Third person pov

"Mark, I don't think that's supposed to be bubbling."

"What are you- oh shit, I think you're right."

Mark, Atlas, and Nev all stood surrounding a large cauldron in the cave beneath Ella's house, peering down into it with expressions ranging from mildly-concerned to completely horrified. Their witch friend had been attempting to make a potion that would allow them to communicate with someone from an alternate universe. As far as they could tell, they'd had no success. Now all they were left with was this simmering vat of sludge. It was probably toxic. They probably should've been wearing respirators of some sort. If any of them contracted a form of cancer after this, they wouldn't be surprised. 

"W-What's that?" Nev asked nervously as something bubbled to the top. Everyone leaned back cautiously as the sludge rolled off of it. They hadn't put anything in that hadn't disintegrated into the concoction. They'd even tried bones and they'd been eaten up almost immediately by the mystery liquid. They were too afraid to try and dispose of it. What if it ate a hole into the ground or something? Or killed the grass in the yard? They weren't going to risk it. Mark had worked too hard and too long keeping it green to let it all go now. 

"I have no fucking idea." Mark admitted, squinting at it. "Satan's offspring?"

"Probably." Atlas agreed, nodding definitively. It kind of did look like a fetus if you looked at it from an angle. What were they going to do if it was alive? Maybe they could cook it and feed it to Earl. He seemed to take just about anything they left out as an offering. Assume that was him and not some other random entity living inside the house. Which was a good possibility. Perhaps they should invest in some better rat poison...

The cauldron's bubbling slowly got more and more violent to the point where it was sloshing out. It got pretty bubbly at times, but not like this. It wasn't supposed to do this. Well, maybe it was. They really couldn't say seeing as they had no fucking idea what it was. They just stepped back and watched the liquid absolutely demolish the floor around the cauldron. There was no coming back from this, honestly. They would just have to fill the gaps with concrete or something. The wood wasn't going to recover. Well, assuming Ella didn't use some random spell to fix it up.

Mark and Atlas let out screams of pure terror when something on fire flew from the cauldron like a bat out of hell. Nev shrieked for a good few seconds, his hands flying up to cover his eyes as it spun awkwardly onto the ground. The wooden floors had an enchantment on them that prevented them from catching on fire most of the time. Luckily, it seemed to work in this case, leaving them all to wait until the flames died down. The cauldron had presented them with things before, but never had it spat them out in a furious blaze. 

"That's new." Atlas whispered after a moment of tense silence. Nev had yet to uncover his face.

"Yeah, normally they just bubble to the top and we get em' out with the prongs." Mark noted. They had a special pair of prongs made out of what Ella called an 'enchanted tree'. Mark and Atlas were pretty sure she'd bought them at a Home Goods store in the village though. How they withstood the mixture was a true mystery. Maybe she hadn't been bullshitting them. 

"Fire is a chemical reaction that produces light and heat." Nev murmured. Atlas and Mark expertly ignored him. It was normal for him to spout out random facts, no matter how obvious they happened to be. 

Atlas didn't hesitate to shove Mark towards the thing that had just flown out of their pot of god knows what. The tattooed boy shot him a glare before turning and slowly approaching it. It was crumbled up into a weird shape that almost made the dark-haired teen think it was a mouse of some sort. He crouched down, nose scrunching up. Why did they all smell like grape laffy taffy? How had she done that? Essential oils? 

"It's just another piece of paper." He realized, reaching down and plucking it off the dusty floor. All the liquid had already rolled right of it. They'd experimented in dropping normal paper in, but the cauldron's contents would eat it up immediately. There was simply something special about these little notes they kept getting. Where they were coming from, no one was terribly sure. 

"What's it say?" Atlas asked hesitantly. 

"It says "Uchiha, bitch", whatever the hell that means." Mark sighed with a shake of his head, going to tack in to the bulletin board above Ella's messy desk. He'd have to tell her what'd happened when she got back. The other papers glared at him ominously. One read 'Cha cha real smooth', and another claimed 'periodt, bitch.' There were a few others that made close to no sense. This was the first one that references something they actually recognized-- the Uchiha clan. 

"My dog, probably." Nev shrugged. Whatever the fuck he meant by that, no one was sure.

"Yeah, totally." Atlas agreed with the deertaur, his tone understanding. Sometimes it was best to simply humor Nev. He couldn't help his oddness. The half-deer boy smiled at Atlas's acceptance of what he'd said, seeming content. Mark sighed. 

Elizabeth's pov 

I sighed as I appeared... where am I now? I looked around. Right, the outside of my house. Of course-- I totally meant to do that. Good job El, you didn't land inside a stranger's house this time! Pats on the back for you girlfriend, pats on the back for you. Gold star. You did- I need to stop talking to myself mentally. It's honestly not a good thing and probably a sign of my impending insanity. I'm a single life crisis away from completely losing it. The smallest misstep could honestly send me over the edge at this point, which is not what any of us need. 

"I wonder what those three are up to." I muttered to myself. I can feel them down in the cave. Don't ask how it's possible-- even I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I spent three fucking months putting that stupid floor in and staining it chestnut brown. My blood, sweat, and tears probably spiritually connected me to the place on one level. God that was a pain. I slept through every class the following four days after that whole conundrum. It took literally every ounce of strength and mercilessly seeped it from me. Talk about brutal. 

I tucked my bangs behind my ear with a sigh, walking around the side of my surprisingly-normal looking home. It truly did blend in. Though there were clearly some western influences etched into it, nobody really bat an eye at it. All the better for me. It probably helped that I had wards off to deter people from looking too closely at what was happening at the hizzy here. They might see something they weren't supposed to. I don't need the ANBU Black Ops knocking on my door because someone says they saw a pair of garden gnomes carrying a pound of weed on their backs. I have zero part in their drug trade. That's all them, and I honest to fucking god wish they'd take their business away from my house. 

I opened a pair of wooden doors that looked like they may lead to your normal, everyday storm cellar. My nose immediately scrunched up when the frighteningly strong smell of grape laffy taffy hit me. Did we get another note? And why're there spider webs in the stairway again?! Dammit, Matilda. This is why I shouldn't be so lenient on spiders living down here. I don't care if they bring me dead grasshoppers and other various bugs to pay rent, it's not worth a web to the face every time I take a step down. 

"Hey guys!" I called as I made my way down, the cellar doors banging shut behind me. I swatted at the webs violently, my hands flapping. The grape smell got even stronger. "Anything happen to the potion... thing we accidentally made?"

I'm not sure what it is that I concocted, but it definitely isn't drinkable, and it doesn't do much. Atlas found a really old book on dimensions, and normally really old books have some real content. Thing is, Atlas only goes out at night, as does Mark-- which probably means he stole the thing. That doesn't really matter now that we have it, I guess. We just... you know, threw every ingredient ever listed into the book into one giant pot and sorta hoped something cool would happen! And to be fair, something kind of did. Not only that, but the fumes haven't even killed us yet!

"No." Atlas noted as I entered the cave. He was passionately scribbling something on a piece of paper. Is he making more leaf rubbings? Because honestly, we have way too many. "Well, I guess it did spit out a piece of paper." 

"Yeah, except this one flew out in a ball of fucking fire." Mark scoffed. I batted away one of the balls of light Nev had found. They just sort of drifted around and illuminated the place. No idea where he got them from. Anytime we ask he just starts to scream at the top of his lungs with reckless abandon. We tried to throw one of the balls at something once and it blew up, so we decided to, you know... not do that. Now we just revel in the fact that we no longer need candles and try to enjoy life as best we can. You know, as we do. 

The cave is sort of cold, but also not. Perhaps cool is the right word to use. Shelves lined the back wall, full of bottles, jars, and boxes-- as well as other various ingredients that don't need containers. We've got two fridges down here, one with a freezer. The other was a package deal that came with a chest freezer, so we took that bundle. We mostly use it to store animal heads, as twisted as that is. No comment on that one. They're very useful, as are their various parts. Though we usually remove the brain, eyes, tongue, and other materials before freezing. 

On the left wall is a long table with three rolling chairs, since Nev can't really sit down in one. Mark is working on building him some form of a seat. The entire wall is covered by a huge chalkboard, and the wall right across from it is split between a whiteboard and a cork one. The cauldron sits in the middle of the room-- the real star of the show. We've got a few drains screwed through the wood flooring, as well as a few faucets here and there. Water is a necessity. Especially when shit combusts. 

"What did it say?" I questioned, peeking into the cauldron of steadily-bubbling liquid. It seems pretty tame today. Maybe a little on the frisky side. An acidic splash here, a gurgle there. Probably best to leave it alone and hope it doesn't randomly expand and swallow the house.

"Uchiha, bitch." Atlas answered, finishing his leaf rubbing and holding it up proudly. Mark rolled his eyes at him. I stared. Is this a joke. No, really. I get put on a team with Sasuke Uchiha and this paper flies out to taunt me. It has to be a prank. A form of psychological torture meant to drive me into a new form of insanity. 

"What the fuck?" I blurted out. That clan haunts me in every way.

"He's not lying. It really said that." Mark nodded to the bulletin board above my desk. I really need to clean it off. It's overflowing with too many papers, books, and other various items to be used. I'm too lazy to bother being organized. I sighed, my eyes wandering to the long table that had a few smaller cauldrons atop it. Mark seemed to be in the middle of making something else. Unlike Atlas, who was making-- you guessed it-- another leaf rubbing. This one was an ombre of blue and purple. 

"Right, right..." I trailed off. Wait, that's right. "Wait, so Kakashi and the third came by? Did they see anything?" 

It was a valid question. If they saw something, they may be inclined to come back and confirm whether or not they'd been tripping balls or not. Nothing they could've seen would surprise me. They could claim they'd seen a talking ghost cat that spoke fourteen languages and had purple fur and I would've found it fairly normal. Not too bad at all, honestly. Especially compared to Nev. He's a psychopathic deer that likes to make flower crowns and murder people in the woods. 

"Yeah. The little shits went rummaging through a few drawers in the kitchens. Atlas and I forgot to move the bear brain and crow eyes down here. Nev managed to distract them before they could see that shit though, so I think we're in the clear." Mark informed me. I pursed my lips. I knew I'd forgotten something. That was the least of my worries, though. I had literal heads in the fridge. Not human ones, of course, but not any that were easily explained either. If they asked, maybe I could just said I was into taxidermy. 

Getting caught as a witch wouldn't be too bad. Well, or maybe it would be. Would I be burned at the stake? Drowned? I mean, how can they really judge with all the shit chakra is capable of. You wanna kill the girl that makes little potions out of essential oils and eyeballs but yeah the guy that can clone himself dozens of times over is fine? Yeah, definitely fair. History is fucked up and that's the honest truth. If the fact that I'm a witch gets out I'm going to have an angry mob with pitch forks and torches banging on my door.

"Sounds interesting enough." I nodded, grabbing a grape and popping it in. My mouth immediately fell open, allowing it to drop out and roll onto the floor. Not a grape. Definitely not a grape. 

Nev, abruptly and very randomly, let out a very feminine scream. None of us jumped, as this happened to be a very normal occurrence. I kicked the not-grape away from me, clearing my throat and instead beginning to clear my desk off a little. It needs it. It needs a lot of things, as does my mental health. Not possible. I saw a therapist once but made them cry during my first session, so we decided it was best we part ways. Ino's older cousin has never looked at me the same since. 

"Dude, you scream like a girl." Atlas noted boredly, tacking up his leaf rubbing. He stood back proudly, planting his hands on his hips and admiring his work.

"I saw a rat." Nev whispered, having backed himself into the doorway worriedly. I whipped around so fast my neck almost snapped with the force.

"Where?!" I all but screamed. Not because I don't like rats, but because they can be used for many things. Especially their tails. They're not common around my house, as the resident gargoyle's tend to pick them off pretty fast. The fact that one made it down here alive is a miracle. I normally have to go to an abandon feeling and drop kick them whilst they rabidly run at me. I gather the corpses after and haul them home. Absolutely nasty stuff. 

"Right there!" Nev all but shrieked. We all turned to where he was pointing. A rat sat happily on the table, gnawing on one of whatever one of those not-grape's are. Glad one of us like's them. Why're they so spicy? Where did they come from? I have so many questions, and no answers. Off topic. There's a rat in our presence, and it isn't going to get away alive on our watches. Rat patrol is in town and ready to rumble.

"Get it!" I proclaimed. We all dove for it.