Ophelia didn’t like Auntie Olive’s house much. It was dark and old and spooky. Her parents’ house had been very bright and modern.



Auntie Olive did her best to make her feel welcome though and Ophelia thought she’d get used to the house eventually.



It was really hard at nights, when she was lonely. Ophelia always thought of her parents then.



Living right next to the graveyard had scared Ophelia at first, but after Auntie Olive showed her the graves of her parents and grandparents, going there became a ritual for Ophelia.



As Ophelia grew older, she started to spend more time away from Olive and her gloomy house, hanging out at the mall a lot. There she met Jonny Smith, on an errand to buy clothes for his baby sister.



A baby sister sounded wonderful and after Ophelia had helped Jonny pick out something not too pink, she gladly accepted his invitation to meet little Jill.



Once arrived, Jenny insisted that Ophelia had to stay for dinner and Ophelia was officially made a member of the family. Apparently this was how things usually worked at the Smith household, Jenny had adopted a lot of Jonny’s friends over the years.

It was completely different from Ophelia’s home. This place was light and filled with people. She thought that this must have been what her life would be like if her parents hadn’t died.



Ophelia quickly became a regular guest at the Smith house, along with Jonny’s best friend Ripp and his cousin Irina. And eventually, she and Jonny started dating.



Of course Jonny had to be introduced to Olive. She was very polite to him, but after Jonny had left, Olive sat down with a stern look on her face.



To Ophelia’s surprise, Olive didn’t say a word about Jonny. Instead, she started to talk about the time when she had been Ophelia’s age.



Ophelia listened to Olive’s stories about her family with surprise. Olive rarely even mentioned them. She was delighted to hear that Olive thought she was a lot like her mother.

As you can probably guess, this was not meant as a compliment.



Eventually, Olive got up and ordered her niece to put on her best dress. “We are going to visit your parents’ graves. I think this is the best place. I have a surprise planned for you.”



When Ophelia arrived at the graveyard, Olive was nowhere to be seen. A bubbling cauldron had been placed between the stones. As she looked around in confusion, a strange tingling went through her and she felt as if something inside her changed.



When Ophelia came to, she was lying in her bedroom. Over dinner, Olive explained to her niece that she had just cast a spell to turn her into a witch. Ophelia, as her only surviving relative, was meant to be the successor of the Muenda bloodline.



“Of course, since you are not a direct descendant, I had to resort to some tricks to make this happen. Never mind what, I’ll explain it to you when you’re ready. And I’m sorry to say that you will be a rather weak witch despite all of this. But the important thing is that our legacy will live on in you and your daughters.

“Which is why that alien boy won’t do. He is not from a magically inclined family - Glarn never had much use for that - and who knows if his alien side is even capable of using those abilities. Ideally, you would wed someone from a magic bloodline, but those are rather rare these days. It absolutely will need to be a human though. Fully human. No way around that.”



Ophelia’s first instinct was to protest against all of this. But as the lessons continued, Ophelia started to realize the simple truth: Olive’s plan had already worked. She had changed her into a witch. There was no way around that. Ophelia would never be normal again.


And there's the final Strangetown teenager. Yes, Lyla was just a random victim for Olive. She had ties to Strangetown through her sons, she lived alone and she was notorious for going off for several weeks without warning. Olive's goal is still what it has always been, to ensure the succession of her family line. Lyla's sacrifice was meant to boost Ophelia's dormant powers to enable her to become Ophelia's successor.


Coming up next: Buzz's sons