It was slowly getting dark. Dunk air and puddles all over the street weren’t making the way home particularly pleasant. El grabbed the collar of Sam’s new bright green jacket that was absolutely unsuitable for such a cold evening. The boy stopped immediately and looked at a huge and supposedly also deep puddle just in front of him.

- I’m pretty sure this is not the most picturesque place to go diving, my friend – said the young woman in a calm low voice.

- I’m tired… - mumbled Sam as he looked at his brother.

Nick was obviously tired too; however, there were not many variants for boys other than to keep walking home. In the end, they were quite convinced that El had something tasty at home, at least, they could definitely smell some pastry today in the morning as they were leaving for school.

Twin brothers Nick and Sam with their parents lived in the same block of flats as El. The big family had a huge apartment with a spacious open terrace on the attic floor. El lived on the second floor in a rather small but cozy apartment. The boys often stayed at her place when their parents had to work till late. Often. El repeated to herself: “Often. No, that’s not just often, that’s OOOOften. Children don’t only need money to have a happy childhood they also need parents. Unfortunately, parents tend to forget about it. Also, often”.

A black silhouette in the middle of the street made the whole group stop. The figure was slowly getting closer and closer, nevertheless the way it moved, the way it suddenly appeared on the street out of nowhere made boys shiver. They looked at El. Her eyes were carefully following the figure. She instantly put her right hand out to cover up the twins.

- What a lovely night! The boys are also lovely! – said the strange lady very loud.

Now that she came closer all three could see that it was a woman maybe in her 40s. She looked and sounded rather strangely. You know this unpleasant feeling when everything seems to be okay, but a voice inside keeps screaming “danger”. That was what all three thought while looking at that lady. She came closer and only now boys noticed her unnaturally big mouth twisted in a disgusting smile. There was something very wrong about that smile…Her enormous sharp teeth.

- Prepare to run – whispered El still in a low calm voice.

The next second the strange lady opened her mouth and fast as a wild animal ran towards the boys. El stepped out and grabbed the head of the monstrous figure before it managed to get to the boys. The girl pushed it strongly away, and something that looked like just a strange lady a few seconds ago slide a couple of meters along the sidewalk.

- RUN! NOW! – screamed El to the twins.

The boys decided that in this case, it was surely better to obey their babysitter and ran as fast as they could along the street, they ran home.

Here it is, their neighborhood, a playground, and cars, parked against all traffic and god’s laws. Their house is there, just in few meters, a bit more and they will be safe. Nick felt how somebody grabbed him from behind and immediately both boys heard a loud, creaky scream. As both brothers turned their heads back, they saw an open jaw full of sharp teeth just like the one you would normally see in movies about sharks. Another creature, similar to the strange lady was standing behind them and holding his huge asymmetrical hand with long claws on the shoulder of Nick.

Before both boys managed to realize what was going on, a thick iron chain wrapped itself like a lasso around the creature’s neck, and in the next second a powerful leap threw the monster away. El pulled back the chain lasso and looked at the boys.

Even though it was already dark Nick and Sam could clearly see the changes in their usually calm and clumsy nanny. She stood straight, not hunched as she normally did, holding a long, massive iron chain with a sharp knife-like hanger on its end; her eyes were pitch black, and her whole body was covered in veins as black as her eyes. She came closer to the creature that was already angrily grinning at her. It opened up its enormous mouth and made a loud road spraying saliva all around the street.

- Nice, could do that too but there are kids here, and moreover, I know a bit about manners – said she slowly nearing the thing.

Before the monster managed to jump up, El grabbed its head and the whole body of the creature shook from electric shock. In a second the monster was gone, only a heap of ashes fell down from El’s hand. It became quiet again.

Only now boys noticed how tensed, almost tinkling from tension, was the air before. Now it was silent and peaceful again. Nick blinked quickly and when he opened his eyes again, El was already opening the front door. It was usual El, a slightly hunched, clumsy, short and chubby girl with exhausted brown-green eyes on her kind, freckled, pale face. Brother followed the young woman and went up the stairs without saying a word.

Yes, there was definitely some pastry in here. It smelled like apples and cinnamon in El’s apartment.

And it smelled like mint tea, both Sam and El loved it. However now both Nick and Sam didn’t want any food, they were still trying to understand what had just happened, who were those creatures, and who is actually standing in front of them now. As both brothers powerlessly fell on the sofa in the living room El carefully neared to them.

- Yap…looks like your parents won’t pay me today – said the girl observing Sam and Nick.

- What…what was that?? – finally managed to squeeze out Sam.

- Oh well, trashers, although, that won’t tell you much. You can calm down now, all of them are gone and I’m not going to harm you. If I wanted to, I would have done it back then when Nick got his drums. – El calmly went to the kitchen island and started serving tea and her famous apple pie.

- What are you then? – asked both boys already more bravely.

- In short: a witch. Longer: a necromancer. Though I’m sure it won’t tell you much as well. There are some things humans normally don’t know about. So, look, you were not supposed to see those creatures. Not good for your psyche, so I will just make you forget this all, okay? – said El placing a tray with teacups and pie on the coffee table in front of the boys.

- What do you mean? – shook his head Nick.

- Just forget. A small simple spell won’t harm you and will save your parents money that they will have to spend on a psychologist otherwise.

- And we will forget about those things?

- Yes.

Both boys looked at each other. They were twins, sometimes they could understand each other without saying a word and this time both boys knew what they both wanted.

- No. How can you let us live like nothing’s happened when there are such things out there? What do you mean forget? What if they attack us again? How can you take our memories if we don’t want to! And you can’t just tell us about witches and magic and then make us forget something that huge! – Sam was very excited. Nick silently nodded.

- They won’t attack again. It’s not the Terra where trashers usually live… My friend, you overestimate yourself a little bit. This is no computer game, where you can put all monsters on pause. Unfortunately. I really don’t want you to suffer from the consequences of what’s happened today, so let’s just do it real quick and everything will be fine again.

Deep inside El had already known what the boys will tell her now. Curious, rebellious, hungry for justice and truth. Twins were only 12 years old, but all those traits were already way too strong in them. That was annoying their babysitter sometimes. Maybe because she was also a proud owner of all those traits herself.

El tried to avoid saying something like: “this stuff is not for kids”. Word “kids” could hurt those two much more than any monster ever. She tried to use the most careful forms to communicate her point. But come on, the boys just realized that magic is real, nothing in this world could stop them now. El even thought for a second that if she just erases their memories without asking, they anyways won’t forget. Yet she didn’t want to erase their memories without permission. They were friends in a way, and she felt doing something like that to a friend wasn’t really fair.

- We don’t want – repeated Nick word after word – and we are not scared - he spoke quietly but very confidently.

- Tell us everything, please! - said Sam and looked at El with his most convincing puppy eyes.

Doorbell rang. That was Luisa, mother of the boys.

- Ok, you know what? We will talk about it tomorrow. Now you both go home and will see yourself that you want to get rid of those memories. – said El hurrying up to the door.