Of all the things Agatha expects to hear from the gangly emo kid her hex-addled mind had tied up and shoved into a closet, the last thing she expects is: “Take me to the Witches’ Road!”
This kid – teen – is anything but expected.
In her stupor under the spell, she had caught the teen stealing something from her dresser and chased him out the window and down the back alley. The various aches, scrapes, and bruises on her body tell her this must have happened, in some fashion or another.
When she finds her pendant discarded on the floor, she knows he must have stolen it and used it as part of the spell he chanted the night before in the interrogation room that morphed into her living room around them.
If he had enough power to break the Scarlet Witch’s spell, why is he seeking power from the road? He’s lying.
Where did he come from, this powerful witch in the guise of an over-eager excitable witchcraft fanboy?
The sigil is just another layer of mystery that she is itching to peel back. It doesn’t just hide the Teen’s name; his entire identity has been redacted from witches' knowledge. Who is this boy that a witch chose to hide him so completely?
She decides to humor his wish to summon the road. She’ll send him upstairs while she works. After draining the power from any witches she could find, she would tell him that the road had killed the other witches - time was different on the road and they had been gone for two days in the ten minutes he experienced, of course.
After she has her purple back and deals with Salem Seven, she can figure out what to do with this puzzle of a boy.
Despite her first impressions, Teen, as she calls him, is not completely annoying. He doesn’t complain when she bosses him around, has him pay for her corndog, or calls him her pet. His corny sense of humor could be called endearing. When he unexpectedly hands Jen Kale’s ass to her on a plate, Agatha nearly crows at his deviousness.
Using him to snare Alice Wu-Gulliver reminds her of running scams with Nicolas. She brushes that thought away, though.
She’s sure she can manipulate him into helping her gain more power and find a way to keep Rio off her back for good. That would have to wait until after she kills the three witches they managed to find.
Grudgingly, she drags Mrs Hart to join them. She’s thankful that none of the other witches know Teen is under a sigil. If they had, the reason for the heart symbol Lilia conjured in her coven list would have been obvious – she couldn’t write his name. For her plan to work, Teen needs to stay upstairs and clueless.
Her time is running out – the Salem Seven will arrive at any moment – and she’s starting to get desperate.
They sing the Ballad and the other witches get increasingly emotionally charged. Alice and Lilia’s magic flickers in their hands as she insults them. It’s taking too long, she thinks as she hears crashes from upstairs. The Salem Seven have arrived.
“JUST BLAST ME YOU BITCHES!” she screams in frustration.
“What is that?” Mrs Hart asks, pointing to the floor.
Time seems to stop as they look down at the door now embedded in the concrete floor. Blue light spills through the cracks and lights the path of a spiral staircase they find on opening the door.
She remembers a small boy with serious eyes and blue magic flowing from his hands – the same blue glowing through the door. Billy – one of the sons Wanda created in her fantasy world. He had been born, aged ten years, and died with Wanda’s spell in just three days.
Had he somehow survived?
Well, he always was the more interesting twin.