Caroline froze at the implication she wasn’t happy with her life. She was blessed. She had it easy. Better than anybody she knows. So why did Esmeralda struck a chord in her?

Before she could muster a reply, Esmeralda summoned a portal made of symbols and circles with a sweep of her palms. “Back to your swamp, witch.” she said, using an invisible force that pulled a green-faced witch in a pointy hat to a portal vacuum. Once she was done getting rid of her previous husband, she turned to Dani. “Mother, do as you lesser power demands. Guard this valley and all its inhabitants.”

“Guard? You’ve just consolidated our bloodline’s power to a curse within that witch!”

She shrugged, “Better the devil you see than those who are nameless, unseen. Hidden.”

“Is that what you want? The truth for everyone to see? They’re not ready for it. They won’t understand.”

Raising a palm, “It is done. Although, releasing the monsters underground all at once will cause a disruption. I will leave it up to you to release them bit by bit over time.”

A defiant huff, “As if I would do anything you tell me.”

Esmeralda moved to stand next to her portal, “You will soon understand. With your lesser power, fighting the newly cursed emerald witch will prove difficult without some help. And you will find power given freely and willingly is much super effective rather than taking.” With that, she stepped off and bowed, her disguised form disintegrating inside the vacuum with Kaboom following after her.

“I should have known I wouldn’t have gotten out that cage so easily.” Dani said, a masculine voice as she herself had been cursed into transforming with the face and body of Magi Rasmodius. She checked the various rings and enchantments down her hands and wrists, frowning at it with distaste “Low-brow enchantments. But I guess my spells won’t work anymore without it.”

Through the prolonged quiet that fell upon them, Caroline mumbled an apology “I’m sorry.” she said.

Purple eyes glowed with power, crinkling on the sides as Dani grinned with a new masculine face, “Don’t be. This feels much better. Sitting around sedentary in a cage was unbearable. At least, this way I can accomplish some small feats. I’m not as powerful as I used to be but I can still reward you for your hand in helping me to freedom. What do you desire?”

“Companionship.” She blushed, staring at her feet. “I realize life back in Pelican town can be so dreary. And I’ve been chasing excitement all along. Magic is such a fascinating matter, isn’t it? I’d be honored to see more of it, experience more of it, if you don’t mind. I’d love to be familiar with umm.. magic. With you as my friend of course. Is that ok?”

“Hmm.” Throat rumbling in a deep contemplative sound, “There are many reasons why humans are forbidden to sensing magics, the universe is better off without humans using it. However, since you desire it, I will make a special exception.”

“Good.” She nodded much too quickly, still not meeting their gaze, “My husband and I made turkey, would you like to eat dinner?”

“Ah. The tower upstairs. Let’s not keep your husband waiting. I assume Esmeralda must have stunned him senseless. It won’t take much magic to recover him. Come on.”

“Glad we’re friends. Can we make this a weekly dinner thing? I can come twice a week. Or everyday I’m sure Pierre won’t mind.”

“Your husband won’t know any of what transpired tonight. Like I said, you are the special exception. Not him.”

Her cheeks flushed, “Oh.. umm.. well, I guess that’s that.”

The wizard, who was previously Dani the original emerald witch, lifted a questioning brow at Caroline, “Friends can keep secrets, do they?”

Breathless by the sudden intensity of their attention, “Yes. You can count on me.” Then a sudden thought occurred to her, “If you switched places with the previous emerald witch and the original wizard has taken your place, what would you like to be called?”

“Wizard. Just wizard. I can’t bear to think about it more but I’ll let you know once I decide on it.”

“Okay” she smiled, happy to make a friend. “Hope you like turkey. It’s my husband’s recipe. It’s all the rage in town.”

A friendly laugh bubbled out of them “Can’t wait to taste it.”