"It's not a cat," her uncle argued.
"Come on, stop being silly," Sabrina said as she walked toward the angry feline. Much to her surprise, the cat changed with every step she took toward it. It grew and morphed until it was a creature somewhere between a tiger and a man. Sabrina stared up at it and reached for her wand, but Daphne rushed over and yanked her back to the group. With every step backward the creature morphed back into the cat.
"Okay, so it's not a cat," Sabrina said as she tried to catch her breath.
"His name is Bright Sun," Uncle Jake said. "You could say he's one of Baba Yaga's bodyguards."
Suddenly, there was a low growl behind them. The group spun around and found a little black terrier on the path behind them. A high-pitched shriek from above sent their gaze upward to a red-tailed hawk landing on a tree limb over their heads.
"We're being attacked by a pet store," Sabrina grumbled.
"The dog is Black Midnight and the bird is Red Dawn. They want an offering before we can pass."
Sabrina pulled Merlin's wand out of her pocket. "Well, I have a solution to this problem."
"Uh, hello?" Daphne said as she shook the paper sack. "Granny gave us this for a reason. Maybe there's something in here that can help that doesn't require you to blow anything up."
The little girl opened the sack and her face curled up in revulsion. She reached inside and took out a small, brown mouse. It was dead. Daphne tossed it to the ground and the hawk swooped down and snatched it in its sharp talons. Daphne reached into the sack again and pulled out a can of sardines. She turned the key and rolled back the lid, then set the can on the ground. Bright Sun bounded toward it and ate the little fish hungrily. Finally, Daphne took a small rubber bone out of the sack. She squeezed it and it squeaked loudly. She tossed the bone to the terrier, who caught it in his mouth and chewed happily. Then, without a sound, the three animals stepped off the path.
"Looks like Granny is right," Daphne said. "You don't need magic to solve everything."
Sabrina shrugged, put the wand back in her pocket, and the family continued farther down the path.
Soon they came to a clearing where a small one-story shack stood. A little white fence encircled the yard and made the house look quaint, as if it were a summer cottage in need of a bit of tender loving care. But as Sabrina got closer she got a jolt of surprise. The fence was actually made from bleached human bones. The yard was full of broken cauldrons and animal skeletons, including the skull of a catlike animal with massive tusks. The house had a heavy wooden door on the front and two little windows that looked like eyes staring down at them. If Sabrina hadn't known better, she would have thought the house was scowling at them.
She opened the gate, stepped into the yard, and walked to the front door. A wind chime on the fence clinked as it caught a soft breeze. Sabrina examined the chimes. They were made from dried ears and rusty screws. She cringed. "Don't look," Sabrina said.
"We won't," Daphne and Uncle Jake replied from far off. Sabrina turned to see her little sister, her uncle, and Elvis still cowering at the gate.
"Come on!" she said, reaching into her pocket for a boost from her wand. "Don't be a bunch of cowards."
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Daphne said as she and the group took a hesitant step into the yard.
Sabrina knocked on the heavy door but there was no reply. She knocked again with the same results.
"Maybe she's out," Daphne said.
"Out? Where is she going to go? She's a witch," Sabrina argued.
"Maybe she's at the witch grocery store. I don't know," Daphne said testily.
"There's no such thing as a witch grocery store," Sabrina argued. Her little sister was getting on her nerves.
"Girls!"
Uncle Jake shouted. "Let's just go in and get this over with. If she's not home, then we'll search for the sword and count our blessings that we didn't have to see her."