Sweet & Spicy Lesbian Short Stories (GirlxGirl)

The Witch of Lake Erie: Part 6

Callisto frowns at the doll. "Where the hell did you find this and why do you have it? Don't tell me this was in a cage at the animal shelter."

"I bought it at a flea market."

"Seriously?" Her eyes widen. Something changes in the room, like an energy that makes my pulse quicken. "You shouldn't have touched this. What were you thinking? This is really dangerous."

"It is?"

"You're lucky you didn't get into a car accident on the way over."

"Actually, I d—gah!"

The doll moves in her hand. She contorts, bending backward, and her angelic face melts and stretches like hot wax.

Callisto swears. "It's feeding off the room. Quick, get me a cup of water from the sink."

"Water?"

"Hurry!"

The panic in her voice makes me run.

While she flings the doll onto the dining table and dashes to her shelves, I tug open kitchen drawers until I find a metal measuring cup. I fill it with tap water and walk carefully back to her.

"In the pot," she says, motioning to a cute rose-gold cooking pot on the table beside the doll. She scoops ingredients out of jars and mashes them feverishly in a mortar and pestle.

I dump the water into the pot, where it immediately starts boiling.

This isn't the greeting I had in mind. It's not that I was expecting her to throw herself at me and kiss me, but I was hoping we could take a second to acknowledge the unresolved tension from last time.

Instead, she pushes me out of the way and dumps a mix of ingredients into the pot. She murmurs a few words, casting nervous glances at the doll on the table.

The doll is still contorting, her heels by the back of her head, her face stretched so long it's unrecognizable.

"I've been trying to call you today," I say.

"I thought you were just trying to... Can you bring me the obsidian on the windowsill?"

"The what?"

"The black stone!"

I rush over and grab it, and she murmurs something into it before tossing it into the pot.

"You thought I was trying to what?" I say. I know this is a bad time, but it's been months since I saw her and I've thought about her every day.

"I thought this would be another incident like last month," she says, "when you texted me trying to convince me you had a cursed pasta machine."

"It was cursed!"

"You were using a bad recipe."

"I found it on Pinterest!"

She gives me a withering look.

Before I can defend the recipe, she closes her eyes and says something unintelligible.

A breeze sweeps through the house, moving the plants, curtains, and loose pages on the bookshelves. A chill passes over me. The ingredients in the pot bubble and spit, turning crimson.

Callisto's eyes are closed, so she doesn't see the doll roll over.

She doesn't see it stand up, face warped beyond recognition, and walk forward.

I sway, dizzy with panic, all of the blood seeming to drain from my body.

The doll grabs the edge of the pot with its creepy little hands.

Finding my voice, I choke out, "Callisto!"

Callisto opens her eyes, but it's already happening.

The doll is going to dump the pot of boiling potion onto her.

There's no time to think about what to do. I lunge forward and seize the edge of the boiling pot. Before the doll can tip it onto Callisto, I shove it the other way hard, sending the bubbling contents all over the doll and table.

A piercing scream comes from the doll, filling the house, as it melts beneath the crimson potion. It warps and shrinks until it's a lump of plastic, material, and tiny clogs.

My hands are searing. I gasp, shaking out the pain. "I'm s-sorry. It was about to—"

Callisto grabs me and pulls me back a step, looking wide-eyed at the half-melted, sizzling remains of the doll. "I—shit—you did the right thing, Angee."

"I did?"

"I thought I had a few more seconds. Fuck. I was distracted."

The potion sizzles on the table and drips onto the floor, darkening and hardening like cooling lava.

Guilt washes over me. This is all my fault. First, bringing the doll here, and second, distracting her while she was trying to undo its curse. Now her table is ruined and her house smells like rotten eggs.

What would've happened if I hadn't tipped the potion onto the doll? Would Callisto be the one in a melted, sizzling heap right now?

She motions for me to step further away from the table with her, running a hand over her brow. "Give it a minute to stabilize. Sometimes, curses so strong have an aftershock."

"I-I'm so sorry," I stammer, horrified with myself for hunting that doll down and bringing it to her.

Callisto glares at me, a dangerous flash in her light gray eyes. "You'd better be. How long did you spend searching for a cursed item to bring me?" Her tone is sharper than I've ever heard.

Well, she saw right through me. I shouldn't be surprised. It's obvious I didn't buy the doll because I thought it was cute.

"Um. I've been searching since last time. Please don't be mad—"

She puts her hands on my shoulders, holding me at arm's length. "Angee, what the hell? You're putting your life at risk for an excuse to come see me?"

"I like you! A lot!" I shout, past caring about being subtle about my feelings. "You're gorgeous and smart and incredible. I've thought about you every day since the first time we met, and I don't care if it's dangerous being involved with a witch, because there's nothing I want more in the entire world than to be with you."

Next part coming tomorrow! Read the full story right now on "Sweet & Spicy Sapphic Stories" at patreon.com/tianawarner. Plus you'll get early access to next week's story.