After encountering real-life wizards, Circe was sure nothing could surprise her anymore. But she certainly did not expect to be tackled to the ground by a girl around her age pressing a whole garlic into her right cheek. Circe recognized at once the glow of platinum blonde hair and the shine of emerald-green from the wide, crazed eyes glaring back at her. Her attacker was Morgan Kyle, one of the mean girls from school who always insulted and teased her at every given opportunity.
Circe forcefully turned her face and pushed the garlic away. "Get off of me!" she shrieked.
Morgan shrieked back, "No! Not until you tell me what you did to Roger and how to fix him!"
"Who?"
"Don't play dumb!" Morgan snarled. "You know exactly who Roger is! Now turn him back to normal! Or eat garlic and die!"
This chick is insane! Circe thought, as once more she got garlic pressed up on her face. She always considered Morgan a piece of work, but she never downright crazy until now.
"The power of garlic compels you!" Morgan screamed. "The power of garlic compels you!"
Deciding she's had enough, Circe started with a soft growl. "Will you . . . " The volume of her voice went up a bit. " . . . get . . . " And then she yelled. " . . . OFF!?"
Along with her flared temper, a surge of power was unleashed, kicking up a strong gust of wind that pushed Morgan away. The garlic-wielding maniac stumbled back and then fell, landing butt-first before rolling flat on her back on the frosted pavement.
While Morgan laid stunned, Circe seized her chance to spring up and then used the power of her mind to lift her attacker and held several feet above the ground, another trick she learned while training under that evil wizard, Donald Putts. Morgan looked like a free-floating balloon, unable to move while Circe 's gaze was locked on her. Following a sharp turn from Circe, the girl in pink winter wear flew deeper into the alley where she remained until Circe allowed otherwise.
Both girls, panting heavily, glared at each other. Except for the sounds of their overlapping breathing and the distant roar of cars passing by, silence hung over them. Morgan was the first to speak.
"I knew it," she spat scathingly. "I knew you were a witch."
"Yeah, I'm a witch," Circe admitted. It was pointless to deny something that was pretty much true now. "So what?"
"So, undo whatever witchy thing you did to my boyfriend and turn him back to normal!"
"I have never, ever done any witchy thing on anyone," Circe said. "I didn't even know you had a boyfriend."
"HAVE!" Morgan corrected her. "He's still my boyfriend. And don't lie, witch. Not only are you the only witch in town, you're also the only witch with motive to do what you did to my Roger!"
"For the last time, I didn't do anything to your Roger! I don't even know any Roger!"
"Now THAT," said Morgan, "is the biggest lie of all. How can you not know who Roger Nettles is?"
Circe threw her hands up and shrugged.
"He's our high school's basketball team's star player!"
"I don't watch basketball," said Circe.
"Oh, right. You're a nerd."
Circe rolled her eyes and was tempted to drop Morgan again. But she resisted and instead, gently lowered her until she was firmly standing on solid ground again.
"Look," Circe started firmly, "I know you and I have bad blood-" (which you totally started with all that bullying, she thought but kept to herself) "-but I have zero interest in doing anything to you, much less go after some guy that barely has anything to do with the thing between us."
Morgan had a deep scowl on her face as she looked Circe up and down. It was clear to Circe that Morgan was full of suspicion and Circe understood why.
At least she has some self-awareness about being a bully, Circe thought. Honestly, I don't know why it never crossed my mind to dish out some payback. Maybe not as extreme as what the Gathering had planned for their own bullies, but at least something.
Finally, Morgan came to a conclusion. She thought that there would be no point for Circe to keep denying her crimes even after her witchy nature got exposed, so maybe she's innocent after all. And the fact Circe didn't try anything when she had the chance led Morgan to believe the witch really didn't have the guts to try something anyway. But Morgan still couldn't dismiss Circe as a suspect entirely, so she said, "Fine. It looks like it really wasn't you. You're off the hook. For now."
That was fine with Circe who never expected to have a complete understanding with Morgan anyway. But she could not help but wonder what this was all about. She was both curious about what happened to this Roger Nettles guy and worried that something not entirely normal was afoot again. So, despite knowing she will probably regret this, Circe asked, "So what's going on? What happened with your boyfriend?"
Morgan was suspicious again and asked, "What's it to you?"
"You attacked me with garlic over this thing, whatever it is," Circe pointed out. "I figured I'd have a right to know why. But if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. No skin off my nose."
Circe turned to leave and go home. Her right foot stepped out of the alley when Morgan stopped her. "Wait!"
Circe turned and waited. She saw inner conflict flashed across Morgan's face for a brief moment, before being replaced by a look of resolve. Circe would find out why, immediately.
"I don't trust you . . ." Morgan said.
Eyes rolling, Circe thought sarcastically, Shocker.
" . . . but you are the only witch I know, so you're probably the only one I know who can help Roger. Please help him. If not for me, at least for him."
Circe was taken aback by this sincere plea from one of her high school tormentors. It was unexpected. So, before she could stop herself, she nodded. "Tell me what happened."
A strong wind blew by and both girls burst into sneezes. They shrank and shiver as winter chill seeped into their bones. The drop in temperature had become too much even for the winter-loving Circe who suggested, "L-let's g-go someplace warm f-f-first," Circe suggested.
"S-sure!"
Quickly, the girls scurried into the nearest diner. As far as diners went, the one they chose was a dismal, small place, lit by sparse white light, minimally cleaned white-tile flooring, and furnished with plain steel tables and chairs. It was a cold looking place, but it was better than being out in the actual cold. But Circe quickly found that she was not the only one to have that opinion.
Towering over the diner's patrons from the back corner beside the blue door to the restrooms was a mountain of black fur. Just beneath its round peak touching the ceiling was a pair of glistening, glassy black disks, staring out unblinking. Circe might have considered the creature cute if not for blackened gums and broken, rotten teeth exposed by a permanent banana-shaped smile, spread from side to side.
Circe gave the monster a quick glance and led Morgan to a table, the furthest available away from the mountain of fur with big saucer eyes. The girls sat at opposite sides of the plain square table next to the frosted window which gave them a clear view of the snowy world outside.
In some ways, it was the strangest experience in Circe's life. Stranger, even, than finding out magic powers were real. This girl, Morgan Kyle, as mentioned before, was one of several mean girls who belittled Circe every chance they got. Morgan was actually the leader of those mean girls and constantly at the forefront of the bullying that Circe endured since childhood. Frankly, Circe hated her and would rather stay away from her if she could help it. And yet, here she was, together with the girl who was essentially her enemy, in a diner and sitting at the same table, about to listen to said enemy's problems.
Not long after the girls got seated, a waitress walked up to them holding a notepad in one hand and a pen in the other. Both her short, spiky hair and her fingernails were colored a deeper, darker shade of blue than the thin lines of her otherwise white blouse.
The waitress took one look at Morgan and the head of garlic lying next to her elbow and then quickly turned her gaze to the notepad. "Can I take your order?"
The girls both chose regular coffee with cream. It was the only warm drink on the menu. To Circe's dismay, when the waitress left, the mountain of fur hobbled over and took her place, sitting down in the middle of the floor and breathing rather heavily. Circe was thankful its breath had no smell. A third eye opened above the creature's original pair and swiveled down on her.
It totally knew that she could see it and had taken an interest in her. That was Circe's first thought, but then it fixed its gaze, all three eyes, on Morgan.
Morgan followed Circe's gaze towards the edge of the table, but she saw nothing amiss. She saw nothing at all.
Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, "What is it? What do you see? Is there a ghost or something?"
Circe was tempted to tell her bully exactly what she saw: three long arms stretching out of the mountain of fur, completely lacking skin so that the normally hidden red muscles were exposed. Its long fingers flexed and twitched as it waved its hands around Morgan's head. Circe had no idea why the creature was doing that, but it was definitely funny to watch. It'd be even funnier if Morgan knew what was going on. Circe was sure she'd freak out. Even just some uncomfortable squirming would be amusing.
But a glance at the round, analogue clock that hung on the wall ticking away the seconds above the cashier's head told Circe that now was not the time. She needed to get down to business quickly if she wanted to get home in time for curfew.
So, after swallowing down the urge to laugh, she leaned over, hands clasped together on the table where they rested and asked, "So, tell me what's going on."
Morgan opened her mouth to speak, but then the waitress returned with two steaming mugs of whitish brown coffee. The mountain of fur politely stepped aside for her as she set the mugs down. Once the waitress was gone, Morgan finally got around to telling her story. She remained blissfully unaware of the monster standing beside her doing something weird.
Side note: The mountain of fur liked to hang out at the nearby beauty salon and watch the beauticians work. It developed a habit for mimicking them, and especially liked the movements that they made when giving their clients shampoo treatments. But with the salon closed for the day, the monster decided to loiter in the diner where it was warmest, that was when it noticed Morgan and took interest in her.
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