Page 73 of Disenchanted

There was a yell. A crash. A caterwaul. An enormous unnatural sound of metal against something solid and a heavy thud against the kitchen floor. Sage’s eyes shot open to find Casimir collapsed, knocked out cold. Mal, having leapt down from a kitchen cupboard onto Casimir’s back to distract him, was looking thoroughly smug, a paw resting triumphantly on the prince’s chest.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” he said, sinking a flex of his claws into Casimir’s doublet.

Mal looked up approvingly at Maggie, who was stood over Casimir, wielding her biggest saucepan above her head with shaky arms and heavy breathing.

“Now, I shall have absolutely none of that in my kitchen, Mr. Everald! You are not yourself, sir!” Maggie shouted at him, despite the fact he was entirely out cold. She straightened herself and squared her shoulders. “No soul has ever been more welcome in this house than madam, and you’d do most well to remember it.”

“Maggs!” Sage suddenly came back to her senses, bolting around the kitchen table to her housekeeper’s side. It was as though Maggie snapped out of a trance, suddenly aware of herself and what she’d done.

“Oh, madam! Forgive me! A thousand apologies. I know not what came over me. I was simply compelled to make sure of your safety. I didn’t mean to…”

Sage clapped her on the back before touching her own throat, rubbing at the tenderness that the sword had left behind. “Didn’t know you had it in you, Maggie. You’re a regular badass. Remind me to never cross you and your saucepans.”

“Erm, hello? What about me?” Mal said, climbing up Sage’s leg and batting her knee for attention. “Did nobody see the death-defying manoeuvre I just performed to bring that fool to his knees? Now who’s the little one?”

She stooped down to scoop him up and gave him a grateful scruff on the head.

“Where would I be without you?” she asked fondly. “You’re the bravest cat I know.” He purred in reply.

Even in Maggie’s distinctly grey state, her face was still lit up with a pleased, proud blush at the compliments. “Madam, you mustn’t tarry. Leave this, ahem, matter to me. Clean-ups are my speciality, after all, aside from being a simple…badass.” She gestured to the heap of handsome prince at their feet, who gave the slightest stir and a scrunch of his nose in sleep. “Mal and I shall deal with the prince when he comes to. Fortune permitting, we may have even knocked some sense back into the actual Mr. Everald.”

“Where will you go?” Mal asked, his pupils wide with concern.

Sage had never felt more grateful for her two housemates. “There’s only one place of note left in the town where I have yet to venture.”

Mal raised his eyebrows in an “ohh?” response.

“The Equinox. The art gallery,” Sage told them.

Maggie nodded excitedly, clapping against her saucepan. “Lily would choose the grandest building in the town to enact the end of the curse. Oftentimes, when we were younger, we would promenade through the gardens to admire its splendour when the weather was warm.” The ghost’s face faltered at the newest memory. “ ’Tis the jewel in the crown of Port Sylvan.”

“It’s taken on the aesthetics of a castle of sorts since the spell took hold. There’s a strong likelihood of some kind of showdown,” Sage agreed with finality, rushing through to the hallway to gather her coat and shoes. “I’ll make my way through the thorns, and the most likely probability is that I’ll meet the very last chapter of the curse inside. It seems a satisfying hypothesis.”

“Should you have some books for us to turn to while you continue on your quest, Sage? Perchance a few notes for Mal and me to consult? I always fancied myself as an adventurer; we might discover prior research on fairy-tale castles or—”

“There’s nothing left. I got rid of it all,” Sage said, batting a hand as she slipped on her coat. Now was as good a time as any to drop that bombshell.

Maggie reeled. “Madam?”

Sage sighed. “It’s gone. All of it. Technically, I’m no longer a witch, if you really want to get into the specifics of it all. I banished my magic.” Maggie’s hand flew to her mouth, and Sage was horrified to see glittering, silver tears pool immediately in her friend’s eyes.

“Oh, Sage,” Mal said quietly, shaking his head.

She jutted up her chin and swallowed hard. “I did what I had to do. And now I have to end this, once and for all.”

Blinking back tears, Maggie nodded silently. Despite their many differences in nature, they had always understood each other. The moment was broken as a grumble came from Casimir, who was clutching his head and attempting to sit upright on the kitchen tiles.

“You must go, before he apprehends you once again. I’ll watch over him, madam,” Maggie said, trying to reassure her friend as best she could. “And Mal too. All will be well, Sage.”

Sage gave a singular, defiant nod. Her heart was hammering so fiercely in her chest that she wondered if she might have been having some sort of medical emergency. Whatever it was, it was an emergency that would have to wait until she had finished her to-do list, just for a change.

There was a curse to see through to the end. She had a family to save.

“I know.”

31

The Echo