.

     “No, because it has to be secluded and if there’s someone else next door, obviously it’s not secluded.”

     “Drat,” she muttered.

     “Is there no way that we can get around the rules?”

     “I mean, of course you can always visit,” Kindle said, thinking.

     “Can you visit as often as every day?” Tiggy asked.

     “Nope; maximum is once a week.”

     “That could work, I guess...,” Allison said. “But where are we going to live?”

     “I’d love to live in Neovia,” Marie said. “It’s my favourite place, and definitely spooky; all that grey, and the setting for the Tale of Woe! How cool!”

     “I’d love to find a secluded part of Faerieland,” Allison said, shrugging. “I know it’s not very spooky, but that’s just where I’d like to live.”

     “Hm... I like Brightvale,” Kindle said. “Books and stained glass; can’t get enough books and stained glass.”

     “Neopia Central all the way,” Tiggy said, putting her feet up on a coffee-table. “I like the bustling streets and all that – plus it can’t be too forbidden, because Kauvara is there.”

     “I wonder if we’ll ever see any other witches,” Marie mused. “You’d think that there would be some witch or other, right? You saw all of those witches that were behind the Witches; so where do they go?”

     “They’re like us,” Kindle supplied helpfully. “They find somewhere to go and... stay there, I guess.”

     “You know, Kindle, I’m so glad I’m friends with you,” Tiggy said; “if I wasn’t, I’d have to think so much more.”

     “The Secret Legacy of Hidden Witchlets,” Marie breathed. “T.S.L.O.H.W. for short.” Then she said abruptly, “I’m going to write a book – about the truths of witches.”

     “Non-fiction or fiction?” Kindle asked, interested.

     “Fiction, of course,” Marie said, almost with scorn. “I hate non-fiction; it’s so boring.”

     There was a howling wind outside, and the door of their little hovel burst open, revealing four witches – the Witches.

     “Hello, dearies.” Edna cackled. “What were you talking about?”

     “Moving,” Tiggy said immediately. “What are you doing here?”

     “Oh, just dropped in for a cup of Borovan,” Morguss said, eyes glittering with sarcasm and amusement. “Is there anywhere to sit?”

     “Of course,” Kindle said, hurriedly scooting over.

     “I’ll put the kettle on,” Sophie said from the kitchen. “When Morguss gets going, she doesn’t stop.”

     “Quit it, you!” Morguss said playfully and Marie was puzzled; was this really the Darigan-helping old crone that had betrayed so many people? Morguss cleared her throat. “Anyway,” she continued, “we wanted to talk to you about your predicament.

     “We were once like you; we trained in this very house—”

     “I told you so!” Kindle burst out. “I – told – you – so! Oh, sorry.” She settled back down, blushing.

     “Mmm, yes – and anyway, we were just like you: four witchlets out of training, ready to go out into the world. To begin with we visited every week, but nowadays we only have time for once a month, because we’re so busy with quests and... Darigan”—she seemed to struggle with the word—“and Neovia and potions; you will be the same.

     “I know that I sound like an old woman – but in truth, I am. I have been around for so long, and I know these things. I think that you will all be very successful young women: professor,”—she looked at Kindle—“fashion-designer,”—she looked at Tiggy—“chef,”—she looked at Allison—“and author”—she looked at Marie. “But you will remain close, somehow.”

     “Morguss, can you shut up for a second BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO A MORTOG!” Edna yelled, then subsided. “As Morguss has pretty well covered, we were just like you – I mean down to a T! We were the same; I think that we have changed over the years, but we are still good friends.”

     “Borovan’s ready,” Sophie said quickly. “Who wants some?” When everyone put up their hand, Sophie counted quickly. “Eight,” she said, satisfied. “Let me tell something,” she said. “When we were just starting out – and, mind, we weren’t exactly like you, as Edna claims: I was trained alone, as were the others – and we were half-trained and after Neovia, we were together, and none of us really liked each other, until something happened – something with Fyora.” All ears were immediately listening.

     “Fyora had been captured by Vanity, Spite and Malice and they had turned her grey; she was helpless. We saved her, and gave her back her wings. She wasn’t exactly happy to have been saved by witches, but she thanked us nonetheless. It was then, however, that Jhudora showed up and started to defend Vanity, Spite and Malice – she was only a teenager, then, and not very powerful – and that is where the hatred for faeries comes from, but only for dark faeries. And really, who likes them anyway?”

     “Girls, girls,” Kauvara said, “we’ve got to get going!” She checked her watch (a spooky one in the shape of a spyder) and exclaimed, “Do you want to learn the secrets of making a potion as quickly as I do or not?”

     “Oh, sorry, girls,” Edna said hurriedly, “but I can’t pass up potion-making tips. It was nice knowing you. Quick, Sophie, get that Borovan to go!”

     “I’m coming,” Sophie said grouchily. “Just give me a second!”

     Soon the Witches were on their broomsticks, holding plastic cups (apparently Morguss kept a spare set under her cloak wherever she went) as they went, while Edna tried to cackle but just spluttered, Borovan flying everywhere. There was a faint, “Great work, Edna,” as they flew away.

     “Wow,” Kindle said, staring straight ahead. “That was eye-opening.”

     “Yeah, totally,” Tiggy said.

     “I know what we are!” Marie said excitedly. “We’re the Sisterhood of the Travelling Broomsticks!”

     “Has a ring to it,” Allison allowed.

     “Yeah,” Kindle said eagerly. “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Broomsticks!”

     “To us, the Sisterhood,” Tiggy said, holding up her cup of Borovan.

     “To us,” the others repeated.

     What they didn’t see until the following day, when they were preparing to leave, was a golden inscription on each of their broomsticks, To Marie, Allison, Kindle and Tiggy – the new Sisterhood.

The End

Author’s Note: Thank you for continuing the full five weeks of this series! It has been an amazing journey! Oh, and, as always, a great big THANK YOU to my family for being there through the publication of this series, and for continually inspiring me and letting me be a loner and sit in my room for hours; now I have something to show for it! Thanks to all of my friends, too (I’ll leave you anonymous so as not to embarrass you :P) for being the base of these characters, and the butt of my knowledge. Forever yours, ~Bre :)