By: Kaitlyn Butterfield

            There once was a very beautiful witch. Her name was Lana and she was not like the other witches in the lands, she was not wicked. I remember her well because she worked in the castle greenhouse as a medicine woman and a botanist. She always had a scent of roses and soil but a smile that could brighten any room she entered. Though she was a little clumsy, and painfully shy, she could ever barely whisper a hello whenever I visited her or passed by her in the hallways.

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                Her mother on the other hand was not as kind as Lana was. Her name was Cerin and she was bad as evil could get. For no reason she simply enjoyed being evil, to cast spells of sickness and famine, contort people to animals for pure enjoyment. She was the wickedest witch in the whole kingdom, even further throughout all the lands she was notorious. The thing she hated most though was her daughter. The goodness in her daughter’s heart made her stomach churn and her doll like face transform into a face that could curdle milk. It’s still unknown if she ever did love her daughter at all.

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                It all began on the night of the royal spring ball that the kingdom held every spring for the high class and royals. No one was excepting anything that was about to happen, I know I certainly wasn’t. I remember I had been socializing with some foreign princesses, occasionally stealing glances towards the greenhouse. I could see Lana working the night away, occasionally she looked back. 

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                That night I could see another figure with her, Cerin. I could see they were probably arguing. The next thing I knew there was a large puff of smoke, and my mother’s scream. The whole night was ruined because of Cerin though Lana was the one being punished.

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                She was dragged into the throne room in front of the king and queen. Her beautiful face broken with downright sobbing as they tossed her to the ground. They blamed her for my curse; they didn’t even give her a chance. Whatever spirit she had was broken as she begged for them to spare her. Though she wasn’t bargaining for her life, she was bargaining for time, even with her life on the line she still wanted to save me instead. She begged to help me; I was more surprised than I thought I would have been.

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                I met her back outside the castle gates, waiting for her. She didn’t recognize me though, and I couldn’t tell her who I was. Not in this cursed form, Cerin had cursed me with silence within the body of a cat. I sat atop her spell book I had rescued from the greenhouse.

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                “Well hello there pretty boy,” she cooed softly, a smile on her tear stained face. Her left eye was bruised and her dress torn, they had beaten her. I wish I could have told her I was sorry. “Did you bring me my book? Thank you.”

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                She pet my head, scratching my ear before she tucked her book in her bag. I opened my mouth to speak but only a meow came out. Not even she could understand me.

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                “Are you lost? If you want you can tag along with me, I could use the company,” she smiled. Her voice was soft; I don’t think I had ever heard her talk so much before. “Gotta go save the prince, but first we have to find an elder witch.”

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                I stuck close to her heals as we walked through the town heading towards the enchanted forest. It was the forest known as the dark forest, no humans ever entered and returned sane. Witches were usually safe due to it being their territory. Her hands trembled lightly though she continued to speak to me along the way. I think it was a way to get through her fear.

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                She told me all sorts of stories as we walked through the forest. She picked me up when we were crossing the swamp though after she had wrapped a red ribbon around my neck. She told me stories of her favorite plants, and her work in the castle. It was fun to see the excitement she had when she talked about her work. Her stories made the long walk seem a lot shorter than it had been.

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                “We’re almost to the elder’s home, I’m sure she will have a snack for you, I’m sorry I don’t have much,” she spoke scratching my ear as we reached a fork in the road.

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                Everyone knew the elder witch that lived in the forest though mostly it was all talk. She never came out of the forest that we would ever know anyway. Elder witches enjoyed their privacy. They were neither wicked nor good, it all depended how you treated them.