The Price of Beauty

VIII

Wretched. Grotesque. Monster.

It was all Eva saw staring back at her in the mirror. Her skin was a sickly, scaly green, her fingers were long and thin with sharp protruding claws where her nails used to be. Her teeth were a crooked, pointed yellow, and her orbs had grown unnaturally large and pitch black. Eva ran her claws through the rat's nest that was supposed to be her hair.

She was a monster. A witch. She had fallen right into Agnes' trap, hard. Everything she had learned at school about these creatures had resulted in nothing. Eva had still failed every test, and now, this was what she had to live with. A steep price.

Lissa had been right. Eva was nothing without her magic and false beauty. She would always be nothing. Nothing but ugly. Too ugly for love. Too ugly for the world. Too ugly for a happy ending.

Eva peeked through her curtain at the riot approaching her house. They came with rocks, guns, and lighter fluid. Mrs. Garter--Eva's school principal--was in front of the pack. A man with a rifle yelled at her, "I told you, we could've taken care of this sooner!"

"I was hoping it wouldn't get to this!" she cried back. "I thought if I just--"

"Thought what?" an elderly lady scolded. "They all turn out the same!"

"You should've said something sooner!" the man shouted furiously. Anguished tears fell from his eyes. "My children are DEAD because you didn't!"

Mrs. Garter wept, and soon, the mob began throwing their rocks at the house, destroying the windows downstairs. If Eva's parents weren't still mute, they'd scream. Police lights flashed in the distance, not to help, Eva figured, but to join the brawl. Eva needed to get out of here. These people were looking to burn her to ashes.

With a snap of her fingers, Eva stood at the edge of the black, thick woods again--the woods that would lead her back to the witch's cabin.

~~*~~*~~

Crash!

The wooden door broke off its hinges. Eva stood at the opening in her tattered gown, panting and gritting her sharp teeth. Agnes looked up from the concoction she was stirring and smiled, her face as grisly as Eva's.

"Welcome back," she said.

"You did this," Eva growled, stomping into the room. "You did this to me."

"It seems you've done it all on your own." Eva lifted her hand, but the witch intercepted. "Ah-ah. I don't think so dear."

"Ugh!" Eva threw her hand down. Her power was nothing compared to Agnes'. "Just fix this! Please!"

"No can do, child. You wanted this, remember? You paid for it," Agnes cackled.

"This wasn't what I wanted and you know it! You did this to me! That damn strand of hair you took...fuck! You turn me into a witch, Agnes!"

"Yes, that's exactly what I did," Agnes confirmed. "It's what I do. You should have known that."

Eva wanted to rip the other witch's head off. "I did know! But I still couldn't stop it! I couldn't stop ANY of it!" She began to sob from frustration and grief. Grief for the innocents who'd died on her watch. Grief for her parents who would burn in their house. Grief for Vincent Parker, her only true friend.

The hag chuckled. "People. They always underestimate us witches. No textbook knowledge can prevent the inevitable once you meet one." Agnes sighed. "Never mind all that. What's done is done. It's time for dinner..." She squinted suspiciously at the monstrous girl. "...or maybe you had something else in mind?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eva asked through tears. A sense of foreboding flashed within her. "What are we gonna--" She stopped herself when two bodies materialized on the dusty floor, both young and human, and very much familiar...

Agnes laughed at Eva's flabbergasted face. "Come Eva, you haven't eaten in hours."

"What the hell is this?" Eva squeaked, her stupefied gaze locked on the corpses of Lissa and Vince, the scent of decay so mouthwatering that Eva couldn't help but lick her lips.

The witch grinned, her skin graying and teeth extending as long as Eva's. Eva winced at the sight, but schooled her expression back to neutral. As hungry as she truly was, her gut practically screamed at the accelerating danger, forbidding her to dig her fangs into flesh.

"Oh, you know..." Agnes whispered. Her orbits darkened, her claws grew sharp.

Eva lifted Lissa's arm to her mouth, her eyes never leaving the other witch.

Agnes' hunch straightened out as she at last replied the words Eva had been expecting to hear:

"The final test."

And with that, Eva dropped the arm and pounced.