“This way!” he shouted. “Follow me! The river is here! The bottom of the next hill!” Morell and the prince dismounted and charged ahead. Hoxley had barely glanced backwards a second before the fire came flooding down like an avalanche of roaring hell over the top of the hill. The relentlessness of the inferno made its fleeing victims hysterical to continue racing. When they caught up to the witches, they all found themselves at the top ledge of an eighty-foot cliff overlooking a swiftly moving river. She looked left and right to find that the cliff was the same height or higher in both directions.

  “There’s no way down!” Morell said as he looked back over his shoulder. “And the water isn’t deep enough for us to jump! Why did we come this way, Hoxley?”

  “It’s my mistake.” She said. “I’ve never come this way to the river before. I didn’t know the cliff was here.” Hoxley looked to Ignatius for answers and the witch scratched his chin as he racked his brain for an answer. The more he thought, the closer the flames became. “Ignatius,” She said “We need to do something. It’s getting hotter.”

  “We’ll have to use the gels.” He finally said.

  “The gels?” Prince Damron asked. “What do those have to do with anything?”

  “They take on different attributes based on stimulation. Everyone, get your gels out of your packs! Hurry! Hurry!” Hoxley and the boys did as they were told. “Twosome! Get over here!” The twins hovered nearer to him. “The others are going to have to float down using the ‘floating gel maneuver’. They’ve never done it before. Show them how. Hurry. Robert, use your fire.” Siouxsie lifted up her hat and pulled Pumpkin out from beneath. Prince Damron and Hoxley dug their colorless gels from their satchels while Morell produced his purple one, Jam, from his backpack. “Everyone, hold your gels out in your hands with the palms up.” When they did as they were told, Ignatius pulled his witchle out of his shirt pocket and played a few quick notes. What happened next was nothing like anything Hoxley had ever seen before. The last note died on the air and all of the tiny expressions on the gels’ faces became that of a person holding their breath. Then, slowly at first but faster and faster, the gels began to expand and grow larger in each of their hands! They started no bigger in size than a fist, but after the witchle’s melody, they grew and grew in size! As they got bigger, Robert stepped in front of Morell, raised his arms to the sky to cast and placing his hands on each side of the boy’s gel before saying the magic words.

  “Tinder and Cinder.”

  Magic fire burned between his palms, the fire lighting the inside of Jam like a lantern. He pulled his hands away and as the flame continued to burn, it grew within the gel and the slime being puffed up even larger.

  “Don’t we have enough fire around us?” The prince asked Ignatius while Robert repeated the process with Pumpkin and Hoxley’s gel. “What are we supposed to do with these?”

  “It’s an old witch trick.” Ignatius told him.

  “Wait!” said Loxo, pointing at the gels. “I don’t have one of those things!”

  “Here, Loxo, take mine.” Ignatius handed him the one he kept in a pocket within his cloak. “Do as the others do.” By this time, Jam and Pumpkin had become as big as all of the members of the party combined. Hoxley’s and the others weren’t far behind. The fire was almost upon them.

  “Mine’s ready!” exclaimed Siouxsie.

  “Then by all means be swift, sister. Everyone else! Watch Siouxsie and do as she does!” The companions craned their necks to watch Siouxsie knead the bottom of the now huge orange blob like fresh bread dough, getting two strong fistfuls of gel before walking straight forward and jumping off the cliff. They watched in amazement as she didn’t tumble like dead weight off the edge but instead began floating downward in a safe and easy rate of descent toward the other side.

  “She can fly without her broom?” asked the prince.

  “It’s not flying, your highness.” Said Ignatius “It’s falling with control.”

  “Mine’s ready, big brother.” Said Robert.

  “Then by all means demonstrate.” Robert held out his inflated gel for the others to see.

  “Just grab two big fistfuls of gel and hold on for dear life.” Robert said to the others as he tightened his grip. “If you let go, you’ll be cast down the cliff and into the water.” With that, Robert walked over to the edge of the cliff and stepped off into the night air. Just as his sister had done, he floated down across the river in an easy descent.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “I’ll go next!” said Loxo. “This looks like great fun!” He took a tight grip and stepped away, his heavier body pulling the gel down with him so that he smacked his bottom on the lip before following the others. “Ow! It’s alright! I’m quite alright! Look at me! I’m as weightless as a bird!”

  “Boys.” Hoxley said, encouraging the prince and Morell. Each one took a strong grasp, Morell going first, followed closely behind the prince. This left only Hoxley and Ignatius to stand upon the near side with the flames coming up quick.

  “Will this hold my weight?” asked Hoxley with some nervousness. “I’m heavier than the others.”

  “It should be just fine.” Ignatius replied.

  “Should be?” she asked “Should be?”

  “I’m teasing.” He smiled. In a few seconds this will be behind us.” Hoxley’s hooves drew close to the edge. Her gel had become quite large by now.

  “It’ll hold me?” she asked, looking for assurance.

  “It will. And if not. I promise to be near to catch you.” Hoxley tucked her spear away and took hold of the gel with both hands before stepping off the cliff. Her front half sagged, leaving her hindquarters still on the cliff.

  “Ignatius? I don’t think it’s working! I think I might fall!” she said in a panic.

  “Have no fear!” Ignatius said as he hopped on his broom. “Just hold true and you’ll be safe in no time!” The flames were almost on top of them. There was no time for continued hesitation. The witch circled behind her. “Don’t take this too personally, but we all need a good shove in the right direction once in a while.”

  “Ignatius?” Hoxley asked, looking over her shoulder. “Ignatius what are you doing? Don’t push me off! Don’t you dare!”

  “It’s this or the fire, Hoxley dear! Better your chances with the evening breeze Hold on tight!” Before Hoxley could utter a protest Ignatius drifted sideways on his broom, knocking her off and out into the night air, her gel parachute gliding her to safety. At one point, everyone’s feet were off the ground at the same time. And like tiny floating lanterns tossed in a cyclone, the companions were adrift but together in the darkness, chased by an all-consuming fire

  The others cheered and encouraged Hoxley on as she glided in. She figured out on her own how to shift the direction of her gel by raising one hand or lowering it. Pulling the right hand down, made it shift right and the same went for the left. She narrowly escaped hitting a cluster of trees before finally touching down to safety. Siouxsie rushed to her side and played a ‘tweedly-deet’ on her witchle which caused the gel to burp up its fire ball and deflate down to its original size. Hearing this, the other gels reacted the same.

  “That was amazing!” Morell exclaimed.

  “I wouldn’t mind going again, if anyone else is up for it.” said Loxo.

  “Again?” asked Hoxley. “We narrowly survived being cooked to a crisp! Look at my tail! What’s left of it is almost completely singed! We’re lucky that-“ Hoxley’s words were cut short as a flaming log came tumbling over the top of the cliff in the exact spot they’d all just been standing. End over end it toppled like a falling candle until it smashed itself to pieces upon the rocks below. Flaming chunks of bark extinguished themselves in the river making everyone grateful for the safe landings.

  “Is it over?” asked Morell “Will there be more lightning?”

  “I cannot say.” Said Hoxley, corralling the others and hurrying them away from the rivers’ edge. “For now, I think we should keep moving to get far away from here.”

  “Do we even know where here is?” asked Loxo with his hands on his hips. “This is nowhere, an absolute none such of a place if I ever saw one.”

  “That was a great way to escape.” said the prince. “Why didn’t we use the gels to escape from the mountain?”

  “The winds were too treacherous.” Said Robert. “We witches had trouble staying on our brooms. If you or I had attempted to glide down using gels on Mount Faustacon, the winds either would have carried us away so far that we would have lost our grip or slammed us against the mountain. Either would have ended with our bodies smashed on the rocks below.”

  “All I needed was an explanation. You don’t have to be morbid.”

  “What we want and what we get is usually the difference between gold and shit.” Robert rhymed in a mumble.