• The Demon's Curse •

3: In Which Lily Meets The Witch of the Waste

Wizard Howl. That had most definitely struck an accord. Lily took a sharp breath as she stared up at the jeering castle. It's creaking legs made their way over the steep terrain almost like it was looking for something. Lily's head was in a complete whirl. Surely this was a dream. 
        Some people began shouting and running, pushing past her in hysteria. She ran with the crowd, taking shelter under a trolley bridge. Catching her breath and possibly crushing the cake in her hands, she peered out over the brick. If she had truly fallen into a book, then he would surely be out looking for Sophie. 
        A sudden thought came to Lily as she stared back at her cake, "What if this isn't just a dream. What if I've fallen for real and hit my head? What if I'm in some hospital in a coma?" To her knowledge of comas' she weighted it best to go along with it, should she be trapped forever. 
        "Deep Breath Lily.- Wait. This this really is a book, than that woman I met before....That was Lettie Hatter! Sophie's sister. And the woman before her-" Lily stopped. Her hands and toes ran cold with dread until it reached her cheeks. 
"T-That woman before, was the Witch of the Waste..."
        "That's right."
A sudden voice startled her. Her insides froze as the Witch stood before her. Her beauty was true as the pages told. She wore a lovely lilac dress made of of the finest silk, completed with gloves and a matching fan. What would she do to her? Turning her old wouldn't be the worst thing to happen. or maybe kill her? That was also an uncommon thing to do from a witch. 
        "You aren't from here, are you?" she asked in a quizzing tone.
Lily shook her head and began to back away just as the Witch was approaching. She wondered if anyone would save her but this wasn't a Fairytale. This was a book. People did die and no one dared stand up to the Witch of the Waste. Not even the Howell Jenkins. 
        "You must have me mistaken with someone else-"
"Yes In fact I do. Something is amiss here and you are at the heart of it. My nightly visions play out exactly like this you know, only you don't look like that. You have brown hair, and a gray dress and own a tacky hat shop."
Lily gulped and began to back away faster. Only to turn and break out into a run. Out from beneath the bridge Lily headed for the crowd of people, hoping to lose the Witch. 
        It was quick thinking on her part, and worth the elbow jabs left and right. She jumped into a cart, regretting it completely. She had jumped in a bedding of not-so-fresh fish. The Merchant however came bumbling into the cart's driving seat, only to whip the old donkey into gear. Lily knew she couldn't get out of it now. Someone would see her or worse. She covered her nose, but the putrid odor of fish still clung to her and the never closing eyes stared her down. 
        After counting and dozing off in the bumpy fish carrier, the cart came to a stop. The tripping driver, hiccuped and smelled of alcohol which Lily figured out by the constant swaying. He didn't bother opening the tarp to reveal her but she heard the sound of pigs. The fish must be for the hogs, which meant they had stopped at a farm. Lily quietly climbed out of the cart to see the stars shining above her. It was a chilly night but she was grateful not to be around the Witch of the Waste.
        Lily began her trek up the steep mountains of rock and loose soil. She didn't want to turn around and come face to face with the Witch again. After an hour or so of the blankets of sky getting darker, Lily stopped to take a rest. She sat down on a flat cliff that overlooked the city of Market Chipping. What was left of her crumbling cake she ate, still reeking of old fish but she eventually got used to it. With a little food in her belly and another plateau in front of her, she pushed on.
        Suddenly a buzzing got her attention. It came from her pocket. It was her cell phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it, "Hello?" She said, genuinely surprised it got reception.
"Lily? Are you okay? I came back with that shipment and you were gone."
        It was Madam Calypso.
"Calypso! You have no Idea how happy I am to hear your voice!" She shouted into her palm in relief. "I'm stuck. I'm in this weird town and I don't know how I got here-"
"Did you try asking the Witch?"
        This had caught her off guard. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, Howl's Moving Castle is missing so I assumed that's where you went."
What a relief. A joke. Lily didn't know if she could handle it if Madam Calypso actually knew what had happened to her.
        "For a moment, I thought you knew where I was." She said with a sigh.
"Actually Lily, You are in Market Chipping. Your lack of imagination concerns me, you'll need it to get home."
Lily's heart beat against her rib cage, faster than it had a moment ago. 
"Y-You know?!"
        "Of course I do. I put you there love, it's fate." Madam Calypso said, slightly cutting into static.
"Take me back! Bring me back right now!" She shouted frantically.
"I can't. It's a fairytale. A lesson has to be learned in order for the spell to work. You know this Lily. You've read the book."
        Lily nodded, though Madam Calypso couldn't quite see her. "It's been so long since I've read it...And the pages are all blank-"
"Of course they are Child! You belong to that reality now. You can't have a playbook of that universe! It goes against the rules!"
"But I can't stay here!" she protested, almost begging.
"I'm sorry, My hands are tied. Good Luck Lily."
        And with that, Madam Calypso; her last hope was gone. Her phone screen went black without a charge, her battery finally dying. Lily stared at the dirt at her feet she had just been pacing in. Her tracks still fresh over the sand and small weeds.

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