Katie the Enchantress

      Terry looked down to see his best friend staring up at him. Terry let out a small sigh and landed, or for a more accurate word, crashed, near the Blue Acara.

      "Katie, do you want to fly now?" he asked.

      "No," she replied. "I'm thinking about my brothers and sisters."

      Katie's mother was a witch, and so were Katie and her siblings. But their father was not, and he hated magic. When he decided he would rid himself and everyone else of Katie for good a few months ago, she had run away to find her mother in the Haunted Woods. Then she had found her mother and Terry, now her best friend. Terry and Cheryl, Katie's mother, had since then helped Katie catch up with all of the training she had missed. She had, by determination mostly, advanced far enough to be at the level of an enchantress, as Terry was an enchanter. She had considered it amazing that she had covered so much of two years' worth, but Terry said it was her mother's blood. But Katie knew he played a great part in it, too.

      "Well, what about them?" Terry asked in response.

      "I have this strange feeling we should go try t- I mean, get them. And I still don't know why every time I think or say that, I keep saying 'try to.'"

      "Well, maybe you're just not sure of us going now."

      "Well, I feel sure of me going."

      "Then, hop on! I'll go with you."

      "But how will you go if the broom only supports one of us?"

      "Have you forgotten about these?" Terry asked, spreading his wings. "I can fly along with you."

      "Okay then, let's go." Katie wrapped two paws around the broomstick. Immediately, it began rising into the air. "Whoa, whoa, sto-" She let go of the broomstick with one paw, but the other seemed to be glued to the wood.

      Terry flew up after her, and grabbed the broomstick. "Climb on. It knows where you're going, so you don't need flying lessons. Just stop thinking about Maraqua and start thinking about getting on."

      Katie followed his instructions, and the broom descended to hover only a foot off of the ground. Katie climbed on, and as soon as she got a good grip, the broom sped off, with Terry catching up easily, as though he had done it all his life.

      Soon they were high above the trees, the full moon shining down on them and the Haunted Woods below. Katie looked down, but she could see nothing, as though the whole world had been swallowed up by darkness, and all that was left were, she, Terry, and the sky.

      "How come there's nothing down there?" Katie called to Terry, who seemed to be a little tired.

      "Oh, it's the dark void! A few things have fallen in, and we haven't seen them since!" Terry answered. "Just keep on flying! It isn't really that bad, no one has ever been in there, so we assume nothing bad happens to them."

      "Or maybe something does," Katie whispered to herself. Terry was rarely afraid. He only feared water, and other things that harmed him. But like all other sorcerers, he was never afraid of the dark. Who knew what lay in there? She looked down at the dark void again, and the broom began to shake violently. Katie began to shiver, but it was not even the slightest bit cold. She felt a wave of calm washing over her, and she loosened her grip on the broom. As soon as the wave passed, she realized she had fallen, and she was about to fall deep into the dark void…

      …Katie opened her eyes. She lay on a Wrought Iron Bed, which she found rather soft. She heard footsteps. Katie slowly turned her head, realizing how weak she felt, to see a strange sight that was quite new to her.

      She saw a Neopet clad in black entirely; she wore a black dress with matching big black boots. The creature had a grayish brown color to her fur and wings. Her wings were those of a Korbat or Shoyru, but Katie could tell the Neopet was an Acara. But unlike any other Acaras Katie had seen, this one had a grayish brown tail with a triangle on the end. Her eyes were golden like Katie's own eyes, but this Acara's eyes were of a dim golden shade. A pair of shiny, black, twisted and bent horns stuck out of this strange Acara's head. Her red claws gleamed in the dim light Katie could easily see with. Around her neck and wrists were gold-gray beads. The Acara began to speak.

      "Finally, you're awake. It's been almost an hour."

      "Who are you?" Katie asked fearfully.

      The Acara ignored her, continuing, "You're one of those sorceresses in the town not far from here, aren't you?"

      Katie barely managed to give a slight nod. After moments she had realized she wasn't at all afraid of any of the common creatures in the Haunted Woods, but this was different.

      "Don't let my appearance scare you," the Acara said, having read the clear look of fear displayed on the Blue Acara's face. "I'm not scary."

      "Who are you?" Katie repeated, overcoming her shock. Slowly she became calmer.

      "Valerie, Vira's sister," was the reply. A quick autobiography was given. Once that was done, Katie summarized her story.

      There was a moment of silence before anyone said anything. "How do you know about us? According to Terry, anything in here has never come out," Katie said.

      "No one knows I live here," Valerie answered. "And also, on another subject…when I had this transformation, I gained the knowledge and abilities of a full-fledged sorceress. I could teach you a few things, if you like."

      So Katie spent the next hour learning a lot of things that were not known by any pet she knew. She learned all about the creatures of the Haunted Woods, which ones were friendly, which ones weren't, which spells would fend the unfriendly ones off, and all about the land of the Haunted Woods.

      Katie was just about to re-try a spell that would create light that could work as a substitute for moonlight, starlight, or sunlight (personally, Katie didn't find any purpose common enough for this spell to be devised) when a small gray and green blur leapt onto her arm. A metal spike poking out of leather dug into Katie's arm and she screamed in pain for a split second.

      "Zobelgak!" Valerie scolded, and the petpet leaped down, and the spike digging into Katie was gone.

      Katie looked down to see a Zomutt staring up at her. Around its neck was a black leather collar studded with metal spikes; apparently one had dug into her through her blue fur. "Is that a…Zomutt?"

      "Yes," Valerie answered. "His name is-"

      "Zoblegak," Katie finished. "Why did you decide to name him that?"

      "I've been in the Haunted Woods for a long time. Zoblegak is the name of a very famous sorcerer, who always thought to act first, questions later. It did get him into a lot of messes. And in a way, this Zoblegak is impulsive, too."

      "What kind of trouble did your petpet get himself into?" Katie asked, curious.

      Valerie proceeded to tell Katie numerous tales of the Zomutt who was now racing around the room energetically. Among other things, Zoblegak had once decided to try and get a bag of candy from the previous Halloween that had somehow blown into a tree branch. He had rapidly made his way up, and then eaten all of the candy, which had made him sick, so after a couple of days, he was mournfully resting in a small basket, unable to run around and play.

      As Valerie concluded the tale of Zoblegak digging up a pile of bones, the ghost long gone, hooves stepped toward the three.

      Katie looked in the directions the hoofsteps were coming from to see a Halloween Uni.

      "Davis, this is Katie," Valerie said. "Katie, Davis."

      "Who's he?" Katie asked Valerie.

      "And who's she?" Davis asked, also directing the question to Valerie.

      "I'm an enchantress," Katie said.

      "Well, I'm an enchanter," Davis said. "Did you fall in here and meet Valerie too?"

      "Well, yes," the Blue Acara answered. "That's what happened to you?"

      The Uni nodded. "Did you fall in today?"

      "Yeah," Katie asked.

      "I fell in a few months ago, and since then I've dropped by for a couple of visits."

      "So, then…" Katie paused. "Does that mean there's a way out?" she asked hopefully.

      "Yes," Valerie answered, joining the conversation. She walked past the ear-scratching petpet and gestured to the way Davis had come from. "Just go through here. It's very difficult to find the way in from the outside if you don't know where it is or that it's there."

      Davis nodded in agreement. "I put a pile of broken tree branches exactly seven feet to the left of the doorway. I'll show you."

      As they walked put, and Davis showed Katie the wood, they began the walk back to the town.

      A minute later, Katie stopped. "I just remembered! I have to find Terry. We were flying towards Maraqua -I'll tell you why later- and that's when I fell. Terry!" she called.

      "What?" the Faerie Bori asked, stepping through the dark and dead trees. "Katie? Where have you been? You missed the dark void, right? I've been looking all over for you!" His golden eyes slid to Davis. "Hey, you're Davis! I've seen you before. Or at least, heard about you for hours a week. My mom sometimes helps your grandparents with some weekly stuff. My mom sometimes makes me come along too, and all I hear from all three of them is about this and that, and grandchildren, and the three hundred neopoint spooky foods…"

      "Actually, Terry," Katie interrupted. "I did fall in there, but…" she continued, explaining everything that had just happened.

      "Really?" Terry asked, sounding and looking amazed. But Katie could still tell he doubted her story a little.

      The trio began their walk back home after a few minutes of silence.

      Katie's bright yellow eyes looked around fearfully. If she remembered correctly, Valerie had said that there were many dangerous creatures near the dark void. She hoped she had learned a bit about of all of them sometime in her life.

      A pair of red eyes glowed in the shadows.

      Katie stopped as soon as she saw them. Her attentive ears picked up a growl.

      A howling Werelupe leaped out of the shadows, clawing at Terry as many other Werelupes came out of the shadows, rapidly advancing on the three.

      Katie tried to remember what Valerie had told her about Werelupes…they only came out at night, but why? She struggled to remember. They only came out at night because the light was their enemy. But not just any light. Only intense, bright golden light could affect them. Sunlight counted. Katie held up a paw and uttered the spell that stuck in her mind, since she had found it usually useless. Her paw glowed as bright as the sun, and along with the whimpering Werelupes, Katie glimpsed many other creatures fleeing the light as well.

      Terry looked at Katie. "Where'd you learn that? You did fall into the dark void and all that stuff happened to yo- I mean, not that I doubted it at all." He grinned innocently.

      "C'mon," Davis said. "Let's go home." And they did, awaiting their next adventure.

The End