The White Witch of The Boiling Isles

Hooty's Moving Hassle

~~~~Lina~~~~

Mom shuffled her cards in her hand, the eyes on the back of the cards opening to show that she was ready to play. On the opposite end of the table was Owlbert wearing a poker cap staring at Mom with a fiery passion for winning. 

"Watch closely, girls." Mom said to us, "Hexas hold 'em is the most tricky game on the Boiling Isles. Any proper witch knows how to play."

"Says the woman who didn't teach me how to play the game until a year ago." I huffed.

"Oh, cards." Luz gasped in awe, "The paper rectangles that old people think are fun."

Mom set down a card with the picture of a demon on it, placing it in her set. Immediately after setting the card down, all ten of the cards on the table sparked with lightning. Mom's cards came to life, their legs like spiders and their mouths opening wide to roar at Owlbert's cards who did the same thing.

"Now, when it looks like the deck is stacked against you, that's when you break out the wild card." Mom said as the cards battled each other. She pulled out a card with a castle tower on it, the card started glowing. Owlberts cards suddenly caught on fire and burned to ashes, the flames converged and spelled out Winner: Eda!

I clapped for my mother's win as Owlbert hooted angrily at his loss.

"Whoo!" Mom cheered, "I win. In your adorable owl face." She stood tall, "I love the feeling of victory. It feels fluffy?"

Just then, Luz and I looked down and saw Mom's arms covered in feathers.

"Uh, Mom, it's happening again." I said.

"What's happening again?"

"Your curse is returning." King pointed out and Mom screamed at the sight of her fluffy feathers. WE all ran up to her room where she opened one of her chest that kept all of her elixirs, even the makeshift elixirs I created for her just in case. But when she opened the chest, all we found were empty bottles and cobwebs.

"Oh, boy. This is terrible. I'm out of elixir." Mom said shaking her empty bottles.

"Last time this happened, you turned into this thing." Luz took out her phone and pulled up a picture of Mom in her monster owl form. 

"I know I should be repulsed, but that look it fierce." Mom said, but then she took a look at my face, the look of worry I had was enough to make her take it back.

"You're right. You're right." She said, "We need to head to the market."

"Market." Luz cheered and stood to leave the room.

"I'm gonna steal everything that's not nailed down." King added while following Luz.

"Before we go, would anyone like to play one more hand of Hexes hold 'em?" Mom asked, reaching for the cards she carried in her pockets, but found that her cards were gone, "Hey, where'd they go?"

I glanced over at Luz who was holding Mom's cards and then smiled when she passed them to Owlbert.

"Owlbert, you sore loser. Give me back my cards." Mom shouted as she ran off to catch her Palisman.

~~~~~3rd~~~~~

The group headed off to the market, thankfully, the streets weren't as crowded, but Eda was careful to keep her appearance covered with a large hooded cloak. Eda and King stopped in front of a closed shop, Mr. Elixir, owned by a timid man named Morton who created potions, medicines and elixirs. It was the only place where Eda could buy her elixirs safely and cheaply. She would've asked her daughter to make more elixirs, but she knew that Lina was already dealing with her own medicine, so the Owl Lady refrained from putting anymore weight on Lina's shoulders.