Chapter 3
On the Witches' Road Teen comments that the Road was exactly how he pictured it "it suits you" Agatha says
Wanda frowned "how can a road suit a person?" She asked confused
Lilia asks Alice if she didn't think the Road was real "and you did?" Alice retorts, Sharon declares that they have all been kidnapped and it's time to call the authorities pulling out her phone.
Several people chuckled
Jen asks if they were going to ignore the fact that they were chased down onto the Road "chased Agatha, you mean" Alice says, Sharon declares that she can't get any service.
"No service?!" Tony said aghast, he couldn't stand that thought "and people say teenagers are the ones who are addicted to phones" Peter says getting a glare from Tony
Lilia says that whatever chased them is their problem now "is that because Covens share blessings and burdens alike?" Teen asks, prompting Jen to suggest that someone call his parents.
"Yes please do. I don't know why teens like to put themselves in danger" Clint says "we don't put ourselves in danger" Kate said several eyebrows were raised up "the Tracksuits and Fisk" Clint said "I was 21 when you saw that so" "the Clandestines and Damage Control" Clea adds Kamala fidgeted, "The Dweller-In-Darkness" Stephen adds "I was in my 20s same as Kate" Shang-chi protested "not to mention everything Peter has done and everything we saw him do" Tony said "oh come off it. Peter 2 and 3 were my age when they started" Peter protested "before anybody says I put myself in danger let me remind you all that I was chased through the multiverse by her" America said pointing at Wanda who blushed
Teen mentioned that they would be asleep and asked if the Road was perpetual night as a vibe. Sharon mentions that she is a member of Westview's Historical Society and the only thing she would've expected to see was their failed public transit system.
Vision titled his head in confusion "Westview is not that big why on Earth would they need a transit system?" He asked getting shrugs and other confused looks.
"Helpful interjection random woman with no obvious magical qualities" Jen snarks Agatha says she has a name "it's Mrs Hart" "Sharon"
Several chuckles
Jen says that having Sharon on the Road will put them all at risk as they don't know what they're up against "Tame your fears" Lilia recites "our worst nightmares, at least according to the song".
"Oh great, that sounds fun" Peter says
Alice asks in what form. Agatha says that the Road will test them on their knowledge of the craft, one test for each skill. "How do we pass them without any power?" Jen asks, Teen says there's always analogue magic "witchcraft emphasis on the craft" Jen asks who he is. Teen says his name but his mouth distorts causing Jen, Lilia and Alice to take a step back.
Wong frowned "they saw that" "we know there's a spell on him, but what kind?" Stephen wondered
"Well I'll be, someone's put a sigil on that boy" Lilia says, Teen asks what a sigil is "a sigil is a redaction spell that hides something, in this case you from witchfolk" Alice explains
"Well that clears that up" Loki says getting confused looks "it does?" Bruce asks "we know he has a spell on him and it hides him from witches" Loki said as if that clarifies everything "but who put it on him and why?" Sam asks "you humans like making things difficult" Loki muttered
Everyone looks at Agatha who says that sigils are beneath her, Teen asks why someone would hide him, Agatha pushes him behind her "I have no idea what's under that sigil, he could be something special or he could be some pest a cranky witch tried to stash under a rock, we can crack him open later" Agatha says. She goes on to say that the real prize is at the end of the Road, she tells Jen that her wish is to be free of her binding spell, Lilia's is to change her fortune and Alice wants to find out what happened to her mother. She turns to Sharon only to find her missing.
Wanda's heart went into her throat "where did Mrs Hart go?" She asked worried about the sweet woman
Sharon has wondered further down the Road looking for a way out, she places her purse down and notices that it's sinking "this came from Talbot's you can't have it" Sharon says grabbing her purse and trying to pull it out of the ground, but she starts sinking as well. The others hear her screams and rush to her, Alice manages to pull her out of the mud "this is a really, really horrible party" Sharon says trying to shake off excess mud
Clea raised an eyebrow "she still thinks she's at a party?" "Give her a break, she's in a dangerous area and was invited by a neighbour to a party, she doesn't know Agatha is dangerous" Sam says
Agatha explains that the first rule is to not step off the Road "I stray not from the path" Teen recites from the Ballad Agatha tells them if they follow the instructions of the song they'll be fine, Sharon says that she can't be expected to keep walking especially when there is no where to walk to. Jen draws everyone's attention to a beach house in the distance.
Stephen narrowed his eyes "looks like that house is their first trial" "how do you know?" Vision asks "it magically appeared on the Witches' Road, a magical space that is designed to test those who walk it. What else could it be?" Stephen asks snappishly "I was just asking" Vision responds
Jen is awed by the house, while Sharon mentions hopefully that they were at the end "don't be such a bummer" Teen says. Arriving at the door Lilia notes that the phases of the moon are etched onto the door and that it's the full moon "the water trial" Teen says. Sharon rings the bell saying they didn't want to surprise anybody, Agatha walks in followed by the rest, Sharon wipes her feet before going inside.
Everybody chuckles at Sharon "she's in a magical dimension and she's still being polite" Natasha says "I wonder if the personality that Wanda gave her during the Hex was close to her original one" Peter questioned "can we please stop talking about the Hex?" Wanda asks, she would never forgive herself for enslaving an entire town to deal with her grief.
Inside the house Jen remarks that the house isn't exactly nightmare fuel. Agatha mentions that the Road changes for the coven, "it changed us too" Lilia states as everyone is revealed to be wearing preppy clothes.
Kate cast an appreciative look over their clothes "not bad for a magical house" she says getting a nod of agreement from Natasha.
Agatha tries to leave but discovers that the door doesn't have a handle as the others wander further in "it's giving middle aged second chance at love vibes and I'm here for it" Teen says, he also discovers that the windows don't open. Everyone has a worried look when Sharon lets out a loud exclamation "bury me in that kitchen" she says as she rejoins them.
"He maybe getting second chance at love vibes, but I'm getting Horror movie vibes with the front door having no knob, the windows and I'm presuming the doors not opening and oh yeah their in a mystical space that will kill them" Peter exclaimed the other teens nodded their heads in agreement
Teen calls the others over after he finds a card in the dining room, Agatha hoped it wasn't a wedding or baby shower "the Witches' Road cordially invites you to the first trial, it's a riddle" Jen read "My age is my value. I'm no fun alone. I mess with your mind. My tricks are well known"
"Wine!" Kate exclaimed suddenly causing several people to jump "what?" Kamala asks "the answer is wine. The older a bottle of wine is the more valuable it is and everybody knows what alcohol does to you when you drink" Kate said proudly, Clint raises an eyebrow "and you know this how exactly?" Tony rolled his eyes "every wealthy person knows a thing or two about a good bottle of wine Clint, it's like a thing with us" Tony said
Agatha says it sounded like a witch "sounds like you" Jen remarks, Sharon turns around and on the table is a bottle of wine.
Kate shot a smug look at everyone who just ignored her
Alice stops Sharon from picking up the bottle saying they don't know what'll happen if they drink. "Sure we do, something terrible, but if we don't follow these obvious breadcrumbs, then we won't make it to the big prize. Does anybody have a corkscrew?" Agatha says picking up the bottle.
"So to be fair, we are all expecting something to happen here right?" Bruce asks getting nods "good its not just me"
Teen and Jen are looking for a corkscrew, "watch your back around Agatha" Jen says. Teen replies that he knows how most people feel about her "did you know that she traded her own child for the Book of the Damned?" Jen asks
There was chaos in the theatre at that revelation "she did what?!" Wanda yelled "her own child?!" Clint yelled "will you all calm down?" Clea asks "she traded her child Clea" Stephen says "ok first of all, you don't know that. Secondly that could be just a rumour started by the witches that hate her. And thirdly the Ancient One would've stepped in had that trade gone ahead. The purity of children is essentially the brightest light amongst the darkness, had she traded the light of a child for the foul and dark magic of the Darkhold it would've been felt by all magic users everywhere in every dimension because something like that doesn't go unnoticed" Clea says "she could've used a spell to hide her actions" Wong said bitterly "not from the Ancient One who was well versed in Sorcery and Witchcraft. So trust me when I say she didn't do it" Clea bit back
"That can't be true" Teen says a little shocked "your right, no one knows what happened to him" Jen remarks saying that he could be dead or a demon "or an agent of Mephisto"
"Who's Mephisto?" Thor asks "a topic for another time" Clea says sharply in a tone that brokered no argument
"I guess that's what happens when Agatha Harkness is your Mom right? I doubt she'd recognise her own child if her showed up on her doorstep" Jen says, she finds the corkscrew
Clea levelled a glare against the room "say one word about her child and I will curse you all. I'm from the Dark Dimension, I know curses and hexes that you can only even dream about" Stephen shifted in his chair 'damn she's hot when she's angry' he thought.
Agatha poured the wine and told them if they were waiting for charcuterie it wasn't coming, Sharon downed her glass quickly "I have had a very hard day, do not judge me" she says seeing the looks she was getting. Agatha raised her glass "to harbingers of doom" the coven clinked their glasses "can I have some?" Teen asks but gets turned down by everyone except for Agatha.
"That's bull, even in another dimension we still can't drink" Kate complained "I know of a universe where you can drink from the age of ten" America says "ooh after we're out of this room, let's all go and have some fun" Shang-chi said "no, no you lot are not going to be universe hopping just so you can party" Clint said "no ifs, ands or buts about it" he got several groans and complaints
Their attention was drawn to a timer that started counting down from 30 minutes.
Carol eyed the timer "what do you think that's for?" "Probably how long they have before the trial's over" Kamala says
Sharon refilled her glass and everyone went and sat down, nobody noticed Agatha pouring her glass into a pot plant
"Cheating bitch" Natasha mumbled under breath
Teen sat down next to Alice and asks about her tattoo who says its nothing, Agatha's glass refills itself. Alice reveals that she got it when Lorna played Red Rocks, "that symbol wards of curses right?" He asks Alice says that her mother said that the women in their family were cursed and made her get it when she was thirteen "a lot happened to me at thirteen too" Teen says Alice says she misses his eyeliner but likes his hair.
Wanda frowned "what happened to that kid at thirteen?" "Wanda we are watching this together, what you know we know" Steve says
Sharon asks if witch was another term for a bad girl "that is extremely reductive" Lilia says, she continues on with that there weren't any brooms, pointy hats or green skin and that she blames Halloween for it.
"Do you blame Halloween for how magic is perceived?" Kamala asks "I don't particularly care" Wong says with Stephen agreeing
Sharon says she would gladly drink the blood of a virgin to smooth out her wrinkles "oh my God/oh God" Alice and Jen say at the same time upon seeing Sharon's swollen face
Everyone's eyebrows shot up "what is in that wine?" Wanda asked
Alice tells Sharon that she's a little swollen, Agatha says that Sharon looks fantastic "we've been poisoned" Jen exclaims. Alice, Jen and Lilia check their reflections to see their faces have swelled up too with Alice and Jen upset by it "honestly I don't hate it" Lilia says
Several people chuckled at Lilia "what kind of poison do you think it is?" Natasha asks "there's quite a few that causes face swelling, but I can't say" Clea says
Sharon tries to drink some more but Teen takes the glass away "just let her drink it all" Agatha says before she hides her face with her hair saying it's for their best interest. Jen asks Sharon if she's experiencing any other symptoms "I love you guys" Lilia suddenly says getting confused looks
"Why would she say that she loves them when they barely know each other?" Kate asks 'again, another strange sentence from the Divination witch she must have seen something' Clea thinks
Sharon says that she's feeling better and everyone's faces have returned to normal "the fact that the face swelling decreased so quickly means it can only be one type of poison: Alewife's Revenge" Jen explains
"I'm not familiar with that one, but if it's like the others then it would be pretty brutal" Clea says "how do you know so much about poison?" Steve asks, Clea raises an eyebrow "Dark Dimension, my uncle is Dormammu, enough said" Clea said in a tone that clearly said it was the end of the conversation
Jen goes on to describe the various symptoms of the poison which includes, hallucinations, loss of motor function, delirium and then death. "I gotta get out of here" Agatha says grabbing a candlestick and bashing it against the window causing a crack. Teen discovers the full wine glass and says she didn't drink "you can't cheat Agatha" he says "why who says?" Agatha counters "the Road" Lilia replies Agatha says it's ridiculous that they all have to suffer "Teen didn't drink" "he's not in the coven and he's under age" Jen says
"That poison sounds brutal" Bruce says getting nods
Teen hands the glass to Agatha who promptly throws it on the ground "on the upholstery?!" Sharon asks outraged
Vision frowned "Sharon really needs to get her priorities in order, she's been poisoned and she's worried about the furniture" "it's human nature Vision" Tony says
Agatha now's there no more wine, Alice picks up a glass and it refills "drink" Teen says Agatha continues to defy "fine then I'll drink" Teen goes to take the glass but is stopped by Agatha who drinks it and complains that it tastes cheap
Wanda tilts her head in confusion "why did she stop Teen from drinking the poison?" "Maybe she's not as bad you're all making her out to be" Clea remarks getting incredulous looks from everyone
"Wanda? Wanda please I'm begging you, let him breathe please" Sharon says before she collapses "ok Potions witch, it's time to brew an antidote" Agatha says her face swollen
Wanda shrunk in her chair realising that Sharon was no doubt hallucinating the dinner they had together when her husband started choking
Everyone gathered in the kitchen "ok I need, frankincense and the gut of eusocial insect" Jen listed, Alice and Teen went off in search for the frankincense "I also need a corpse that's been decaying for 30 million years" Agatha told Jen that she had no idea what she was talking about "zooplankton. It's in petroleum products" Jen informed them, Agatha and Lilia went off to find it. Jen decided to use the sink as a cauldron.
Clea raised her eyebrows in disbelief "a sink? You to have boil potions and guess what a sink can't do that" "maybe they can use their magic to boil it" America said "what is the gut of a eusocial insect?" Vision asks "honey" Clea responds getting shocked looks "why not just say that?" Carol asks Clea merely shrugged
Agatha and Lilia went to the garage and found nothing in it "jelly" Agatha said after a moment and headed for the bathroom "figures Jen's skincare made it to the Road" Agatha said snidely upon seeing the shelves filled with Kale Kare "but it's all organic, there's no petroleum in there" Lilia said, Agatha says she knows a snake oil salesman when she sees one and they should call Jen's bluff "try to save Agatha" Lilia suddenly says "yes I love this plan" Agatha says
'Another random sentence' Clea thought 'either she's seeing something or her flow of time is fragmented as is the case with most people gifted with Sight' "what is with all these weird things that's Lilia is saying?" Kamala asks everyone just shrugged, Stephen glanced over at Clea who had a look of seriousness on her face "I'm just thinking Stephen" Clea says when she notices that he is looking at her
In another part of the house, Alice and Teen smell essential oils. Alice stumbles for a moment and sees steam coming out of the sauna which she enters, Jen goes into the pantry to retrieve an ingredient and re-enters the kitchen to see a man at the bench, Lilia sees a younger version of herself "do you want to see?" Is said in Italian.
Kamala shuddered "you were right Peter about the whole horror movie vibe" all the teens nodded their heads in agreement, while the adults just rolled their eyes.
In the sauna Alice sees her mother "your grandmother died today, I was a thousand miles away and I still felt it" Lorna says. In the kitchen Jen is called by the man an inconvenient woman and Lilia is following her younger self where the lights are flickering.
Several more shudders by the teens.
Lorna says that she is next "I can't protect you!" She screams causing Alice to fall backwards and out of the sauna where Teen meets her where he tells her he has the frankincense. Jen is shoved face first into the sink of water for a few minutes before it ends. Lilia sees her maestra with a skeletal figure behind her, she backs away and runs into Agatha "she's dead, they're all dead" she says in Italian.
"God damn those hallucinations are intense" Sam says as everyone looked shocked at what they were watching
Everyone meets up by the front door, when they hear a cracking sound, water is coming in from the crack Agatha made earlier "are we underwater right now?" Teen asks and wonders what'll happen when it breaks
"They're underwater? I hate magic and all its dramatics" Tony says getting eye rolls from the magic users
Everyone moved Sharon to one of the benches in the kitchen, the ingredients are put into the sink including Jen's skin care "any bright ideas on how to set the sink to boil?" Jen asks "you didn't think of this before?" Agatha responds Jen asks if she was supposed to think of it while in the middle of a traumatic hallucination
"Exactly the reason why a sink is not a cauldron" Clea exclaims
"Is there a sous vide?" Teen asks and explains that's it a cooking tool, Jen has Teen stir the potion counter clockwise and tells everyone that the potion requires a strand of hair. Agatha is distracted by the sound of a baby's cries and walks over to a crib and pulls down the blankets to reveal the Darkhold which makes her yelp
Clea points to the screen "that still doesn't confirm anything, so you will keep your mouths shut about it understood" she orders while levelling a really intense glare at everyone as she grips her knife
Jen tells her that they need her hair, Agatha puts it in and joins hands with everyone "now when our intentions are aligned the potion will glow cerulean" Jen explains "what are our intentions again?" Agatha asks "to not die" Jen responds tersely. The potion turns green, Jen claims that she has never made the potion before and must have forgotten something. She begins to spiral into a panic until Agatha talks her down "we need the blood of the unpoisoned" Jen says realising the thing she's forgotten. Agatha grabs a knife and cuts Teen's hand his blood mixing with the potion which turns cerulean. Everyone takes a drink of the poison and is recovered but the timer still counts down
"They've forgotten Sharon" Wanda exclaims everyone realises that she's right due to having forgotten her themselves with everything going on
Alice realises that Sharon needs to be cured and they pour the antidote into her mouth just as the timer stops. The oven opens and Lilia says that she's not climbing into an oven "that happened to a friend of mine once, she had a lovely house too", water suddenly starts coming through the windows and Jen dives headfirst into the oven, Alice asks for help with Sharon but Agatha refuses "we don't know what'll happen if we leave her here" Alice says, Agatha begrudgingly helps to put Sharon into the exit. Cut to everyone screaming as they go down a slide until they stop at the bottom "a little rusty there Jen?" Agatha asks a little snidely "a little traitorous there Agatha?" Jen shoots back, Lilia tells them to stop as they all made it "not everyone, Sharon's dead" Teen announces "whose Sharon?" Agatha asks as Teen closes Sharon's eyes.
Wanda couldn't help but feel sorry for the sweet lady "this is all Agatha's fault, another person died because of her" Thor grumbled getting sounds of agreements from everyone
Episode 3 done. For the Ancient One, you don't live as long as she did without picking up a few things, which is why she would be skilled in witchcraft. Also I have written myself into a fucking wall due to episode 9 contradicting what I wrote about Strange reading a book about the Witches' Road and that several witches having walked the Road and survived. So I need to figure a way around that contradiction.