Shattered Worlds

Everyone except for Deville stumbled.

Leta asked what was on everyone's mind. "What's that?"

The three witches the group found regained their footing and hurried over to them just as one of the walls exploded. This time the trio was blown off their feet and thrown across the ground—or at least they would have if a pink substance hadn't formed beneath them to catch them. They bounced up and down as Deville rushed to stand in front of them. Veronica and Leta scrambled to their feet and watched anxiously as something appeared through the smoke.

"Stay behind me, kids," Deville said as she raised her wand.

A creature that looked like a mix of a bull and a man stepped forward, wielding a giant axe. All the girls quivered at the sight of the towering figure.

What was that thing?

As if hearing the unspoken question, Deville muttered, "A minotaur." Then, in a louder voice, she said, "I don't know how you got here, but I'm not going to allow you to hurt these children."

The minotaur roared before charging at them. Deville summoned a shield to block its ax as a loud clang rang in the hallway. She quickly followed up by summoning golden chains to wrap around the minotaur's body. It roared as it tugged at them, but the chains held fast, preventing the minotaur from moving. Seeing how quickly Deville handled the creature, everyone stared at her in awe.

Deville turned around and asked, "Is everyone alright?" They nodded. "Good."

Before she could say another word, the minotaur roared again. Deville silenced it by wrapping chains around its snout, effectively silencing it. The minotaur continued to struggle against the chains as Deville returned her attention back to the kids.

"I want everyone who doesn't have their wands out to have them ready," she ordered.

Everyone, except Veronica, obeyed her orders. All eyes turned to her as she refused to face anyone.

"Veronica, where's your wand?" Veronica mumbled something unintelligibly, and Deville narrowed her eyes. "Where. Is. Your. Wand?"

"I...I don't have it," Veronica finally admitted as she fiddled with her broomstick.

"Why don't you have your wand?" one of the new girls demanded. "No witch would ever leave it behind."

"How about you mind your own business?" Veronica snapped, glaring at the girl who returned her look.

"Enough." Deville's no-nonsense voice silenced them. She studied the group before her eyes settled on Veronica. "I can see you have your broomstick. You'll have to make do with it."

Everyone grimaced at the declaration.

While it was true that a broomstick was an alternative to a wand—there was a reason why every witch had one besides using it to travel—it was mostly used as a last resort. Unfortunately, Veronica didn't really have a choice since she didn't have a wand with her.

The trio of witches threw her a dirty look before looking to Deville for guidance. Leta, on the other hand, was giving Veronica a worried look, which she ignored.

There was no way Veronica was going to admit why she didn't have her wand with her. It was completely embarrassing. Only two people knew the reason, including herself, and she refused to let anyone else find out.

How could she possibly tell anyone she never got a wand?

Having a wand is one of the five basic things a witch has to have. If anyone were to find out I didn't have it, they would wonder if I'm really a witch.

Her mind instantly jumped to Echo and her baby sister.

Were they okay?

If she had known this would have happened, she wouldn't have brought her baby sister along. In fact, Veronica would have never come and stayed at home, where it was safe.

Why was it, out of all witch parties, that this one turned into a giant mess?

It was almost like it was Veronica's presence that caused this, like that one witch said.

Was...was she the problem?

"Stay close to me," Deville said, snapping Veronica out of her thoughts. "I'll do my best to protect you, but I expect all of you to be able to at least put up a fight against anything we might face."

A tense silence settled on the group.

Then the same girl who had snapped at Veronica earlier asked, "But what could possibly get past you?"

Deville stared coolly at the girl as she said, "Nissa, how many years have you been a witch? You should know that nothing is certain except death."

Seriously cowed, the girl curled in on herself and refused to raise her head.

Veronica was pleased to see her get put in her place. Served her right. She was clearly one of those arrogant and snobbish girls, just like Maura. Well, Maura wasn't too bad.

Without saying a word, Deville marched past the minotaur, clearly expecting all of them to follow. None of them hesitated to run after her, afraid to be left behind. As they walked past the minotaur, they glanced at the tied-up creature that was glaring at them. It suddenly flexed its large muscles, rattling the chains. One of the girls squeaked and tripped over her feet. She swiftly got back on her feet and scurried away.

Is it really okay to leave it alone? What if it gets out and comes after us?

Of course, she wasn't doubting Deville. She was a powerful witch, but leaving the minotaur there left a bad taste in Veronica's mouth. It was just as Deville said. Nothing was certain except death, which meant anything could happen.

She clutched her broomstick close to her chest.

Her action didn't go unnoticed as Leta asked, "Veronica, are you okay?"

Looking away from the minotaur, Veronica said, "I'm fine."

Then she remembered she was supposed to be angry at Leta and turned her head away.

It seemed that she wasn't the only one worried about the minotaur, as another girl asked, "Ms. Deville, why didn't you get rid of the minotaur?"

Deville paused for a moment to look over her shoulder. "What makes you think I haven't?" Everyone blinked before glancing back at where they left the minotaur, but they were stopped by the sound of a clap. "I suggest you don't look. It's not something for children to see. I don't want to sully your eyes with a gruesome sight."

After hearing those grim words, no one dared to look.

"If that's all, we need to move," Deville said.

Since no one protested, the group continued to move forward. All of them kept an eye on their surroundings with their wands—and broomstick—at the ready. At the slightest sound, the girls instantly snapped their heads at the noise. Only Deville remained unmoved, moving at the same pace she had set.

Veronica wished she could be just as fearless.

Would she be like Deville when she got old?

Suddenly, Deville raised a hand to signal everyone to stop. They immediately froze in their tracks and stared in the direction Deville was looking at. None of them could see anything out of the ordinary, but none of them believed for a second that it was safe. After a couple moments, something dropped down from the ceiling. One of the girls whimpered as more continued to fall.

"Is that a slime?" Nissa muttered.

A slime?

Turning her head to one side and squinting at it, Veronica guessed it was.

She couldn't say for sure, but she couldn't think of many creatures that could fall from the ceiling in clumps and form together again. Then again, she didn't know many to begin with. Veronica hadn't spent a lot of time studying them.

"Here it comes. Prepare yourselves. I will observe from the sidelines," Deville said as she stepped aside.

Everyone's heads snapped in her direction. Before any of them could say a word to her, the slime rapidly approached them. Turning their attention back to the slime, they prepared themselves for a fight. Nissa fired a spell, freezing the slime. Her smug smile dropped when the slime broke free of the ice and continued heading for them. Another girl grimaced as she hit it with a ball of flames. This time it got a reaction as the slime screamed.

Why does everything we meet scream?

Veronica hadn't even known that slimes could make a sound. It was, well, slime.

"Take this," a different girl said as she struck it with lightning.

The slime stopped moving. Leta followed up with a gust of wind to gather up the slime in one spot. Then everyone turned their gaze to Deville, who calmly watched the scene without batting an eye.

"Not bad. You all did well when suddenly thrown into a fight," Deville said.

Her words cheered the witches up, except for Veronica, who tightened her grip on her broomstick.

She had been the only one not to do anything. Veronica wanted to blame it on them being too fast for her to make a move—casting magic with a broomstick couldn't compare to casting with a wand—but it was honestly because she froze up again. Even with all the other witches with her, she couldn't act. No, that wasn't it. It was because there were so many witches around that she left it to them to handle the slime.

That's when she noticed Deville staring straight at her. The others followed her gaze and looked at Veronica. For a moment, no one said anything.

Nissa huffed, crossing her arms as she snidely said, "Of course not everyone contributed."

"Nissa." Deville's warning tone made Nissa lower her arms and stare resolutely at the ground. "You are four years her senior, and that is if we go by your age."

Four years? Wouldn't that make her sixteen? I didn't realize she was that old.

Veronica had noticed the trio were bigger than her, but she just thought they were bigger than average.

"Veronica." Veronica flinched as Deville stared right into her soul. "You need to be quicker on the draw. Since you're at a disadvantage, you need to be faster. If you were alone, you wouldn't be able to properly react in time."

"I understand," Veronica said in a small voice.

"There is also something I want to address that I haven't before."

When Deville didn't say anything else right away, Veronica stared at her curiously. The other girls did the same and waited for Deville to speak. Deville sighed.

"We can discuss this later," she said as she spun on her heel and marched towards the defeated slime.

Everyone else shared a confused look—along with suspicion from the other girls except Leta—before following after Deville. Deville summoned a small glass bottle. Then she pointed at the slime, which suddenly flew through the air into the bottle. Despite the slime's large size, it somehow managed to fit inside. She placed the stopper and slipped it into her pocket.

"Are you going to use it for some experiments?" one of the other girls asked.

"You're somewhat right, Aspen. It would be a waste to throw it away such a valuable specimen. This is actually for you four for defeating the slime," Deville said.

Those who contributed to defeating the slime shared gleeful smiles as Veronica watched on with a blank expression.

Well, Veronica couldn't say she was jealous. She wouldn't want to touch the slime with a 10-foot pole, much less touch it with her hands, even if she wore gloves. It was gross. Okay, maybe she was a bit jealous.

She wasn't the slightest bit interested in the slime, but seeing how they were praised and rewarded made her bite down on her lips, drawing blood.

If she had tried to help, would she also be praised and rewarded?

Even though Nissa had messed up, she still got praised and rewarded.

Leta glanced back at Veronica. Her bright expression faltered. Just as Leta opened her mouth, Deville clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention. Leta shot Veronica one more worried glance before facing Deville.

"We will be changing things from now on." Everyone shared a nervous glance as Deville continued, "Every time we encounter a threat, I will determine whether or not you will be able to handle it. If I determine it's within your capabilities, I will step aside and monitor you. I will only step in if I think your lives are in danger. I do hope you will all impress me."