Elsewhere in the village square, Marvin is selling his merchandise, or at least, his remaining valuables before he spotted Barbara.

"Marvin?" Barbara was surprised to see him selling without his moving caravan.

"Barbara?" And he was also surprised to see her.

"What happened to your shop? Don't tell me that you lost your caravan again. I told you that hiding it in the middle of nowhere without the transparence spell was a bad idea."

"I wish!" My shop got swallowed up by  quicksand, and to make matters worse. I had to spend the night in Monty's inn."

"You stayed at Charles Montgomery's Village Inn?! Impossible! How? How did this happen?" Barbara asked him with mild astonishment.

"A young man begged me to help him find his girlfriend who was abducted by a witch. When we found her, she got turned into an old woman. Apparently, the witch used a spell to sap her of her youth to make herself younger." Barbara's curiosity turned into guilt. Her monobrow lowered and her face, melancholic.

"And who was the girl that got turned into an old hag?" She asked, despite knowing that she was involved in this scheme.

"Catherine."

Barbara feigned shock, though deep down she did show signs of guilt.

"Cathy?! Well that makes sense since she is known for being the most prettiest girl in the village... or was. Where is she?" Barbara asked, genuinely curious of her whereabouts.

"She is inside her house. She won't come out unless the villagers are sleeping. And that bou is trying to make up for what he did when he tried to kill her."

"Are you talking about Cathy's fiancé? Are you sure you're talking about the same man? The most egotistical snob in Dreadsville actually tried to kill her?" Barbara queried, resisting the urge to laugh.

"Yes, and he has been trying to make up for what he did." Marvin said as he sorted his products.

"I'm surprised that he hasn't left her for another woman. Especially in the state she is in right now." She admitted, knowing how shallow they both were when Barbara started dating at first.

"If she doesn't forgive him or he leaves her, that would be their loss. You know what they say, another man's trash is another man's treasure." The merchant endeavored to lighten the mood.

"Marv, you are a perv." Barbara humored him, deep down they both wanted to change the subject.

"You know I can't help myself when it comes to the ladies. Specially if they're older women." Marvin wiggled his eyebrows.

"Gross! You men are all the same! The only thing you want is to get into a woman's sheets. I swear, you men are nothing but filthy swines."

"Hey!" Marvin felt slightly offended by that comment.

"Don't take it personally. After all, you are only half of one." Barbara said before leaving.

"Oh." He didn't mind the insult until he realized what it meant. "Hey!"

*

Barbara headed towards Catherine's house. It is strange that there was no one nearby. Not the homeless man, not the alleycat, no one. Edwin was nowhere nearby.

She knocked on the door.

"Go away!" Catherine yelled through the door, her voice sounded hoarse.

"It's me Cathy." Barbara responded.

"I said GO away!"

"I heard what happened. Would you mind letting me in?" Barbara requested.

"And why would I let someone by the likes of you enter into my house?"

Barbara hesitated to respond, but she had to say it.

"Because I know how to break the spell."

Barabard heard Catherine unlocked the door. She got grabbed and she was pulled inside the house. Catherine slammed the door.

Inside the house was dark, the only source of light peeked through the window.

"Tell me how to break the spell. TELL ME!!!", Catherine grabbed Barbara's arms, shaking her like a rag doll.

"I will! Just let me go!"

Catherine released her even though her hands are still shaking.

"Now listen. The only way for you to get your youth back is to find the witch that took it from you."

"Find her!? She could be anywhere! She could be in another village seducing men, putting them under her spell as we speak."

"The only way to find her is to search the places she would need to hide." Barbara suggested before Catherine pushed her angrily.

"Are you jesting me?! She is flaunting my good looks and you are telling me that she needs to find a hiding place?! She is not the one who needs to hide behind four walls to keep the others from finding out that I lost my youth!"

"There is a saying that age comes with wisdom. You might have gotten older, but you have learned nothing." She yelled, "Look at you!"

Catherine was hiding in the darkness, a glimpse of sunlight revealing her faded complection. Acrid, dried up, pitiful.

"At least I'm not ashamed of being an ugly, flat broad. Unlike you, I don't hide my flaws. I don't humiliate others for being different. I respect my elders, but you? You can't even respect yourself."

Catherine doesn't want to hear it, she can't stand it. But she needed to hear it.

The ugly truth.

"That spell might have made you ugly on the outside, but you are even more repulsive on the inside." Barbara walked up to the door, then looked at the aged woman in the corner of her eye. "If you want to be beautiful again, start on the inside." Barbara exited the house, leaving Catherine alone.

Catherine sat down to reflect, perplexed.

Elsewhere in the village, Haggith was strolling with two simpletons; Jacob and Derrick. They took her around the village, despite that she knew every corner of Dreadsville. She played along with the charade to avoid getting her cover blown. "And this is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the oldest and only cathedral in Dreadsville." Jacob said while Haggith seethed, her blood boiled remembering about the witch hunter.

Of all the places in Dreadsville, they had to take me to the place where their sect of religious leaders had the gull to bring that despicable witch hunter to lure and execute the native witches. Worst of all, I was forced to flee along with the others from my homeland when they uncovered the hidden burial ground. If I had the chance to destroy this place, I would.

"Uh, are you alright? You look— OW!" The lad touched her shoulder and felt that he had put his hat in hot metal.

"Excuse me while I find a place to cool off." Haggith said as she went to the well.

"Dang! She was hot." Derrick said as he held his blistering hand.

"I know." Jacob made seductive growling noises.

"No, I mean she was really hot. Like boiling hot." Derrick tried to show his hand but Jacon was focused on her backside.

"Then she must be on her fertile days. Hot and ready." Jacob bit his lower lip and wiggled his eyebrows.

"You dirty dog." Derrick said before Jacob howled.

The witches meet near the village well. Haggith used some of the water to wash her face and cool off while Barbata used of the remaining water to drink.

"I can't stand her. Even as an old hag, she is still an arrogant spoiled sow." Barabara says, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

"I know exactly how she is feeling right now. Alone. You have no one around you, no one to listen to you, no one who cares. To be seen as a burden for everyone else, trapped in your own bitterness and solitute. To be seen as an old lunatic, believing that everyone is against you. Seeing yourself as your own worst enemy. I know that feeling too well."

"Haggith, how did you meet my grandmother?" Barbara asked her, and in return Haggith laughed.

"I met her in Crestville. Back then, my family fled from Dreadsville with nowhere else to go. We were traveling for days, searching for a place to stay. My family was running out of food and supplies until we found the village. My family and I tried to stay in an inn but we had no money. Unfortunately, we got kicked out. My parents were looking for work and I was left alone playing with sticks all by myself. I didn't know anyone my own age. I was a complete stranger in that place. The only spell I knew was a summoning spell. I drew a circle on the dirt, grabbed the nearest stone I could find and chant. I spent hours chanting to summon anything, but no luck. I was famished with no energy to chant, the next thing I did was to pray. I closed my eyes, prayed, when I opened my eyes I saw an apple covered with dirt. I took a bote out of it, then I heard a merchant yelling at me. He accused me of stealing, so I ran with the apple and ate it. I threw the core of the apple at his face, and looked for a place to hide. I hid on the edge of town. When he gave up and left me alone, I got out of my hiding spot and got lost. I had no idea where I was or where I was going, when I reached a dead end, I turned back and went around the corner, I bumped into her by accident. Even though I was mean to her, she greeted me with a kind gesture. It was baffling to say the least. She invited me for supper and we became friends ever since." Haggith told Barbara how she met Agatha and the situation she was in before meeting her. "The only nice thing that I can say about your grandmother is that she was willing to help those in need. She might have been a sweetheart, but she could be a riot when she wanted it to be. I hate to admit it, but deep down, I was jealous of her. I am only going to say this once, your grandmother was one of a kind." After Haggith told Barbara how she felt about her late friend, they changed the subject.

Elsewhere in the village square, Marvin has been trying to sell his remaining valuables with no luck. The least he didn't expect to see was another witch accompanying Barbara. Upon a closer look he saw the witch from his dream.

"I will see you back at the hovel, but first I have to entertain those two imbeciles." Haggith went away to find Jacob and Derrick.

"Good luck, you'll need it!" Barbara hollered, she was heading out of the village square before Marvin stopped her.

"Barb, who is your new friend?" Marvin inquired with a suspicious tone.

"That was Haggith, we just met a few days ago. She got lost and needed a place to stay until she recovered from her injury." Barbara lied. Despite how convincing the lie was, Marvin still found it awfully suspicious that that witch appeared right after Catherine turned old.

"What a strange coincidence that I see your new friend after Catherine turned into an old woman." Marvin knew she was lying, so he kept prying in his peculiar way. "An even stranger coincidence that she almost has the same name as the Old Hag."

"She was still recovering in my home by that time. Unlike the old hag, she is actually fun to talk to." Barbara insisted, then walked away ignoring any further comments from his old friend.

"I recognize a lie when I hear one. You can fool the others, but you can't fool me. If you are really the one behind Catherine's aging, you have no idea of the trouble that you've gotten yourself into." Now Marvin was certain that something was wrong.

He can't stand the fact that I found someone that really understands me. He got to reconnect with his family while I am trying to find a semblance of familiarity.

Barbara immersed herself in her thoughts. Thinking about her grandmother, the magic lessons that she taught her. The questions she had about womanhood and other things that she was unable to talk about around men.

Marvin went looking for Haggith. Jacob and Derrick already finished giving her the tour, though Jacob couldn't wait to see her again. She waved goodbye then turned away, swaying her hips. When they were out of sight and out of earshot. "Such a shame that tere aren't any real men in this village." The rejuvenated witch commented before crossing paths with Marvin, he held a burlap sack slinged to the back of his shoulder.

"What a pleasant surprise. I thought that I would not see you around anymore after your shop got swallowed up by the quicksand. What's the matter? Aren't you glad to see me?" Haggith mocked him before smiling sardonically.

"I know what you did, you inescrupulous old hag. You put Barbara under your spell and used her to your own benefit." Marvin sneered.

Haggith mock-gasped.

"You are not as foolish as you seem to be. I had no need to use magic, just a good old fashioned manipulation. She wanted retribution and I showed her how, we put our differences aside and gave that girl what was coming to her." Marvin saw Haggith walking around him, avowing about how she succeded in regaining her juvenescence.

"It was easy pulling her strings by using the memory of her late grandmother alone, and tricking that daft damsel into relinquishing her youth for the sake of that pompous knave was a bonus." She looked at him before smirking in satisfaction.

"You will not get away with this."

"Oh, but I will. Who is going to stop me? Not you, not that wrinkly wench, not even that foolish simpleton can stop me. It was nice talking to, but I have an apprentice to train. Ciao!" With a clap, the witch vanished in a puff of smoke.