“No-no-no,” Mena sobbed as she clutched her body in terror. “Please don’t let it be true.”

The unicornea skeleton rose from behind the garbage pile and drew closer to Mena. Its horse-teeth now sharp and its eye a black void ready to swallow Mena’s happiness and sanctity.

“You didn’t come in time…” it said, its voice a ghastly rasp. “The Mal-Essence devoured me-hee-hee and moved onto its next target…”

The remains of the quadruped prowled forward, drawing closer and closer to Mena. Mena let out a scream, but nothing would come out of her dry throat. Her foot locked with a pile of garbage and she fell backwards but the horse continued to converge. It lowered its head right into Mena’s face and the air grew cold and dry as it breathed out of its cold dead mouth, “It moved onto its next target…youuuuuuu.”

Mena’s scratchy throat finally let out a scream as she braced herself for the inevitable end. But much to her surprise, there was a mew of a kitten instead. She turned her head to see an adorable black kitten with a red ribbon wrapped around its neck.

“RRRRRR” it hissed, putting its front legs forward with a determined expression. “Row-meow-row-mew.”

The horse was about to take a bite out of Mena’s face, but right as its bone-dry lips hovered over Mena’s button nose, the unicornea skeleton was flung into the back wall, where it shattered into a pile of bones. The horse’s spirit, a rainbow maned unicornea twirled out of it whinnying, “I’m free-hee-hee” as it pirouetted into the sky.

Mena marveled at the cat’s abilities and was even more amazed when it wrote in the dirt. “That horse was surprisingly brittle, but then again, what do you expect from a pile of bones. How are you, my niece?”

Mena read the words out loud and did a triple take and a half. “Auntie Grizabella?”

The cat meowed proudly, nodding its cute black head with its emerald, green eyes. Mena slumped to the ground as she hugged the kitten. “Thank you sooooo much, Auntie. Because of you, the only casualty today was my miniskirt.”

The kitten looked up at Mena with wide eyes and she said, “I wet it.”

Her whiskers standing straight up in revulsion, the kitten carefully walked a short distance from her niece before writing, “Never mind that. So, what brings you to Wormwood?”

Mena was about to answer when suddenly the door opened. Nick, May and Janus all stood outside, all shocked at Mena being on the ground with a slightly damp miniskirt.

“Mena?” May exclaimed, her panicked eyes magnified in the frames of the glasses. “Are you ok? Why are you on the ground soaked?”

“So, that’s what she’s into,” Nick said with a dirty smile, and got elbowed by Janus’ boney arm.

Mena filled her friends in on what had happened, and everyone, even Nick, seemed to become aware of the severity of the situation. Mena at last asked, “How did you know I was out here?”

Janus gave a knowing smile and placed her arm around the basic witch. “We know how directionally challenged you are, Mena. So, we put two and two together and came out here.”

“Thank my lucky stars for you, guys.... and my auntie,” Mena sighed in relief and positioned to the nearby cat. “By the way, this kitten IS my auntie.”

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the kitten who licked her paws and purred. “You’re not that catty,” Nick remarked. “So, I don’t see the resemblance.”

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Grizabella hissed at Nick and Mena rolled her eyes at his corny joke. May and Janus both smiled and said, “Hi Mena’s Aunt.”

Auntie Grizabella was a bit more receptive of them and gave them a friendly mew. They already knew that Anguish’s crones had turned her into a cat against her will.

Mena, for the first time since she arrived at Wormwood put on a serious face. She had finally realized the severity of the situation. “We might need to need to get a ‘To-Go box’ and head back to the hotel”—Mena pumped her fist in the air—"There’s two things I’m changing when I get back—My clothes and my attitude.”

As Mena and her friends headed back to the hotel, she reminded herself of the horse and how she deliberately blamed Mena for her death—something that greatly affected the young witch. Not only was she somewhat responsible for not arriving in time, but it was a promise she could no longer fulfill to her friend, Iris. As they bid goodbye to Nick at the front of the Newt T. hotel, she knew what she had to do to secure a place to sleep.

“Guys,” Mena said, placing her hands on her hips and closing her eyes. They had stepped inside the lobby, past the autonomous opening doors. “I’ve got something I need to tell you.”

May and Janus looked intently at her. Even Janus avoided her usual sarcasm for the time being.

“I know I’ve been a bit of brat…again,” Mena said, making sure to add the ‘again.’ “And that I wanted to see the sights because I was so star-struck. But now, it’s time to be mature. And I’m going to get us a place to sleep.”

May gave a round faced smile and held her hands together in approval. “What’s that Mena?”

“I’m going to get Janus and I jobs.”

Janus strolled over with an impressed look on her face. She patted Mena on the back. “Wow, Mena. You’re really going to work? You ARE taking this seriously.”

Mena shaded red and asked angrily, “What’s that supposed to me?”

Janus jumped and then smiled innocently. “Nothing. I’m proud of you, Mena.”

Mena returned with a brace-faced smile. “Bella told us this hotel was understaffed. So obviously, we can score some room and board here if we work for the establishment.”

Feeling very proud of herself, Mena marched right up to Bella Belson who was snoozing on the desk. “Bella,” Mena asked, awaking the bellhop from her evening slumber.

“Huh-wuh,” the sleepy bellhop responded, and then dinged the bell loudly, causing herself to wake up quicker. “What is it?”

“Umm, about that,” Mena said, putting her hands behind her back. “I was wondering, could we get a job here? Janus and I?”

Bella straightened her mustache and tried to look professional. “Hmm,” she said. “You better want it. We got a whole host of applications today. Seems its vacation season in West Wormwood.”

“Oh no,” Mena squeaked, before she puckered her lips and put on her brave face again. “Two jobs, please. Sign us up.”

“Oh really?” Bella mischievously raised an eyebrow and grinned from behind her mustache. “I really want you to tell me this: Please can I have a job?”

Mena looked helplessly at her friends but boldly puckered up her face again. “Please can I have a job?”

“Louder,” Bella said, putting her hand to her ear. “I can’t hear you.”

Mena tried to remain humble and restrained. “Please can I have a job?”

“I want to hear it even louder,” Bella said, making a motion towards her ear.

“PLEASE CAN I HAVE A JOB?” Mena screamed, causing Bella to remove a cone shaped megaphone from behind her desk.

“I really wanna hear it from you,” Bella exclaimed, screaming into the megaphone. “Scream at me like you want to dress up in an embarrassingly frilly maid outfit and lick food off the carpet: PLEASE CAN I HAVE A JOB PLEASE?”

Mena put both hands on the table and screamed forward into the hapless bell-hop’s face. “PLEASE CAN I HAVE A JOB PLEEEEEEASE?”

Bella continued to egg Mena on until the young witch, who was out of breath, was ready to flip the whole desk over with her twig like arms. She put both hands on the desk, turned bight red and roared so loud that people stamped the ceiling loudly, threatening to file noise complaints.

Bella, still with a mischievous glint in her eyes chuckled. She put her feet up on the desk. “Good job, but I’m kidding.”

“You’re what?” asked Mena panting like a dog out in the sun.

Bella raised both her arms. “Nobody wants to work at a massive hotel for minimum wage…”—She made a weeping sound—"except me. Luckily, you’re foolish enough to want to sleep over here. So, you know what? Your begging impressed me so much, I’ll let you stay in your friend’s room in exchange for your employment.”

It took both May and Janus to fully restrain Mena from throttling Bella, and the bellhop gave a playful wink. “Your suites at the fiftieth floor, right at the top, Miss Cumberson. I hope you enjoy your stay and remember, at the Newt T. Hotel, you can always check out,”—Bella frowned—"but due to my student debt, I can never leave.”

“Thank god for that,” Mena said, as they pushed her off towards the elevator.