However, Veronica''s legs refused to budge.


    If she took even one step, no, if she even tried to move, Veronica was certain she would fall over like a puppet with its strings cut. Every fiber of her being was telling her to give up and not go after the clown.


    Move body. Move!


    Her body refused to listen as her eyes remained closed.


    How far had the clown gone already?


    Veronica couldn''t hear his steps anymore.


    As she was about to give in, she vaguely heard someone call out her name. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw Echo frantically attacking the clown. Her familiar''s attempts were pitiful as he flew around the clown like a fly clawing at the man with his claws. Seeing Echo desperately fight to save her baby sister gave her the push she needed to take a step forward.


    "Seriously, can you go away?" The clown waved Echo away. "Just because you''re cute doesn''t mean I won''t hurt you."


    He froze as he felt something tug on the back of his clothes and glanced behind him at Veronica, who steadfastly returned his gaze. "Give back my baby sister."


    Her hands shook as she continued to cling to the silent clown. Echo managed to grab onto some of the clown''s hair and pull, but the clown didn''t bat an eye. He continued to stare into Veronica''s eyes with a blank expression.


    Veronica had no clue what was going on in his head.


    Was the clown thinking about how to get rid of her?


    The thought only made her hands shake even more. Despite this, she refused to let go and tightened her grip even further.


    "I said let go of my baby sister," she repeated with more conviction.


    After several long moments, he finally made his move. As his hand reached out to her, Veronica flinched and closed her eyes. She fully expected him to deal with her like he had with the witch before her—why did she think it was a good idea to confront the clown without her broomstick or help from the other witches?—but what he did next was so shocking that she snapped open her eyes.


    He continued to pat her head like he was her dad and said, "You know what? You can have her back."


    Veronica speechlessly took her baby sister back, still reeling from the whiplash. She blinked several times, but the situation didn''t change.


    What''s going on? Did he really give her back? Why? He is the one who kept insisting on keeping her. What changed?


    Her confusion must have been obvious, as the clown seemed to take pity on her and answered her unspoken questions. "I''m just hired help. Technically, I wasn''t supposed to hurt anyone, but that witch from earlier was getting on my nerves."


    She wasn''t sure how she was supposed to react to that information and kept her mouth shut.


    "Anyway, I better get going. See ya," the clown said as he gave her a brief wave, which happened to knock Echo away and out of his hair.


    Then he was gone in a flash. Veronica stared at where the clown originally stood as Echo recovered from being swatted away.


    "Where did he go?" her familiar asked as he flew to her side.


    "I...I don''t know," she said, scanning the area for the clown.


    Honestly, she was just glad that the clown was gone and that they had made it out in one piece. She still didn''t get what the clown''s deal was, as his actions were weird, but she wasn''t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.


    "We should get out of here," Veronica said as she cradled her baby sister close to her chest.


    "How?" Echo asked as he landed on her shoulder.


    Veronica didn''t get a chance to answer as she dodged a blast of water. It flew past her and nearly hit another witch, who blocked it with a fireball. Unfortunately, this created a blast that caused Veronica to stumble. Luckily, she didn''t fall over and crush her baby sister with her weight. Now that she had her baby sister in her arms, she searched the vicinity for a safe place to hide until the battle was over.


    She didn''t feel a single ounce of regret running from the fighting.


    What did they expect her to do?


    Without her broomstick, she couldn''t cast any magic. She was currently no better than a regular human.


    Her eyes swiveled around the room with no signs of a safe spot. Veronica gritted her teeth as she was forced to move when decent-sized rocks were flung in her direction. They crashed into the ground behind her, kicking up dust and dirt.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    In the back of her mind, she vaguely wondered how there could be dirt when they weren''t even on the first floor.


    Suddenly, a strange sound reached her ears. Veronica spun around with a bewildered look on her face as she swore she had just heard a squeak even with everything happening around them. That''s when her gaze fell onto a mouse standing on top of a fallen statue. The two stared at each other before the mouse scurried down the statue and hurried away.


    Is that really a mouse? Did a witch really get a mouse as their familiar?


    The mouse abruptly stopped and looked back at her. Its gaze practically screamed at her to get a move on. Realizing that the mouse was actually trying to help her, she decided to run with it and followed after the mouse. The group navigated their way through the crowd away from the fighting. She glanced back several times to catch a glimpse of what was going, but she mostly kept her attention on the mouse.


    When they finally reached the other side of the room, she collapsed against the wall to catch her breath. "Thank you, uh, Mr. Mouse."


    "It''s Miss Mouse if you don''t mind," the mouse squeaked at her feet.


    <hr>


    If there wasn''t a wall behind her, Veronica would have thrown herself away from the talking mouse.


    Rather, what ended up happening was that her head crashed into the wall, causing her to keel over from the pain. Her baby sister chose this moment to start crying; the noise drowned out by the sound of fighting.


    Really? You pick now of all times to cry?


    Despite her baby sister''s inconvenient timing—seriously, her baby sister had been quiet while in the crazy clown''s arms—Veronica didn''t snap at her.


    Instead, Veronica urgently rocked her baby sister back and forth while hushing her. Her eyes jumped back and forth between her baby sister and the chaotic scene in front of her.


    Even though her baby sister''s cries couldn''t be heard over the sound of fighting, she didn''t want to risk the chance of drawing attention to themselves.


    Veronica was so focused on calming her baby sister down that she had forgotten about the talking mouse until she felt something brush against her ear. She jerked her head back, nearly dislodging the mouse that sank its paws into her clothes.


    "Hey, back away from my witch," Echo demanded as he hovered above them.


    "I''m not trying to take your witch," the talking mouse said as it steadied itself on Veronica''s shoulder. "I was just trying to get her attention."


    After staring at the talking mouse for a few seconds, Veronica blurted out, "How can you talk? How can I hear you?"


    The mouse titled its head to one side. "What are you talking about? Have you never seen a talking mouse before? Aren''t you a witch with a bat for a familiar?"


    Echo landed on Veronica''s head as he asked, "That''s absurd. A witch can only talk with their familiar. I''ve never heard of talking animals."


    She would have agreed with Echo if she didn''t remember her previous encounter with a talking black cat.


    Could this mouse be like that black cat? A witch in the form of a mouse?


    What she couldn''t get was why a mouse. There were plenty of other animals the witch could have chosen from, but they ended up going with a mouse. That was unless the witch had been forced to be a mouse. Then Veronica pitied her.


    "Oh, that''s how it is." Veronica never thought she would see a mouse adopt what appeared to be a thoughtful expression. "I forgot that''s the rule in this place. It''s hard to keep track of all the different rules of each place."


    Veronica didn''t get a chance to ask what the mouse meant as her baby sister wailed even louder, which she hadn''t thought was possible. Her eardrums felt like they were about to explode from the insistent crying. As she was about to return to rocking her baby sister, the mouse suddenly jumped off her shoulder onto her baby sister.


    "Time to go to sleep," the mouse said as it waved its paw of her baby sister''s face.


    Her baby sister''s wailing quieted down until she completely stopped. Her eyes fluttered before closing all the way.


    Without hesitation, Veronica freed one hand to grab the mouse and bring it close to her face as she demanded, "What did you do?"


    Unbothered by her reaction, the mouse said, "I just put her to sleep. It''s nothing dangerous or permanent. It''ll only last at most half an hour."


    If it weren''t for the slight rise and fall of her baby sister''s chest and the warmth she felt, Veronica would have thought the mouse was lying.


    "How did you do that? Familiars can''t use magic," Veronica said.


    It was well known that familiars couldn''t perform magic. Being able to talk didn''t count since familiars could only talk to their own witch thanks to the bond. This just further cemented the idea that the mouse in her hand was really a witch in a mouse''s body.


    "Well, you already know that I''m not a normal mouse or familiar," the mouse said before being cut off by Veronica''s aha.


    "So you are a witch in a mouse''s body," Veronica said.


    "Wha—yeah. You could say that."


    She had a lot of questions for the mouse, but the abrupt shaking of the floor reminded Veronica that this was probably not the time or place to ask.


    "So, uh, Mister, no, Miss Mouse, can you help us?" Veronica asked anxiously as her eyes darted around.


    "If you expect me to be a powerful witch in a mouse disguise, I have to disappoint you." Veronica wilted. "But I can try to help. What do you need from me?"


    "Can you stop those bad guys?"


    "...That''s not within my power. Besides, I think someone else will come to save the day."


    Right as she was about to ask what the mouse meant, the ceiling above them was blown right off.


    Veronica wasn''t sure what happened. One moment there was a ceiling above them. The next, the ceiling was just gone. It had completely disappeared without a trace, like it had never been there to begin with.


    This certainly got everyone''s attention as all eyes turned upward at the sudden light and cold wind. Veronica''s eyes widened at the sight of the moonlight illuminating the figure of a beautiful woman standing on top of a broomstick. Her silver hair floated around her as her red eyes stared emotionlessly down at them. She slowly raised a hand until it was eye level and snapped.


    "That''s impossible," someone said as the sky filled with icicles.


    As to prove the voice wrong, the icicles fell down like a torrent of rain. Veronica instinctively flinched and curled herself around her baby sister to protect her from the sudden attack.


    However, it didn''t seem like it was necessary.


    Whether it was because she didn''t seem to be a threat or happened to be out of range, none of the icicles landed close to her. They stopped several feet away, but that didn''t stop Veronica from putting as much distance between them and the icicles as possible.


    She would rather be safe than sorry.