By Julie

Luna was exhausted, hungry, and wet. Water dripped from the ends of her brownish-blonde hair, her nose, her glasses and the hem of her dress. Her feet slid on the slippery cobblestone street. The grocery bag full of empty bottles felt heavier than ever as the rain pounded upon her. Luna wanted to duck into a building- any store, any home, any shelter she could find- and stay there. But she had drawn the shortest straw at the orphanage, so her job was to take the empty bottles down to the recycling center. Normally this was all right, even pleasant, but not in the rain.
The streets were mostly quiet, everyone was inside accept for just a few people under black umbrellas who eventually scuttled away. Am I the only one alive at this hour? Has everyone vanished except me? Luna was so absorbed in this exciting thought that she at first didn’t notice the six dark, shadowy shapes flying above her. Birds, Luna thought. How queer. She did not at first notice the brewing, stirring, whirlpool of clouds above these creatures as they flew through the rain. Nor did she notice the flapping of robes or the strange circular formation they flew in. She did not notice either of these attributes until the cloud of creatures was almost gone, and then she let out a gasp and dropped her sack of bottles. She could hear one shatter, but she did not care because who would care about a broken bottle when a coven of witches were soaring above you?
At this very thought, the witches suddenly halted, turned their brooms around, and zoomed back toward the street. Luna wanted to run like mad into the restaurant beside her, but her joints had frozen to ice and she couldn’t move as the coven grew closer and closer to the small girl. Their faces were always in shadow, but their unmistakeable cloaks and pointed hats grew closer and closer on their brooms until Luna was practically face to face with them. She wanted to scream, but her voice box had frozen along with her joints, so all she could do was stare and gape at the mythical beings. Luna opened and closed her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Unfortunately, sound came out of the mouth of one of the biggest witches:
“O Earth’s great spirits, let me tell
“And cast upon this girl a spell:
“You won’t remember, you will find
“This moment cleared from your wee-”
“Sh! No, Misty, don’t you-”
Luna opened her eyes. She had been bracing herself for whatever wicked spell this deep-voiced creature was about to cast on her, but one of the witches, the smallest one, had cut off the curse. Luna watched silently in disbelief as the small witch heaved Luna onto her broom, and then fell promptly into a faint.