Razzel spoke directly from her heart. It was the only thing she could do. Especially since she knew she manipulated two relatively innocent witches. Relatively, in the case of Phenomena Willow, who had otherwise spurred her into stealing her book. But Razzel planned to explain her thievery and hoped desperately they'd see it was for a noble cause, at least.

  "I needed this book because I'm trying to save the greatest magician ever. Even greater than Wowie Zowie himself!"

  Mena's eyes widened. That got her attention. "Who could possibly be greater than the perfect magician?!" the young witch gasped.

  Razzel's tears rolled down cheeks. The pain was worse than being tackled and crushed by a large witch. "Better than Average Berty. My adopted grandfather!"

  Mena and Trudy both gasped in amazement. The curiosity in Mena's eyes was plentiful. "Better than Average Berty?!" Mena exclaimed. "Is he an elderly master magician?!"

  Razzel forced a smile as her cheeks were stained with tears. "He's actually the worst magician ever. People called him a fraud and a talentless third-rate magical hack. His tricks often exploded in his face and he wasn't the best teacher either as now I've inherited his magical clumsiness. But…he did something for me that Wowie Zowie never could with his infinite dreamy looks and magic–he saved me from a terrible fate and gave me something I never thought I'd have."

  Both Mena and Trudy, fully intent on listening now, patiently waited for Razzel to elaborate. Even if Razzel wished Trudy would get off her diaphramn, her words were devoid of trickery. "My real name is Chandra Prettipenni and I am a Starborn who was forced to sneeze golden stardust for a rich family in Autolycus."

  "What the huh?! A Starborn?!" Mena exclaimed. "I've heard of groundborns, rainborns, solborns and Lunaborns, but this is a new one to me! Not even Gemini mentioned it."

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  Razzel looked up helplessly at the two. "Starborns come from the great star mother and come to Autolycus to grant wishes of the people of the ground and sky."

  "Wowie Zowie!" Mena exclaimed, the phrase, not the magician. "Can you grant our wishes?!"

  "Sadly not," Razzel said. "That's the job of a full grown Starborn like Wowie Zowie. And besides, you need the piece of a star from the sky."

  "Anyway," she said, gazing down at the floor. "The Prettipenni's only kept me as their daughter because the magical dust I sneezed had very high value on the jem market. I escaped from them on my twelth birthday and Berry adopted me in the town of Zalem. And for one whole year, he has given me the best life I possibly could have…until I made him disappear!"

  "You made him disappear?!!" the two witches shouted in unison.

  "It wasn't on purpose!" Razzel cried, the tears streaming down now. "I had gotten into a fight with a bad witch…or at least i thought she was bad…and I tried to send her to the furthest place imaginable…but Berty showed up and…"

  "You sent him away instead…" Mena said solemnly.

  Now it was Razzel's turn to be quiet. She felt even heavier than the weight on her body.

  "The bad witch, Pumpkin Spice…who turned out to be not-so-bad and I traveled to Growden and met Wowie Zowie and he told us that my spell had transported Berty to Dula!"

  Suddenly, everything clicked for Mena. It was like an invisible candle appeared over her head lit itself. "So you want the nightcreeper book because you want to search Dula…"

  Razzel pulled one of her hands out from underneath Trudy's bottom. She made a fist. "Because, you Phenomena Willow, won't catch a dreamfish. I'm going to find an alternate method to do so."

  Razzel looked up at Trudy and Mena. "I'm sorry for deceiving you. Please understand why I got close to you. Even if I fully understand if you don't want to be friends anymore… I have to do this. For Berty…and Pumpkin!"

  The two witches were silent again. So quiet Razzel could hear her own magical heartbeat. Now that she had told the truth, the wholesome truth and nothing but the true truth…they had to give a plain answer in return.

  But what would it be?

  The young magician waited in anticipation to see if her friends would soon become her former friends.