Witch craft

The Final Chapter

'Come back you coward! You traitor! You.... you....' Max's voice trailed off and was replaced with the quiet sound of crying. She collapsed on to her knees and as she did a layer of dust flew into the air.  'I trusted him...... and all this time...he was working for.....' She burst into tears again. Rosalinda sat next to Max, put her arm around her and began singing an old song.

'Once in a lonely country, miles and miles away, there was a young girl, sat amongst a pile of hay. She sang a song as sweet, as a nightingales tweet, and made daisy chains all day.'

Rosalinda remembered all the verses to this song. Stephanie used to sing the lullaby to her as an infant or whenever she felt sad. Rosie's voice was quite flat, she never was good at singing, but still she sang on and, to her surprise, Max began to sing along too.

 'Once in a lonely country, not to long ago, a young farm boy, sat amongst the snow. He heard a song as sweet, as a nightingales tweet, and what the song was he wished to know.

Once in a lonely country, just the other week, a boy and a girl, sat cheek to cheek. Both sang a song as sweet, as a nightingales tweet, what a pretty sight it was to see.

Rosalinda was surprised that Max knew the song, and about how beautifully she sang it. 'My mother,' said Max, drying her eyes, 'She loved that song, sang it whenever I got sad.' Rosie smiled at her longingly. 'You have a wonderful voice.' Rosie said. 'But Max, where is your Mother?' Max looked Rosalinda in the eye and smiled. 'With yours sweetie. Up there with yours.' Max gestured to the ceiling. 'Come on, I'll tell you everything on the way there.' She said getting up. The two girls walked out of the forbidden attic and went down the stairs. 'Um, where are we going exactly?' Rosie asked as they walked out of the mansion. Max was back to her happy self and strolled away chuckling. 'I, my sweet little friend, want to visit Rupert's uncle.' she laughed and turned to smoke. Rosalinda jumped and caught a bit of smoke in her hands. 'Wait for me!' she cried with a cheery voice. Rosie turned to smoke and flew off, trailing behind Max.

The girls had been travelling for at least 1 whole hour until suddenly, the ball of pink smoke, that resembled Max, fell to the ground. Rosie, the yellow ball of smoke, followed. 'What's wrong?' asked Rosalinda as she landed. Max frowned. 'Its a giant force field. don't you remember this place?' Max asked as she hit the side of the wall. Rosie remembered it as if she had only seen it  yesterday (mainly because she had seen it 2 days ago), the dungeon! Rosie and Max got in the same way they got out last time, through their underground tunnel. Rosie lead the way to the door. It wasn't locked or guarded with any spells. 'They're expecting us,' Max said, standing in front of Rosalinda and walking through the door. She looked as if she knew exactly where she was going. Max and Rosie came to a door and stopped. 'Are you sure you want to go inside sweetie? It could be dangerous.' Rosie thought of Benjamin, she loved him and couldn't stand the thought of him being killed or hurt, so she nodded. Max opened the door and stared at what was before her. It was a large room made of stone, Balthazar and Rupert in the left corner, Benjamin tied to a big bulk of rope in the right. 'Aha, me and Conner, or Rupert as you know him, have been waiting for you to show up Miss Baker. Took about 10 minuets more than Conner expected though,' Balthazar said staring at his solid gold watch. Ben began to wriggle in the rope. 'Get out Rosie! Save yourself! He's got these wired magic power thing!' Ben screamed. Balthazar pointed his hand towards Benjamin. Ben cried in agony and looked as if he had been paralyzed. 'Would you just SHUT UP!' Balthazar screamed, then he turned to Rosalind, 'He has been like this all bloody morning! Moaning and groaning about how you're going to save him or he's going to kill me blah blah blah!' He went on complaining for at least  another minuet. Once he had finished his rant Max threw a giant fire ball straight for his head. Naturally, being the most dangerous and powerful wizard on Earth, he stopped it from hitting him quite easily. Max winked at Rosie and began to throw more deadly spells at both Balthazar and Conner. Whilst they were distracted Rosalinda ran to Benjamin. He was hovering at least 5 foot above her. She shot her hand into the air and the rope around his waist snapped. He fell directly in front of her. As he stood up he brushed the dust off of his trousers and put on a fake smile. 'Ok, so you do that strange magician stuff too?' he said. Suddenly Max jumped in front of Rosalinda and formed a large force field around all of them. 'Rose, get you and Ben out of here! I'll get rid of Balthazar! just get out! NOW!' Max took the full impact of the force field  and went flying behind the kids. luckily, she landed on her feet. 'But you said yourself I'm the only one who can destroy him!' Rosalinda said copying Max by chucking spells at Conner. 'No, I said if your related to the creator of the ring. Both of us are! He, Jason Lee I mean, the rings creator, he's your great granddad. He's my great uncle. You are a blood relative but I'm still technically a relative.' Max said between spells. Rosie and Ben ran to the door but it was locked. Suddenly there was a loud cry of agony and a thud. Rosalind turned to see Max lay dying on the floor. All over the right hand side of her body there were burns and bruises. 'Max!' Rosie screamed as she tried to open the jammed door. 'Oh don't worry! At least her death will be less painful than if i were to do this!' Balthazar screeched as he threw his hand towards Ben. Benjamin yelled in pain and scrunched up in a ball on the floor. This was the last straw for Rosalinda. 'You want a fight Blunty boy, yeah?!' she shouted as Balthazar fiddled with the ring on his finger. 'Well then you got one!' Rosie went charging up to him throwing every possible spell she knew. Then, she stopped, closed her eyes and smiled. She felt the life flowing out of her body and for some reason didn't mind. She, still with her eyes closed gathered all of her strength and threw her hands forwards. Then she opened her eyes and gasped. Rosie was wearing a sunset yellow dress, orange sandals and a beautiful red rose in her silky blonde hair. Balthazar was on the floor looking almost dead. 'What did I do?' Rosie asked Ben. Benjamin looked quite scared. 'You looked pale, then some bright yellow stuff came flying out your arms, and then you went like this,' he said pointing at the dress, 'and that man over there got hit by it and..... um....... yes!' Ben didn't know what to say. Rosalinda went to Balthazar and ripped the ring straight off of his fingers. 'Who's in pain now?' Rosie said slipping the ring on. Balthazar stared up at her, closed his eyes and went to sleep forever. Rosie turned around to see Max, still dying. She ran to her and sat beside her friend. 'Max! I'm so, so sorry!' Rosalind whispered, tears streaming down her eyes. 'Hey, sweetie! You saved us. Go have fun. What's the point in life without a little adventure?' Max said. And those were the last words, and last breaths, that came from her mouth.

Many years later, in 2000, I told this story to my little sister Daisy. Since then whenever shes shy or doesn't want to try something new, I just say, 'Whats the point in life without a little adventure?' I look at the ring on my finger and remember my great great grandma Rosalinda Baker and great great grandpa Benjamin Powell. Mum named me and Daisy after them and their friends in a way. Daisy is a flower and so is a rose, and my name... well is Maxine, Maxine Powell.