After what felt like an eternity, Veronica finally calmed down. Well, she stopped sobbing like a big baby, at least. She sniffled, feeling snot oozing out of her nose. As she was about to use her sleeve to wipe it away, Leta handed her a handkerchief that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Accepting the handkerchief, she used it to blow her nose.


    Once she finished blowing her nose, she muttered, "Thank you."


    "Now that you''re finally calmed down, we need to have a talk," Deville said, breaking the moment.


    Veronica cowered, expecting Deville to tear her apart even further. Leta, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes at the older witch standing between her and Veronica. The others watched from the sidelines.


    However, nothing could have prepared them for the words that came out of Deville''s mouth.


    "I''m sorry," she said with a regretful expression.


    Everyone''s jaw dropped.


    Did she just apologize?


    I''m not hallucinating, am I? This isn''t some kind of illusion cooked up by some random monster, right?


    "While I still do believe your actions are unbelievably wrong and selfish, I still shouldn''t have used such harsh words towards a child." Veronica flinched at the former part and eased up at the latter, though a small part of her felt insulted to be considered a child. "You''re our youngest witch in both age and experience here. You also have no prior connection to magic until recently, with no one to help guide you beforehand. Putting you to the same standard as everyone else was wrong of me, and for that I apologize."


    Hearing a second apology coming from Deville was surreal.


    Honestly, Veronica wasn''t sure how she should respond. Yes, it hurt hearing all those things, but she fully realized and accepted she deserved it. She had been a bad girl.


    Her expression must have shown how lost she felt as Deville sighed. "We will discuss this further at a later time. For now, we should locate the human baby before it''s too late."


    At the mention of her baby sister, Veronica immediately asked, "How are we going to find her?"


    "It seems that you haven''t learned how to cast tracking magic, which is understandable. It is a bit advanced for your age and experience. Watch me closely."


    Everyone scooted closer and watched Deville perform the spell. She made several motions with her wand until a glowing white arrow appeared in front of her. The girls stared in awe, their eyes following the direction it was pointing in.


    "That should be the way," Deville said. "I shall take the lead this time. We don''t have a moment to waste."


    The words barely left her mouth as she marched down the hallway at incredible speed. The girls were momentarily stunned before they quickly ran after her. The group hurried down the hall as Deville made quick work of any monster that happened to cross their way. With just one flick of her wand, the monster was defeated.


    However, the amazing displays of magic couldn''t keep Veronica''s attention.


    She could feel Leta''s gaze on her, but she couldn''t bring herself to face her and talk, not after what happened earlier. Her mouth tasted like sandpaper, and the lump in her throat made the thought of talking difficult. At the same time, her stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought of leaving things as is. Forcing herself to glance at Leta, she immediately looked away, unable to meet Leta''s gaze.


    "Veronica." Veronica flinched at the sound of her name. "Are you upset with me?" Veronica''s head whipped around so fast that she was sure she heard something crack as Leta continued, "I noticed early on that you didn''t want to talk to me after we came here. I wasn''t sure if I did something wrong to make you upset."


    Whatever Leta intended to say next was cut off by Veronica blurting out, "Of course not."


    Her loud words drew the attention of the other girls, while Deville continued onward without bothering to give them a glance. Veronica cringed.


    "Do you really mean that?" Leta asked with wide eyes.


    "Yeah." Leta perked up, and Veronica felt guilty for her next words. "I mean, I was kind of mad, but that''s because I was an idiot." Leta''s sad expression shifted to a surprised one. "You were being a good friend, and I was being a jerk."


    "That''s not true. Well, you kind of were, but I ditched you earlier when you needed a friend. You don''t know anyone else here, and I left you alone."


    Veronica shook her head. "No. It wasn''t your fault that I showed up with my baby sister even though I knew humans wouldn''t be welcomed. I really thought I was special and could get special treatment."


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "You are the first witch to join the witching hour party at twelve. That has to mean something."


    "Well, I screwed that up big time. I doubt they would do anything for me ever again."


    "Deville seemed understanding. If she speaks up for you to the other witches, I''m sure it''ll be fine."


    Would Deville really do that though?


    She wasn''t so sure about that.


    Suddenly, Deville came to a stop as a horrible stench reached their noses. All the girls covered their faces with their hands and stared wide-eyed at the giant monster blocking their path. It was so large that it couldn''t even stand properly in the mansion and had to hunch over to fit.


    What is that? How did it even get inside the mansion?


    Deville raised a hand as she said, "Stay back, girls."


    Then she proceeded to cast a spell at the monster. Much to everyone''s shock, the spell bounced off the monster''s hide like it was nothing.


    "Wh-what? How?" Nissa sputtered.


    While the girls were freaking out over what they just saw, Deville calmly cast another spell. A pillar of flames swallowed up the monster. The girls raised their arms to shield their faces from the intense light and heat.


    <hr>


    There''s no way the monster would be able to withstand that. It''s toast.


    Veronica quickly found out just how wrong she was when the monster''s large hand reached out to crush Deville. The older witch was quick to dodge the monster''s attack, and her heels clicked against the hard floor as she took several steps back. When the flames vanished, they saw it was completely unharmed.


    "Th-that''s impossible. There''s no way it could get away unscathed from Ms. Deville''s attack," one of the girls from the trio said.


    "It appears to have some magic resistance," Deville said, completely undeterred by what they were seeing.


    Magic resistance?


    "But Ms. Deville, I''ve never heard of such a thing," Nissa spoke up.


    Deville spared her a glance and said, "That''s because it''s normally a subject reserved for when you''re older."


    "What does that mean for us?" Nissa''s other friend asked.


    "It just means that it''s a bit tougher than usual. You have nothing to fear while I''m here."


    She launched herself at the monster, casting several different spells at the monster. Chains appeared from all over to wrap around the giant monster''s body as multiple fireballs struck it in the face. The monster howled as its vision was completely obstructed by smoke. Once Deville got in close, she pressed her wand against the monster''s belly. Its belly rippled before the monster was blown off its feet. Everyone''s jaw dropped.


    "Wow," one of the girls from the trio said.


    "That''s so cool," the other said.


    "Of course that''s to be expected from Ms. Deville," Nissa said as she puffed her chest out and held her head up high.


    Even though Veronica didn''t want to agree with her, she was right. The monster had made a show of not being affected by Deville''s magic, but she quickly dealt with it despite the disadvantage.


    Would she be able to do something like that someday?


    Deville turned to face the girls with a calm expression on her, only for it to transform into shock and horror. "Move!"


    They didn''t stand a chance.


    The girls were suddenly thrown in all directions. Veronica managed to catch a brief glimpse of what attacked them—she could only make out that it looked human and the crazy large hat on its head—but she had no clue what had just happened.


    One moment they were watching Deville, and the next they had been hit by something.


    Veronica braced for herself for the painful impact with the wall. However, she found herself crashing into the ground instead and rolling across the floor. When she finally stopped rolling, it took her a couple minutes to recover and look up. Her eyes widened at the sight of an entirely different place. Instead of a long hallway, it looked like she was trapped in one of those colorful playpens they used for babies.


    Her baby sister had one back at home, but it was white, not rainbow—rainbow was a horrible color choice—and there definitely wasn''t supposed to be a ceiling.


    She pushed herself to her feet as she scanned her surroundings and saw she was completely alone. The thought terrified her, and she scrambled to find a way out of the predicament she found herself in. Veronica searched the walls for a door or way out, but just like the playpen at home, the walls were completely solid with no hint of an exit. She backed away from the wall she had been inspecting before falling onto her butt.


    This couldn''t be happening. Veronica wasn''t even sure what was happening.


    Did she get hit by a spell that sent her to a playpen? If it was a spell, who could have cast it?


    IT''s definitely not Deville. There''s no way she would do something like this, and she looked pretty scared. What did she see?


    Veronica tried to recall more about what happened, but everything had happened too fast for her to properly remember what happened. If she wanted answers, she would have to ask one of the others, which she couldn''t do since they were currently separated. She wondered if everyone else had ended up in the same situation as her; however, she quickly shoved the thought of her head as she needed to focus on escaping this place.


    "Okay, if there isn''t a door, I''ll have to make one," she declared, getting back on her feet.


    Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Creating a door wasn''t something she had learned just yet.


    Was there even a spell for it?


    Well, she was about to find out if there was one.


    Her narrowed eyes burned holes into the walls as she attempted to use her broomstick to draw a door. After making four lines on the wall using the end of the broomstick, she added a doorknob and attempted to open her newly drawn door.


    Nothing happened.


    Her hand only touched the wall instead of grasping a doorknob. She mimed, grabbing the doorknob a couple of times before giving up on the idea and moving on to her next idea.


    This time she attempted to blow a hole in the wall with fire since she didn''t know how to create explosions. All it did was leave burn marks.


    Staring at the burn marks, she muttered, "Is it because my fire isn''t strong enough? Do I need to make them hotter?"


    She didn''t have a way to test that idea since she couldn''t make the fire any stronger than what she just used and was forced to move on to her next idea. Using earth magic had no effect on the wall either. Veronica wasn''t sure if it was because she wasn''t good at it or the walls weren''t made with earth. She made several more attempts, with each one as ineffective as the last.


    Throwing her arms into the air, she said, "There has to be some way to get out of here. I''m not going to give up."


    That''s when she heard a knock on the wall.