The Witches #11 (part 3) - A Halloween Adventure

 Lilac, standing in the now brightly lit kitchen as best she could between her awkward costume, a knocked over chair and Foxglove lowering a jack o’lantern from over her head, wasn’t sure exactly where to start first.

Fortunately, Foxglove did.

‘I heard a bang and then something crashed in the next room and I didn’t know where you were and it was so dark and-’ she screamed, flung the pumpkin at the door and bolted for Lilac’s side.

‘Oh, so you do have lightbulbs, then,’ the new arrival said, peering at the two witches clinging to each other and stepping over the smashed pumpkin at her feet. Daphne and Tulip struggled into the kitchen, confused and beaming at the sight of their guests.

‘Maple!’ Daphne exclaimed, kicking pieces of pumpkin out of the way to make the Queen’s path a bit easier. ‘Welcome! Foxglove, hello! What’s going on?’

‘Why are you all in here?’ Tulip asked, bewildered, the house cat in her arms.

‘I don’t think,’ Lilac observed as Foxglove stepped aside but still clung onto her hand, ‘our candle trail was quite obvious enough.

‘Sure it was,’ Daphne scoffed. ‘We couldn’t have-’ she caught sight of their pumpkin covered Queen. Sap looked less than pleased. ‘Maybe we could’ve made it clearer. But now you’re here! The party is this way.’

—

The garden looked spectacular. Glowing pumpkins festooned the lawn, the trees, table and flower beds., There were hundreds of them, smiling and grinning and weeping and scowling, carved into every conceivable expression and planetary configuration. Lights shaped like witches hats were strung in the trees, Garry the sea snake’s tank had been placed in front of the garden shed and he was happily entertaining the baby dragons, clutch of peahens, four lizards and Daphne’s new creature by slowing changing from luminous green to orange and back again.

A cauldron sat on the round garden table, something bright green bubbling inside of it, and a large jug labelled “ghost punch” stood beside it, the contents a glimmering milky white.

As darkness fell, the glowing pumpkins took centre stage, filling the garden with a delightfully magical soft light.

Daphne, Tulip and Lilac bowed, arms extended.

Daphne was dressed as a pumpkin, her eyes and mouth appearing carved and glowing in the dim light, her dress round and covered in vines. A small pumpkin sat atop her head.

Tulip was also dressed as a pumpkin, yellow and green and orange, her pants and sleeves ballooning out like gourds and her bodice embroidered with delicate, pumpkin patterns. The house cat in her arms was wearing a matching gourd shaped headpiece and for all it looked grumpy, it refused to let anyone remove it. Nor did it leave Tulip’s side, clinging to her in happy companionship.

Lilac was dressed as a pumpkin, too. Her dress was silky and sleek, burning such a rich orange it was hard to look away. Leaves twisted round her head and arms and four large pumpkins were tied to her waist, each one carved and glowing.

Foxglove looked at Queen Sap. Oddly enough, while neither got the pumpkin memo… both had dressed up for the evening. As pumpkins. Even more strange, where Foxglove had chosen the outfit of Queen of the Pumpkins, Queen Sap wore the costume of a pumpkin courtier. She spent an enjoyable evening bowing in deference to Foxglove, who didn’t know quite what to do.

They all looked quite magnificent and very, very pumpkiny.

‘Happy halloween!’ the sisters yelled, serving glasses of fizzing ghost punch and beaming.

Taking her glass, Queen Sap sipped and appraised the garden, taking in everything and yet continuing to notice new things every moment. She wondered, too, how the sisters had found quite so many pumpkins.

At first she merely looked over Gary’s congregation of excited animals, but then she paused and looked back, more slowly this time.

‘Daphne,’ she said, turning to the dancing pumpkin.

‘They’re not mine!’ Daphne yelled, trying to block Sap’s view of the dragons and failing, despite her bulky outfit. Tulip, meanwhile, was trying to choreograph Lilac and Foxglove in a “pumpkins waltz.” ‘They’re just… visiting!’

‘Why-’

‘I can explain!’

‘-do you have-’

‘I can’t, actually, but who could leave six baby-’

‘-Daphne?’

‘Yes!’

‘Shush.’

‘…yes.’

‘Now, why do you have a baby chimera and why is it watching a sea snake perform a light show?’

‘…oh. That.’

‘Am I late?’ a ghost asked, appearing out of literally nowhere. It was dressed as a pumpkin. 

 The End.

  The Witches is a serial story, published every week on Thursday/Friday. For the week of Halloween, there will be a special week of stories and surprises.