Chapter 1

Lysa walked along carrying several bags of groceries. Today was the perfect day to have off from work, it was a sunny in late spring day, the trees were starting to bud and she saw multiple apple trees in full bloom. It was warm, but not yet too hot so while she had built up sweat from carrying groceries, she didn't melt the moment she left air conditioning.

Arriving home she put away the groceries and went to look for her dad, finding him exactly where she expected, sitting in the garden pulling weeds. "Hey dad, how's it going?"

"Oh hi Lysa, do you mind spraying weed killer on the weeds growing in the sidewalk out front. If we don't get to it the soon, nothing short of a flamethrower will kill them."

"Okay I'll get on it, did you put on sunscreen? You know my mom will kill you if you get sunburned." Lysa heard him mumble something under his breath so she went back inside. A moment later she dropped the sunscreen beside him. Still grumbling he grabbed it and proceeded to slather it on.

"I hate the smell of this stuff."

"Yeah yeah, it's better then getting skin cancer." She said as she walked over to the garden shed to grab the weed killer.

"Be careful with that now."

"Oh now all of the sudden you're all about safety," she said wryly as she picked up the pack and proceeded for the gate to the front lawn. "I think I've had enough practice now, I can do it just fine."

Now the person living in the house to the left of them also enjoyed gardening. Perhaps enjoy is putting it too lightly, the property was more plant then house. Huge oak, ash, and fir trees as old as the neighborhood, were surrounded by lilac bushes that acted as a fence.The Lilacs had just started to bloom and were already letting off such an alluring scent that anyone walking by couldn't help but bury their faces in the one of the blooms. Even when the lilacs weren't in bloom the countless varieties of flowers, many of which that had no right of surviving in this climate, would catch the eye of anyone passing by. Lysa half expected the people who walked to close to be swallowed up by the thriving flora, but so far everyone had strolled away with all their limbs attached.

Her mother Sharon often said sourly, "I don't understand how people can be so happy to have a witch in our neighborhood." The prejudice wasn't entirely uncalled for, after all her family hadn't had much luck with the magically inclined. Dad's injury was a result in no small part due to the incompetency of a young wizard out of his scope. And her mother, a Nurse Practitioner, had seen too many people whose ailments could have been swiftly dealt with if they hadn't put it off and first went to a witch for some shady cure instead. And their neighbor was no exception as her brother put it, "That bitter old hermit considers the bugs that eat her prized flowers to be higher beings then people." Lysa suspected that might be true. More then once she would catch the hateful glare of the woman as the girl was puttering around the yard. She could never figure out why the witch bore such resentment towards her.

So when what happened next happened, Lysa only had herself to blame for being too distracted. As she was looking down spraying weeds growing along the sidewalk, she didn't notice that she had wandered into the segment of sidewalk directly in front of the witches's house. Assuming that anything that wasn't grass didn't belong she began to spray the unfamiliar bits of plants growing to the sides of the sidewalk. It wasn't until she noticed unusual amount of shade that she bothered to look up.

Lysa's mouth went dry. There standing on the front porch was the old women, her face an unhealthy shade of mauve.


...To be Continued