Veronica stared speechless at Leta''s back, her jaw still hanging open.


    What was she talking about?


    She hadn''t run away.


    Before she could clear up the misconception, Leta continued, "She''s still inexperienced and has a lot to learn. I want to see you stick around when things get dangerous with only two years of experience."


    "Two years?" one of the witches whispered. "How old is she?"


    "I''ve never heard of a witch only having two years of experience," another said.


    "Hold on. I think I have." All eyes turned to the witch as she asked, "Wasn''t there a young witch who showed up with a human baby even though she isn''t the minimum age?"


    In an instant, everyone whipped their heads to stare in Veronica''s direction. She flinched and cowered behind Leta at the sudden attention, as she knew what was about to happen next.


    "Hang on. Doesn''t that mean she''s twelve years old? That would make her the youngest witch here. Why didn''t the man take her instead?" Bernardette asked.


    I don''t know. Why don''t you ask the masked man when you see him again?


    Leta came to the rescue again as she said, "That should be obvious. If I hadn''t shown up, I''m certain that the masked man would have taken her away. That''s why he ended up changing targets."


    "Why would he do that when he was winning?" Bernardette asked.


    "Don''t ask me. How should I know?"


    "Enough girls," said the oldest witch as she finally stepped in.


    You could have stepped in sooner. Why were you just standing there?


    However, Veronica suspected that the witch had let things devolve on purpose. If Leta hadn''t come to her defense, even if she misunderstood things, it would have been a witch hunt, which was kind of ironic considering they were all witches.


    "Veronica." She jerked back as the oldest witch focused her attention on Veronica. "Can you explain what happened between getting separated from your group and joining ours? I''m sure it would help ease everyone''s concerns if you did."


    Veronica winced.


    It seemed that things really had come down to this. They weren''t going to let it go, and she couldn''t come up with a convincing lie that wouldn''t blow up in her face. Well, she never planned on lying about what happened anyway.


    From behind Leta, she said, "You won''t believe me even if I tell you."


    "I promise we won''t judge. Just tell us," the oldest witch urged.


    "Okay, but don''t say I didn''t warn you."


    If they wanted the full story, they were going to get it. She didn''t spare any details, no matter how outrageous it was. Veronica had thought someone would interrupt her while she was telling her story, but it seemed that everyone was too overwhelmed with what they were hearing to say a word.


    "And that''s it," Veronica said, ending her tale.


    Not a moment too soon, one of the witches demanded, "Do you really expect us to believe something so crazy? How can a cat talk and use magic? Tell us the truth."


    "I told you that you wouldn''t believe me."


    The oldest witch stepped in before an argument could break out. "Stop. Thank you for speaking up, Veronica. It must have been difficult."


    No kidding. She had been fretting over whether or not they were going to accuse her of making it up and hound her for it.


    "Are you seriously believing her story?" one of the witches asked.


    "I''ll admit it''s a bit unbelievable." At the oldest witch''s admission, the other witches except for Bernardette and Leta gave Veronica a triumphant gaze. "However, it is still possible. Witches can transform themselves into animals and retain their ability to speak."


    Everyone stared at her wide-eyed for several moments.


    One witch gathered up the courage to ask what was on everyone''s minds. "We can?"


    She nodded. "It is, but the magic behind it is too advance for your age. It''s something meant for when you''re older, as it''s quite risky and hard to pull off."


    Why does it feel like every magic we''ve never seen before is something we will learn when we''re older? I''ve never seen a single witch use the magic she''s talking about. Shouldn''t we have at least heard about it or met a witch who had transformed herself into an animal?


    "However, that is neither here nor now. Veronica, can you tell us more about the talking cat you encountered? You might have missed something when retelling us what happened," the oldest witch said.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Veronica took a moment to think about it before shaking her head. "No, that''s all I know." A thought suddenly crossed her mind, and she added, "Well, I did encounter another black cat. It didn''t talk, but it looked just like the first cat except with different eye colors."


    "Really? Where is it now?"


    "I''m not sure. I think it walked off."


    The group instantly scanned their surroundings, hoping to spy the black cat among all the familiars still gathered around.


    Unfortunately, the black cat was nowhere in sight, though there were plenty of cats and plenty of black animals. It seemed to have disappeared in a hurry, almost like it was trying to get away.


    "We need to find that black cat," the oldest witch declared as she held up her arm for an owl to land on it. "Have you seen where the cat could have gone, Ozzie?" The owl hooted a couple times. "Please lead us to it."


    It gave a nod before taking into the air. Several familiars followed the owl while the others dispersed in other directions. Veronica assumed they were searching for their witches, but she couldn''t spare them any thought as she followed the rest of the group chasing after the owl. As they ran down the hallway, she expected for monsters to show up to block their path like they always did.


    However, not a single one made an appearance. Their path was completely undisturbed, not that she was upset about it. Veronica was glad they wouldn''t have to face any. It just seemed off that there weren''t any.


    Had the other witches dealt with all of them, or were the monsters somewhere else?


    She had a bad feeling about this.


    <hr>


    Suddenly, someone stepped out in front of the witches. The group slowed to a stop at the sight of a clown holding a baby. Veronica''s eyes widened as she recognized her baby sister in the clown''s arms. She took a step forward, but Leta grabbed her shoulder to stop her. Veronica threw a betrayed and angry look at her friend; however, the other girl wasn''t looking at her. That''s when she realized that Leta''s hand was shaking.


    "Oh, I didn''t expect to come across any witches. I guess those monsters wouldn''t be enough to deal with all of you," the clown said in a cheerful tone.


    The oldest witch narrowed her eyes as she held up her wand. "So it was you who unleashed the monsters. What are you after?"


    "Hmm...I don''t want to tell you."


    Veronica gnashed her teeth. She was ready to shove Leta away and throw herself at the clown when the oldest witch immediately pelted the clown with icicles.


    In an instant, her anger transformed into horror and panic as she screamed, "Wait! He has my baby sister!"


    The other witches except for the oldest glanced back at her with a mixture of expressions—none of them pity or concern except from Leta and Bernardette. Luckily or unluckily, the clown dodged the icicles through a series of flips and spins. To add insult to injury, he did it like he was performing a circus act and laughing the entire time.


    "How scary. You witches really don''t know how to chill out," the clown said once the attack ended.


    Instead of giving him a response, the oldest witch simply attacked again with a bolt of lightning. When he avoided that with a back flip, she followed up with a wave of water. The clown scaled the walls like a monkey and hung from one of the paintings as the water rushed past him. Veronica didn''t know how the painting didn''t fall off from his weight, but she was just relieved to see that her baby sister made it out unharmed while resting peacefully in the clown''s arms.


    "You do know I have a baby in my arms, right? Do you really not care? I mean, she''s one of your own, isn''t she?" the clown said as he raised the baby up in the air.


    She sucked in a breath at the sight of her baby sister being paraded around as a hostage.


    "She isn''t one of our own," the oldest witch said before sending a fireball at him.


    He calmly jumped down from the painting and rolled across the ground while making sure that the baby remained unharmed. The burning painting collapsed to the ground, its burning remains acting as a wall between them.


    "Oh? Didn''t I just hear one of you shout that she''s her baby sister?" the clown asked before pointing at Veronica. "Or maybe you don''t consider her to be one of your own either." When no one spoke, he erupted into a belly laugh. "Wow. This is hilarious. Well, I guess that''s witches for you. In that case, I''ll take both of your hands."


    "Not a chance," Let snarled as she sent a wave of ice at his feet.


    The clown somersaulted away until the ice stopped. He stood at the edge of the ice and waved at them before turning and running away.


    Veronica threw herself forward only to be stopped by Leta again as she screamed, "Come back!"


    The oldest witch summoned a gust of wind that blew out of the flames and headed for the clown. However, the clown turned a corner, disappearing from view, letting the gust blow right by him.


    That was the last straw for Veronica, who shoved Leta off of her. "Why did you stop me? He has my baby sister."


    "You saw what he could do right. He was able to avoid all our magic like it was nothing," Leta said.


    The reminder of how callous the oldest witch was at using magic with her baby sister in the direct line of fire burned her. Veronica threw a disgusted look at the oldest witch, wishing to set her on fire with just her gaze.


    Unbothered by the look she was receiving, the oldest witch calmly said, "She''s right. We can''t put the group in danger over a human."


    "That''s my baby sister you''re talking about," Veronica spat.


    "Like you actually care." Veronica snapped her head in the direction of the muttering witch and glared at her. "What? It''s true. If you really care about the human baby, shouldn''t you have been carrying her around instead?"


    At once, her anger was blown out, leaving behind self-loathing. The witch was right. If she had simply carried her baby sister everywhere instead of dumping her in a room with her familiar, then her baby sister wouldn''t have been taken by the clown. No, if she had simply stayed at home and watched her baby sister like her mom asked, none of this would have happened.


    She barely felt Leta''s hand on her shoulder as her friend said, "Whatever you might feel about Veronica''s sister, don''t you think it''s suspicious that the clown took her?" At everyone''s befuddled expressions, she continued, "Think about it. They''ve been taking witches, so why would they want a human baby?"


    Her words lit a fire in Veronica, who shoved aside her self-deprecating thoughts to think about what she was saying.


    Leta was right. The clown had no reason to take her baby sister if they were only after young witches. He should have ignored her baby sister to hunt down some witches, but he didn''t. In fact, he had even been careful to make sure her baby sister was unharmed. There had to be a reason why.


    "Do you think he might have mistaken the human baby for a witch?" one of the witches timidly asked.


    "That makes sense," another witch said. "Who would think a human baby would be here at a witching hour party?"


    What they''re saying makes sense, but why do I feel like they''re not right? What am I missing?