BeSwitched, Paranormal Romance (12 page)

Still silence.

“Okay, this calls for drastic measures,” she joked. “Mirror mirror, on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?”

“(Snore!) I wasn’t dialing any 900 numbers, I swear.” A swirl of colors took over the reflection. “Oh, dear. That’s not Idis. Who are you?” His congenial voice was timid.

“It’s me, Vladimirror. It’s Surla. I was BeSwitched with a girl named Cathy when I ran away. There she is… in my body…and I in hers. Oh, and there’s Pussface, of course.”

“So
, then, why do you look like a giant cat?”

Surla laughed. “It’s my Halloween costume. Tonight is Halloween, didn’t you know?”

“Sorry, Idis doesn’t keep a calendar in here.”

“I came to get the Spellbook, so we can switch back. Do you know where it might be?”

“I know she keeps a book under the bed. I’m not sure if it’s the Spellbook. It might be a diary or something because she never lets me get a good reflection of it.”

“I’ll look.” Cathy quickl
y slid her furry body along the wood floor. Sure enough, she saw something square, just a few feet away. Slinking closer she saw the old English script on the cover, but before she could say anything a sharp pain bit at one of her back paws. “Yeeow!” Her head hit the bottom of the bed by reflex. Slowly she slid back out.

“Ouch
, Cathy. A rat-trap is hooked to you.” Surla carefully removed it. “Idis hates rats.”

“I wonder why,” Pussface mumbled sarcastically as visions came to him.
Hmmm… they both have big pointy noses, they both smell, and they both like to lurk in alleys at night.

Surla bent over, lifting the blankets, after Cathy told her of the book she saw—but instead of seeing a book, two glowing, green eyes awaited her from the opposite end. Surla shot up straight like an arrow and gasped.

“Ha! Looking for something?” Idis, standing up also, didn’t blink. “Maybe this!” The Spellbook was brought from behind her back. The gold lettering on the cover shined.

Vladimirror went blank, reflecting the backs of Surla’s shaking knees and the two cats sinking to the ground, ears flattened.

“Surla, is that you?” The witch walked closer, scrutinizing the whole outfit. “Half cat… Half girl! Ha! Did the BeSwitching only work halfway?”

Instead of giving an answer, Surla glanced down at the Spellbook, which was now held only a foot away. Like the cat she once was, her body pounced
at it. In a millisecond both she and the book were out the door and down the hall.

Idis shrieked, and within the next second the house’s whole atmosphere morphed. It gave Surla a severely claustrophobic feeling, as if she were being sucked into a black hole. The place looked as if it were spinning. She dropped to the floor, taking hold of the stairway’s banister
with her free hand. Her breath was short and panicky with desperation as she saw Idis exit her bedroom, the door automatically slamming behind her.

Idis had an odd calmness about her as the sickening twirling continued. “You aren’t leaving
this house with the Spellbook… And you might not leave with your life either.” Her wretched smile increased.

“You’ve got it wrong
, Idis.” Surla pulled herself along the railing. When she reached the top step, she exhaled with relief as the spinning stopped.

“You think you’re going to actually win.” Idis talked like a concerned mother, whose child had been led astray. “I raised you from birth, I gave you a home, and what do you do to show thanks? RUN AWAY!”

The once sturdy mahogany wood beneath Surla started to crumble.

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!” Surla took hold of the banister, dropping the Spellbook, which made an echoing thud at the bottom story. She attempted to monkey-bar her way down the railing, but they started to snap in half
in a domino effect all the way down the winding staircase. Not being able to descend fast enough, Surla fell to the bottom floor, still clenching onto a broken rail.

Upstairs, Pussface and Cathy were involved in a plan to help Surla. Vladimirror was dialing up Gretchen. Out of a green swirling fog, the fat witch, holding a glass of wine, answered
, tipsy. “Who has disturbed my par-ty? Pussface?”

“Yes. Please, you gotta help.”

“Help what? What’s the matter?”

“Idis. She’s downstairs right now, trying to kill Surla who’s been BeSwitched with Cathy here.”

“She is?”

“Not only that, but she is going to do it with the help of Black Magic.”

“Black Magic!” Gretchen gasped. Her wine glass dropped and shattered on the ground. “I can’t do this alone.” With a slight pause, she turned around to her party scene. “Sisters! Marilyn!”

Idis’s arms outstretched, and as if being supported by someone under the arms, she flowed effortlessly from the upstairs down toward Surla. Her boots finally came to a clank against the wood flooring. The witch leaned over Surla’s weary body. Surla’s lungs heaved for breath. Idis loomed over her without expression, then retrieved the Spellbook, and came back to slap a cold, bony hand across Surla’s cheek, and laughed. Surla spit at the witch, and it landed in her eye.

“You vile little… ER!” Idis stormed, and a powerful rush of wind thrust Surla against a wall and into a bathroom.

The door slammed shut and locked by itself. Surla’s eyes darted around and landed on a window. She slid the clear shower-curtain to one side, and stepped into the old-fashioned bathtub, to open the p
ossible escape-route. She could hear the kitchen sink run with water. Without warning, the bathroom sink’s faucet burst out with water, followed by the tub’s.

Surla worked at the window but it was no use
; the lock automatically went back down with each attempt. “My gosh. This house is completely possessed!” With that said, the shower curtain grabbed at her, enveloping her in the plastic. She tried to fight back, punching and kicking, but it wrapped around each of her limbs with ease, then shoved her down onto her back, water rising around her.

Upstairs, eleven maddened witches flew through Vladimirror, all having very extraordinary characteristics. One that looked the youngest, around
twenty-three, had silver long hair which waved into curls at the backs of her knees and blood-red lips that were naturally glossy. “Saffron, where’s Marilyn?” Gretchen turned to her and asked.

“He’s coming.” Her violet eyes twinkled with animation.

“Hurry up!” Gretchen saw him. His long black hair was sleek, skin was pale, and one eye was baby blue while the other was black.

“As long as I don’t have fun.” He stepped his gangly legs through the mirror.

“They’re downstairs fighting. It sounds like it’s coming from the bathroom,” Pussface quickly informed.

Idis was in the kitchen washing out her eye, when the witch
es snuck toward the swinging doorway and peeked in. “Go check the bathroom,” Gretchen ordered Marilyn.

“Idis.” Gretchen threw open the doors, with the sisters close behind.

Idis turned around and her eyes now literally glowed. “What?! What is this?!”

As Marilyn walked to the bathroom, he heard clanking of pots, shattering of glass, and shrieking coming from the kitchen. He turned the bathroom’s doorknob and it unlocked. Inside, he saw Surla under water, weakly strugglin
g. Slowly, he walked over to get a better look. Surla’s eyes were pleading. Air escaped her mouth, making little bubbles surface, and her hair waved like silk.

Emotionless, Marilyn said, “Let her go.” With that order, the shower-curtain released and water stopped rushing.

Surla sat up, choking for air. Before she could speak, he was out the door, heading to the kitchen. She squinted her eyes in thought.

Cathy and Pussface leaped from the upstairs to the green couch downstairs. They soon saw Surla dripping wet, ringing out her fake tail, exiting the bathroom.

“Hey!” Surla rushed over to them. “What’s going on in the kitchen?”

“We called Gretchen up for help,” Cathy said.

Inside the warzone, Idis seethed with evil. Her hair twirled around like snakes. She stood on a counter throwing anything not attached to the ground by her magical powers. The witches danced around, arms waving, collecting their own magical powers together.

Gretchen, prancing on her fat feet, noticed Marilyn studying a jar of goop. “Hey!” she said breathy. “Whose side are you on? Help us!”

He looked up momentarily, then continued, studying another jar. The air had a magnetized feel. Their skin was tingling with the sensation. Gretchen, Saffron, and all the other witches knew what that meant. It was the feeling of evil powers fighting good. Idis’s Black Magic was just as strong as the eleven witches all together. With every step-ball-change they danced, they felt weaker, until most hunched from over-exertion. Evil was now overcoming good.

From between the floorboards, Idis summoned black demons, which looked
like nothing more than shadows with red eyes. Eleven demons seeped in to overtake eleven witches.

Surla peeked into the kitchen long enough to behold a demon
slither through Saffron’s lips. Her back arched, lunging her chest forward while her neck rolled. Her once violet eyes were now red and the color beamed out like lasers.

“It’s terrible.” Surla shut the door and ran to her friends. “What can I do? I can’t use my magic unless I’m back inside my body.”

“Oh my gosh!” Cathy gasped. “Is that the Spellbook?” Her paw pointed to the fireplace mantle.

Surla jumped, overcome with joy. “I can’t believe she left it out here!”

“We’ll finally be switched back!” Cathy saw some dust fly when the heavy book was set on the couch next to her.

Surla flipped through as fast as she could, ruffling and ripping pages as she went. “Hurry,” she told herself. “You’d think it would have an index.” More and more ruffling. “Ah! I
think I found it! Here it is. Okay.”

Cathy and Pussface leane
d over the page. Its title read, “BeSwitched Back.” Their hearts pounded with excitement. Once again, Surla was short of breath. “Cathy,” she wheezed, “do you have asthma?”

“No.” Cathy twitched her right ear. “Just calm down.”

“Relax,” Pussface interjected. “Take deep breaths.”

Surla closed her eyes, tilting her head back. “Okay.” She looked back down to the spell and began reading. “If you did not t
ake heed to the Black Cats’ Rule, events have taken speed to pay your toll. So you say you are ready to be once again thee…”

Just then, the doors of the kitchen flew open
, interrupting the magic. Idis glided on a foot of air, leading twelve possessed witches, and three demons without a body.

Panicked, Surla looked down to the spell, trying to find where she had left off, when suddenly, from out of the fireplace, Idis conjured a massive fire. Its red and blue flames grew and flailed out, giving
off tremendous heat. Idis laughed hysterically and the witches echoed her cackle in deep voices.

“The Spellbook please.” Idis smiled and automatically the
old cover slammed shut on Surla’s fingers and was pulled by an unseen force to the fire. “Now that I have this incredible power, I don’t need that old junk anymore. And you know what that means, Surla; I won’t be needing you anymore either.” She turned, facing her back to them, as she enjoyed watching the hungry flames eat at the spells.

“Get out of here Surla and Cathy,” Pussface said quietly. “The front door is right there. Run away as fast as you can.”

Surla turned to Cathy and then back to Pussface. “But… but now what?”

“Listen, I have a plan. A really good one. Now if you don’t want to be overtaken by one of those demons, you better get the heck outta here,” Pussface continued.

Quickly, Surla grasped Cathy in her arms and quietly exited through the front door. The crackling and popping of the fire made it impossible for Idis to notice.

As Surla ran down the dark, wet streets, she cried, holding Cathy tight. She thought of the couple of weeks before, when she had first jumped through Idis’s window and over a hydrangea bush, calling out, FREEDOM… FREEDOM
AT LAST, in her head. Cathy mewed sorrowfully, bumping and shaking, with every step.

Energy disappeared without notice, making Surla stumble on a sidewalk and fall to the concrete. She wasn’t hurt and neither was Cathy. They just laid back together against a stone wall. Finally finding time to wipe away tears, Surla used both of her forearms. “I want to be me again,” she whimpered.

“So do I.” Cathy’s yellow eyes were moist. “I don’t care how boring my life is, just as long as I have my life.”

“I agree. And I don’t like human boys.”

“But I do.”

“And I hate that stuff called pizza, although the anchovies weren’t bad.”

“My favorite food.”

“What about driving. I would much rather roam and wander on my paws.”

“I’m supposed to be getting my license soon.”

The longer they disagreed on likes and dislikes, the dryer their tears were, while their faces became long with the realization that they were never going to be back to themselves.