The Witches Who Save Halloween

Ursula closed her book shop for the day. It was Halloween, and like every Halloween before the woman in her family were preparing to meet for the night.

              She thought of her black lace dress hanging in the back of her closet, haven’t been touched since the Halloween before. Her black laced up boots sat in the closet as well, waiting for her to put them on. She thought of her witches hat she had left on the table after she pulled it from storage that morning.

              Walking into her house she could hear her black cat, Willow meowing at the door.

              “Come along.” Ursula said to the cat, picking her up. “I can’t be late, or else Aunt Sybil will be mad.”

              “Your mother gets mad just as much about lateness as my mother.” Ursula’s cousin Tabatha appeared behind her.

              “Is your sister far behind?” Ursula hugged her cousin.

              “Cordelia is with my mother, on their way to the spot.” Tabatha pushed her curly brown hair out of her face, reveling her one blue eye and one green eye.

              Ursula grabbed her grey shawl and her witching hat. “Do you want me to send us or do you?”

              “I got it.” Tabatha replied as Ursula used her magic to dress.

              The two women placed their hats on their heads and held hands. Tabatha casted the spell sending the two into the middle of the woods.

              The witches fire had been started and Cordelia was adding the first of the ingredients. Her purple nails matched the lavender she was adding to the fire. Her hair was cut shorter than her twin sisters, Tabatha.  

              “Where is the jar?” Ursula’s mother, Clara surprised her daughter with a hug.

               Ursula held out her hands and cast the spell to make the magic jar appear. She kept it in the other world during the year, only risking it out on Halloween. It took years to make the magic jar and if it broke, it could mean the end of the world.

              “Good, place it beside the spell book.” Cordelia pointed to where her mother had set up the spell book.

              Cordelia was a tall girl. She was older than her twin sister by ten minutes, but she was younger than Ursula by two years. Cordelia wished she were going to be the family witch, but with her older cousin she would never have a chance.

              Ursula placed the jar next to the spell book and fixed her long black hair into a braid. She fixed the hat on her head to keep it out of her emerald green eyes.

              “We need to start the process.” Sybil told her daughters and her niece. “It is a full moon tonight, which means it will be worst then usual.”

              Since Clara and Sybil’s were getting older, they wanted Ursula to take over as the family witch. This would be Ursula’s first time doing the whole process as lead witch. Sybil had been hesitant to let her niece ne the family witch this year considering this would be the first Halloween with a full moon in seven-six years. While Clara and Sybil had done the process during a full moon, Ursula and Sybil’s daughters had not. Clara was sure of her daughter and she was able to convince Sybil to believe in her too.

Clara took her place between Sybil and Ursula. Ursula was placed in front of the spell book with Cordelia on her side. Tabatha completed the circle, standing between her mother and sister. With the circle closed Ursula started.

              “We stand her on this Halloween night to keep the dark forces at bay like we do every Halloween.” Ursula began. “We start this process using our ancestors’ spell book, passed down from generation.”

              Ursula took the book, opening it to the right page. She repeated the beginning of the spell, turning the witch fire blue. At her side Cordelia picked up the magic jar, preparing to hand it to Ursula.

“We start by placing salt around the witches fire.” Clara started putting out the salt as she spoke. “It keeps the darkness trapped in the circle.”

“We add this secret blend of herbs to the fire.” Sybil opened the jar she had brought with her and handed it to Tabatha, who threw it into the fire it slowly. “These herbs are used to bring out the darkness that lurk this time of the year.”

A loud growl came from the fire followed by a shadowy hand.

“We open this jar and trap the dark spirts that threaten this day.” Ursula opened the jar. “For only these magic jars can hold in this much darkness.”

Once the creature was trapped in the jar, she placed the lid on top once again. With that all five witches let out a sigh of relief. With the trapping of the darkness, the first part was completed leaving only the destroying of this year’s darkness.

Ursula walked up the hill carrying the family spell book in one hand and the magic jar in the other. This final step would have to be done alone, for it was tradition for the family witch to destroy the darkness alone. Ursula cursed the tradition of having to walk up the hill. It was far too big a hill and the darkness now trapped in the jar made it heavy.

At the top of the hill she set down her family’s spell book and the jar. She opened her family spell book to the page on destroying the darkness. She knelt in front of the items preparing herself to start.

“As the fifty-first family witch in my family I open this jar to vanish this darkness, like my ancestors who came before me.” Ursula spoke firm. “With this salt I trap this darkness and with this witches light I shall send this darkness away.”

The darkness had been strong like her aunt Sybil had warned, but Ursula showed no fear. The witches fire burned the darkness, but the longer it took to burn the darkness the more pain Ursula felt. It took thirty minutes, longer than usual, but once it was done the peace could be felt by every witch.