It was very very late at night. I stared out into space.
Hate26.
Hate26.
Hate26.
I kept reciting the password. Or was it?
Hate24?
Hate25 I think.
Wasn't it? Look at me. My memory was horrible at times.
Yeah, it was hate25. I turned around to look at my bedroom door and down at my outing clothes. I had already dressed up in my outing clothes to get ready to meet my mother again.
I must save her from danger!
I smoothed down my blouse and hurried over to my door. With my ear against the door, I listened out for any sound the witch or my father made. Nope. It was silent. Everyone was asleep. I looked out of the window and saw the lights of witch's room switch off with a click. Okay, all clear.

I slowly opened the door with a creak. A chink of moonlight shone at me. All clear. No one could be seen.
Sighing, I tiptoed to my bed and used my blanket to cover my bolster to look like I was sleeping on the bed.
House keys in hand and the famous five book, I scampered out of my room and closed the door behind me.
I hurried down the staircase and locked the door behind me. I ran and ran, always turning to look at the witch's window. To my horror, I saw the dark silhouette of a woman standing and looking out of the window. Was it her?
I shivered and ran for my life. The silhouette disappeared and I heard the front door open. It dawned on me that that was the WITCH HERSELF!

Run for your life!

I ran like the wind, hearing loud running footsteps behind me. They were distant, but getting closer and closer. I gritted my teeth and crawled into the narrow cave, the tiny pebbles crunching under my knees. Ouch.

I could hear distant crunching of pebbles from behind me. I panicked and crawled even faster. Surprisingly, it felt so much easier to crawl through the narrow cave, as if I was...flying. I stared down and noticed that my whole body was kind of floating! I stared at the air below my body and Constance appeared before my eyes. "Let me escort you to the dungeon." Constance said.

She waved her hands and poof! We disappeared.

We appeared in front of my mother's cell. She was lying on the floor, motionless and silent. "Mother?" I called. "MOTHER?!" I called louder and in a worried tone. She did not stir or react.

Could she be..........you know, dead?

I went over to the lock of the cell and whispered, "hate25."
The lock, as if by magic, opened itself and smashed itself into pieces. I went into the cell and dragged the limp body out. I heard voices all of a sudden and went all stiff and rigid. "Constance, let's go now. We must take her back before we are discovered."
Constance waved her hands once again and we disappeared.
We appeared in a mysterious pond. In alarm, I tried to swim up to the surface. Surprisingly, I could breathe in the pond like on land. It was magic as usual.

But why in a pond? Why not on land? Just then, I heard the voice of the witch. A pair of shining black purple boots stood near the pond. Her boots were so much bigger than me. Did she grow bigger? Or did I shrink in size. I stuck my head out. The trees were gigantic and the flowers were the size of a tree when I was in normal size.

Confused, I stared at my body. Instead of seeing hands and legs, I saw fins and a tail. Even SCALES were all over my fishy body! I was a FISH!