Ursula and Sarah stepped out of the elevator in a hurry. They were so close to retrieving the stolen potion and possibly other stolen goods. Sarah wanted to be sure her house was safe again and Ursula wanted to know how much stuff was stolen and return it to the rightful owners. Suddenly Ursula stopped Sarah by blocking her path with her hand. One glance was enough for her to realize what was going on. Giovanna was laying down on the floor tied up. Next to her was standing a tall woman opening the door to what must have been the storage. She turned towards the girls as if alarmed by their steps.

“I could have assumed there were more of you!” she said.

Ursula has quickly read the woman’s aura.

“Watch out!” she warned Sarah. “Her aura tells me that she is ruthless and very skilled!”

Giovanna was trying to break free, but the cuffs proved to be too strong. Or perhaps it wasn’t possible for her to break them. Perhaps if someone else tried freeing her they would succeed. Suddenly Giovanna had an idea she knew she had to try.

“Cut the cuffs!” Giovanna shouted. “Cut the cuffs!”

Ursula took out a pocket knife.

“Sarah!” she shouted. “Take this!”

Before she noticed Sarah was holding the knife in her hand. The intensity of the situation made her unable to digest all the information.

“Cut Giovanna’s cuffs!” Ursula shouted.

Sarah immediately understood. She ran towards Giovanna while opening the knife. The witch who fettered her took notice of this. She took out a piece of string covered in herbs out of her pocket and started chanting.

“I shall give you the power to clutch so imprison whoever you touch.”

Ursula took notice of this and took out a figurine of an anime character. She didn’t really know who it was representing. She started rubbing it in the animating cream as she chanted her spell.

“Through blood and earth and flowery seed, I give you life because I am in need. Protect Sarah!”

The figurine, which turned out to be Demonman, jumped out of her owner’s hand and sprinted to be in between Sarah and its enemy. The thief threw the string, which turned into purple energy. Demonman jumped and took the energy on itself. The energy turned into cuffs. Demonman was lying on the floor fettered in purple cuffs. Sarah managed to get to Giovanna and free her. The freshly freed girl stood up.

“Stand back!” said Giovanna.

The thief was about to take out a new string from her pocket. But Giovanna took out a card with a drawing of a red shield with two golden lions. She chanted a spell in a language Sarah couldn’t understand.

"Mi lascia essere al sicuro. Mi proteggi da tutto cattivo.”

The card has shined with red and golden light. A translucent shield has appeared in front of Giovanna and Sarah. The thief has managed to fling another string at them. But when it hit the shield it disappeared. Giovanna felt a slight push in her hand. The thief was shocked that her spell didn’t work.

“Ursula!” Giovanna shouted. “I don’t know how long I’ll keep the shield up!”

Ursula took out a figurine of Driller Man. As she enchanted it she was looking at the thief. She gave it a peculiar order.

“Trap that woman.”

Driller Man jumped towards the thief and started its drills. As they pierced her sleeve she was pulled towards the wall. The drills drilled themselves into the wall and stopped. The thief tried running, but she found herself stuck.

“Sarah! Open the storage!” Giovanna said. “I’ll cover you!”

The two were moving sideways towards the door. Sarah put her hand on the doorknob and pressed it. The door opened and Sarah and Ursula went inside. Giovanna stayed in the door so her shield could cover the entrance.

Inside the storage Ursula and Sarah found a small pile of boxes. Just one glance was enough for them to deduce what could be inside. Ursula stepped closer and opened the top box. Inside she found a variety of jewellery that could be talismans and amulets.

“Wow…” Ursula said in awe. “I wonder what those are.”

Ursula was looking through all the boxes trying to think of possible uses of the stolen items. Sarah was quickly looking through each to find her aunt’s potion.

“Giovanna!” said Ursula. “Could you come and help us bring those boxes out?”

“Yeah. Sure,” said Giovanna.

The shield has vanished as the card went into Giovanna’s pocket. She glanced at the pile in front of her. Each of the girls took three boxes, which emptied the table.

“What are we gonna do with those?” Sarah asked.

“I am going to post a post about them on Rollit,” said Ursula. “I will keep them in my flat and return the contents to the owners.”

“Let’s go. I don’t think we should stay here all day,” said Giovanna.

As the finders were leaving the thief shouted at them.

“Wait! Don’t leave me drilled into that wall!”

Ursula looked at her. That woman deserved some kind of punishment. But it truly wouldn’t be nice to leave her by herself. And she had to admit she wanted her Driller Man figurine back.

“Wait for me for a moment,” she said as she placed her boxes on the floor.

She took out the can with the animating cream and came to the trapped woman.

“What is your name?” Ursula asked her.

“Why is that important right now?” the thief asked.

“I am simply curious.”

The woman took a deep breath. Irritated, she answered Ursula’s question.

“Morgana. I’m Morgana.”

“Thank you very much,” Ursula said.

After getting her answer she took some animating cream. As she was rubbing Driller Man with it she chanted a spell.

“Through blood and earth and flowery seed, I give you life because I am in need. At midnight free Morgana and come back to me.”

The cream has turned into dust. But the figurine was still. Ursula smiled at how nice of a compromise she came up with. She took her portion of boxes and was going to the exit. Giovanna and Sarah were looking at her with their eyes wide open. Ursula turned around and looked at them.

“Let us go!” she said to her friends.

 

In the evening Sarah was eating supper with Aunt Caitlyn. She had to admit her toad in the hole was very delicious. Both of them were glad that the potion was back on its place. But Sarah was still thinking about the adventure she had that day.

“Something doesn’t make sense to me,” she said to Aunt Caitlyn.

“What is that?”

“Why did she steal the potion, but not the recipe?”

“Because it’s impossible to use someone else’s grimoire without permission.”

“Grimoire?” Sarah asked about an unknown word.

“Personal book of spells.” Caitlyn answered, aware of the fact her niece was still learning about magic.

“What happens if you try to?” Sarah asked one more question.

“The book won’t let you touch itself. It will repel you.”

“So that’s why the post said something about… reverse engineering?”

“Exactly, my dear.”

For a few more moments they were eating supper in silence. And during that time Sarah was thinking.

For her magic was something new and scary, but also fascinating and tempting. She wanted to learn magic. She wanted to hunt evil witches with her newly met friends. Or maybe she just wanted to spend time with them. Maybe she wanted to have friends she couldn’t have in her previous home. Maybe she wanted to feel bonds with someone outside her family. Whatever it was, she made a decision.

“Aunt Caitlyn…” she said.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Can you teach me magic?”

Caitlyn placed her cutlery on the plate and put her hands together. She took a deep breath and started speaking.

“You realize that magic is a tough thing to learn?”

“It may be. But I want to learn it.”

“Especially for someone like you, who starts learning in their teens?”

“I realize I may lack experience. But that’s the point of learning.”

“And you realize I won’t teach you everything?”

“Today nobody can learn everything anyway.”

“And do you promise to only use magic for good?”

“I promise.”

Aunt Caitlyn grabbed her fork and knife and returned to cutting her supper. Without stopping she looked at Sarah.

“Eat up and rest,” she said. “We’re starting your lessons tomorrow.”

Sarah couldn’t hide her joy. Her face was decorated with a great smile.

“Thank you!” she said. “I’ll be a wonderful student!”

“I take that as a promise,” said Aunt Caitlyn, cutting out another bite.

 

That night Sarah had problems with falling asleep. She was too excited for the next day. She couldn’t wait to see the first spell Aunt Caitlyn would teach her. She was trying to imagine what it would be, but she was thinking of too many possibilities. But whatever it would be, she felt that the next day would be wonderful.