The Cold – Part 1

author: Hecate

Huck caught a cold. It was a rare occurrence, but it did happen. After picking the last pumpkin from the garden, Huck pulled out the red beets and the last carrots. She picked the cabbage and put it in a pickle vat, then checked the wine, the pickles, the compotes, the chutney Del had brought, and decided it was time to winterize the whole house.

She swept the chimney and plastered the fireplace, wiped the windows and insulated them well, washed the curtains and dusted the carpets... she looked around the house and decided that winter might be coming. But when she looked in the mirror, Heck looked more like a goblin than a witch. So she went into the bathroom and hung out there for four hours. When she came out, she was as fluffy as a dandelion and as pink as an apple.

Oooh, what bliss. A clean house and a clean Heck. Outside, the strong autumn winds had begun to blow as if on command. The sky was changing its pictures. Gray, white, black and purple clouds chased each other and formed heroic pictures. The leaves were falling and flying in the air, then falling to the ground, and the wind picked them up and spun them in a cheerful dance.

Heck couldn't resist. She loved the winds. She got dressed and went out to enjoy them. When she got home she was happy, ate some warm soup, lay down and fell asleep. When she woke up her nose was blocked. She could barely get out of bed. She looked in the mirror - and from there she was grinning at a brazen cold.

- Ahhh...a cold. Huh?! - said Heck - Apshihuuuuu. Apsih.

Things were serious. Heck trudged to the kitchen, poured half a bottle of red wine into a saucepan and added four chili peppers. Hecate drank the elixir and trudged to the bedroom. Ughhhhhhh…

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Del sat, still buried in her thick books. She was reading. She didn't have much choice. She had accepted a job as a teacher of mental magic and human languages at the Eastern School of Magical Arts, and now she was overwhelmed with work.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr… “Huh?! In the name of Marilyn and Morgana’s hair. What is this?!” – she wondered. “Has the sea dragon woke up from its thousand-year sleep?” Brrrrrrrrr… The portrait in the room shook again. “What’s going on?!”

Del got up and walked around the house, but everything was in its place. He quickly went down to the kitchen, found a piece of paper and wrote something very quickly, folded the paper and sent it up the chimney with a direction spell. The letter flew quickly and after a few hours, during which it passed several obstacles such as two winds, a pile of leaves and two crows, it crashed straight into the hands of the good witch of the south, Lilith.

Lilith was startled. She hadn't received a telegram like this in a long time. She went home and opened the letter. "SOMETHING IS HAPPENING" - the letter read. Lilith was amazed. Del never reacted like this. She was the most balanced of all the witches she knew. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr… Huh?! Something was really happening, but what? Lilith went to the bowl of water and waved it from above. Sometimes the rulers of water and fire managed to connect.

"What's going on?" Lilith asked.
"I don't know. But the portrait of the four of them shook," Del replied.
“Did you contact Heck?” Lilith asked.
-No - said Del - I can't.
– Huh!? It's not like Heck. She always answers!
“Meeting in front of Heck’s house,” said Del.
“Okay,” Lilith replied and ordered her broom to come.

Heck was completely soaked. She was lying in bed sneezing, sniffling and getting all soft. She was watching the Latin American soap opera "Three Brothers, Three Sisters" in the crystal ball and it was not known exactly where she was sniffling from her runny nose and where the depth of the film had affected her cold soul. From time to time she sneezed, as a result of which everything in the house shook and even the cat Fifi, who was lying at her feet, looked at her reproachfully.

“Where did you get your head to go out in this wind with a wet head!?” Fifi scolded her. Her beloved cat.
– Oh, Fifi, that's enough, now Juan Reas is going to kiss Norma Elizondo...
The cat was stunned. He didn't know what to think about his sorceress.

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Lilith quickly shoved the bowl into the cupboard. Sometimes viruses fly through time and space from crystal balls and divination bowls, and Lilith doesn't like being sick at all, so it rarely happens to her.

Lilith and Del saw Heck's house shake. The two looked at each other and rushed to the door. They were tense and expected an epic battle between Heck and some big, shaggy monster to appear behind the door. The house shook again. "1,2,3" - Del counted and opened the door, but from inside they could smell the scent of lavender. The two witches looked at each other. Something was wrong. Del and Lilith entered the house. It was clean and tidy and smelled of herbs. After a while, there was a crash from the kitchen and the two rushed there. Dust poured from the chimney into the fireplace, and after it, Faer poured.

Faer was a well-built, medium-height sorceress with beautiful auburn hair and knew how to present even the most difficult and hopeless situation as a funny incident that should not be given so much tragedy. Lively and cheerful, Faer was like the beloved aunt, whom everyone loves and looks forward to, but for some unknown reason the older members of the family did not approve.

“Oh my God, Faer! You blew our minds!” Lilith shouted.
– Well!? You may not call me "God", Faer is enough for me - she joked.
"Enough, Faer! This is no time for jokes. Something is going on here," Del began, and he took on that businesslike expression on his face that told everyone it was "no time for jokes."
“I know,” said Faer. “I was in the mountains when I felt something was bothering me and I called you, Del, but some goblin picked me up and said you lit the broom and headed south with dirty gas,” Faer said as he brushed the dust off his clothes.
-A goblin?!! I don't have a goblin! - Del was confused.
-Don't you? Well, then whatever picked up the phone said you were going south, and I thought of Lilith. I called Lilith, too, but her answering machine said she wasn't home and to leave a message. But when I said...whatever I said, he told me to choose my words carefully because there was no way he could convey my words that way and if I wanted to know, Lilith wasn't home. She and Del went west to Heck's house. And here I am. What's going on?

Lilith and Del could barely breathe, Faer was like a whirlwind.

“The thing is, we don’t know what’s going on,” Del said. The house shook again, but “Apshihooo” came from upstairs. All three looked in the direction of the sound.
“Let's see,” Faer said confidently, and by the time Del and Lilith came to their senses, she was already walking up the stairs.

… to be continued

© 2023 Iliana Dechkova