“You don't have to believe in everything, but don't mess with it, just in case.”

  That's what Holly had always told herself, but at that moment, staring through the gaps in the cornfield at the red, eye-like lights deep within the murky darkness, it was a phrase that seemed particularly appropriate. She gunned the throttle on her old Honda Hobbit and sped past the field as fast as its tinny motor could move, but she could not resist the urge to glance behind her once more. The lights seemed to have moved to the edge of the crop, and were peering back from behind the tall stalks. Holly turned away and did not look back again.

  The moped struggled up the steepening roads, in the hills past the flat farmland, but Holly pressed on. She soon found herself on unnamed dirt paths, the temperature cooling to an uncomfortable degree, as tree cover thickened to make the area almost impenetrably dark. Around one turn, past the lightning shattered tree she'd been told about, Holly saw her destination: a small, indistinct cabin, covered in kudzu and ivy, its door barely lit by a single, orange lantern.

  She was in between her first and second knock when the door swung open, revealing a peculiar woman wearing a tall, conical hat with a wide flat brim, from which long, black hair spilled out. In the lamp light, the woman's dark, arresting eyes almost looked red.

  “O-oh, I didn't, um...” Holly sputtered.

  “You did not think we actually wore the hats, right?” The woman said in a voice that was vaguely tinted with an accent, or accents, that Holly could not fully place, “What do you want?”

  “I, er, I was hoping you could help me with something?” Holly said plaintively.

  “Hm.” The woman looked Holly up and down, before stepping aside and extending her arm in invitation.

  “Ah, thanks.” Holly stepped in, pulling off her leather jacket and folding it over one arm. She looked around agog at the crowded, dusty room. Jars of unknown oddities lined shelves, decaying books littered table tops, hundreds of nick knacks, totems, and talismans were crammed into any and all available space, and two thick, iron cauldrons hung near the roaring fireplace.

  “What is your name, child?” The woman asked, leading Holly to a thickset table. Holly looked down, watching the woman's bare feet gracefully slide along the wooden floorboards.

  “Holly. What's yours?” Holly turned and extended her hand.

  “You can call me Tess.” The woman said, firmly gripping Holly's hand.

  “Tess...” Holly turned the name over in her mind while sitting down, “It's nice to meet you Tess.”

  “Likewise.” Tess said, “What leads you all the way out to a witch's cabin?”

  Holly laughed at how cavalier Tess was about her profession, but quickly stifled it at Tess's rigid expression.

  “I, um, I've been...” Holly took a deep breath, before looking around quickly, “Uh, not to change to subject, but on the way here I passed a cornfield and saw something weird.”

  “Mm?” Tess raised her eyebrows.

  “Like, jeez this sounds crazy, but like a weird animal, I guess? With two red eyes?” Holly winced.

  “Ah, I am aware of him.” Tess said.

  “You know it? Er, him? Is he like, your pet or something?” Holly asked.

  “He is like a neighbor, I suppose. We do not interfere with each other.” Tess said weighing her words carefully, before becoming deeply serious, “You did not speak with him, did you?”

  “N-no, I just saw him...He was actually kind of staring at me first...Why?” Holly asked.

  “He is not to be trifled with, that is all.” Tess said sternly, “There are some things in this world which are simply bigger than you.”

  “Ah, I'll, um, I'll keep that in mind.” Holly said.

  “Best.” Tess replied. She continued to stare unblinking at Holly.

  “I...ugh, it's just everything, you know?” Holly said, finally, “My job, my folks, my friends, my entire life! It's like I don't really belong in the world! And then this...this total asshole breaks ups with me, and...”

  “Hm...” Tess mused, turning around and fiddling with the cast iron pots.

  “I guess he didn't break up with me. We weren't even dating, not really. Like, we'd gone on a few dates, but it wasn't official or anything. But he just stopped getting in touch! No warning, just no replies anymore. That's screwed up, right? To just stop talking to someone?”

  “Quite.” Tess said, seemingly conjuring a glass of brown, speckled liquid, “Here, this will calm you.”

  "Thanks.” Holly sighed, taking the warm cup and taking a sip, “Oh, this is kind of smoky. Is this lapsang souchong?”

  “Knowledgeable about teas, are you?” Tess sat across from Holly, smiling, albeit faintly, for the first time.

  “I guess I just think they're neat.” Holly blushed a little bit, taking another sip.

  “It is not zengsaan siuzung, but the similarities are notable.” Tess said with impeccable Cantonese intonation, “Please, go on. This man you were seeing?”

  “Ah, well...” Holly said, “It just feels like I'm never in control of my own life. I'm tired of feeling small, you know? And this jerk! Jacob! He just...augh! I can't. I just can't, you know?”

  “Hm, and you want to feel large?” Tess asked.

  “Well duuh...” Holly began to slur, “Who wouldn't want to be like that, right?”

  “You would be surprised at how few seek actual power.” Tess narrowed her eyes and smirked, “You though, you seem different.”

  “You do too!” Holly laughed, “You're so cool and witchy! S'where do you even git a hat like that? I want one...”

  “Is that so? Well, perhaps we can make an arrangement.” Tess rested her chin on her hand.

  “Like what...?” Holly started, “Like what is even in this stuff? Ooooh, you naughty witch, you're trying to get me drunk, aren't you? Hmm...feels nice and warm though...”

  Holly's head pitched forward, but it was caught by the skillful hand of Tess, who then gently lowered it onto the wooden table. She stood and stepped towards the door, grabbing a hanging cloak and swirling it over her shoulders on the way.

  “...being big...” Holly mumbled in her sleep, smiling.

  Tess glanced once more at Holly's flushed face and stepped out into the world.

 *

Holly awoke to the feeling of Tess's narrow fingers tousling her curly, blond hair.

  “Wh-what happened?!” She shouted, bolting up in her seat and frantically looking around the room, before finally fixing her gaze on Tess. At first she could only perceive the remnant sparkle and ripple of what was certainly a hallucinogenic experience, but soon the memory of a few hours prior trickled back into her consciousness. She attempted to stand, but found that her legs were still weak.

  “Careful, careful now, dear.” Tess said soothingly, “You are probably still a bit relaxed.”

  “Jeez, that stuff is strong.” Holly said, sitting back down and sucking air through her teeth.

  “Yes, it was perhaps a bit much for someone uninitiated.” Tess said.

  “Uninitiated? What do you mean?” Holly asked.

  “What do you think of this?” Tess evaded, pulling a small, wire cage from under the table, and placing it atop the milieu of errata which covered the table. Holly peered between the bars, expecting to see a cricket or a hermit crab, but instead she found the figure of a tiny, seemingly unconscious human.

  “Wh-what...what is this?” Holly gasped, “Some kind of...what do you call it, a homunculus?”

  “Look closer.” Tess said.

  Holly moved her face closer to the cage, trying to focus on the miniature person. It began to stir, turned towards her, opened its eyes, and immediately screamed in pitch barely audible.

  “Jacob?!” Holly shouted, nearly blowing out the little person's eardrums. She looked up at Tess.

  “Well?” Tess asked.

  “How did you...?” Holly glanced back down to Jacob, who was now trying desperately to squeeze his way through the narrow gap between the bars, “Am I hallucinating? Is this from that tea?”

  “Do not worry about how. How will come later.” Tess said, “And I assure you this is very real. This is the man who wronged you, correct?”

  “Yeah, it is...” Holly peeped, “Wh-what are you going to do with him?”

  “Me? Nothing.” Tess smiled, “You, however, are free to do as you wish.”

  “I...I don't know what...” Holly said.

  “He made you feel small, did he not? He made you feel ignored and forgotten. Should you not make him feel the same way?” Tess asked.

  “I...” Holly stared down at the tiny man and bit her lip. He was so small.

  “Return to him three times what he gave to you.” Tess said, pulling up the door on the cage and pinching up Jacob's body. She opened her fingers and allowed the tiny man to roughly fall to the floor, “If he treats you as disregardable, then truly disregard him. Crush him like you would crush an insect.”

  “I...” Holly stuttered.

  “What will you do?” Tess asked, narrowing her eyes.