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“Light your feet on fire if you talk back to your mom,” a girl shouts.
“Make you spit frogs if you don’t do your chores,” another adds, followed by a shiver. “I hate frogs.”
Everyone nods.
I sigh, deciding to just be honest. “Witches can do a lot of things. Just like wolves can shift into magical creatures that can run fast, and have deadly claws and teeth.”
A girl wrinkles her nose. “We’re not deadly.”
“You can be,” I point out. “Just like witches can be. But they also don’t have to be.”
There are whispers amongst them.
I smile again. “I’m not going to hurt any of you. I’m your princess. My job is to help you.”
“You’re here to help us?” one boy asks skeptically.
My smile widens. “Absolutely.”
Some of the tension vanishes from them, and they start goofing around again. One kid pretends to be barfing up frogs. Another acts like he’s on fire. A few start chanting “princess” over and over.
I laugh and do a courtly spin, then bow. The children all bow back to me, trying their best to keep their faces straight, and failing. These kids are silly and fun. I wonder if the children in the witch village ever acted like this.
Not in my experience.
A little boy steps out of the crowd, glass of water in hand. “Are you thirsty?”
He seems eager to give me a gift, like my flower crown. “So terribly thirty, how did you know?” I ask, taking the glass.
The child beams.
I take a sip of the water and stifle the frown I want to make. The water’s metallic aftertaste is something I’ll never get used to. It’s the one thing I don’t like about this place so far. Other than my strange husbands.
Pushing the thoughts aside, I smile, handing the glass back to him. “Thank you!” I say to him, bowing deeply.
He bows back to me, grinning the whole time, and skitters away.
A melody begins, happy and fast. It’s a kind of song I’ve never heard before but instantly love.
“Is that music?” I ask, turning my head towards the sound.
“Yes,” Lady Scarlet says, looking toward the sound.
“Can we go to where it’s playing?” I ask.
“Yes, it’s in the town square. I was going to take you there anyway,” she says and takes my hand.
“The town square!” one boy shouts.
I tug Lady Scarlet along as she laughs, and we all run toward the center of town. The children squeal and cheer as we go. People grin as we pass by, and I have a feeling I’ve been pulled into some of the children’s fun, and I don’t mind it one bit.
In the town center, there’s a man playing a lute, his fingers strumming the strings with ease. He looks serious and pained, but his music fills the air with joy. My body moves of its own accord, and I dance to the music, caught up in the joyful melody. The children dance with me, and we flit around the center of town, hopping on our toes and light on our feet. Caught up in the fun, I conjure the wind. It comes to me, and I invite it to join in and dance with the leaves.
And it does! My magic actually responds just the way it’s supposed to. Everything about this shifter world is better, even my magic.
The children shriek as leaves float around them while they dance. Their laughter almost drowns out the music. I move around with my hands in the air, leaves brushing against my face as the children spin around me.
When the music stops, I see the crowd has grown, but not everyone has joined in. The adults stand around, staring at me and the children. They look amazed, but wary. The wind still dances about with the leaves, and I pull my magic back in abruptly, realizing it’s not safe to use my magic around children. It could easily go awry. The leaves fall to the ground, sounding like rain falling abruptly.
