“So?” Gretta grinned brightly. “What made you want to work for the greatest witch of our age?”

Privately, Linh thought that was not a title she would wish on anyone.

[Well…]

Together, all three of them walked deeper into the woods. Seymour lingered behind, leading Sil by the reins, while Gretta insisted on walking side by side with Linh. Thankfully, Linh had already wrapped her feet in bandages earlier so the soil did not bother her too much. She only hoped that she wouldn’t step on any sharp twigs that might plunge through her feet.

Linh tried to buy time with her answer to Gretta’s question. It was unfair, how tall and elegant Gretta looked when she beamed down at Linh for her answer. Every tale Linh had heard about Hecate had involved eating babies, raining fire down on poor Southerner villages, and making fish dance in the sky. The last one sounded the least threatening and rather interesting, except for the fish-suffocating-in-the-air-without-water factor.

Frantically, she thought back to what the Crow had told her about Hecate being a consulting witch. The two words seemed to contradict each other—the image of the heartless witch versus the image of respected advisor. But the more Linh thought about the idea, the more she liked the possibility of a magic user helping others like her mother Xuan used to.

[I heard that Hecate acts as a magic consultant. And helps people. I like that.]

Except Linh knew many witches took advantage of their clients regardless. Perhaps she should have lied instead to gain Gretta’s favour and said that she enjoyed the destruction Hecate seemed to cause wherever she went. But no matter how desperate Linh was to learn more about a cure, she would not lie about her own morals.

Gretta became oddly silent. “You… think she helps people?”

Seymour snorted in disgust while Linh began to panic. Was it offensive to say that a witch helps people? Did that go against some dark evil code?

Suddenly, Gretta began to laugh. Her giggles were soft at first, but they grew and grew, tickling the air in delight.

Linh and Seymour exchanged bewildered glances before Gretta clapped Linh on the shoulder. “Thank you for that.”

[You’re… welcome?]

Hopefully, they were nearing Hecate’s home and the conversation would end.

Unfortunately, Gretta took that as an invitation to ask more questions. “So! Paper girl, what is your name?”

Ah. Linh felt spots of blue ink forming on her cheeks. 

[Forgive me for being rude. I’m Linh Dao-Page.]

“Hmm… Dao-Page?”

Linh shrugged, used to this question. 

['Dao’ was my mother’s maiden name. She insisted I add ‘Page’ when she remarried to my stepfather.]

“Oh…! Well, I like it! Dao-Page, it has a nice ring to it, Miss Page!”

Linh wasn’t sure how to react to that, but she didn’t need to. Another step forward and she could see a large clearing filled with glowing blue flowers. Each flower had seven petals, as blue as the stars in the sky, with edges dipped in black. Linh swore she saw equally blue fireflies dipping in and out of each.

In the middle of the clearing though, there stood a giant carriage made of great bones and what appeared to be massive dragon’s skull. If Linh had a jaw, it would drop. The dragon’s skull was larger than Marie’s bar and was filled with wooden boards and bricks. Hecate’s home resembled a house that had tried to build itself in and around a dragon’s skull, with wheels on each side of the head to keep it mobile. Linh even saw a chimney poking out of the top, curved in and around the dragon skull’s horns.

Bouncing through the field, Gretta spun around and said, “Welcome to Hecate’s Moving and Magical Consulting Services!”

Several moments passed, and when it became clear that Gretta was waiting for some sort of reaction, Linh gave a wobbly ink smile while Seymour muttered under his breath about cursed dragons.

Before Gretta could react though, a woman in fancy Circled City clothing ran up to her and shouted, “Oh, thank goddess you’re here! Please!” She thrust a pair of glass slippers into Gretta’s face, “Get rid of these for me!”