11:30 PM

Covered in soot and feeling dizzy from the trip home, Miranda fell out of the fireplace in the living room and bent forward, hands steadying on the coffee table in the middle of the room. The headache from earlier in the evening had now passed thanks to the potion but her entire body now felt weak and unsteady. She needed her bed but having nearly fallen to the floor from the fireplace, Miranda wasn’t too sure how she was going to manage it up the stairs.

“Gerda?” She said into the darkness of the moonlit living room, her voice quiet and distracted. There was no answer before she shouted for the elf louder this time and the small creature ran in through the kitchen door to obey her mistress.

But the creature wasn’t so small and friendly looking all of a sudden. As Miranda’s dark and unfocused eyes fell on the elf, she stumbled back in shock, tripping over the coffee table to get away from the creature.
Gerda’s eyes were no longer blue and wide. Instead they were slits, dark and cruel looking. Her leathery elf skin was covered in huge boils and her head had nearly doubled in size.
Fingers were outstretched to the witch now fallen on the floor as a deep, cruel voice asked,
“Miss Miranda?” The fingers were finished with long sharp talons and Miranda picked herself up from the floor uneasily, still staring at the elf turned monster before her. Her fingers fumbled in the robe pocket for her wand and she began to point it at Gerda.

“Get out, get away from me.”
“Mistress?”
“Get out. Gerda!” Miranda yelled as a second of these elf monsters entered the living room. “Gerda get here now!”
“Mistress, I’m here!” The cruel voice repeated as both elves started to step forward towards the witch.

Again Miranda’s head began to pound within. Deep thuds as the world began to lose focus around her. She felt dizzy, confused, before her legs gave way and her body hit the floor in darkness.