Chapter Text
Present
Samara sat at her workspace, sewing the last bead onto the hat she held in her hands. A train passed outside, producing a black plume of smoke that made her grateful to be in the shop, away from the polluted air of the Market Chipping Railroad. The new manager, a woman around Samara’s age called Lucy, knocked on her door frame, calling her attention away from the hat and window.
“Samara, we just closed the shop. You’ve done enough work for today, why don’t you come out with us this time?”
“No, I better finish this first. You go and have fun.”
“All right, suit yourself. Let’s go, everyone!” Lucy called out to the other girls who worked at the store.
They all moved to leave until one of them spotted something outside the window.
“Look! It’s Charles’ Castle!”
“I’ve never seen it come so close to the town before!”
“Do you think he’ll stop by the town?”
“He’s gone. I bet he was just hiding from those ships in the fog.”
“Have you heard of that girl, Diana? She lives in South Haven. I heard her heart was torn out by Charles.”
“Oh, dear! Now I’m scared to go out.” The other girls laughed.
“Don’t worry. He only preys on pretty girls.”
“You’re all so mean.” The girl pouted, and all the girls left in a flurry after Lucy told them to hurry up.
~~
After Samara finished sewing the beads onto the hat, she left to find the new bakery her brother and his wife had recently bought. She put on a simple straw hat with a red accent before she left, looking in the mirror. Samara hated the way she looked, but at least she didn’t have to worry about the Wizard Charles preying on her and ripping her heart out.
She hurried along the quiet streets of the town, avoiding the main road where a celebration was occurring. It was May Day, so many soldiers had returned home from the war the King of Ingary had been waging in search of the missing prince. Everyone was out celebrating the holiday as well as the return of the soldiers.
Samara was hurrying through the streets thinking to herself and trying to find the bakery when she was suddenly blocked by a wall of blue. No, it was a soldier.
“Looks like a little mouse has lost her way.”
“Oh. N-no, I’m not lost.”
“The little mouse looks thirsty.” She noticed that there was a second soldier with a large mustache.
“We should take her for a cup of tea.”
“U-um, no thank you. M-my brother’s expecting m-me.”
“She’s pretty cute for a little mouse.”
“How old are you anyway?”
“You live around here?”
“L-leave me alone.”
“See? I told you your mustache scares all the girls.”
“So? I think I like her better when she’s scared.”
She started to back away as the two soldiers advanced when she bumped into someone else. A smooth accented voice sounded behind her.
“There you are, sweetheart. I’m sorry I’m late. I was looking everywhere for you.” Samara turned her head to see a beautiful man with blond hair and icy blue eyes defending her, looking at the soldiers to challenge them. His arm moved to pull her closer to him, and she instinctively took his arm.
“Hey! We’re busy here!” The first soldier snapped at the man.
“Were you? It looked to me like you were just leaving.” The blond man replied, lifting his hand. Samara watched as he moved his fingers and the soldiers marched away, almost as if they were being controlled by some force.
The man waited until the soldiers were out of earshot until he said, “Don’t hold it against them. They’re not actually all that bad. Where to? I’ll be your escort this evening.”
“Oh! U-um, I was just going to the bakery.” She didn’t know why, but she trusted him already.
The man nodded, showing his understanding. “Don’t be alarmed, but I’m being followed.” They walked a bit before Samara heard squelching noises coming from behind her as she walked. She grasped the man’s arm tighter and he pulled her closer to him, and they began to walk faster. “Sorry. Looks like you’re involved. This way.” He pulled her around a corner as strange, black gooey creatures appeared behind them. They began running now, and he moved to take her hand. When more creatures appeared in front of them, he whispered, “Hold on…,” into her ear and jumped.
Suddenly, they were in the air… standing. The man began to walk through the air as he instructed her on what to do. “Now… straighten your legs and begin walking.” She nodded and nervously did as he said, finding that the air felt quite solid beneath her feet. “See? Not so hard, is it?” They walked above the festivities, and if Samara hadn’t been so nervous she would have been wide-eyed with wonder and amazement. “You are a natural.” He whispered into her ear again, speaking words of encouragement. Slowly, she began to step through the air more confidently, giggling as they stepped over the rooftops.
The balcony of the bakery came into view, and the man lifted her over the railing onto the ground. He stood on the railing of the balcony and looked down at her fondly, smiling. “I’ll make sure to draw them off, but wait a bit before you head back outside.”
She nodded, a bit stunned at the events that had just occurred. “O-okay.” Samara looked back up at him and returned the smile.
“That’s my girl.” He sent her one last smirk before stepping backward off the railing and drifting down to the streets below. She jumped forward to look over the railing, but could not find any traces of the mysterious blond wizard. She stood on the balcony, wondering who the man could have been. Was it Charles? No, everyone says he only bothers with pretty girls. It couldn’t have been him.
~~
Ruth stood behind the counter, serving hoards of customers while her husband stood brooding at the cash register.
An eager customer asked, “Do you have any Ruth-shaped cookies?”
“I’d buy those.”
She ignored the comments and gave the previous customer their order.
One of the girls who worked in the shop rushed to Ruth, saying “Did you see Samara? She floated onto the balcony!”
“She what?! Jay, stay here and take my place.” She stepped out from behind the counter and pushed through the crowds, running up the stairs once she was alone. As she climbed the last flight of stairs, she saw Samara standing by the railing, looking out over the town plaza.
“Samara?”
“Hi, Ruth.”
“Someone just told me you floated down onto our balcony.”
Samara blinked, reality sinking in. “S-so that did happen. It wasn’t a dream.”
A rude man interrupted. “Ruth, would you like to use my office?”
Ruth smiled politely, waving him off. “I should really get back to work. Thank you though!” The man nodded and stepped back into his office. She whispered to Samara, “We should find somewhere more private to talk.”
~~
They were sitting in the storage room, surrounded by crates. Samara had just finished telling Ruth how she had gotten to the balcony in the first place, explaining the events in extreme detail to help herself process what had happened. Ruth listened with her mouth open and eyes wide, shocked at what she was hearing.
“Wow. He must have been a wizard then.”
“B-but he was so kind to me. He rescued me, Ruth.” Samara turned to face her sister-in-law, face expressionless, but still fighting on behalf of the wizard.
“Of course he did! He was trying to steal your heart.” Ruth sent Samara a wink, smiling brightly at the thought of the younger girl finally finding someone to settle down with. “You are so lucky, Sophie. If it were that wizard Charles, he would’ve eaten it.”
The brown-haired girl shook her head. “No, he wouldn’t. He only does that to pretty girls.”
Ruth sighed, sad that Samara couldn’t see her beauty. “Don’t give me that. You need to be more careful, it’s dangerous out there. Even the Witch of the Waste is back on the prowl.” She looked over at Samara, who seemed to be lost in thought. “Are you listening?”
A man peeked his head in the doorway, calling out to Ruth. “Ruth, the chocolate eclairs are done.” She nodded at him.
“I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks.”
Samara stood, feeling like she had kept Ruth for too long. “Alright. I better get going then. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”
~~
Ruth had insisted on seeing Samara out, even though the shop was still busy. She waved to a man passing them as they exited the shop, and they stopped outside the door to say their goodbyes. “Now, Samara. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life in that dreary hat shop?”
“The shop was just really important to my father. And Jay is busy here now, so I don’t mind.”
“I’m not asking what your father would have wanted, I want to know what you want.”
She contemplated. “Well…” The man from earlier exited, interrupting her train of thought.
“See you later, Ruth. It was nice to see you again.”
“You too!”
Samara took the opportunity to escape the heavy conversation. “Well, I better be going. It’s getting a bit dark.”
Ruth nodded, knowing that her sister-in-law just wanted to escape the conversation. “It’s your life, Samara. Do something for yourself for once, will you?”
“Bye, Ruth. Have a good night.”
~~
As Samara rode the trolley back to the Young Hat Shoppe that her father had opened when she was little, she looked out to see the sun setting over the ocean, lighting up the small ocean town with a lovely orange glow.
When she returned to the shop, it was already dark. The sun had set to the point where there was only a sliver of purple in the sky.
She opened the door to the shop and locked it behind her, moving to light a candle and remove her hat. The room brightened a considerable amount once she lit the candle in the lamp, and she moved to sit organize the items behind the counter when she heard the tinkle of the bell and turned to see a woman in a red suit with spiky black hair.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. But the shop is closed now.” Samara tried to gather her thoughts, but that was becoming increasingly hard with all the strange things going on around her. “I could have sworn I locked that door. Must have forgotten.” She muttered to herself as she looked back up at the woman’s face. Samara noticed that the lady had very pretty eyeliner and bright red lipstick on, and thought that Ruth and her mother would’ve asked her for makeup tips.
The lady interrupted her thoughts with a comment. “What a tacky shop. I’ve never seen such tacky hats before.” The woman paused, looking Samara up and down. “Yet you’re possibly the tackiest thing here.”
Samara normally couldn’t stand people who insulted others, but this woman was pushing the limits by coming into the shop after it had closed, and she was clearly not there to buy anything. “I’m a-afraid you w-will have to leave now.” She was trembling a little but tried not to let it show. Trying to usher the woman out, she walked over to the door, opening it. “The d-door’s over here, m-miss. We’re closed.”
The woman looked her up and down judgmentally. “Standing up to the Witch of the Waste. That’s audacious.” She scoffed.
“The— the Witch of the Waste?”
The woman ignored her, pulling a red handkerchief out of her pocket and walking towards Samara, throwing it in her face. Samara tried to dodge it but saw red for a moment before she blinked, and realized she had been pushed to the floor. The woman stood in the doorway, looking down at her.
“The best part about that spell is that you can’t tell anyone about it.” She smirked as the black creatures from earlier carried a small carriage directly behind her and she turned to them, calling, “My regards to Charles…” Before she got into the carriage and the creatures carried her away.
Samara sat on the floor for a while before she tried to get up, finding that her whole body was a bit sore. She looked at her hands, noticing that they were strangely wrinkly. This is new, she thought. What did the Witch of the Waste curse me for, anyway? She moved her hands up to feel her face and realized that her face felt wrinkly too. She stood as quickly as she could and rushed to the mirror to see herself.
When she finally looked in the mirror, she saw an old woman. She thought that she had “aged” fairly well, but still didn’t like the look of it. Before, she hadn’t been too fond of her looks. But now, she just wanted to hide.
“That— that’s really me, isn’t it? Oh no…” Samara paced around the shop for what felt like hours, telling herself to stay calm. She shuffled to look at herself in the mirror every once in a while, only to freak out again and repeat the process. Finally, she forced herself to go to sleep, telling herself it was just a dream and would be over by morning.
~~
The next morning, Samara’s mother visited the shop. “Look who’s here!” She announced. She wore a large violet-colored hat adorned with large feathers and shiny beads.
“You’re back!”
“You’re here, ma’am!”
“Look at you!”
Giving a small twirl, Samantha said, “What do you think? It’s all the rage in Kingsbury.”
“It’s gorgeous!”
“I know, right? Our customers will love it!” She replied, walking towards Samara’s workspace. As she walked to the doorway, she saw that Samara wasn’t working as she normally would be. Lucy piped in.
“I’m afraid Samara hasn’t come downstairs yet today, ma’am.”
“That’s strange. I wonder what’s wrong.” Samantha moved to the stairs, calling to her daughter as she ascended. “Samara? Samara! Samara!” She reached the door to Samara’s room.
“Don’t come in here! I— I’ve got a bad cold. I don’t want you to catch it.”
Samantha gasped at the sound of her daughter’s voice. “You sound terrible— like a 90-year old woman.”
“I think I‘ll probably just stay in bed all day, so don’t worry about me.”
“Well… if you insist.” Samantha left her daughter alone after that, relaying the information to the girls in the shop.
Samara sat on her bed facing the window, bundled in a blanket. When she had woken up to find her aged self in the mirror, she had crawled back into bed, not wanting anyone else to see her the way she was. After her mother visited, Samara knew she had to leave. Ruth had told her to take some time to herself and having a curse that made her look like an old woman seemed like the perfect time to take a break from things.
“This isn’t so bad now, is it?” She told herself in the mirror. “I’m still in pretty good shape, and at least my dull clothing suits me now.” She sighed, thinking, I can’t stay here for long.