“I can’t believe you miserable witches were behind everything,” Mena exclaimed, now red with anger. “Posing as May’s mom, ruining our school and Gemini’s reputation, slandering us to every ruler in this kingdom, and now drugging us with dream gas…”

“To be fair,” Karen said, her voice full of false politeness. “We’re pretty low-ranking witches, Anguish was the one who gave us that top-quality dream ga…ow!”

Bubbel smacked her companion on the back of the head. “Karen, you nitwit, you don’t tip over the cauldron and give away our trade secrets! You still haven’t gotten the hang of being an evil witch.”

Bubbel closed her eyes, and took a step forward, striking a hands-on-hips-pose in her dark robe. “It was all our handiwork, dearies. It was all, I, the revolting Bubbel and…”

“Well, HELLO baby!” Chad Abber exclaimed, eyeing Karen from bottom to top. “I’ve never seen a green witch like you with such smooth wart-less skin. You are a straight up WILF.”

He grasped Karen’s hand, but the green witch maintained a stiff upper lip at the cadaver. “Excuse me, kind sir. I may be green but I’m not moldy like you are.”

Bubbel grimaced and blasted Chad Abber with a gaseous, glowing red apple. He flew backwards and when he hit the ground, he transformed into an undead grasshopper. “Karen, you lout,” Bubbel growled. “If you were as wondrously plug ugly like me, you wouldn’t have zombies coming onto you.”

“I’m sorry, Bubbel,” Karen said, frowning and looking at the ground.

“It’s time you straightened up and we double teamed these rotten kids,” Bubbel commanded. “Oh, how I wish Toila and Trubba were here! It would be so much easier with them!”

Mena and Ashlan turned to face the witches head on. “Ok, you sons-of-witches,” Mena exclaimed, before Karen corrected her.

“Um.. excuse me, miss,” Karen said, wagging her finger. “That’s witches-with-sons.”

“Whatever,” Mena said. “You’re going to be nothing when we’ve finished with you.” Mena began to chant. “Oh magic fire spell, burn these witches straight to…heck.”

Mena held out her hand to cast her signature fire ball spell, but when she did, her hand smoked and fizzled.

“Rainy, let me handle this,” Ashlan cried as her friend looked stupefied. “I got exemplary on my report card in Night Creeper Defense Class.”

Ashlan held out both her hands. “Oh flames, rise higher. Send these witches into a burning ring of fire!”

Ashlan’s hands also sizzled but nothing was cast. “What’s going on?!” Mena yelled in confusion.

Bubbel and Karen both cackled in unison. “I think you’ve forgotten, dearie,” the short, stubby witch giggled. “This kingdom is the source of all imagicnation in Dula. Since it’s trapped in a book and no longer part of Dula, you no longer have any power!”

Karen smiled warmly. “We on the other hand, come from the Nightmare Void. So, we get to keep our powers.”

Bubbel and Karen held out their hands. More glowing magic apples appeared, ready to transform their opponents into animals. “One taste of our spontaneous apple creations,” Bubbel said, a sinister smile curling on her face, “and you’ll be bugs, much like your zombie friend. It’s a shame you aren’t Nightmare Void dwellers too!”

Mena and Ashlan took a step back as the witches launched their spontaneous apple bombs at them, narrowly missing them. Janus casually stepped in front of them, she daintily twirled around, and when the pixie reaper came back around, she brandished a hot pink scythe. Ghostly pink flames ignited along the blade. “Before my daddy came to study humans and their living habits, he and I were both card carrying residents of the Void,” Janus said proudly, her eyes highlighted in raccoon-like eyeliner. “I hope you don’t mind.”

Bubbel slapped her palm in her face. “I forgot all about the skeleton! Mount your broomstick, Karen.”

“Sorry sweetheart,” Karen said, with all the sweetness of poisoned honey. “Two’s company but three’s a crowd!”

The two witches leapt on their broomsticks and gleefully laughed at Janus. They started blasting their apple bombs at the three of them. Each girl jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. As the apple juice sizzled where the bombs had splattered, Ashlan observed it carefully before calling out to Janus “Hey bony,” she snapped. “Lend me an ear. And please don’t physically hand me it.”

“Aww,” Janus said, ducking an apple. “Am I really getting that predictable? Comedy may truly be dead, but then again, my humor always was!”

“Never mind that,” Ashlan shouted. “Your scythe bears properties of the ghost-fire, try swinging it at those apples!”

Janus smiled wistfully and assumed a batter stance with her scythe. “This brings back fond memories of Lantern Valley. We played baseball with a real vampire…but he was senile and thought he was an umpire instead! It was so sad!”

“Enough babbling, you runts,” Bubbel shouted as she unleashed a hail of their glowing red apples.

As the apple bombs soared through the air, Mena and Ashlan braced themselves behind Janus, but the pixie-reaper didn’t bat an eye. Instead, she swung so hard the apple went flying back at Karen, clonking her in the head. Dazed, she tumbled off her broom and before she hit the ground, she was turned into a beetle.

“Gah,” Bubbel screamed, “You may have finished Karen, but…how do you like dem apples!”

Bubbel began blasting apples at Janus in rapid fire bursts. She fired them with such intensity, the pixie-reaper couldn’t do anything, but remain in a defensive stance. Neither side was making any progress. All of the apples refracted off the scythe, bouncing aimlessly onto the ground before dissolving. “I’ll keep you kiddies here all your lifetimes if I have to,” screamed Bubbel as she blasted an endless barrage of apples.

“I don’t know about those two,” Janus said with a wink. “But luckily, I’m already dead!”

Mena started to pace herself. She watched as Bubbel was slowly lowering herself back to the ground with every blast. A brilliant if simple idea came to her mind.

She secretly crept around Bubbel and Janus. The old crone was too busy consumed in her ongoing battle with the reaper to realize that Mena had snuck up behind her. With two hands on the broomstick, Mena pulled the broom out from beneath Bubbel and the hapless witch fell flat on her face. “Wah!” the witch screamed. The endless barrage of apples were still flying, and before she could close her mouth, one of them went right down her throat. Bubbel’s eyes bulged. With a large apple jammed in her bronchial tube she choked hard, but quickly transformed into another beetle.

Janus ran and scooped up the two beetle-fied witches. “Maybe you’ll think twice before turning the handsomest zombie in the world into a bug!”

“That’s debatable,” Ashlan said, snidely crossing her arms. “Now let’s put ‘em somewhere they can’t do any harm!”

“Dear wicked magic, please capture these bugs,” Janus chanted. “help me bottle em, so I don’t have to throttle em!”

A glass bottle with a tight lid appeared out of nowhere with the two beetles inside of them. Mena stuck out her tongue, taunting the beetles who stuck out their wings.

“Nice thinking, Rainy,” Ashlan said, patting the young witch on the back. “You may not get the best grades, but you sure have a quick wit!”

“Thanks…I guess,” Mena said, shrugging her shoulders.

“No no no!” Ashlan said, holding her paws up and turning bright red again. “I don’t mean it like that I…”

“Oh ladies!” Chad’s groaning voice called, distracting everyone from Ashlan’s word follies.

Everyone turned to face Chad. He was once again a zombie teaser, but he now displayed a look of relative sanity. “Seems the dream gas wore off,” he told them. “While I was a bug.”

“Welcome back,” Janus said, a warm smile on her face.

“The true tragedy…” he said, and he raised a decaying hand to his face—”Now I know I’m hideous again.”

“I think you’re sexy,” Janus said wispily, clasping her hands together and raising her foot. “And if you come around my crypt back in Lantern Valley, I know you’ll be a graveyard smash with the ladies.”

“Save it, dead broad,” Chad said, pointing a maggot infested finger at Janus. “I belong with the living, not with you dead folks. Let’s get that baby dragon and see if we can extort a ride.”

As Chad limped off to the baby dragon, and Janus’ arms sank, Ashlan snarled, “I know you’re creepy, Janus, but at least you have a working heart. This fop doesn’t think about anyone but himself.”

“Thanks,” Janus sighed. “Sometimes people don’t have room for gloomy.”

***

“Aww,” Mena sighed, as she saw the baby Aero-Dragon. It slept quietly on the ground until Mena picked it up and cradled it. “I’m sorry such a cute little fellow had to deal with such mean witches!”

The four walked through another tunnel at a steep incline until a gruff woman’s voice accosted them. “WHAT are you doing with my child?!”

Mena looked ahead and gulped. Gazing back at them was a needle nosed dragon. It was twice their size. It glared at them with a narrowed reptilian eye. “Err…it wasn’t us!” Mena squeaked. “It was these mean witches!”

“All I know,” the overgrown dragon said belligerently. “I was asleep and when I woke up, my child was gone. And now I see that you are carrying her!”

“We’re returning her to you!” Ashlan said brashly.

“And we were wondering,” Mena responded. “Would you by chance be able to carry us across the sky barrier?”

“Why would I do that for you humans?” the dragon demanded. “You do realize that crossing the sky barrier is highly dangerous for anyone within this realm!”

“Because we saved your child, dragon broad!” Chad Abber exclaimed. “The least you can do is return the favor.”

The baby dragon in Mena’s arms blinked its eyes open, gave a tiny yip and soared out of Mena’s hands over to the mother dragon. It proceeded to talk in an unusual babbling until the mother’s eyes softened. “Ok,” she said. “I believe you. Thank you for returning her to me. I will take you this one time…”

Chad Abber turned around to his allies and made another skinless muscle. “See, I told you, extortion always works!”

“No,” the mother dragon said. “The reason I’m taking you is so I look petty than this useless fop. Get on!”

Once everyone had saddled up on top of the Aero-Dragon, the mother touched her child on the cheek, reassuring her it would be alright. “Don’t worry,” Mena responded. “Those mean witches are not going to BUG anyone anymore!”

“Except for themselves,” Janus giggled.

“Hold on as tight as you can,” the dragon mother warned. “We go so fast you might want to hold onto your teeth in case they fly out of your mouth!”