The Adventures of Millie and Sandra Season 3 Episode 1

Aunt Millie’s potluck was an enormous success with the coven, especially when they found out who was being served. Even the Hercules moths took a bite just so they could say they too got the better of Meryl. Millie and Sandra preferred their butterfly roasted, and as to whether their dad, Brian, was there… No!

After a group session it was decided after Aunt Millie argued her case, that the twin’s dad should be kept at a distance. That their mum and aunts’ relationship should remain, for him, “Rocky.”

The twins focused on school and their magic, but Sandra and Celia practiced it all at the same time. The two had grown scarily close and practiced their togetherness in the school change rooms on sports days. Sandra would change into a skimmer and Celia would give her an eerie glow, darken the end of the change rooms, and release a low growl. When the girls started arriving, they’d turn on the light, then scream as they caught sight of the scene for just a moment, satisfying Sandra no end as she became urban legend.

Some described the “monster” in the second-floor changing rooms as the Tamar tiger… even though it was green. Of course, Sandra could change with just a thought, and had learnt how to teleport short distances, so she and Celia would be gone before anyone could check her out. By the time the holidays arrived, there were stories about the green Tamar tiger in the girls' change room.

The twins had also been practicing their flying. In a group with their mum and aunt, they were fine, but alone, they had to find their own wings. Sandra, with Celia’s help, mastered flight faster than Millie, she mastered a lot of things before the long-suffering Millie who made several, “It’s not fair,” remarks to the coven, though she eventually mastered it.

It was the weekend and a friend of theirs had gone missing several months earlier, and every weekend, Marly Endover's, family and friends would gather at the Launceston City Park, where Marly was last seen, to search for clues, to search for Marly. The twins wanted to join the search. They thought their new adaptation to their understanding of their witchery might aid in the search.

“Be careful, girls,” their mum said as they were leaving the house. “I know you can handle yourselves, but please be careful.”

“We will,” they said in unison, “bye.”

The door slammed behind them and after a quick look around, they changed into Skimmers and flew as high, and as far as they could without being seen, to City Park. It was around two in the afternoon and people were everywhere. The twins landed in amongst a yet to be trimmed hedge of what they thought were conifers but were, in fact, briars.

“Ouch, ow,” they complained.

“Were’s the bag of clothes?” Millie asked as she transformed back into herself and was standing stark naked in a prickle bush.

“Oh dear,” Sandra began.

She was still a dragonfly. She laughed when she saw Millie’s shocked look.

“I’ve got them here,” she said, lifting a scale and retrieving a green woolies bag full of clothes. “Thank goodness it’s a warm day, Mill’s. I’d hate to be carrying winter clothing.”

Sandra laughed and Millie snatched the bag from Sandra as she transformed into human. They slipped a sun dress over their heads and stepped from the bushes as their hems reached their knees. With a pair of sandals on their feet, they made their way to Marly’s family, where they had set up a table to hand out flyers and write down any leads. It surprised them to see how pale and stressed Mrs. Endover was, and when they saw Kayla Odessa hanging off Rob’s arm, they both screwed their noses up.

“What’s she doing here?” Sandra snarled. “Anyone would think she’d lost a sister.”

“Shush,” Millie said to Sandra, then sort of smiled at Kayla. “Kayla.”

“Millie,” she said, and her words dripped from her lips as though she was protecting her prey.

“Smell that?” Millie whispered to Sandra.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Not sure, sis, but it’s comin’ from Kayla.”

“What’s she even doing here?” Sandra whispered. “She was such a… such a… well, I can’t think of a pleasant word, but you know what I mean... to Marl’s.”

“Yeah,” Millie said, “so what’s she doin’ there with Marly’s brother?”

“Let’s find out,” Sandra said.

They approached Marly’s mother and kept their demeanour sombre. They didn’t want to be too cheery, nor did they want to appear too sad.

“Girls,” Mrs. Endover said, and she smiled, but the twins could sense the strain and effort behind it.

“Hello Mrs. Endover,” Millie said, and gave her a hug.

Sandra straightened her dress and stepped up to hug her, too.

“We’re so sorry about Marly,” Sandra said. “We’ve come to help.”

“What can we do?” Millie asked, “Hi Rob.”

“Hey girls,” Rob said, “So you’ve not seen or heard anything either?”

“No, sorry. We haven’t,” she said, and while Millie spoke to Rob, Sandra was certain she saw Kayla’s eyes turn to a shade of black, but it happened so fast, she couldn’t be sure.

“Point us in a direction and we’ll start looking,” Sandra said, her eyes locked on Kayla’s.

“Yes,” Millie said, noticing the exchange.

“Here,” Mrs. Endover said and handed the girls a drink bottle and some flyers, “put those in your bag and if you want to start at the Grand, move onto the Cornwall then the Chancellor hotels… someone might’ve seen or heard something. People come and go day and night, maybe—”

“Mum,” Rob said and moved to wrap her in his arms, but first had to detach himself from Kayla, “come sit down, Mum, the girls know what to do.”

“Of course, we do,” Millie said and took Sandra’s hand in hers. “We’ll stop back a bit later.”

“Feel better Mrs. Endover,” Sandra said over her shoulder as Millie led her away.

They heard Mrs. Endover’s weak, “Thank you,” as they left.

“We really goin’ to the hotels, Mills?” Sandra asked.

“No. There’s no way Marly’s there, someone would have seen her on CCTV by now, in the lobbies at the very least. I think Kayla knows more than she’s saying… and what’s this hangin’ all over Rob thing?”

“I know,” Sandra said, “and did you see her eyes? When they turned black I almost—”

“Black?”

“Yeah, while you were talkin’ to Rob,” Sandra said, “it was like you were invading her territory or something.”

“Really?” Millie asked. “That’s interesting.”

“Why? Well, I mean apart from the obvious black eyed… whatever she is, hanging off him.”

“Exactly.”

“Exactly what?” Sandra asked.

“What is Kayla?” Millie asked, “and what did she do with Marly?”

Just then, a rustling in the bushes drew their attention to a patch where several bushy conifers had been grouped.

“What’s that?” Millie asked, moving closer to them for a better look.

“Probably an adorable Blue Tongue… or maybe, a snake!” Sandra said, and she was getting that delicious glint in her eyes.

Millie looked to see she had mere seconds to speak and put a stop to some ridiculous fantastic tale Sandra was about to weave.

“Shush,” Millie said. “It’s not a snake, or a lizard… oh, look! It’s cats, two of them.”

“Oh, aren’t they adorable stalking through the long grass—”

“Trees.”

“They’re skilled hunters seeking a meal and a tummy tickle.”

“What?” Millie asked.

“I was just going with it,” Sandra said with a smile.

“All right,” Millie said, “if you would, could, be quiet for a few, you might find there’s something more to those cats than meets the eye.”

“What? One’s black, one’s ginger,” Sandra said.

“No, it’s more—”

“Yes.”

“—than that,” Millie said. “Listen with your mind. I think they want us to follow them.”

The two cats certainly looked like they wanted something from the twins, and Millie knew the ginger was getting impatient. It was thumping its tail on a floral ground cover. The twins took a look to make sure no-one could see them, then Sandra asked them, “Where do you want us to go?” with that, the cats stood, walked into the thick of the conifers, only stopping to look back at the twins to make sure they were following.

“Guess we’re going in there,” Millie said, pointing to the trees, while remembering the briars they’d landed in.

Suck it up, Mill’s, she told herself, and they disappeared into conifers.

Once the twins moved into the dark of the thick needles of the pines, they noticed a cave opening.

“Do you think?” Sandra asked.

“Could be,” Millie said, “but I’m not going in as human. Could be a trap.”

As the twins transformed into their dragonfly selves, their dresses and sandals fell to the ground, and they bagged them up to take in with them.

“Here goes nothing,” Millie said, and the twin dragonflies flapped their wings until they were nothing more than a buzz and flew into the cave.

It was a long entrance of blackness, and the twins made their presence known through their buzz until they flew into an open cavern filled with dull yellow lighting.

“Millie, Sandra?” they heard a familiar female voice call. They were shocked to see Marly standing in one corner of the cave, naked, with a black cat at her feet.

“Marly? They asked, unable to hide their surprise and joy.

The twins were about to transform when, suddenly, the black cat turned into a very good-looking boy. Unable to hide their surprise and embarrassment, they did not want to add to the naked fest so asked, “Do you have somewhere we can change?”

Marly was overjoyed and reddened when she realised she and Mark were naked in front of company.

“Oh, sorry, this is Mark,” Marly said.

“Hey,” Mark said.

“Hey,” said the twins.

“You can get changed over there behind the rock,” Marly continued.

Marly was giddy at the discovery that two of her friends were like her… like them. Different.

The twins buzzed in behind the large boulder, transformed and dressed. When they came out, Mark and Marly were also, thankfully, dressed. Sandra was looking down, straightening the front of her dress, so she didn’t see it coming. Millie did, but still wasn’t prepared for Marly’s onslaught. She ran into the twins so hard and fast, they all ended up on the floor laughing.

“We thought the worst,” Millie said once they settled, “but here you are?”

“It almost was the worst,” Marly said. “If it wasn’t for Mark, Kayla would have devoured me.”

“Kayla?” Sandra asked. “I knew there was something off about her. What is she? A butterfly? Cause we can deal with a butterfly.”

“I don’t think she’s a butterfly, sis,” Millie said.

“A butterfly?” Marly asked, clearly confused, but still over the moon.

“She’s a daemon,” Mark said.

“A daemon?” Millie asked.

“Yeah, and I need your help,” Marly said, then devolved into rapturous words. “Couldn’t believe it when I saw two huge dragonflies land in the bush, then when I saw you two… I couldn’t be more pleased. I’ve missed you both.”

“We’ve missed you too,” Millie said, “but why haven’t you gone home?”

“Yeah,” Sandra said, “cause your, well, you know, you.”

“I’m only me some of the time,” Marly said. “My true visage is now a cat. It was the only way Mark could save my life. We visit Mum but only we get to see her, she never gets to see me… us.”

A sad emptiness filled the void of silence, and it was Millie who broke it.

“How can we help?” she asked.

“Yeah, cause we’re witches too,” Sandra said and Millie shot her a, we don’t always need to be in share mode, hairy eye ball.

“Witches?” Mark asked and pulled back in fear.

“What’s the matter?” Sandra asked. “Did I say something wrong?”

“It was witches who cursed Mark to be their immortal familiar… they changed him into a cat and kept him locked up in a box to guard their spell books,” Marly said. “You’re not going to try to do that are you?”

The twins looked at Mark, saw how frightened he was, and an overwhelming sadness filled their hearts.

“No,” Millie finally said. “We’re not witches like that and nor are Mum or Auntie.”

Mark relaxed a little, but he’d be tricked before, so remained wary.

“Tell us about this daemon,” Millie said.

“I never liked Kayla,” Sandra said. “It’ll be a delicious adventure to send her back to the hell she puts everyone else through.”

“I saw her hanging off Rob as though she was his girlfriend… and we saw his girlfriend standing next to your mum,” Millie said. “What does she want with Rob?”

“It’s our blood,” Marly said. “It, she, is drawn to the smell of our blood. It’s different from a lot of other mortals. She can’t smell me anymore… because I’m no longer mortal… I’m immortal, but Rob, she’s going to eat him.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Sandra said.

“No,” Mark said, “we won’t let it, but there’s only so much we can do as cats… although Marly has helped me to redefine my role in this life. Still, we worry about Rob.”

“Can’t you just tell him?” Sandra asked.

“If you weren’t you, and you saw us change, what would you do?” Marly asked.

“Run scream… oh, right,” Sandra said.

The cave fell into silence once more. Minds ticked over and the twins jumped when a sudden screech filled the cavern.

“What was that?” Millie asked as she and Sandra transformed into dragonflies.

“It’s the monkey’s,” Marly said and laughed, “so it’s a defense mechanism?”

“What’s that?” Millia asked.

“When you change, it’s at the drop of a hat,” she said. “The monkeys screamed, and you changed, therefore, defense?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sandra said, and she and Millie took hold of their dress straps and pulled them up as they changed back. “We’re still learning all about us. I want to say it’s been a fabulously wonderful adventure, but it’s been hard. Celia’s made it easier for me. Mills has always been a witch, but only dragonflies recently.”

“Celia?” Marly asked as the twins threaded their arms through the straps. “I don’t recall a Celia. Is she new?”

“Oh no, Celia’s totally old,” Sandra said, lifted the green bag, reached in and pulled the crystal ball from it. “Celia, meet Marly and Mark.”

With eyes as big as saucers, they stared at the crystal ball, waiting for it to do something.

“She says it’s nice to meet you,” Sandra said.

“Um, okay,” Marly said, looking at Celia, as though she was trying to find her lips, or “mouth” maybe?

The twins laughed.

Should we tell her? Sandra asked Millie telepathically.

Maybe ‘bout Celia, not us yet, Millie said. Never show all your cards, keep a few for later.

“Celia’s telepathic,” Sandra said. “We hear her because we’re witches, but she’s extremely powerful all on her own… ouch!”

Millie had pinched Sandra on the arm because Marly and Mark didn’t need to know about Celia’s power.

“You alright?” Mark asked.

“Oh, yep,” Sandra said. “Something, an ant maybe, bit me.”

“Okay, so there’s this daemon, and it’s after Rob,” Millie said. “What about his girlfriend? Is she in danger?”

“It’ll just kill her outright if she’s in between the daemon and its meal,” Mark said, “but for Rob, the daemon will go slow. It’ll savor every drop of his blood, every pound of flesh she’ll tear from his body. I’ve seen it a thousand times before. Marly’s the first I’ve been able to save. That means it’s missed its feed, and it’s getting frustrated and hungry. We worry, she might—”

“Might tear into Mum and dad too,” Marly said, and her tears fell to the dusty floor, creating small craters as they landed.

“Don’t cry, Marl’s,” Sandra said, and pulled a hanky from her pocket and handed it to her.

“Yeah,” agreed Millie, “we won’t let that happen. When we leave here, we’ll go straight to aunties—”

“Aunties?” Sandra asked. “What about Mum?”

“Dad might be home.”

“Oh, yeah. Right, Aunties,” Sandra conceded.

“Aunt Millie will know what to do, and she can let Mum know,” Millie said. “Do you need anything, Marls?”

“Just to know my family’s safe,” she said.

It was on dark when the twins left Marly and Mark. As dragonflies, they sat at the top of a tall pine and waited for Kayla to walk through. It didn’t take long. Marly’s family were getting annoyed with her constant presence. She reminded them of what they had lost and didn’t like how she was trying to push their son’s girlfriend away.

Kayla walked in through the gate closest to Kmart. She took only three steps before transforming into a thick black mass with bulging white eyes and yellow teeth. The mass snaked its way along the paths and over the grass, sniffing, or tasting, looking for a scent that had evaded its grasp. The twins watched until Kayla transformed into a young girl to walk into her flat.

“Her parents are always away,” Millie said. “Remember?”

“Bet she doesn’t even have parents,” Sandra said.

“Well, I’ve never met them,” Millie said.

“Me neither,” Sandra replied.

“Let’s go see aunty,” Millie said. “I wonder if she’s ever met, or seen, a daemon before?”

“Wouldn’t that be delicious if she hadn’t?” Sandra asked, “we’d be the first at something.”

“Yeah,” Millie said. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on. Celia,” Sandra said and made sure the bag was tucked away tightly so it didn’t fall out mid-flight.