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Chapter 4: Witch

On their way to meet with the witch, Trisha offered to go in with Towy.
Towy accepted. He knew there were still human customs he didn't know about.
He thought it would be good to have a human with him to help him with any
questions he might have trouble answering. And Trisha had always wanted a
younger brother she could help take care of, but never had any brothers or
sisters. She enjoyed helping him.
It wasn't far, so they walked to her house. The walk took about 15 minutes,
five minutes of that time they spent walking through woods just outside of
town.
Except for being very small and isolated, there was nothing unusual about
the house. There was a fence around the house, and it was surrounded by a
well-kept lawn and flower garden. They both wondered if it was kept so neat
through work or witchcraft.
Just before they went through the gate, Trisha said to Towy, "The witch's
name is Irene. I've never heard her last name. Some people don't think she
has one. My last name is Jones, so you should tell her that is your last name
too, if she asks."
Then Towy mentioned to Trisha, "Be sure not to let her see your finger that
touched the yellow stuff from my back. We don't want her to think you've ever
had any contact with fairies."
Trisha made a fist with that hand, to hide her finger.
When they reached the door, Towy knocked, while Trisha stood beside him.
The door was opened quickly, as though the person inside were expecting
them.
The girl who opened the door was very beautiful. She wore a long dress
embroidered with gold. She had long black hair in a ponytail. She had blue
eyes that were so bright they seemed to glow from within. She certainly did
not look as evil as Trisha and Towy knew that she was.
"Can I help you?" she asked in a friendly tone.
Towy answered her, "I have heard of your great powers. I was hoping I might
be able to work for you, and be your assistant. You don't have to pay me. I
just want to see you work your magnificent spells and watch your great
magic."
They could see that the girl was flattered and seemed pleased. One thing
was certain from her expression: she was completely fooled!
"And who is this?" the witch asked, looking at Trisha.
"I just came along to make sure Tony was safe on his walk from our house.
Could you make it home by yourself if I leave now?" she asked Towy.
"I'm still not sure of the way," Towy said to her. That was just what
Trisha had expected him to say, so she would have an excuse to stay with
Towy.
The witch girl invited them both into her house.
Towy almost fell over when he went in, and Trisha almost got sick. Inside
the house was a powerful, horrible odor. They had smelled something even at
the door, but it was not so overpowering, and they were not sure it was
coming from inside the house. The house was as clean and tidy as any house
they had ever seen, but the smell was so bad they could hardly breathe at
all.
The girl invited them to sit down on a sofa. After they did, they could see
the source of the horrible smell. In the next room was a skunk in a cage.
"Does the smell bother you?" she asked Towy and Trisha, when Towy could no
longer keep from pinching his nose. "I have a pet skunk. Come and see."
Trisha led them both to the next room. "He is very beautiful, don't you
think?" They had to admit the skunk was beautiful. It seemed larger than a
normal skunk. They didn't know if it smelled worse too, since they had never
smelled any skunk so close up! The cage was also unusual. It had no opening;
the bars were all solid all the way around. It was a cage only a witch could
have, since something could only be put into the cage through witchcraft.
"I do have a lot of powers," the witch said, "But one power I lack is the
sense of smell. I've never been able to smell anything. I was born that way.
I understand his smell irritates people, but I really have no idea why. Do
you think you will you still be able to work here?"
Towy nodded his head. He knew it wasn't going to be easy. He thought about
using fairy magic to remove the skunk's smell, but he didn't dare use any
fairy magic anywhere around her. He wondered why the witch didn't do it. She
knew the skunk's smell was offensive to everyone else even if it didn't
bother her.
He was about to ask her why she didn't, when something else caught his
attention. It was in the next room, the kitchen. On the table was a plate,
with a lock of hair on the side, a lock of a girl fairy's hair. She had
caught and eaten another fairy before he'd been able to stop her. The hair
was brown, so at least it wasn't Wev, whose hair is red. He knew he had to
keep from having any expression on his face. A human boy would not have known
it was fairy hair on the plate, and would not have been as upset as he was.
"How often will you be able to come?" the witch asked Towy.
Towy turned to her, trying to hide the way he felt at knowing what she had
just been eating. "I'll be able to come every day!" Towy told her, trying to
sound cheerful. She looked happy to hear that.
"You can start tomorrow," the witch said to him. "I won't be casting any
spells today. I just had dinner." Towy knew just what she meant by that, but
was careful not to let her know that he knew.
"Thank you, Irene," Towy said to her, as he and Trisha started for the
door.
"You don't have to call me Irene," she said to him. "My friends call me
Reny. And I would like us to be friends."
"Alright, Reny," Towy said to her, as they walked out the door. Towy turned
around to ask her when he should come, but Reny had already shut and locked
the door.
As they walked away from the house, they both breathed deeply, trying hard
to get the horrible smell out of their noses. It stayed with them until after
they had reached their house.
That night, Towy mentioned to Trisha, "I think this is going to work. She's
eaten her last fairy!"
"I saw the hair on the plate in the kitchen while we were there," Trisha
said to him. "Fairy hair?"
Towy nodded sadly.
"I hope it wasn't a friend of yours that she ate," she said.
Towy shook his head, and got ready for a good night's sleep, before what he
knew would be a very hard day, with the witch.