The witch's tiny, diamond-sharp eyes peered at Becky from under the brim of her pointed black hat. "I could not. Clothes you'll need to find on your own. I should think they can be had in any village."
Becky and a few other girls let out little groans of disappointment and desperation. Many of them were having an especially hard time covering their newly-enhanced selves, and much more breastflesh than there would have been normally was spilling out around hands and arms.
"Can you send us home?" Becky pleaded.
"Home? And where would that be?" The witch's green, hatchet face scanned the group of huddling naked highschoolers.
"Can you send us back to the shower where we were?" Another girl asked.
"Shower?" The witch looked puzzled. "My dears, you seem a bit confused as to exactly how witchcraft works. Do you believe that I can wave my hand, recite a spell, and conjure up clothing and homes for you all?"
The girls all nodded pitifully.
"Well I cannot."
"But you fly on a broom." Another girl protested.
"Yes, I do indeed. But that does not mean I can 'abracadabra and hocus-pocus' you up clothes and solutions to all your other problems."
"Then how can you help us?" Becky sounded a little indignant.
"In several ways." The witch held out a locket to Becky, a simple brass locket on a silver chain. "This will be of use to you, I should think."
Becky gingerly extended a hand to accept the bangle.
"Oh, buck up, dearies." The witch scolded. "Stop shivering like naked lambs and buck up. If I looked like you do, I'd be proud to have the world see."
"But-"
"Now, another thing I can do to help is to point you in the right direction." She aimed her broomstick at the horizon behind the group of cowering naked girls. "Go that way until you reach Lunt, they can help you."
The girls who could see that far turned to gaze at the horizon. They saw nothing that looked like it might be called Lunt, unless grass and copses of trees were called Lunt in this land.
"Thirdly, I give you this." She handed Becky a tattered leather pouch that felt heavier than it looked. "You'll need to eat, I assume -- you look like growing girls. Lastly, I will tell you: many of you... and two in particular -- her shrewd little eyes fixed on Jim and Rick -- are not what they appear to be. Now, I bid you good luck, and I might look in on you again from time to time. Goodbye."
The witch straddled her broomstick and hovered a few feet off the ground. "Oh, and don't be afraid of the Grunzel -- his bark is worse than his bite."
Then as quickly as she came, she was gone.
Sun Feb 07 00:47:51 2010