“Squeezjoos is saying he’s with the Kingwitch,” said Caliburn sadly. “Chiwgink is ‘Kingwitch’ spelled backward… sort of…”

“Come with us, Squeezjooos!” cried Xar. “Please come with us!”

But Squeezjoos slipped between Xar’s fingers.

“I’sss can’t…” said Squeezjoos sadly, a desperate look in his eye, before he started shaking again, and flying back and forth like a poor little upside-down trapped bumblebee.

“We can’t leave without Squeezjoos!” said Xar.

“Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t fight the Kingwitch,” shouted Encanzo. “LOOK UP THERE!”

Wish and Xar and Bodkin looked up, and in the distance the sky was dark with Witches. They were flying in from all directions, screaming wildly, heading toward the island of the Nuckalavee.

“Quick! Wish! Make a force field!” yelled Xar.

Wish took off her eyepatch. She thought of fires, and fires leaped up, forming a protective circle around the children and turning into a great humming force field.

We can still fight him. The Kingwitch can’t get out of the ball of iron… thought Wish. Don’t think of what he’s like…

Horrible images of the times she had met the Kingwitch before had leaped into her brain and were making her sweat with fear. The Kingwitch, curled up like a great dark grasshopper inside the stone she had released him from in the first place… The Kingwitch springing in the air, great dark feathers spread wide, talons like swords, terrifying Magic blasting out of his mouth…

Don’t be scared or that will make the force field weaken… He’s trapped and he can’t do any harm to us from in there… Wish’s thoughts chased around inside her skull like panicking rabbits.

Only I can let him out, and until then we are perfectly safe…

WHAM!

The first Witch lunged down from above and rammed into Wish’s force field with such violence that Wish fell over, gasping, as if someone had punched her in the stomach, and—

WHAM!

Another Witch punched into the force field.

Sychorax drew her bow and arrows and shot at the departing Witch, and the creature let out a dreadful screech as it escaped upward into the air.

But the sky was full of Witches, flying closer, closer.

“We’ll go back for Squeezjoos later when we’ve got all the ingredients of the spell!” shouted Xar, trying to keep his balance inside the rocking, shaking force field. “It won’t do Squeezjoos any good if we stay here to get killed by Witches…”

WHAM! Another great ram of the Kingwitch in the ball of iron and the entire side of Wish’s force field caved in.

“We need to go NOW!” shouted Sychorax. “And get to the safety of the Beach of Shoes… THE WITCHES WON’T DARE ATTACK WITH MY IRON WARRIORS THERE!”

Sychorax had sent word to her Warriors to make haste to the Beach of Shoes. She did not know whether they had gotten there yet… but crafty war leader that she was, she wanted the Witches to think they were there.

“INTO THE BOAT!” roared Encanzo. Scrambling, tumbling across the beach inside Wish’s dented force field, Wish, Xar, and Bodkin ran after Sychorax and Encanzo toward the sea. The Kingwitch in the ball of iron followed them, gaining momentum as it went downhill on the gentle slope of the beach.

“Only a little farther…” panted Xar.

They got to the log boat in the absolute nick of time. For as they scrambled in and Encanzo pushed the boat off the shore, another great Witch swooped to get them.

“DUUUUCCKKKK!” screamed Bodkin, and they had a nightmare vision of the talons of the Witch.

But Encanzo’s staff sent the boat shooting off the sand with such magical speed that they all fell flat on their backs—

SPPPLLLASSSHHHHHHHHHHH!

The great ball of iron slammed into the shallow water of the beach with such ferocity that a huge spray of water still reached them as they sped away.

Trembling, shaking, water in her hair and in her eyes, some of it sea and some of it tears, Wish looked back. The ball of iron with the Kingwitch inside it was stopped dead for the moment, half buried in the sludge and sand, surrounded by great whirlpool ripples. Wish half expected it to be following after them, but even the Kingwitch seemed to have accepted that a ball of iron cannot roll on water.

Crusher came panting up and tried to catch Squeezjoos, but the little sprite dodged out of the way, screeching “I iss with the Chiwgink!” Crusher tried again, but Squeezjoos was too quick for him and Crusher had to leave too, diving after them all.

Squeezjoos watched them go, buzzing upside down forlornly. Sometimes he seemed to get up a manic energy, fizzing with bright green sparks, and then he calmed down and Wish could not bear to look at him, so alone and so desolate. She thought she heard him shout something… she wasn’t sure whether it was “Don’t leave me!”

or “Please save me!”

Whatever it was, it was unbearable.

“We will save you, Squeezjoos, I promise!” shouted Wish, tears running down her face, and then she turned to Caliburn. “They won’t hurt him, will they, Caliburn?”

“No, they won’t hurt him,” said Caliburn sadly. “He is the Witches’ creature now, so they won’t hurt him…”

“TRUST ME, SQUEEZJOOS, WE’LL BE BACK TO RESCUE YOU!” hollered Xar, who was also crying. “I ALWAYS LOOK AFTER MY SPRITES!”

Squeezjoos shouted something back, but again he was too far away to be sure of what he said, but I think it was something like: “Don’t worry, Masster! I trusts you! And I iss FINE! I iss upside down and with the Chiwgink… but I iss FINE!”

And then he was too far away for them to see him anymore.

They had only just gotten away in time.

Most of the Witches had reached the island now and although the ball of iron could not follow over water, the Witches had wings and they were after that boat like eagles pursuing a mouse.

Encanzo shot back at them with great blasts of Magic from his spelling staff.

Sychorax took down a few with her iron arrows. But there were too many of them.

And Wish set up another force field, this time over the entire boat, as the screaming, screeching, yelling nightmares of Witches dived again and again, talons out, trying to rip open the force field and get at them.