Chapter Text
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Lena muttered.
“Relax! Uncle Scrooge said that Magica’s still hanging around Duckburg. If anything, you’re safer from her here than you are back home,” Webby said.
“Not to mention that you have obtained all of her magic,” added Violet. “She’s powerless.”
Lena wrapped her arms around herself. “Yeah, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.”
A twig snapped behind them, and Lena whipped around, holding up a glowing pink ball of magic, ready to strike.
“Don’t hurt me!” Louie shouted, bringing up his hands to shield his face.
Lena lowered her hand and dissipated the magic with a huff. “Then don’t sneak up on us!”
“It’s not like I meant to!” Louie protested. “Anyway, we have about ten minutes before Uncle Scrooge wants us to meet back at the clearing.”
Lena raised an eyebrow. “O….k?” she said. “And why are you telling us this?”
Louie shrugged. “Being official timekeeper is a lot less work than, you know, actually looking for things.”
“Come on!” Webby shouted. “We still have section D6 to look in!”
“I still can’t believe she made a grid,” Louie said.
“I find it quite admirable,” Violet said.
They delved deeper into the forest, Louie absorbed in his phone, Webby checking every tree trunk and rock for signs and clues, and Violet reciting something about ancient Roman mythology from one of her many books.
Lena nervously glanced around, trying to see everywhere all at once. She couldn’t help but jump at every snap and crunch of the brush underfoot and the leaves and creatures rustling in the trees.
Louie’s phone chimed, eliciting a startled cry from Lena.
“Time to head back,” Louie said.
“Aww, man!” Webby said.
“Perhaps the other have had more luck than we have,” Violet suggested.
“I hope so,” Louie said. “This is getting boring.”
“I suppose it’s time somebody spice things up a bit,” said a familiar voice behind them.
Lena didn’t want to turn around. Her eyes widened with fear. “No.”
Magica had appeared in a puff of pink smoke. She held up a staff topped with some sort of a polished blue stone, but her feathers were still white.
Louie fumbled with his phone and dropped it in the dirt.
Webby got a running start and flew at her with a kick. Magica grunted as she blocked it.
“Let’s not make this more complicated than it needs to be, hm? I just want Lena.”
“You’ll never take her!” Violet shouted, readying herself for a fight.
Lena was frozen in fear.
Magica sighed. “Oh, very well, then.” She took something from her pocket and threw it on the ground, and another cloud of pink smoke rose around them.
Lena coughed as the smoke tickled her throat. It filled her vision, cutting her off from her friends. “Webby?” she called. Something yanked on her leg, and she fell to the ground. That something began to pull, and Lena frantically reached out to grab onto something, anything, but the ground might as well have been made of polished glass.
“Lena?” she heard Webby call out.
“Webby!” Lena cried. “Help!”
“Lena!” More voices chimed in, but they were getting farther away.
When Lena’s vision cleared, she found herself face-to-face with the forest floor. Sticks and leaves clawed at her sweater. She twisted her body around and caught a glimpse of Magica, angrily dragging her away.
“Let me go!” Lena demanded, trying to wrench herself out of Magica’s grasp. But Magica’s grip was too tight.
“Oh, shut up!” Magica said.
Lena started to yell.
“Don’t even bother,” Magica said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “They can’t hear you.”
“You’re lying!” Lena said, and she yelled again.
“Fine! Wail all you want! Nobody’s going to come find you.”
Despite herself, tears prickled in Lena’s eyes. “They’ll come after me,” she said, voice shaky. “You’ll see.”
Magica didn’t respond, and in a few minutes, they reached her lair. Magica dragged her inside and flung her aside, closing the door tightly behind them.
“Now,” she said as Lena unsteadily got to her feet and started to brush herself off. “I believe you have something of mine.”
“Give. Me. My. Magic!” Magica tugged at the amulet that hung around Lena’s neck, but the chain wouldn’t break. She’d already tried to take it off her, but the talisman refused to budge, discharging a burst of magic that sent Magica tumbling back at least 10 feet. Lena felt the amulet begin to buzz again, and suddenly it sent Magica flying once more. Lena wished she could rub at the rope burns that were forming on the back of her neck, but her hands were tied tightly behind her back.
Magica stood up and dusted herself off. “Stupid girl,” she muttered, heading toward her cauldron. She rummaged through some cabinets and started throwing ingredients in, continuing to mutter to herself.
Lena took a shaky breath and concentrated, trying to focus her magic through the amulet, but she was trembling too much. She tried again, straining harder, and just about had a tenuous hold on it when Magica’s cauldron blew up in her face, and the magic Lena had gathered dissipated.
Magica threw up her hands and cursed. Then she started throwing more ingredients into the cauldron, different ones this time. Lena tried to follow along, wracking her brain to remember any potion recipes that were in there. Tail of newt, dragon’s blood, mummy powder, toad’s tooth, cat’s tongue, wolf’s-bane… Lena felt her knees grow weak. Without the ropes holding her up, she would have fallen to the floor. If Lena had it right...that was some nasty stuff. The sort of stuff that made you wish you were dead, and Lena knew from experience.
But then the cauldron exploded again, shaking the ground so hard that pieces of rock fell from the ceiling. Magica yelled in frustration and stormed over to Lena.
“Look what you’ve done!” Magica punctuated her words by hitting Lena on the head with her staff. “I used to be the most powerful sorceress in the world!” She hit Lena again. “I could make grown men tremble at my feet with the magic in my little finger! Now look at me!” She hit Lena again with a bonk . “I can’t even make a simple potion!” Bonk. “And it’s all.” Bonk. “Your.” Bonk. “Fault!” Magica hit her a few more times with the blue stone for good measure. Lena saw that it was cracked, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of its repeated contact with her skull or if it had started out like that. Magica finally stopped and disappeared around the back of the pillar that Lena was tied to and sliced through the ropes that held her there. Now, Lena did fall to the ground. Magica wrenched her up by the arm and dragged her across the room.
“Good-for-nothing traitor, never should have bothered with you…” Magica muttered to herself. She took her down a hallway and stopped in front of a thick wooden door. She tossed her inside the small, dark room it hid. “You’re not coming out until I get my magic back!” Magica shut the door with a loud creak and an echoing boom, leaving Lena alone in complete and utter darkness.