The Witches

Now, as the boy continues to listen, horrified, the Grand High Witch reveals that she’s arranged a demonstration of her potion’s efficacy. She made a batch the previous day set to take effect at exactly 3:30 this afternoon, then got a boy to eat some chocolate laced with it. By promising him more chocolate, she encouraged him to show up at the ballroom at 3:25. Sure enough, right on cue, a boy knocks on the door. The witches resume their disguises and admit Bruno Jenkins to the ballroom. The boy has met Bruno, a greedy, braggy little boy who’s always eating junk food and whom the boy caught the previous morning frying ants with sunlight and a magnifying glass. Still, he doesn’t think Bruno deserves to be turned into a mouse.

The Grand High Witch beckons Bruno up to the stage, where he becomes suspicious as she begins to count down instead of giving him his chocolates. Right on cue, the boy thinks he hears a sound a little like an alarm clock and Bruno Jenkins begins to transform. Within just a few seconds, he’s turned from a boy into a little brown field mouse. The Grand High Witch pulls a mousetrap from one of her pockets, but clever Bruno scurries away before she—or any of the other witches—can see where he’s gone.