"I've never seen Agatha be vengeful," Shock said, "and Lillith can get pretty clever when she's upset. So I'm sure Lock thinks her inevitable revenge is worth it."

~~~

The little bell to the witch's shop rang as Barrel entered, a wide grin on his face as usual. He carefully scoped out the shop. Agatha was behind the counter, as usual, Aggie was stocking, but he didn't see Agnes. Okay, he could work with this. Shock said she'd prefer working with the little witch anyway.

Agatha perked upon seeing him.

"Hi, Barrel!" she exclaimed. "What can we get for you?"

"Um..."

Barrel glanced over to Aggie.

"Actually, I...well..."

[I]Come on,[/i] he told himself. [I]You practiced this. The whole plan requires this.[/i]

"I was wondering if you could help me with...potions?"

As he thought, that got Aggie's attention. The tall witch turned her head to face him.

"Potions?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," Barrel said. "It's not too different from cooking, and I've been reading this spellbook..."