As she neared the house, she could see the cracks in the walls. The holes in the roof. The dirt and rubble creeping in through the open, broken window. The vines covering half the house. The witch who had lived here had been gone for a long time. Anything left would be a goopy, expired hazard.

Atraeya decided to try the door first, but no luck. It was locked tight. The only other entrance was the aforementioned broken window. The one covered with spider webs and rubble. Hopefully there weren't an vicious animals that made a nest inside. The rubble led right up to the windowsill, allowing her, and any animals, an easy climb inside. With a few careful steps, she was able to reach it and peak inside.

Nothing but quiet and dust, from what she could tell. Deeming it safe enough, she climbed through and hopped down. A plume of dust kicked up beneath her feet. All around her, vials of mysterious contents tipped over, long since dried up. Bottles and bowls scattered about or broken, as if the witch had left in a hurry, as the story told.

Any liquid still in a jar had a murky tinge to it, a film of mold layered on top. Any food that hadn't been eaten by the local wildlife also had mold and was rotted to the core. It stunk of animal dung, and she hoped that whatever animals that found fit to do it's business in here had already migrated elsewhere. They wouldn't nest and eat where they pooped right?

Atraeya doubted she would find any witchy things in here. She couldn't even tell what were in these jars lined on the wall. They had some kind of writing on them. But she didn't know how to read. Some were goopy, some still a liquid. Some a powder, which looked fine at first glance, and some had strange body parts that could dust at a mere touch.

Floorboards creaked under her steps as she wandered around. A messy bed behind a curtain, dusty clothes thrown about. Doors to a closet thrown wide open, empty for all except some rags in the shape of a bird's nest and a moth eaten coat. A rug askew on a wobbly floorboard.

...A wobbly floorboard?

Ignoring the built up dust from the floor that dirtied her hands and dress, she turned over the rug. Indeed there was a floorboard that hadn't been placed back probably. It only need a little bit of wiggling and it yanked free. Inside was much more spacious that she thought. The first thing she saw saw a squished down hat. Red, with a wide brim, and a pointed tip. It was a funny looking hat, so she put it on. Below the hat was a rather thick book.

It heavy enough that it took a heave to free it from the floor. The book was intricately adorned around the edges with gold. A single sapphire lay as its centerpiece, embedded perfectly into the leather cover. Though, the leather had been wrinkled and cracked around the spine where a book usually bends. It held no title either, on neither the spine nor the front cover. Otherwise it looked like the perfect book. Inside, the pages had aged and yellowed. Just by the smell, Atraeya could tell it was quite the old book. Ages must have passed since its first creation.

The first few pages were blank, but then there were more words on the paper than she had ever seen. From top to bottom, lines and lines of words filled the page to the very brink. Tiny notes squeezed in between the lines and around edges. Additions with fresher ink, or some places scratched out and revised. Some pages had drawings on them. One of which caught her attention. It was a strange flower, with wide petals, but then beside it the petals were gone, and all that was left was a strange bulb. There was also a word below these pictures, but since she couldn't read, she would have to find someone who recognized the flower. Maybe Poe would. He seemed to know everything.

Atraeya shut the book gently, for fear it would crumble into a mere wisp of dust. A book was much sturdier than that, but she was unfamiliar with how strong a book could be. With her stick in one hand, and the book in the other, she hoisted herself over the window, rushed down the mound of dirt, and ran back to where she left the other kid. "Poe! Poe!"

She found him off to the side, foraging just like he said he would do. At her shouting, he stood up and rushed to her. "What? What is it? Was there a witch?"

"Huh? No. But look at this!" Atraeya held up the book for him to see. His eyes widened. "I found it in the floor."

"The witch's book! Are you cursed now!? Put it back! Hurry!" He took a few cautious steps back.

"Oh, calm down you scaredy-cat. Here, do you know what this flower is?" She opened the book to the page with the flower.

Powe leaned into the page and squinted until a vague look of recognition passed his face. "It's not in color, so I can't be sure, but it looks like a poppy flower."

"Poppy flowers? No wonder it looked familiar. I think I saw some around the cabin. Maybe the witch kept a lot of the regular ingredients she needed."

Poe frowned and glanced back in the direction of the cabin. "Can we go now?" he asked.

Atraeya wanted to stay out here for much longer now that she found something interesting. But doing so risked them finding out she was a witch. And she also finally had her stick. She couldn't do much with it until she properly carved it. With a heavy sigh, she closed the book. "Fine. Let's get out of here."

She hugged the book tightly in one arm, and held her stick in the other. The forest was still unfamiliar, so he had to take big steps and hold onto various branches and tree trunks to traverse the area. Her speed was already painfully slow, but the added luggage she carried made her even slower.

Poe waited ever-so-patiently a few feet ahead as she carefully navigated down a steep step. He had noticed how much difficulty she had with her hands full. "I can hold your stick if you want." But that was the last thing Atraeya wanted.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"If you want to help, then hold the book."

"No way. I'm not touching that thing! What if it's made of human skin and it curses me?"

Atraeya stopped and stared at him. "Are you stupid? Magic doesn't work like that. Duh."

"Of course it does! Everyone knows that!" Poe pouted and crossed his arms. "I'm not stupid..." he mumbled.

"You have to ingest magic. That's why there's potions."

"How would you know!? Maybe your skin is ingesting that magic on that book!" Poe curled away from it when she stepped closer. She could feel that it had a manaprint. But that was completely different that what Poe was complaining about. If she tried to tell him about manaprints though, he would just use it against her and ask how she knew.

"It's just a book, Poe. Don't be such a wuss." Atraeya continued on through the path, and after a moment, so did Poe.

Eventually they came back to the clearing. The rest of the kids had already arrived and were resting on the logs, chatting. "Alright, time to share the loot," Poe said. The kids gathered in the center, and all at once began to trade and bargain some of the stuff they found for others they liked more.

Atraeya could only awkwardly stand to the side as she didn't have anything to trade. She had been so preoccupied with finding her stick and book, that she didn't even realize that they did this because they had to, if they wanted to eat. She felt a bit guilty as she thought back to gramps. From what she could tell, he had been relying on a lot of handouts from the neighbors. Was he also hoping she would bring back something from her trip out here?

Once they were done and everyone had an equal amount of foraged goods, they all left the forest together. Somehow they had spend the whole day in the forest. The sun was beginning to set, and crickets chirped loudly as the temperature cooled. It was a long walk back, with aching legs and arms full of loot. Everyone had smiles on their face though. Back in the village, folks were packing up for the day and the kids split off to their respective homes. Just where did the time go?

Eventually it was just her and Poe. "We do this every couple of days. Rotate out the areas we cover or else we'd pick the whole forest clean in no time. We were out the day you showed up. Would have grabbed ya if we knew."

"It's alright. There's plenty to do around the house so I doubt I would have been able to go with you guys anyways."

"Yeah. Your grandfather is too old to be able to keep up with repairing the house. My mom was happy to find out he's got someone to look after him now."

"Your mom?"

They stopped in front of his house just in time. The same house she had gotten her spare clothes from. Mira stood outside, a broom in one hand. She smiled once their eyes made contact. "Why, if it isn't Atraeya. How nice to see you, dear. And I see you've met by no-good son who leaves his dishes everywhere."

Poe winced at the sudden nagging. He must have heard it plenty of times judging by his face. She couldn't help but giggle at it. "I gotta go..."

"See you later," Atraeya waved goodbye and watched as Poe went inside. Mira nagged him some more about picking up after himself before leaving for the day. She gave a playful whack to his bottom with the bottom of broom when he passed by, then waved her goodbye.

"Tell Elmer I said hi!" She agreed with a nod and walked off towards her own new home. Would her mother ever nag her again? She ignored the ache in her heart and tried her best to convince herself that it was better to not be nagged by whatever mothers deemed most important. She had better things to do. Like make a wand.

Atraeya managed to walk through the door the moment bowls of soup were placed on the table. "How did you know when I would be back?"

Gramps chuckled. "Those kids always come home at around the same time when they go out to the forest. Figured you'd be out all day when you went with them." He continued plating the table with a wistful, nostalgic look in his eyes.

"Did... mom do that too? Go to the forest all day?" Atraeya took her seat and placed her stick on her lap. She dare not put it down for a second. Not after going through the trouble of filling it with so much mana.

He smiled, as if remembering a distant memory. "Oh yes. All the time. She would bring back an entire basket of food." Gramps glanced at what she had brought - a stick and an old book - and gave her a consolatory smile. "It'll take a while to learn, I'm sure. Seems like you found something more exciting?"

The rest of the food was finally placed on the table and she could finally dig in, only speaking in between mouths full of food. "I found a good stick to make my wand, and also the witch's recipe book in her cabin. At least, I think it's a recipe book. Can you read, gramps?"

"No, not at all. Don't go showing that around to folks, you hear? You'll get strung up. Does anyone else know you got a witch's grimoire?"

Atraeya slunk in her seat. Her enthusiasm for her food suddenly waned. "Poe, Mira's son. And maybe her too. She was outside when me and Poe were talking." She glanced up to see gramps close his eyes, but eventually nodded.

"Mira knows how to keep a secret," he said.

They ate the rest of their dinner in awkward silence. The stick on her lap was bursting with mana by now. It should be safe to leave alone, but she still didn't want to let it go. But she also needed to do the dishes.

As she stood in front of the sink, trying different ways to keep hold of her stick and do the dishes, gramps came by and placed his woodworking tools on the table. "Here," he said. "I'll do the dishes today. You get that wand working." Gramps must have been just as eager as she was if he was offering to do the dishes.