In the Wicked Witch of the West's Castle

Wes was feeling elated. He had got back from a good day (well, night considering his school started late in the day) at school, the flying baboons guarding the fortress didn't assault him in any way, and, best of all, his mother was practicing her spells. She did so once a month to see if it would result in the barrier surrounding the Isle falling. Spoiler alert: it never did. But, at the very least, it meant she'd be holed up at her altar in the crypt all night. When he got to his room, he checked to make sure there were no guards in earshot before he entered and closed the door.

"Viv," he whispered as he placed down his bag of spellbooks and went to light some candles so the room wouldn't be in pitch darkness.

He jumped a little when the black cat leaped up from under the bed. She looked at him inquisitively as she padded around the mattress.

"Tonight was a testing day," Wes bragged. "I got a hundred-percent on everything: spell composition, potion-making, elemental control, you name it. I told you the perigean full moon was a good omen."

She turned her head slightly.

"Well, no, we didn't really do any of it. No magic, remember? But I do know how to, in case we ever get outta here." Wes sat down on the bed and pet Vivianne's head. "Now, that would be-"

He was cut off when the door to his room burst open. Two of his mother's winged baboons came flying into the room. Wes' eyes widened. He'd made sure they weren't waiting outside and kept his voice to a whisper so that they couldn't hear him.

"Don't you dare." Wes started with a glare. But they, apparently, weren't intimidated. They began barking, a horrible sound that baboons made that brought back flashes of even more horrible memories. It didn't take long after that for his mother to appear. He felt her presence before he saw her (probably because she always wore so much black in the dark halls of the castle), like an aura of evilness had descended on the room.

"What have you done this time?" Theodora roared.

"It-it's-it's," Wes stuttered. Then she noticed the cat sitting on the bed.

"What is that?" She asked. For some reason, the quieter tone she used was even more unnerving than her usual screams of outrage.

"A cat." He said. When he saw her face begin to turn purple (or as her face could considering she had green skin) "A familiar, I mean." When she didn't respond he added, "My teacher said cats make for great familiars because-"

"Your teacher is a lunatic and a cannibal who lives in a house made of candy and feeds on children. I do not need her wisdom!" Theodora yelled. "I may have to send you to school, I may have to feed you, and I may not be able to lock you up anymore. But I will not allow this thing," she grabbed Vivianne before Wes could react, "to prowl around my halls. Get rid of it."

"Please-" Wes started. He was barely able to stay calm, but he couldn't let anger get the better of him.

"Fine, I will." She said gleefully. She turned to one of the flying monkeys. "Light a fire."

"NO!" Wes yelled. He tried to rise from the bed, but he fell right back down. He briefly wondered if his mom had somehow managed to use magic to throw him down. But whatever had pushed him down had affected her, too. Theodora had stumbled as well, losing hold of Vivianne, who dashed away from the witch as soon as her paws touched the ground. The ground must have shaken. There weren't earthquakes on the Isle, but he knew witches that were good with the earth could cause them. And, outside the window, he saw that there was gold light rippling along the sky.

"Find out what that was," Theodora commanded.

Wes was moving before the plan had fully formed in his mind. He'd seen Vivianne run to his backpack, in the chair behind his mother. He grabbed his mom's hand and pulled off her ruby ring before he ducked under her arm, grabbing the backpack with Vivianne inside and zipping it quickly. He then tried to run around Theodora, but she reached out in the blink of an eye, catching hold of his arm. He tried to pull away, but she was seemingly inhumanly strong. When he glanced at her face, the look in her eyes left him frozen.

"You are not going anywhere, you thief." She growled.

That unfroze him. "I think I am," Wes said, grabbing one of his candles and dropping it on the ground, near the skirts of her dress. Her grip loosened slightly as she realized the dress was catching on fire. He pulled away from her, climbing across the bed and sprinting to the window. The baboons had finally managed to open it. When the two of them jumped out of the window, Wes dove out after them. The sight of the six-story drop...weakened his resolve a bit. But he landed on a baboon's back, grabbing on tightly. It howled as it tried to regain its balance in the air, spreading out its wings and flying upwards. Wes looked up and saw that the light in the sky from earlier was the dome around the Isle. It was usually transparent, but tonight it was like a golden aurora was surrounding the entire island. Well, save for one spot that was completely see-through. It was like the dome had been pierced. As Wes' unwilling ride started flying higher and higher, Wes saw that the hole in the barrier was slowly closing. That explained why the winged monkey wasn't in a hurry to shake off its passenger. It was more focused on making it out. A few more flaps and they were all clear, outside the dome.

Now, it wasn't as easy to hold on. Now that they were clear, the baboon was shaking, trying to knock Wes off of it. He tried to hold on, using his nails to grip its fur tighter. It didn't work. He lost his grip and fell down. All he saw was the blue of the waters surrounding the Isle. The drop was outrageous. He'd been screaming for ten seconds and, still, he was high up in the air. I can't swim, he thought, I can't swim. That brought him to think about the ring he had pocketed. Resolving not to panic, he was able to reach into the pocket of his jacket, with some difficulty considering it was flapping in the wind. It glowed red when he touched it, and he did everything he had worked on in class. He closed his eyes, picturing wind surrounding him and breaking his fall. "Tempus," he said. When another five seconds passed and he was still falling, he opened his eyes and threw away his resolution not to panic. He could now make out the waves and ripples of the sea. He took a deep breath to steel himself as best he could and focused. "Animata pre transfiguro encanta."

There was a bright flash of red light and Wes fell unconscious.

The Next Day

Wes woke up in a cave. There was a burning fire in the center of the square chamber. He looked around and saw his backpack was on the ground, spellbooks spilled out onto the ground, their pages still not entirely dried. There was a movement in the corner of his eye and turned toward it. Prowling across the floor, staring up at him was Vivianne.

"What the heck." Wes rasped. His voice was rougher than the feeling of the stone floor beneath him.

The cat tilted its head and lazily padded over to him. It sat down and nudged its collar with its chin.

"I never gave you a collar." He finally noticed the gold medallion the size of a quarter attached to the leather band around the cat's throat. The medallion was set with nine tiny red gemstones. There was a bright flash of light as she grew, shifting from cat to human form. She had black hair, pale skin, and green eyes that looked unnervingly similar to his and his mother's.

Then he thought of something that would bring sense to all of this. "Am I dead?" He asked.

"Not anymore," she replied.

"You can speak?" He asked incredulously. "So this must be a dream."

"You're alive and awake," she said. "Promise."

He gave her a look that communicated his need for answers.

"When we were falling, you used a spell. Your mom's ring started glowing and a piece cracked off. I got this." She touched the collar that was still at her neck. "I got you out of the water, found this place, and prevented you from getting hypothermia. You're welcome."

"Wait, you said I'm not dead anymore, implying I was dead at some point. Was I dead?"

"Yeah. You were." She said, her face darkening. "But, then, the collar started glowing and...you weren't."

"I read about this in school. A cat familiar can sacrifice one of its nine lives to bring its owner back from death."

"Seems like it. Also seems like I'll gut you if you ever call yourself my owner again," Vivianne said. "I'll go hunting. You need to eat and I..I can do crazy things now. It's so fun-."

"Wait," Wes interrupted when she stood. "You said I did a spell."

"Yeah. You think I just became human out of nowhere?"

"Where are we?"

"Auradon."

"And where's the ring?"

Vivianne pulled the ruby ring from her pocket and handed it over to Wes. He placed it on his finger reverently and it flickered for a second, despite the missing fragment. He held out a hand and said, "Ignacia." The scene unfolded as he pictured it in his mind. A green flame instantly appeared in his hand. Despite its heat, it didn't burn him at all. He focused and said "motus," causing it to move, dancing around the air for a moment before flying into one of the cave walls, burning so hot it speared five feet into the stone.

"Your powers are back," Vivianne realized.

"I am going to make so many people pay." Wes said, his eyes still on the burn marks on the wall.