Witches Handbook. Mónica Carretero

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      Witches Handbook

      Mónica Carretero

      Witches Handbook

      Text & Illustrations© 2011 Mónica Carretero

      This edition © 2011 Cuento de Luz SL

      Calle Claveles 10 | Urb Monteclaro | Pozuelo de Alarcón

      28223 Madrid | Spain | www.cuentodeluz.com

      Original title in Spanish: Manual de Brujas

      Translated into English by Cálamo & Cran (Nedra Rivera Huntington)

      ISBN: 978-84-15241-06-5

      All rights reserved

      Witches Handbook

      Text and illustrations:

      Mónica Carretero

      Dear niece and nephew,

      There’s not much time left... Do you want to learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know but have never before known because nobody has ever known?

      In short: Do you want to know if witches really exist?

       Yours,

       Amarga

      Three days ago, my brother and I received a letter from Aunt Amarga. We hadn’t heard from her for a long time and were surprised.

      Could she be sick? Maybe she finally wanted to meet us. Or was it simply that, as she did every year around this date, she was writing to wish us a Happy Halloween? But this time was different. The letter hadn’t been delivered by the mailman, but an enormous crow so black it was truly frightening. Besides, the envelope smelled of recently extinguished matches and written in large red letters across the front it said: URGENT.

      “Read it, read it,” my brother said nervously.

       After reading the letter, I

       turned to Leo with a big

       smile and said, “My dear

       little brother, the adventure

       has begun!” We were

       soon ready to leave.

      Because of course, we most certainly did want

      to know if witches really existed! But in order

      to find out, we would have to go to Aunt

      Amarga’s house. We were finally going to meet

      her! Leo and I wondered if she would have

      the answers to some truly interesting questions:

      Could all of this have something to do with the

      big family secret? Why didn’t mom and dad ever

      talk to us about her? Could Aunt Amarga

      possibly be a witch?

      When we arrived, our aunt was waiting for us at the front door. She greeted us with a big smile and motioned for us to enter her gloomy mansion as in a thin, quavering voice she said, “Come in, dear niece and nephew. There’s not much time left and I need to share with you a secret which must never be lost.” She paused and added in a plaintive voice, “I fear that everything will be forgotten...”

       “I must tell you some of the secrets of

       the lives of the hundreds of witches like me who have lived throughout history. Everything is in this book, but legend has it that these pages will disappear when the last witch dies. And I am on the verge of moving on to a better life. That is why I must tell you everything, so that none of it will be forgotten. For although we witches are bad—far be it from me to deny it—most of us ended up this way out of loneliness and sorrow... Just one kiss would have done us so much good... But there’s no time. I will begin.”

       “Dear children, I’m not going to beat around the bush, as we don’t have much time. I have every reason to suspect that I am the last witch left in the world,” she said as a tear slid down

      her cheek.

      Witches Handbook

      What is a witch or a warlock?

      Witches and warlocks are crafty, eccentric, wicked and disorganized, although they are also very knowledgeable about any sort of business that is on the shady side.

      They are people with very, and I mean very, small hearts—so small that they do not know how to love. That is why they cannot give anyone a kiss, they cannot hug, and they do not know how to take pleasure in the happiness of others.

      A witch cannot stand kisses or hugs.

      And a warlock absolutely hates

       seeing people smile.

       It enrages them to know that