0 March Secret Agent #12

TITLE: The Third Gift
GENRE: Middle grade fantasy

Hunched over her magical telescope, with her black cloak flapping in the wind, the Witch could have been mistaken for a pteranodon, or a pterosaur - some great winged predator the world had not seen in a very, very long time.

One more look was all she needed. One more look at the new home that was filled with flowers instead of sand. Singing birds and beautiful animals instead of rocks. Now she had it in her lens. In a couple of more days she'd have it in her hands. She'd been searching for so long that she'd lost count of time; years flew past like dandelion seeds caught in a whirlwind. Perfection was hard to find..

“There are so many ways to lie,” she told a stone squirrel sitting next to her. “But no one can outsmart a witch.” It's black onyx eyes glittered back. She rapped its head with her knuckles. “You think I don't know you're hiding in there? How does it feel to be in a prison? Your own body turned to stone? It's what you deserve for trying to fool me. All of you. ”

“How grand you all looked when I first saw you through this telescope. You all looked perfect. But after I came. After I saw you up close...I could always... find... something... wrong.

“You promised fur softer than a cloud,” she pointed to a fox. “But you shed all over my clothes. Clouds don't shed. They cry if you pinch them hard enough but they don't shed.”