I stare at the spot where a certain pink-haired water witch was a second before.

what was she doing here?

I start to panic. what if she found the books? the taglocks? my diary?! 

relax Scott, I tell myself. if she found it all, she would still be here hiding, right? With a quick wave of my shadow wand, I turn into a shadow and quickly fly around the dungeon. no sign of her. I land back at the entrance with a relieved sigh. it must have been an illusion. maybe Eloise had cursed me. much calmer, I walk into my curse room, breathing in the smell of parchment, smoke, and bluebells. Milo's favorite flower. I pause, thinking of Milo for the first time in a while. I actually don't remember too much about him, only that he had black hair, he loved bluebells and thunder, he was a story witch, and he was the love of my life. 

in a way, he reminded me of Lauren, who's my best friend. I smile thinking of her. I actually was just visiting her. She needed help to kill a spider. I laugh softly, thinking of when I arrived and I just heard Lauren screaming. She hadn't told me what happened, so I panicked and ran in, only to find Lauren crouching on her bed and pointing at a tiny spider. I helped her, and put the spider outside. after Lauren gave me some flowers and tea as a thank you, and asked me to stay. I did, and we had a little tea party, as Lauren said. 

I probably should put those flowers in a vase. with a quick walk, I wander over to my desk to grab Milos mug that I use for quills sometimes. I reach for it, but stop as I notice something. my diary isn't here. I could have sworn I left it here last night... I glance around for a second then shrugged. I probably left it in my room. continuing, I grab the mug and head to my cauldron. I decided to quickly make a nourishment potion. I can put it in the mug instead of water and it'll keep the flowers around longer. I set the mug down, grab my stuff and get to work.

in fifteen minutes, I have a clear potion, that looks like water. I'm not very good at potions in general, let alone nature potions. I hope it works, but I might need to ask Tiff for help later. I finally pick up the ug on the ground, noticing my fingers. they were starting to become a dark green, almost black color. it looks like it's spreading, almost to my wrists. I try to ignore it, pouring the potion into the mug. I move to grab Lauren's flowers from my pocket. she gave me some lavender, some lilies, a couple of sunflowers, some green roses, and...

bluebells.

shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I notice a note tucked in a rose. I pull it out carefully and unfold it. it said:

dear Scott,

I had a lot of fun at our tea party. :)

thanks for killing that giant spider for me!

feel free to come over any time!

thanks again!

your best friend, Lauren the sand witch.

I smile at the note. tucking it in my pocket, I put the flowers in the mug, arranging them as she would, before stepping back and admiring my work. with a nod, I set the bouquet on my desk and head up to my room. I decide to go find Eloise, she wanted some gobber rods. I grab the rods and head up to my tower, where I fly off into the night.

as I flew over the dark forest, I thought about my friends. after my trial, a lot of the witches came up to me and talked about having alliances, even Joey the fire frost came and apologized. we still have a... complicated relationship, but it works. the only witch whos still my enemy is prismarina. I don't know why she hates me so much, but oh well. I start to see the forest transition into the bright yellow trees that Eloise loves so much. As I thought of her, I saw the illusionary witch's house. I land at the entrance of her spruce home and knock. 

I knocked a few more times with no response. She must not be home. I open the door to drop off the rods. I leave the rods on her counter and turn to leave, when something catches my eye. I turn to see a picture frame, decorated with stickers of clocks, hourglasses, skulls, and playing cards. but what caught my eye was the actual picture. it was a picture of me, Cleo, Lauren, and Eloise. we were all at Cleo's house, after her trial against Eloise. we were celebrating Cleo's victory and telling Eloise she did good, when Lauren said we should take a photo, and so we did. just us, the witch siblings. I have a copy under my bed, but Eloise put it on display. now that I thought about it, I saw a copy on the wall in Lauren's house. I leave, not wanting to snoop.

on the way back to my house I thought about my curse room. I never used it lately, not since I made friends with all the witches. I never realized how much I was a menace until I stopped cursing as much... I can't believe I basically made people's lives miserable. with a jolt, I know what need to do.

I land outside my front door, rushing upstairs to grab my end wand and flame wand Joey gave me. I take it and go downstairs. I lift the corner of my carpet and start down the ladder. i just made it to the bottom of the ladder when I heard a voice that made me stop.

"why hello Scott. care to explain?"