✓ 𝐖.𝐈.𝐓.𝐂.𝐇. | ʜᴏᴄᴜꜱ ᴘᴏᴄᴜꜱ

𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿

"ROAST HIM, WINNIE!"

"no, let me," sarah protested, eyeing the boy. "let me play with him!"

a bolt of what looked like lightning flashed and zapped at max. if he was lucky, he was still alive, just in fire and close to death. but hey, who was i to judge a witch's crazy zeus magic.

she kept zapping him some more, so i couldn't be sure if he was still alive or if she was just playing with his dead body. she eventually dragged him across the floor until he hit the crates that theo and i were hiding behind.

i squealed, alarmed by the sudden crashing. i hoped they hadn't heard me, but it was too late, winnifred was already telling us to reveal ourselves.

theo squeezed my hand and winked at me, and i wasn't quite sure what he meant until he stood up with his hands in the air.

"okay, you caught me," he said, eyeing down winnifred. "i'm a big fan, truly."

sarah giggled and ran towards theo. "can i play with this one?"

"no!" winnifred shouted, trying to figure out what to do with him.

sarah crossed her arms and stamped her foot on the wood. "you never let me have any fun!"

winnifred nodded to mary and then turned towards max in hopes of finishing him off. mary grabbed hold of both dani and theo, who struggled to get out, but mary had an iron tight grip, and sarah was getting awfully handsy with theo.

i needed to do something. i couldn't just stand around while these people almost killed my friends-and max. i searched the walls for something i could use. i stood up and grabbed a broom that had been on display and tore it off of the wall with some force.

"hey mary!" i called, and when she turned around, i smacked it into her and she flew to the ground.

when she tried to get back up again, allison grabbed a frying pan and hit her square in the forehead, knocking her down for what i hoped was once and for all.

"thanks," theo said, rubbing his arm as if i had just broken him out of chains.

i huffed, throwing the broom to the ground. "don't mention it."

he looked towards max hanging on the wall by bolts of lighting and gestured towards it. "we should probably-"

"yeah, definitely."

but dani seemed to already be on the case. she walked right up to winnifred and hit her with a candy bag, shouting, "you leave my brother alone!"

and that seemed like enough to help max, because he fell to the ground just a second later. he seemed awfully confused, and i was surprised his brain wasn't fried because of how long he was up there. it took him a second to become oriented again, and maybe learn how to walk, but he was back on his feet in no time.

dani tried to get to max, but winnifred grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. like before with max, the black cat from earlier jumped onto winnifred's back and scratched at her face.

"get this beast off of me!" she shouted, clawing at the cat on her shoulder. "get him!"

dani managed to help max move and grabbed his arm. "max, come on! let's go!"

everyone clamored as we met by the door, separating ourselves from the witches. i could see them clearer now, and they were twice as horrifying as they had been in the books.

"get out!" max shouted. "go, go, go!"

he didn't have to tell me again. i was out of that house and racing towards the woods at record-breaking speed. it was truly a shame i chose to devote myself to history and not track.

we managed to find a clearing and stood there to catch our breaths. that was, until max joined us with the black cat following quickly behind him.

"whats the cat doing here?" theo asked through gasps of air. "and-is that the spell book?"

"max-are you-crazy?" i whispered through wheezes. "that's the whole-whole reason-we're in this mess!"

but max didn't stop when he made it to us. he kept running and shouted, "the talking cat says we should keep going!"

theo and i met glances. "the what?"

*

"come on," max groaned stopping in front of the gates. "this is a graveyard."

the cat (which apparently talked) said, "it's hallowed ground. witches set foot here."

max looked at us, and allison, dani, theo, and i looked just as confused as you would exped us to be. but hey, after being attacked by a bunch of demon witches, you'd think that we would believe a talking cat.

"what?" max shrugged his shoulders. "he talks."

the cat leapt through a small hole in the gate and called out, "follow me!" but it was obvious it would be hard to do such as he would.

that was, until allison just pushed the gate open. it was weird that the graveyard was open on this day, but i suppose there weren't that many people trying to create a seance or anything. at least, not yet.

we walked through the stone pathways in the old cemetery. some of these headstones had been here for hundreds of years. some of these people were probably related to me. just years and years of name changing made it difficult for me to connect myself to them.

"over here," the cat called. "i want to show you something."

as much as i didn't want to believe some crazy talking cat, so much had happened tonight that i just decided to roll with the punches.

"it will give you an idea of exactly what we're dealing with," the cat continued.

we all came to a stop at a headstone. the cat curled around and on top of it, most likely trying to get our attention.

HERE LYES BODY OF
MR WILLIAM BUTCHERSON

i didn't care much to read the rest of the headstone, i doubt the death date really mattered that much to us, anyways.

"william butcherson?" max asked, reading the stone. "lost soul?"

"billy butcherson was winnifred's lover," the cat said. "but she found him sporting with her sister, sarah. so she poisoned him and sewed his mouth shut with a dull needle, so he couldn't tell her secrets even in death."

"dang, love in the 1600s was wack man," theo whispered. "i thought it was just selling your kids for sheep and stuff, but these guys were crazy."

"not all love was like that," the cat snapped. "but that's not the point i am trying to make-"

"you're thackery binx."