Zanzia opened the bottle, looked inside, shook it gently, and raised it to her nose, taking a sniff. She winced, screwed the cap back on, and put it in the box. She pulled a baggie out next, removed some of the contents, and studied them. Putting them in the bag again, she tossed it into the container. Opening a small carton, she caught sight of the shriveled plant inside and touched the desiccated leaves ever so gently before closing the lid and discarding the container. She gave two others the same treatment. After rummaging through the remaining items, she sighed and turned around, brows deeply furrowed. "You're kidding, right?" she asked. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Kynton blinked at her, expression revealing his confusion. "No," he finally replied. "Of course not. Why do you ask?"

"You can't expect me to use this."

"Why not?"

"It's a collection of junk."

"No, it isn't." She said nothing. "What's wrong with the things I brought?" he demanded. "They're what you asked for, straight off your list."

"Nothing in this box is fresh. Not even one of the items. I figure some are weeks or months old, maybe older than that. A couple smell moldy."

"You should be grateful for my efforts, not complaining," Kynton snapped, his brown eyes narrowing. "Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to get some of that?"

"Yes." Zanzia snorted and rolled her eyes. "But this stuff is practically worthless. If you used your brains, you'd know that. And who constantly brags he can get anything at any time? You, that's who." She added, "Do you recall what you told me? I do. You said, 'Of course I can get you the things you need. Of course it won't be a problem. Nothing is beyond my reach. And of course I can have everything within the time period you said.' You added on extra for certain ingredients, too."

Kynton snatched a bottle out of the box and held it up. "You said you needed lotus. Here's the lotus." He got out another item. "You wanted flowers and I got the blasted flowers. I even got more than one kind."

"Yes, you did. But only two are the types I asked you for, and both of those are old. Flowers aren't all the same. They're different inside, with varying consistencies and properties, and they can do different things. One variety can't be substituted for another. I have to have specific kinds for my spells to work the way I need them to. I asked for Blue Lotus, but you brought me white. I asked for…"

"Blue Lotus is quite rare," he said, interrupting her. "It doesn't grow in the United States and I couldn't exactly fly to Egypt to get you some from there."

"I know it's rare. We discussed that, along with other things, when I gave you my list and the extra money you wanted. But now you're playing dumb and I have neither the desire nor the patience to deal with this. You've wasted enough of my time, and I still need the ingredients. The correct ones. If I hadn't relied on you, I could've already gotten what I need elsewhere. Now give me back what I paid. I won't be using you again."

"Good riddance." Kynton stalked over to his container, grabbed it, turned to walk away, but sneered over his shoulder. "You can forget about getting your money back. I'm keeping every last cent to pay for my efforts. And I'm going to tell everyone what you really are, you miserable, cold-blooded…"

Baring her teeth, Zanzia snarled, pointed a finger at him, and began to chant. His body instantly rose a couple feet off the ground, and he dropped the box. "Ignoramus," she said. "You should've known better than to insult a witch to her face. And making threats to one shows you're a special kind of stupid."

"Let me go this instant," he demanded. His body jerked as he struggled to break free of her spell. "You have no right to prevent me from leaving. You better listen to me and do what I say. I'm warning you to release me and…" He abruptly fell silent and bit his lip. "What are you doing to me? I'm having a hard time moving my mouth now, and my body's tingling all over. It almost feels as if I'm going numb."

"There's a reason for that. You are going numb. I can't have you resisting, can I? Unlike you, I always think ahead and consider the possibilities. I anticipated you might be a problem, but that didn't matter, because I needed you." She eyed her captive and gave him a small smile. "You see, there's one very important ingredient I didn't put on my list. But I'm about to get it all the same."

Kynton paled when she picked up a knife and poked one of her fingertips with the tip, drawing a bead of blood. "What are you doing with that?" he questioned. "Hey, I admit I overreacted earlier. I shouldn't have said what I did. But I didn't really mean any of it and I'm sorry." She said nothing as she strode over to him. "Whatever you're thinking of doing with that, please don't," he begged. "Please!"

Zanzia ignored him and his pleas became more and more frantic. He whimpered when she reached out, easily pried open his mouth, and pulled out his tongue. Without hesitating, she sliced it off. Turning it this way and that, she studied it, a pleased smirk crossing her face. "Fresh human tongue is hard to come by," she said conversationally, unmoved by his tears and the blood bubbling from his lips as he wailed. She turned away to toss his tongue into her cauldron, after which she pointed at him once again.

His body began to shrink, while his skin changed into a dusky gray. His yells grew fainter and fainter, tapering away into nothingness, and a slug soon floated in the air where the man had been. It hung there a couple seconds before dropping to the earth.

She stepped on the slug, squished him into sludge, and carefully scraped his remnants off the bottom of her shoe and into her cauldron. Once she'd stirred her concoction, she headed for her garden, where she dug up fresh worms, oleander root, and hemlock for her mix. She added dried green moss and wolfsbane from her stores, along with a rattlesnake eye, bird feathers, fur from various animals, bark and dried leaves from several trees, three-day-old ash from her fireplace, and other items. But she wasn't done yet. She needed more ingredients.

Zanzia walked into her back yard and stopped beside a small fountain. Holding her palms a few inches above the placid, crystal-clear water, she concentrated, her brows furrowing. Images began to appear on the surface one after another. These were the things she still required. She memorized their locations and recited another spell.

Time passed and an object appeared in the distance, speeding through the air toward her. Others followed within moments. The desiccated heart of a powerful sorceress who'd died hundreds of years earlier reached the witch first, followed by the sorceress' bones and locks of her hair. Next, a dead vampire bat arrived, along with a liver, rabid squirrel, Blue Lotus blossoms, and berries from specific plants and trees.

And now it was time for the final ingredients, the most important ones. She'd put off getting them until last.

Zanzia strode through the woods toward a graveyard on the very edge of town. When she heard voices coming from somewhere off to her left, she waved her hands in the air, cloaking herself with invisibility. This specific spell wouldn't last very long, but should allow her enough time for what she needed to do, and she picked up her pace.

Two individuals stood at burial sites in the cemetery when she arrived, but their presence didn't bother her in the slightest. Confident her magic was strong, her spells true, she ignored the people, and turned her focus to the task at hand. She began another incantation, murmuring this one under her breath, and extended her invisibility to encompass a cluster of the closest graves. She gestured toward one of them, and the ground vibrated, but only a little. Clumps of dirt started moving on top before churning. A hint of something dark appeared in their midst and a bone rose from the soil. Zanzia motioned, and it floated over to her, after which she plucked it from the air. She removed a piece of material from a cloth bag she'd brought with her, wrapped up her booty, and placed it inside the bag.

Turning to look at another grave, she repeated the same steps, and slowly made her way from one section of the cemetery to another and another. The people already present there, along with others who arrived now and then, saw nothing, heard nothing, and eventually walked away, unaware anything out of the ordinary had occurred.

Time passed as Zanzia visited several of the burial sites, after which she left the area altogether, and strode toward another one several hundred yards away. She looked around when she arrived, and her eyes narrowed, face darkening ominously. Unlike the previous site, this one was badly neglected and in poor condition, overrun by numerous brambles and weeds. Heaps of trash had been dumped all over the place, some old, some more recent, and rotten smells permeated the air. People were also buried in this area, although it was anything but obvious. No stones or identifying markers showed where the dead lay, and nobody ever visited them. Nobody but her, at least.

She gritted her teeth, clenched her jaws, and fumed a few moments before pointing at the soil to her left. It shifted slightly and a bone rose into the air. Unlike the others she'd collected first, this one was quite small. She kissed it before wrapping it in fine cloth and placing it gently in another bag she had with her. Then she collected and secured two more bones, adult ones this time, from a nearby patch of earth.

That night, Zanzia went outside, nodding in satisfaction when she saw the blood moon hanging in the sky above her. It was extremely rare for one to occur, especially on the night before Halloween, and she'd been awaiting it for months now. The planets were perfectly aligned to make her plans a success.

First, she got an athame from her home, a special one handed down through generations of her ancestors. Using it, she traced precise patterns on the ground. Next, she positioned candles of various colors around herself in the shape of a pentagram. She sliced her palm and dribbled blood in specific spots here and there. She faced the north, rang a bell, bowed, did the same thing while facing south, and repeated her actions in each of the other directions.

Turning now to face the nearby forest, she weaved an intricate design in the air with her hands, and started to chant:

"North wind, south wind, listen well.

East wind, west wind, heed my spell.

Absent sun, your power you must send

for I need every portion you can lend.

Moon, now high above me in the sky,

grant me power in response to my cry.

You know why I have need of thee.

Do my bidding now. So I mote it be."

After calling upon the earth and oceans, she invoked the name of the long-dead sorceress whose bones, heart, and hair she'd obtained. The air pulsed with power as the ancient one appeared, nodding her approval before vanishing.

Zanzia then changed her focus, and began a new chant:

"Serpents large and serpents small,

I command you come, one and all.

Frogs, toads, reptiles, I bid of thee —

emerge right now and come to me.

Plants with berry, plants with leaf,

trees young or aged beyond belief,

creatures young, old, large, small,

heed my summons. Heed my call.

Wait not. Each of you I demand to see,

so come to me now. So I mote it be."

Before she even stopped speaking, animals of all different sizes emerged from the woods. Bobcats, coyotes, deer, bears, panthers, wild pigs, badgers, and more. Trees, bushes, and vines also appeared, walking upright, their lower stems or trunks divided into two halves that functioned as legs.

Alligators crawled out, followed by slithering snakes, crawling possums and rats, hopping frogs and toads, and swarms of beetles, ants, worms, and insects. Poisonous fish had also come to the sorceress' call. However, at this point they walked on their tails, which were split in half, and were able to breathe above water, as did the other amphibious beings. Birds flew around her head, joined by clouds of flies, mosquitoes, bees, hornets, and more flying things.

Facing the creatures surrounding her, Zanzia addressed them."I've waited for this night for most of my life. Years and years. Time has passed but I didn't forget and my memories have never dimmed. The townspeople robbed me of my mother. They robbed me of my father and sister. My entire family was eradicated as if they were nothing. As if they didn't matter. My parents were sorcerers, but they hurt no one. They were good and kind people, helped anyone in need, and lived peacefully. And my sister was naught but a child scant years older than I was. The vindictive filth in town have gotten away with murder. They've enjoyed their lives and multiplied many times over, while I've been forced to endure the loss of my loved ones, missing them and mourning them every single day. The townspeople acted as if they did me a favor, taking me to live where they did, and treating me like a clueless pet. But I've carried my hatred deep in my belly and the marrow of my bones. They thought I was too small to worry about. Too small to fear. Too young to remember. But I saw and heard every single thing that happened. I've kept my power a secret all these years, and it's done naught but grow."

Striding in front of the massed life forms, she headed for the town, her army on her heels.

When they reached the outskirts, she brought them to a halt, and gave succinct instructions for them to cause as much pain and destruction as possible — anything short of death — and they swarmed forward. Screams soon rang out from every direction.

Zanzia faced the Town Council herself, and they fell to their knees before her. "This is Halloween, a time to have fun and celebrate," they cried out. "It's a time for laughter and merriment, not anger."

"Fun? Laughter?" Her face darkened. "You'll never have that again."

"Remember the mercy we showed you," they begged.

"Mercy!" she raged. "I'll show you mercy and a Halloween you'll never forget." She cast the spell she'd designed especially for them. Their bodies burst into flames, flesh and bones steadily burning. Zanzia smiled as they wailed and shrieked in agony. And, when their bodies healed, then started burning all over again, her smile widened.

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