Authors: Christine Sutton

Burkheart Witch Saga Book 2 (12 page)

BOOK: Burkheart Witch Saga Book 2

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T
he nasty old
witch had tended the fire and continued drinking glasses of wine until she fell asleep in her chair. Over the last hour, she had been getting more and more ugly. Her skin was turning a sickly gray; her eyes had clouded over with a white, milky film. It seemed to Grace that she was having a harder time seeing what she was doing. Grace turned to Harold and whispered to him.

"Why is she getting uglier?"

"This happens every night. She turns into a yucky monster."

"We need to get out of this cage," Grace replied, crawling forward to check the door.

"Be careful, she might hear you," Harold said in a panic. Grace looked back and smiled, trying to calm him down a little bit.

"I'm gonna get us out of here, I promise."

Harold squinted his eyes in disbelief, but kept quiet.

Grace inspected the door to see if she could find a way out. She thought about using the barrette again, but she couldn't reach the big, rusty lock. When she looked over to the other side of the door, she saw the big hinges that held it in place. Beyond the door, she saw the little man from earlier standing in the parlor.

She watched him making a motion as though he were putting on lipstick. She kept quiet, but realized he was signaling her to get her lip-gloss. She took the little tube of lip-gloss from her purse and showed it to the man. He nodded his head and smiled at her. Suddenly, he disappeared in a little poof. He reappeared right outside of the cage door. He pointed to the large hinges and pantomimed putting on the lip-gloss again. A light went on in Grace's head, and she began to slather the lip-gloss all over the hinge. She pulled up on the pin, getting sparkly gloss all over her fingers, and to her surprise, it lifted out with no resistance. They were going to get free!

The witch gave a loud snore and sat up in her chair.

"What is going on? What are you doing, niece?" She stood up as the man disappeared once again. She felt around the room while she walked toward the cage to investigate.

"I was sleeping," Grace replied, hoping she would sit back down and fall back to sleep.

"Give me your finger; prove that you're still in the cage." The witch stuck her hand into the cage, obviously unable to see the children through the thick cataracts now covering her eyes.

Grace stuck out the long metal hinge for the witch to feel.

"You are so bony, child!"

"I'm starving. What do you expect?"

"Well, that won't be a problem much longer. I would say in about ten minutes," Miranda cackled as she added a log to the burning fireplace, preparing it to roast the children.

"Why would you want to eat us right now? We are both so skinny. Give us some food and eat us later." Grace hoped that the witch would fall for her game.

"I guess I can wait a little longer. I was going to have you for dinner tonight, but I think that you would make a fine breakfast, too." Miranda turned and grabbed a plate of cookies from the counter. She took a large key from her pocket and opened the lock on the cage. She was caught off guard when the loose hinge caused the door to slip from her hand. Grace grabbed Harold's hand and pulled him past the witch and out of the cage, almost knocking Miranda down.

The two children ran toward the door, but Miranda reached her hand out and grasped on to Grace's ponytail. She yanked the little girl back, and the two tumbled onto the floor. Grace scrambled to her feet as Miranda made her way up a little more slowly.

Grace pushed against the old witch while she was trying to regain her footing. Miranda once again lost her balance and fell over, but this time, she landed inside the big stone fireplace. Miranda let out a piercing scream when the hot coals burned her tissue paper skin. She tried to scramble out of the fire, but just then, the little man reappeared. Miranda looked surprised when he reached up and swung the heavy iron fireplace gate, and it closed with a click. Miranda's screaming intensified while she tried in vain to open the scalding gate.

"Get outside; your mommy is waiting," the little man finally spoke.

"Who are you?" Grace asked above the screaming of the dying witch.

"Your Uncle Jess." He smiled and signaled her to go before he disappeared for the last time.

K
ayla ran ahead
, following Jorek on the way to Miranda's cottage. Suddenly, she heard something that stopped the breath in her chest.

"Mommy?"

Kayla and David ran past Jorek and saw Grace running toward them.

She scooped her little girl up into her arms and swung her around. David joined them, and they stood in silence hugging their baby.

Grace began pouring the story of her ordeal out, followed by a stream of tears. She was finally letting some of the stress of the events fade as a loud crack came from the forest surrounding them.

In an instant, they were surrounded by a dozen or more sprites, all hovering in the air, baring their sharp teeth and holding claws at the ready. Harold announced his presence by uttering a loud screech.

Jorek flew to the front of the little group.

"My family, this is our Queen, daughter of Carolyn. The little girl is Princess of the forest. You must not harm them."

The group of sprites ignored his pleas and moved in a little closer, growling.

"Amira?" Jorek asked a sprite that Kayla assumed was the sister he had spoken of before. The female sprite looked at Jorek and opened her mouth, uttering a spine-tingling hiss. He refused to back down from her.

The family, along with Harold, clutched each other in fear, but Grace broke free and stepped forward. Kayla reached out to bring her back, but Grace shrugged her off.

The little girl raised her right hand to the sprites. A soft glow emanated from her palm, engulfing the group of winged creatures. The sprites began to twist and writhe in what seemed like pain. Jorek jumped forward and pleaded with Grace, who was now in some kind of trance.

"Don't hurt them, Princess. They are under a spell," he begged.

Grace turned to him and smiled a sweet warm smile. She turned back to the squirming sprites.

"Let the spell be broken. Return to the forest, and do no harm," Grace said, sounding like an adult, not like the little second grader that she was. A poof of smoke came out of the top of the chimney on the little house with a loud popping sound.

The light from Grace's palm faded, and the sprites hovered, looking confused.

"Jorek?" The female sprite called Amira, looked at Jorek, blue eyes glistening. She flew to her brother and embraced him in mid-air.

"I'm so sorry," she cried as the two hugged.

"No apologies needed, my sister. This is our Queen, Kayla, our King, David, and our little Princess, Grace."

The sprites bowed to their new Royal family standing together as they said in unison, "Your Majesties."

"Let's go home, Mama,” Grace said, looking exhausted.

"All right, Munchkin, let's go home."

A
t home in Olympia
, Kayla had been able to track down Harold's parents and return their son to them. He had been missing for more than two weeks. They had a play date scheduled for the following week.

Kayla had told Joy about the curse and about her being Queen of the forest. Joy had smiled and asked Kayla if she was planning to move. She told Joy that she had left Jorek and Amira in charge of the forest creatures. Last she had heard, the gnomes had even returned.

Kayla and David were cautiously optimistic that Miranda's curse had been broken. They hoped their lives would be uneventful from then on since they no longer had to worry about which fairy tale was going to try to kill them.

"Grace, how did you make that light come out of your hand?" Kayla asked, for the first time daring to bring it up.

"The little man told me that I could set the sprites free. He helped me get out of the cage and kill the bad witch. That was when he told me what I could do."

"Who was the man?" Kayla asked, thinking that she already had a good idea.

"He said he was my Uncle Jess."

Her parents exchanged an amused glance, and both hugged Grace tightly.

"Maybe we should call Uncle Mooney and tell him all about how Jess helped you."

"Okay." Grace jumped up and went to get the phone.

Kayla leaned over and kissed David. "I love you, My King," she chuckled.

"You will always be My Queen," he said and kissed her again as Grace brought the phone and sat down to call her family and tell them all about her adventure.

Also by Christine Sutton

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