Chapter 1

  The Witch Meredith

  “Bye!” Meredith called out as she waved to her parents’ distant figures on the ground. They became ever-distorted as Meredith’s broom carried her up and away. Cici, the young witch’s black, feline companion, tightened his grip on the front of the broom as Meredith excitedly veered away from her boring life, suffocating parents, and lame village and shot off into the sky. Meredith’s curly, auburn hair trailed behind her, billowing in the wind with her black robes and medium-sized leather purse. Her feet, clad in black knee-high slip-on boots, dangled beneath her broom. Inside her enchanted bag was everything Meredith needed for her summer stay at her Grandma’s, and she couldn’t wait to get there! The young witch was delighted to escape the stuffy academy for the summer and leave her dull little village behind. She felt free, liberated! She was going to learn how to become a proper witch!

  The pair flew just under the sparse clouds that littered the sky. Below, patches of forest, farmland, hills, and dirt roads spanned as far as the horizon. The Norwich River she was set to follow lay to her left, running crookedly north to south.

  The sun warmed her skin, and the pine-scented breeze immediately cooled it. The freedom of flight felt amazingly wonderful, at least for her. Meredith could see the tension in Cici’s shoulders as the wind wafted over his fur. A surge of recklessness overtook the young witch. She yanked on the broom and careened into a stomach-churning somersault. Cici panicked and clutched at the broom handle while Meredith whooped.

  “Whoo!” The witch laughed as she angled back into a steady, flying position. Cici turned his head and glared at Meredith.

  “I wish you’d warn me before doing your acrobatics,” he grumbled as he relaxed again.

  “We’ll see.” Meredith teased and poked him. “I thought you’d be used to it by now!”

  Cici ignored her and faced forward once more.

  They swiftly soared forth until the familiar patterns of home became miles of hilly forest with small villages dotted throughout. Large, squared parcels of farmland interrupted the otherwise endless forest. But Meredith followed the Norwich River until it forked in two, which she followed to the right. Her face began to tingle from the whipping wind, and her shoulders grew warm from the sun above. Still, it was a perfect day for flying.

  “You do know where you’re going, right?” Cici asked as he nimbly crept closer to sit directly before Meredith. He arched his head up to see her face; his piercing yellow eyes shimmered in the sunlight.

  “Of course I do,” Meredith replied. “We just follow the river until it splits and stick to the right, which we just did. Now, we just keep following until we see Greenwood. It’s the first village that spans both sides of the river and has that giant rock bridge.”

  “How will you know if you accidentally pass it?”

  “Have some faith, worrywart,” Meredith huffed. “Mom drilled the directions into my head. You’d know that if you weren’t asleep every time we went over it. Lazy cat.”

  Cici faced forward again and flicked his tail high, the tip barely grazing Meredith’s chin.

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  “Instructions bore me,” Cici stated matter-of-factly. “I’ll keep an eye out, just in case. Maybe I’ll even catch a bird if I feel so inclined.” He lowered his body into a crouch.

  “Ok, panther.” Meredith rolled her eyes and giggled at her prissy cat. He wouldn’t know what to do with a bird, especially way up in the sky. “Just let me know before you jump.”

  “I’m a silent hunter. You’ll just have to catch me.”

  “With the bird?”

  “Of course.”

  “You’re not eating a bird on my broom.”

  Cici humphed and curled his tail around himself.

  The pair flew for hours, passing farms, pastures, villages, and swaths of forest. Meredith eventually slowed and enjoyed the scenery as she bobbed gently, gliding on the wind in pure bliss. She occasionally warned Cici before she attempted another aerial maneuver. Meredith would hop on her broomstick and surf; other times, she’d loop, spin, or weave side to side.

  Boredom slowly replaced exhilarating freedom as the sun arced higher and higher until it slowly began falling at their backs. Cici hadn’t seen any birds worth pouncing on, and Meredith’s butt was sore from sitting. The pair chatted throughout the flight, but even they ran out of things to say. Finally, as the sky glowed with a brilliant orange and the tall trees of the forest below cast long, spiky shadows across the Norwich, the river town with the rock bridge came into view.

  “There it is!” Cici howled and dug his claws into the broom.

  “Finally!” Meredith cried out. She dropped her broom downwards and streaked towards Greenwood. As they drew nearer, Meredith could see the sprawling mishmash of brick and lumber houses sprinkled throughout the cobblestone streets on both sides of the river. Roofs of wooden shingles, clay tiles, and thatch adorned the mass of single-story buildings.

  Each home had a small garden and one or more chimneys, all of which spouted a gentle, curling stream of gray smoke that Meredith could smell from up high.

  “There’s Grandma’s!” Meredith pointed to the eastern side of town. A small wooden building sat a bit away from the rest in a slight clearing surrounded by tall pines with a winding dirt path leading to it. Atop it was a clay shingle roof with two brick chimneys on each end. A white picket-fenced garden, lush with vegetation, lay behind the house. In the front, a door stood between two wide windows reflecting the sun's glare. The front of the building was Grandma’s apothecary shop; the back was her home. Meredith swooped down towards it.

  “Pull up! Pull up!” Cici shrieked as the ground came careening up to them. Meredith yanked her broom upwards.

  THOOM!

  Meredith’s stomach lurched as they came to a screeching halt just above the ground. Clouds of dust swept off the dirt path beneath Meredith’s broom. She swung herself off, left her steed hovering, arched her back, and stretched her stiff muscles. Cici leaped onto the ground and gave Meredith a sour look before arching his own back.

  BANG!

  Cici flinched as the shop door burst open, revealing a tall, portly, ashen-haired woman clad in a black robe that ended at her bare feet.

  “Is that my grandbaby swooping in with thunder at her heels?” Grandma beamed from the doorway with her fists on her hips.

  “Grandma!” The witches trotted towards each other and embraced.

  “You better quit getting so big!” Grandma squeezed Meredith. A large black cat sauntered out from the shop and joined the elder witch. Cici padded over to nuzzle her.

  “Hey, mama!”

  “It’s good to see you,” Mama Cat purred. “Is Meredith treating you well?”

  “She picks on me all the time!” Cici wailed.

  “Oh, hush you!” Meredith gasped as Grandma continued to strangle her with love.

  “My poor, sweet baby,” Mama Cat crooned with amusement as she licked Cici’s forehead. “Still getting picked on by Mean Meredith.”

  Finally, the young witch was somewhat released, but Grandma’s hands stayed on Meredith’s shoulders.

  “Come on inside, you two!” Grandma beckoned them into her shophouse as she stooped to pet Cici. “You must be starving after that long flight!”

  The young witch and cat happily obliged.