chapter 16 - continued

~~~

"Satisfied?" Anya asked. They were walking away from Heather's hotel room.

"Y-yeah..." Melanie said. She was shocked at how much Heather resembled Wanda now. Not just in appearance and mannerisms but also personality. Wanda was soft and wanted so badly to be loved. The way Heather looked back at them, wishing they wouldn't leave. It was like a dog looking at its master. "We still have to stop the storm. It will destroy the hotel if we don't do anything." Anya nodded.

"Lead the way. How do we get up to the 6th floor?" Melanie motioned to a nearby elevator.

"This way." She pulled an ordinary key out of her pocket. The two of them entered the elevator, and Melanie inserted it into a slot. A soft beep sounded in the cab before the elevator started to rise. The red LCD of the elevator read "6". Anya gripped the amulet around her neck, her heart pounded. There was no going back now. The elevator doors opened, and the two women stepped out. "This is the hidden 6th floor," Melanie said to Anya. The first thing they noticed was the place was deserted. Theo's desk was vacant, and there was an eerie quiet around the place. "Where is she?" Melanie asked suddenly, fear gripped her voice. She fully expected Theo and Jezebel to be pouring over the monitors watching the hotel. And yet, there was nobody here.

"Where is this spell you spoke of?" Anya asked. Melanie pointed to a doorway on her right.

"Over there, the office space. That's where she kept it." The two of them marched over, and Melanie was shocked by what she saw. The tables of the office space were littered in bowls. Bright lights flashed in all of them. "How many spells did she cast?"

"Too many..." a hoarse voice sounded. Anya and Melanie looked toward a dark corner of the office, a figure was slumped there. Melanie shrieked as she saw her boss Jezebel, only she looked completely different. Jezebel was an older woman, but now she looked geriatric. She was thin as a rail and was balding. Her skin hung onto her bones and drooped down like rubber. She was covered in liver spots.

"What happened to you?" Melanie asked, rushing over.

"T-thaumaturgy." Jezebel struggled to say any words. Anya noticed the old woman's teeth had fallen out, with only a thick purple tongue appearing in her mouth. "...takes something... from you..."

"What?" Melanie asked.

"T-time... it takes... time..." She said. "I tried... getting back time... and it didn't work..." Her eyes closed, and drool started to appear from her mouth.

"There's a storm coming. It's going to destroy the lodge. You caused it." Melanie shrieked at her. "How do we stop it?"

"You... can't stop it... You can barely move it." Jezebel choked out. "Barry was right... I should have burned that book... when I saw it..." She closed her
eyes, and a sigh exhaled from her throat. She slumped over and Melanie shook the old woman's frail body.

"What the hell are you talking about, wake up." But it was futile. She was dead. Anya looked over at the bowls and noticed the lights had vanished in all but one of them. A crude doll sat inside of it. She walked over and saw a mass of glowing red hair sitting inside of it. The mixture was transparent with the same consistency as water.

"What do we do now?" Anya asked.

"We're too late by the looks of it. We can't change Heather back if we wanted to." Melanie was sorrowful. She wanted to punish Jezebel, but now she had the last laugh. "Give me the key to your room, we're going to cast another spell."

"And do what?" Anya asked.

"You heard her; we can't stop it. So, we're going to move it."
~~~
Trees had been knocked over in the intervening time since they left. Gusts of wind pelted the hotel regularly; it was so loud that Melanie was terrified the elevator would stop or get stuck on the way down. She retrieved the spell book from Anya's room and brought it back to the 6th floor. Anya had since moved to the room with the drawings, where Heather's was hung on the wall. She was still gazing upon it when Melanie returned.

"I think I have something," Melanie said. She had flipped through the book to a place talking about the weather. "It means "A gift of daylight."

"This incantation affects time and space in such a way that the weather pattern will shift. This causes rain to disappear. This does not remove the rain, rather it adjusts space/time, so a sunny day in the past is traded."

"That sounds perfect," Anya said enthusiastically. "How do we use it."

"It requires a lock of someone's hair. And some ingredients." They walked back to the office and noticed Jezebel had Theo bring up more sugar and turpentine. "It looks like she has everything we need here."

"But the old woman grew older..." Anya said. "Will that happen to us?" Melanie nodded and reached for a pair of scissors nearby.

"I'll do it." She said. Cutting a slice of her hair. "I... caused this." Anya watched as she placed the lock of her hair into the bowl. "Jezebel gifted me my art skills, she gifted me time I don't deserve. I didn't spend decades practicing. I need to give that back." Anya stepped away from Melanie as she poured the ingredients.

"But... how old will it make you? To change the weather?" She asked.

"We'll just have to do it and see..." Melanie replied softly. She finished pouring and moved the bowl into the center of the room. "Can you check on Heather's spell. Is the mixture still transparent?" Anya walked over to the bowl and gasped.

"There's nothing in it." The doll had vanished from the bowl, along with the hair and mixture. It was completely empty.

"Looks like the spell is complete, Heather is now Wanda..." Melanie said. There was a hint of pleasure in her voice as she thought back to when Heather jiggled her belly. "Let's make sure the storm doesn't destroy the place while we're at it." She said. She set the new bowl down and moved her hands over it. Before she started to speak.

"Jantar... Azelboath" The mixture inside the bowl began to glow. Both Melanie and Anya felt their hair stand on end. "Anacroth. Belmoath..." The monitors on the tables began to flicker on, random lines of code flickered on their displays. Anya felt the hotel shake as the storm outside still kept going.

"It is not working." She pleaded.

"Kalaroth. Decath... Asam...boath," Melanie struggled to say the last words. She felt the wind almost knocked out of her. The sound of the wind outside the hotel stopped. Anya gasped. Melanie fell to her knees and cried from a sudden pain in her chest.

"That should... that should do it." She said. Anya helped her to her feet. "H-how do I look?" She asked. Anya saw that Melanie had more visible wrinkles like she was now in her thirties.

"Still beautiful." She smiled. "Thank you." Anya hugged Melanie. It was finally over.