“Tweet tweet tweeeeeet”! Now that was a new way to be woken up… Not really better, but still a change. I opened my eyes to get a grasp of what was going on and saw a bird perched on the window, trying to catch my attention. It wasn’t Bob, of course. My favorite informer was still recovering from his wounds after the Battle of the Garden Gnomes, and was taking a well deserved vacation.

I went to wake Clarissa up and gave the bird permission to catch any bug or worm it could find while the witch was getting herself to shape. In other words, grumbling about mornings, making coffee, grabbing a dress and putting her favorite red boots on. With a mug filled with her favorite beverage and her hat containing the mass of her hair, she joined us in the garden.

“What’s up, bird?”

It was a delicate female blue jay named Ellie. She explained that she had gone to the village this morning and had found it in disarray after the disappearing of, you guessed it, Hyacinthe. Clarissa took her face in her free hand. What was that child up to this time? Luckily, her new friend the wolf was gone as well, and we could only assume it had gone with her. The only question that really mattered was where.

Ellie didn’t know, and she had no way of finding out. She didn’t have as much connections as Bob, sadly. We thanked her and gave her some water while we got ready for a search spell. It would take some time, as Clarissa needed to brew a special potion and make magic scribbles on the floor to protect the house from anything that would or could attack while we were distracted.

After a few hours, a dark green liquid was joyously bubbling in the big caldron, and the scribbles were lighting up from the number of attacks it was repelling. Clarissa quelled the fire, and when the surface of her potion was smooth enough to be used as a really weird mirror, chanted the spell that would lead us to Hyacinthe. We… We didn’t expect to see what we saw.

The liquid showed us the little girl and her wolf friend, walking along a gravel beach, surrounded by very talkative crabs that seemed to know where they were taking her. She didn’t seem scared, not really, curious rather, interested certainly. Kiba, on the other hand, was very obviously careful about this whole situation, and kept a slow pace to stay as close as possible to the little girl.

Clarissa and I exchanged looks. This couldn’t be good. She sighed “call on Babette… she’s the only one that speaks the language of the ocean, and we might need it…” Surprised, I was about to protest when she cut me off. “I don’t like it either, Milk, but we’re talking about a little girl here! A potential future witch, if my instincts are right. And they usually are. Can’t let anything happen to her before the time has come, so call on Babette and don’t make me repeat that. Understood?” Understood.

Head down, I went back outside the cottage. The sun had moved past its peak and was very slowly starting its majestic descent in a blue, beautifully clear sky. I sighed and opened the link to Zazzles, explaining the situation. He seemed to understand more than I did, and told me they’d be on their way as soon as they could. And Now? Wait.

I laid down before the front door, knowing the witches enough by now to catch any rest I could when I had the chance. Ellie was already back at the village, and all was eerily quiet in Clarissa’s garden. The otherworldly beasts had stopped their attacks as soon as the spell had been lifted, brave but not enough to try and actually face their enemy. The silence was pleasant, yet a little nerve wracking.

A surprisingly short time later, I found myself embraced by a rattlesnake that was oddly happy to see me. They had arrived just in time for Clarissa’s third coffee, the one she usually put some milk in and savoured with nice little biscuits. The witches sat at the kitchen table with their drinks and snacks while Zazzles told me of the adventures they’d had since we last met. It could have been a sweet reunion if it hadn’t been for the reason of it.