The Haunted National Park: A Tale from the Peter Wood Multiverse

By the time the witches and wizards from MAG-PAR were ready to leave the campgrounds, the morning was already well underway. As thanks for helping to both find and subdue the long-hunted Witch of Windsor, the deputy-warden had his fellow parliament witches and wizards use their magic to rebuild the campgrounds. And to Peter and his friends—while he did properly scold the bunch for getting involved in “grown-up matters”—the deputy-warden saw fit to bestow upon them each a box of living candy trolls.

“Now, I don’t ever want to hear anything about you lot hunting down long-lost wizards or witches hiding out in the woods.” Said the Deputy Warden. “Do you all understand?”

“But sir,” said Peter. “We weren’t really hunting for her at all. We just found her in the woods.”

“Well then stay out of the woods. Especially these woods. Your sleuth scout councillors no doubt told you that already before all of this occurred, so there’s no excuse on that one.”

“Rest assured, deputy-warden,” said Uncle Casper who was standing behind Peter. “I’ll be having a word with each of their parents who will ensure that they never do anything so stupid again.”

“Wonderful. Glad to hear it.” And with that, the wizard went off to speak with some of the other MAG-PAR officials.

Uncle Casper then told them that they were to stay put until he came back to them with their parents. The whole campground was now filled with parents who had rushed over to collect their children. The rangers that had arrived were working alongside the wizards and campground staff to ensure that the Witch was properly secured and that she hadn’t left any magical curses or other types of traps for others to fall victim to. Although, Peter doubted that she would. He didn’t know why, but looking at her now, he got the feeling that any desire or willingness that she might have once had to prepare any kind of mischief like that was long since spent already.

The Witch of the Park was being held in the back of a car that had the MAG-PAR logo on it. She was slouched in her seat, with cuffs on her wrists. With red rings around her eyes, she stared, longingly at the statue of her daughter, which still stood in the middle of the cabins. Uncle Casper said that all attempts to talk to the Witch or get her to answer questions went in vain. In her silence, she had made it clear that she had no desire to talk to anyone. But that wasn’t going to stop Peter from trying.

“Alright,” said Peter. “Ready when you are, Lily.”

Lily nodded and turned towards one of the cabins on the far end of the campground that was still being rebuilt by a couple of witches. Suddenly, a whole slew of unnaturally large venus fly traps came booming out of the earth and began wrapping themselves around the wreck of the cabin. Two of them then snatched up the witches who started to scream as they became half-swallowed by the carnivorous plants.

“Over there!” Called out a ranger next to Peter.

“It’s one of the Witch of Windsor’s traps!” blurted a wizard, before rushing over to help the witches under attack. “Move, everyone! Move, move, move!”

And with that, every one of the gathered rangers and wizardkin stormed over to deal with the plants that Lily had conjured. With the coast cleared, Peter, Oliver, Mindy, and Lily made their way toward the parliament car that was holding the Witch.

At first, she regarded none of them. She barely seemed to notice their arrival. But then, slowly, her eyes unlocked themselves from the statue of her daughter and landed on them. “None of you should be talking to me, children.” The Witch groaned. “I’m sure I’ve gotten you all in enough trouble as it is.”

“It’s nothing that bad, really.” Said Oliver. “They were mostly just worried that we might have been hurt.”

“Yea,” said Peter. “I mean we might be in a bit of trouble, but it won’t last forever. They’re just glad we’re okay.”

“I’m glad you’re okay too. And after I promised you all I’d never hurt you, I almost had you all eaten up by an undead cat! I’m so so sorry.”

“We know.” Said Peter. “And we forgive you. Here, Mindy actually has something for you.”

Mindy then stepped forward and pulled out from behind her back the old teddy bear they first met in the old ranger station up the mountain.

“My Angie’s teddy.” The Witch sobbed. “You found it!”

“When the rangers and wizardkin were collecting stuff from the old ranger station, they brought this down and we were able to snatch it. Here, we wanted you to have it.”

Taking the teddy bear into her cuffed hands, the Witch of the Park looked into its black, glass eyes and said, “I miss her so much…I…I…oh!” Startling Peter with her shout, she whipped the bear around to reveal the back of it which had some sort of opening that had been stitched shut. The Witch ripped it open, stuffed her hand in, and pulled out the last thing that Peter expected: a wand.

“This was meant for my daughter. We—my husband and I—bought it for her before she was born. Before we knew if she was going to be born a paranormal or a witch.”

Chills started to go down Peter’s spine. This was not part of the plan. What would happen next? Would she go on another rampage with her newfound weapon? Had they accidentally given the Witch the keys to her freedom?

“What…what do you plan on doing with it?” Lily asked. “Are you going to try and escape now?”

The edges of a smile started to creep onto the Witch’s face as she began turning over and examining her daughter’s wand. But then—just as clearly as it appeared—the smile faded, and the Witch returned her gaze to her daughter’s statue. Then she looked directly at Peter.

“Children…after the night I’ve put you all through, I deserve no favours at all. But…I would like to ask that you do me just the one favour I’m about to ask you.” The Witch stretched her hands out the car window and placed the wand into Peter’s hand. “Please, take this. Take this wand and bury it in front of my daughter’s tombstone. This wand belongs to her, and it’s high time I said goodbye to it. To her. If giving this up means that the government gets to haul me off in chains, then so be it. I don’t care anymore. I can’t…I cannot keep running anymore.”

Now smiling, Peter took the wand from her and said, “Sure.”

Then Mindy walked past him and stuck her hand into the car window to unlock the door. Once opened, Mindy then latched her arms around the Witch in a big bear hug and quietly said, “I’m sorry I was so mean to you before. I didn’t know what you had been through, and even if I did I still should have been nicer.”

Lily was the next one to race in and join the hug. She was then followed by Oliver, and finally, Peter joined in on the group hug of the Witch who had once again started crying.

“We’ll write to you while you’re in prison.” said Mindy. “Hopefully they won’t lock you up for too much longer. And you have to write us back!”

“Oh yeah!” squealed Lily. “We could be pen pals! We can even ask you for help with our alchemy projects!”

“Yea and uh, hope you feel better about your daughter soon.” Said Oliver, awkwardly.

“Whatever happens next for you,” said Peter. “We’ll be praying for you.”

Peter watched as a new smile slowly appeared on the Witch’s face as she tried her best to hug them while handcuffed. “I don’t…I don’t deserve…any of…of you…” she blubbered.

Eventually, they had to remove themselves from the Witch’s embrace as the commotion that Lily had created was now remedied by the adults. And just as they began to turn their attention back to the cars, they all took a seat at the nearest cabin which was a little distance away from the car that the Witch was in.

Peter didn’t know if they would ever see the Witch of the Park again. But he hoped that they would. And as the wizardkin’s parliament cars started up and began filling down the path towards the exit, the Witch stuck her cuffed hands out the car window to give them a final wave goodbye.

The End.