The Drunk Witch Chronicles

When you're switching forms and get confused

-Hazel, look- Athena pointed upwards.-Trees!

Hazel followed her finger but had to look down quickly when she tripped over her own feet.

They were walking down the middle of the road, trying to get back to the house where their other sisters were already asleep. They would have gotten there way quicker with the brooms they had flown out with but Celeste had to be a killjoy and take them away when she went back, a good two hours earlier. Just because they were, admittedly, a bit tipsy, didn't mean they couldn't fly just fine.

One hand went to her head to fix her pointy hat, but Hazel noted it was no longer there. Turning around, she saw it on the floor, where it must have fell when she tried to admire the trees Athena was still looking at. She hadn't moved at all since then and was still pointing to the naked branches swaying above them.

-Dude,-Athena had the annoying habit of calling everyone dude- Don't they look like, super comfy?

Hazel, considering her words decided that, to better see what she was talking about, there was no other way than to sit down, so she wouldn't fall. No sooner had she gathered her layers of skirts and leant down that Athena joined her, laying flat on her back.

-'ena, you're right. They look like pillows- This comment caused Athena to giggle, which in turn made Hazel laugh, and in no time the two of them were sprawled on the asphalt laughing and each other's laughter.

When their mirth subsided a little neither of them felt like getting up so they stayed there, still considering the trees.

-If I was a bird I would sleep up there

-If I was a bird I'd have already flown back home- Complained Hazel,  making no move to try and actually get there.

-Dude,-Athena sat up so fast that she feared she'd throw up and had to take a second before the world stopped spinning. One hand still covering her eyes, she turned to Hazel.-We are witches

The sheer amazement in her tone threw them both in another fit of uncontrolled laughter.

-Yeah, I kind of already knew.- She was giggling

-But like, we CAN fly.- Athena was so excited by her discovery that she was waving her hands around her like she was trying to take flight right then and there. Her bright pink hat fell off her head and landed beside her. Hazel was impressed it had lasted this long.

-Yeah, but Celeste took our brooms-She looked around as if the artifacts would have been left somewhere along the way.

No such luck, Celeste would be home by now, all cozy with their brooms. The image of her tucked into bed hugging hers and Athena's broom to her chest like a pair of teddy bears made her smile like an idiot.

-Oh, right.-Athena looked down, her face sad and a little lost.

Athena's hands were now dropped at her sides, no longer trying to lift her up into the air. The sight broke Hazel's heart but before she could get up to comfort her sister and idea occurred to her.

-We're witches!- She exclaimed, louder than she thought she would.

Athena startled and fell on her back, looking up to her, confused.-I already said that.

By the time her eyes focused, she could see that Hazel had gotten up and was drawing on the floor with a piece of chalk she hadn't had a second ago.

-We're witches- She explained, focused on the white circle she was making.-That means we can do magic...-

When she didn't continue Athena nodded her head at her and waved a hand.-That's kind of the point.-

-So,- Hazel continued as if she hadn't stopped,-You can sleep in the trees if you want and I can just fly back home!

She spoke so excitedly that Athena clapped with enthusiasm -Yay!- Then her brow furrowed,-How?

Hazel straightened, looking down at her work. It wasn't perfect but if she kept looking down any longer she'd puke.

-We,- she gestured to her and Athena- are going to turn into owls

She stood decidedly in the circle and held up a had. After fumbling for a while Athena got to her feet and into the chalk drawing. The two held hands and mumbled the words they'd had studied for a while and a cloud of gray acrid smoke engulfed them.

###

The men in the bar have been useless. They claimed that the two women drinking last night had left at closing hour and walked out. If that was true then they should have been home at dawn, when Old Fabula woke up. She always did a round of the bedrooms to assure herself that all the girls were safe and sound. But when she reached the attic and found only Celeste sound asleep on her bunk she woke up the whole house.

Three of them were still trying the locating spells, but nothing changed, they couldn't find them. Celeste and another two flew to the bar to ask if they had seen anything. No one had seen them after they left, and they didn't go with anyone else.

They decided to walk back home, hoping there'd be some clues as to what happened to them. Celeste was beating herself up for abandoning her sisters in that state. It was a common occurrence but they always made it back. She had taken their brooms, a safety measure after Hazel broke her nose for the fifth time last month for flying directly into a trunk one night.

Too busy mulling things over, Celeste didn't see Levana's back until she collided with it.

-Ouch,- She rubbed her forehead and looked up, trying to see why they'd stopped.

They had turned a corner and were on the house private driveway now. On the middle of the road, lying sideways, was a bright pink pointed hat, and not too far was a messy chalk drawing.

Horror filled Celeste, they could have portal-ed to another dimension, they could have destroyed their physical forms, they could have... Panicking, she looked to Levana, but before she could say anything a loud meow startled her.

As the two of them had been staring, horrified, at the hat and the magic circle, Maude, who had been walking along side them, stood under a tree, squinting up.

On the top of the tree they saw two huge fluffy cats.

One of them was curled up, asleep on precarious balance between two branches, face content. The second one, however, was wide awake, big yellow eyes stared at them in a night of black fur. The black cat meowed at them again.

It took only a second for the three witches to recognize their sisters' animal forms but it took a lot longer for them to stop laughing and pointing and get their bearings for long enough so they could get their brooms and rescue the two, impressively hungover, cats.