Emerald Yaga
I set down in Wellcrest an hour after going to the store. Apparently, House had decided that I could fend for myself and decided to go get cleaned. Cleaning took several months so I was out of the house for a while. I set down in Wellcrest park once the sun went down. I walked towards Blackwell manor with my broom and bird in tow. Wow. I forgot how far away it was from the park. A quick glance around to make sure I was alone and I hopped on the broom. Within a minute I was at the door. I held the broom in my left hand and Corvus settled on my right shoulder. I grabbed the heavy knocker shaped like a lion and knocked. three sharp raps. A middle-aged woman with a scar on her throat answered the door. I barged in and threw my broom in the umbrella stand. I walked inside.
"Aggy, you old toad, get down here!" no one answered except the woman. She made frantic gestures with her hands. I ignored her and ascended the stairs.
"Agatha!" I barked. I turned to Corvus on my shoulder. "Go make sure she knows we're here" He flew off and I turned to go back downstairs. A man was standing there. He had comfy clothes and glasses.
"Might I ask what you're doing here?" he said angrily. I inclined my head and walked past him.
"You may, but don't expect an answer." he sputtered and I swept into the parlor. Nope, not in here. He appeared in the doorway and pointed a finger at me.
"You better get out of here before I call the cops, young lady!" How funny. I opened my mouth to say something but a loud shriek echoed from upstairs.
"Corvus?! That means Ezzies here!!" A noise like a rhino thumping down the stairs and a young male voice,
"Auntie, you should not be running!" An immense woman popped into the room. She squealed when she saw me.
"Ezzie!" and flooded me into a huge hug. I lagged and hugged her back.
"Hey, Aggy. How are you doing?" she flapped her pudgy hands.
"Oh just terrible! I have been ordering any stuff from you lately because I've been a bit tight with money lately," she gave me a winking side-eye. "But you'll make an exception for me, right?" I smiled.
"Of course!" She grinned. "But I do need a place to stay. House is being cleaned." she nodded knowingly.
"You can have whatever room you want." The man cleared his throat and we looked over. There was the woman, 2 teen boys, and a girl with purple glasses standing there, watching us.
"Care to tell us who this is?" the man said to Aggy. she flushed a bit and cleared her throat.
"Family, this is Ezzie. Her Grans is an old friend and used to stop over." she looked at the girl. "You called her Auntie Y" The girl's face went paler than it already was and she ran upstairs. I shook hands with the others and said.
"I shall be taking over the household." I swiped a finger through the thick dust on the wooden chair. "Aggy, when did you clean this place last?" She mumbled something I couldn't hear. I started leading her out of the room and to her room.
"Now let's talk about how you're not doing too well. What's going on?" her face broke into a relieved smile and started talking.
Twenty minutes later she was right as rain. Gran was very friendly with the Krackel family and most of the older people knew me by name since I was little. Aggy loved me the most though. She had never had a child and I think she thought of me as her own. She said she had surgery on her heart and I brewed up a potion for her. She drank it down and was completely fine after a minute.
"I haven't felt this good in years!" she exclaimed and wiggled her hips. I giggled a bit and said
"I'll have to make you one of those every other day and you need to drink it. Do you still have Gran's stuff here?" she nodded.
"In the attic. I couldn't look at it after she…" her voice trailed away and my heart ached. Aggy was one of Gran's closest friends. I left her and went up to the attic. On the way, I passed that girl and she looked at me like she'd seen a ghost. I pulled down the ladder and walked up into the cobweb-infested place. Right in the corner, where Gran's stuff should be, there was just an empty trunk. My heart froze. Someone had taken it. I ran and opened the trunk. Just dust and a spare ingredient or two. I ran down the ladder to go to Aggy but I noticed something on a door. Gran's traveling coat. I threw open the door to reveal a psychopath's den. Pictures of monsters littered the walls and books were everywhere. I looked under the bed for the stuff. I started shoving over books and looking everywhere. I opened the closet and found a large cardboard box. Inside was all her stuff. I sighed with relief and carried it into the hall. It was really heavy. I nearly dropped it and I tripped many times because I couldn't see where I was going. I set it down and looked at the ladder to the attic. How the heck would I get it up there?! "What are you doing with my stuff?!" I turned around and that girl was standing there with he*l fire in her eyes. I stared at her.
"What?" I asked, confused. I haven't taken anything of hers. She gestured at the box.
"That's my Aunties stuff! She left that all for me! That's all I have left of her!" Her eyes glistened but she didn't cry. I laughed a bit.
"You must be mistaken. This is my Grans stuff." I pulled out her coat and revealed the embroidery on the inner label. Darlene Yaga. I pointed at it.
"That's my Grans name." I suddenly remembered the stairs to the attic. I grabbed the box and walked away. She chased after me.
"Wait!" I stopped abruptly and she slammed into my back, knocking me over. I fell, and all of the stuff spilled to the floor. I grabbed the jars and bags before they went everywhere but I only managed to get a few. I looked at the clumsy oaf. She blushed and started picking the stuff up muttering,
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"
"I assume you wanted to ask a question?" she nodded
"What's all this stuff for?" I picked up a nearby jar and read the label.
"Essence of Monkey foot. What do you think it's for?" I finished picking up the stuff and walked across the house, to the spiral staircase to the attic. I walked up the stairs slowly, careful not to disturb any dust. At the top was a green door. I opened it and found myself in the attic. Perfect! I sat the box down on a chair and snapped my fingers. My broom hurtled up the stairs and started sweeping by itself. I went and grabbed a rag and started cleaning the filthy windows. There was a round skylight, 2 small circle windows, and a medium one in front of the desk. I scrubbed and scrubbed. Finally, after a few minutes of vigorous scrubbing, the small one was halfway decent. I looked at the others and frowned. This would take a long time.
I had cleaned both the small windows and I was halfway done with the arched one when I heard a knock and the door started to open. I quickly snapped my fingers and the broom, which had been cleaning the spiderwebs off the rafters, fell to the floor. A boy my age poked his head in. He had light brown skin and sandy hair. A boy the polar opposite of him, with pale skin and black hair, also looked in. The sandy-haired boy opened the door fully and said,
"Hi! Your Ezzie right?" I nodded.
"It's actually Emerald but everyone calls me Ezzie cuz' saying Emerald makes them feel stupid." the sandy-haired boy grinned
"I'm Jack and the Idiot behind me is Dean." Dean slapped Jack's head and I laughed a bit.
"Nice to meet you. Did you need something?"
"Actually," Dean said, "We thought you might need help cleaning your new room. Mary Lou was supposed to help but she bribed dad into letting her off the hook for a while." So that was the girl's name. Mary Lou. Hmmph. Dean picked up the broom and Jack had a thing of cleaning supplies. He handed me a sponge and Windex and we went to work. By suppertime, I was starving, but the room was sparkling, literally. Once we cleaned the windows, the entire room lit up. The sunset hit the glass just right, and little rainbows rolled into the room. The wood floor was dirt-free, the furniture was spotless and all I had to do now was set up my stuff. I thanked the boys and they went to eat dinner. I wanted until their footsteps faded off of the stairs until they reached into Gran's box and pulled out a tiny, iron pot, the size of a thimble. It already had a tiny chain on it so I walked over to the fireplace and clipped it onto the large chain hanging down. I looked rather silly sitting there. I closed my eyes and sent the magic into the pot. Well, I was really taking the magic away from it because Gran had spelled it to shrink.
"Datum, lavorate kifera'' There was a loud grinding, popping noise and I opened my eyes to see the pot pop back into its original form. It swung on the chain and I smiled happily. It's only a home when it has a cauldron. Gran's advice was so true, like always. I decided that I would whip up something special for Jack and Deas, as a thank you for helping me. I smirked and grabbed an armful of ingredients out of the box. Time to get to work!