Veronica would like to say that in that moment several thoughts were crossing her mind or how she was thinking about how she was going to land safely, but none of that happened.


    She screamed, flailing her arms around as she flew through the air.


    Someone! Help me!


    Unfortunately, no one seemed to pay her any mind.


    When Veronica began her descent back to the ground, she shut her eyes and held her arms out in front of her as she hoped that it wouldn''t hurt too much. Veronica slammed into the ground, and the air was knocked out of her. For several seconds, she laid there on the strangely not very hard surface to catch her breath. She was abruptly shoved to the side, leaving her frazzled and confused. One look back at the witches she had used as her cushion told her everything.


    "Uh, sorry?" she said, still out of it.


    "Don''t just stand there. Help us out of these ropes," one of the witches snapped.


    Veronica almost said back that she wasn''t standing, but she had recovered enough of her wits to not say it.


    Instead, she hurried to fiddle with the ropes, keeping the witches tied up. The stubborn ropes refused to give way as her face contorted in concentration. Her sweaty hands didn''t help as she struggled to get a good grip on them, and she mumbled a curse when the ropes refused to budge.


    "Hurry up," the witch hissed.


    "I''m trying," Veronica snapped back.


    "Well, try faster."


    The ground shook violently, nearly sending everyone tumbling to the ground. Veronica glanced back, and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. The little girl from before was beating the living daylights out of the men without breaking a sweat.


    You gotta be kidding me. Is she even human?


    She had never seen something so outrageous in her entire life, which was saying something considering she was a witch.


    The little girl jumped onto one of the men''s shoulders and performed a flip, avoiding being hit by a whip. Unluckily for the man she had jumped on, he got slapped in the face. To add insult to injury, the little girl landed behind him and slammed her foot into the back of his knee. The man fell down with a curse before she punched him in the face. She promptly hurried on to the next opponent once he was out for the count.


    "What are you doing?" Veronica tore her gaze away from the fight to look back at the witch she had been trying to free. "Don''t just watch them. Get me out of these ropes."


    "Give me a sec," she said and tugged on the rope with the grunt.


    The witch hissed in pain and glared at Veronica, but Veronica wasn''t paying her any mind.


    This isn''t working. I need something to work with. Anything would help right now.


    A quiet meow drew her attention. She almost jumped when she saw a familiar black cat right next to her.


    Where had it come from?


    Veronica hadn''t even heard it coming. Well, it didn''t matter how it got there without anyone noticing—she actually had an idea, but it wasn''t important in the whole scheme of things—she now had a way to get the witches free.


    "Mr. Black Cat, can you help me free everyone here?" Veronica asked.


    The black cat gave her a look with its green eyes that she couldn''t decipher before using its claws to cut the rope. As she watched the black cat free everyone, Veronica couldn''t figure out if the rope was a lot weaker than she thought or the black cat was a lot more powerful than she realized.


    It could be both, for all she knew.


    However, their actions didn''t go unnoticed as one of the men shouted, "Hey! The witches are escaping!"


    "Escaping?" Veronica tensed at the familiar voice and watched as Deville strode forward with an expressionless face. "Do you really think I''ll run away from my home, my own turf?" In a flash, icicles filled the room. "I don''t think so."


    The icicles launched towards the men as Deville followed it up with bolts of lightning. The other witches quickly joined in. Veronica kept her head down as she anxiously kept an eye out for her baby sister. When she last looked, she had seen the clown holding onto her.


    She wasn''t sure how he did it, but he kept just out of the fight to avoid being caught up in the attacks while still actively participating.


    I swear if even a single strand of hair on my baby sister''s head is cut, I''m going to give him a good kick in between the legs.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Well, that was only if she could actually catch the clown. Considering how agile he was, it was going to be tough to get close. Maybe if she was lucky, she could land a hit on him.


    Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw them.


    The clown had completely retreated to the side, and no one seemed to notice or care about him or her baby sister. It was actually kind of weird how no one even approached them. Veronica would have thought at least one witch would have attacked them, not that she wanted that to happen. She was relieved to see her baby sister out of danger, but something about the whole situation bugged her.


    With everyone distracted, Veronica made her way to the clown. Avoiding the spells being flung around, she inched closer and closer to the clown''s back. Right as she was about to throw herself at his back and snatch her baby sister away, the clown abruptly spun around.


    "Oh, I thought I felt someone''s eyes on me. How strange. I didn''t expect anyone to notice me," the clown said with a jovial tone.


    Ignoring his strange words, Veronica demanded, "Hand my baby sister back to me or else you''re going to regret it."


    <hr>


    The clown gave her a once-over before asking, "And how are you going to do that?"


    Veronica hated how judgmental he sounded and how right he was to be. She had failed to recover her broomstick before showing up to confront the clown. Her plan had been to take him by surprise and get out of there with her baby sister before he could have a chance to react. Unfortunately, that plan had failed before she could act on it.


    Now she was stuck staring the clown down, hoping she could find an opening to snatch her baby sister back.


    "Well, if you''re not going to do anything, then I''ll be going," he said before performing a backflip.


    It had been so sudden and out of left field that Veronica could only blink. She had been expecting him to take advantage of having a hostage and fight her.


    Why was he running away?


    She snapped out of her shock and screamed, "Get back! Give me back, my baby sister!"


    "Sorry, that''s not going to happen," the clown said as he continued to backflip without stopping.


    Veronica scowled, chasing after the duo. Her shout had drawn the attention of nearby witches, who suddenly realized that they had missed one of the intruders and aimed their wands at them. Luckily, the clown dodged the numerous fireballs and waves of water heading towards him while keeping Veronica''s baby sister out of harm''s way.


    When a lightning bolt brushed past her baby sister''s head, Veronica snarled, "Watch where you''re aiming. You could have hit my baby sister."


    "Who cares?" the witch who had fired the lightning bolt snapped. "It''s just a human baby."


    She gnashed her teeth together, ready to spit out some biting words, when the clown gave a dramatic sigh.


    The witches focused their attention back on the clown as he said, "This is why the witch hunts happened. You''re all so barbaric."


    "How dare you!" the witch screamed, sending a torrent of flame at the clown.


    Veronica gasped as she was hit by a wave of heat and raised her arms to protect her face. Between the gaps in her raised arms, she watched with horrified eyes as the flames struck the clown and her baby sister.


    "No!" she screamed, unable to do anything to save her baby sister.


    The witch who unleashed the spell smirked, panting heavily from exerting so much magic. Veronica wanted to wipe the smirk off her face when she saw what was behind the witch, and her jaw dropped.


    "Well, that wasn''t very nice." The witch lost her smirk as the clown''s shadow loomed over her. "I was simply telling the truth. I suppose I should return the favor."


    Spinning on her heel, the witch raised her wand. However, the clown was faster and grabbed her forehead. What happened next was so gruesome that Veronica had to look away and barely kept herself from throwing up. Not everyone could do the same, as she heard several witches puking. Forcing herself to look back at the clown, she pointedly avoided gazing at the witch sprawled on the ground.


    The clown grimaced as he pulled a handkerchief out of nowhere and wiped his bloodied hand on it. "That was unpleasant. This is why I don''t like participating in fights." Then he noticed everyone else''s reaction. "Oh, sorry about that. It''s not exactly kid-friendly, but don''t worry. I''ll fix that."


    With a snap of his fingers, a pink cloud burst out in front of him, right where the witch''s body was. Her gaze was drawn back to the witch against her will. Veronica did a double take as the blood had been replaced with stuffing.


    She couldn''t decide if this was more horrifying than what she had seen just moments before or not.


    "Now that gruesome sight is out of the way, I suggest all you focus on fighting someone else," the clown said as he waved them away.


    Before Veronica could open her mouth, one of the witches exclaimed, "Where did he go? He was just here a moment ago."


    Veronica gave her a befuddled look as another witch said, "He must have used magic to teleport away."


    What are they talking about? He''s right here.


    She glanced between the clown and the other witches, who continued to insist he was no longer there.


    Had the clown used magic to make them think he teleported away? Then why could she still see him?


    He must have felt her gaze as he turned in her direction. "Huh. It looks like my magic doesn''t work on you. How peculiar."


    "What did you do?" she asked, her face contorted in utter confusion.


    The clown hummed his face, taking on a thoughtful expression before saying, "Let''s just say I performed a magic trick." That wasn''t an answer, but he clearly didn''t care as he continued, "Now I suggest you leave too, or else I''ll have to deal with you just like I dealt with the other witch."


    In an instant, all her bravado went up in smoke.


    Her gaze lowered back to the witch at his feet, and she imagined herself in the witch''s place. She instantly slammed her eyes shut, but it was too late as the image was seared into her eyes. Her legs shook, and she found it hard to breathe. Veronica jerked at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder.


    "Take deep breaths. I''m not going to do anything to you as long as you stay out of my way," the clown whispered in her ear.


    If that was his attempt to calm her down, he did a terrible job.


    His hand pulled away from her shoulder. Despite all the noise around them, she could hear him walking away from her. Each step echoed loudly in her ears as he moved farther and farther away.


    Soon he would be gone along with her baby sister.


    I have to stop him. If I don''t, I might not see her ever again.