But as Jon got a good look at the people from the small car, his new neighbours, he was surprised to see they all wore black and had vibrant, apple-green skin. There were three of them, all women.
The oldest looked about 80 years old. She was hunched over and while her tall black wide-brimmed hat covered most of her face, Jon glimpsed a long, crooked nose and wild brush of white hair underneath. She was busy heckling the movers, shaking her spindly fist in the air. Her hand was like an eagle's claw, bony green fingers ending in long black nails, and her voice sounded as though she was dragging those talon-nails down a blackboard.
Except for the colour of her skin, the second lady couldn't have looked more different. She was an adult, maybe in her 30s or 40s although she had maintained her youthful beauty. Her face was a vision, black lipstick on plump lips and large dark eyes decorated with purple powder and black mascara. Her lips never moved but her eyes flitted back and forth, missing nothing.
Her eyebrow raised quizzically at she observed a pair of removal men struggled to get a huge metal pot through the doorway of the house. Her hair was ironed straight and, hanging close to her long face, fell as far as her thighs. At first glance her hair was jet black, but as the light hit it Jon realised it was instead very, very dark purple. Jon took in her extraordinary hourglass figure "“ it was housed within a tight black dress that split below the knee and trailed along the ground behind her. The front of her dress split to the navel, exposing a streak of unblemished green flesh and a considerable portion of her considerable boobs.
"And just think - that's what I'll look like in 20 years time."
Jon nearly fell out his shoes in surprise. The third green female, a teenager that looked about his age, was suddenly next to him and smiling.
Jon found the teenager quite beautiful, in an exotic way.
Her cute features were lightly smattered with dark green freckles and just a hint of the dark make-up the middle woman wore. She had a tiny dark "beauty spot" wart high on the side of her nose. She too had dark eyes that were large and expressive. Her hair seemed to grow out rather than down, wild, full-bodied and curly but didn't even reach to her shoulders. It was dark in colour, green on the verge of black. She had a slim, lithe figure with small, pert breasts.
She wore a baby doll tee with a silver skull logo and a short, pleated skirt with a plaid design that was a mix of white and silver lines on black. She wore solid black tights and small boots and her wrist were crowded with bracelets. An ornate silver charm hung around her neck.
Jon stammered, "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
The girl laughed and dismissed his apology with her hand, "No I should be sorry. That's my mom, sometimes she doesn't know how to turn it off."
"Nice to meet you, er ?"
"I'm Cinder. Short for Lucinda."
"I I'm Jon. Jon Ferris."
"Lucinda Pendragon. Charmed," Cinder extended her downturned palm, in jest.
"So, you're moving in here?" Jon asked.
"Yep, we're your new neighbours Jon. Three single ladies, so you'd better behave yourself young man, or else!"
Cinder laughed as she said this, but at the same time Jon noticed a mover carrying a large empty animal cage into the house
"Please don't be offended, but are you This sounds stupid in my head, but are you ?"
"Witches, yep!"
"Wow, I've never met a witch before," Jon said with surprising admiration. He couldn't think of anything else to say. But it was true. Witches, green-skinned Halloween witches with magical powers didn't actually exist!
"Witches," he said again with a nod. This must be the stone's doing, he thought.
"Well I'm glad you're taking this so well," Cinder smiled broadly. "Most folks tend to react negatively."
"I can imagine." He couldn't.
"You seem nice Jon. I think we're going to be good together."
"Then at least you'd be a good witch, huh?"
"A Wizard of Oz reference?" Cinder raised an eyebrow, "Well played, young sir!"
"Sorry, it just fell out of my mouth."
"That's cool, I wouldn't get very far without a sense of humour" Cinder shrugged, but added quietly, "just don't crack wise around my mom or Nana, especially nana."
"No sense of humour?"
"Not even. Mom spent a long time as a witch rights campaigner, she's a bit too PC to see the funny side of ethnic jokes. And Nana, well my nana is what you'd call 'old school'. You'd seriously better watch what you say when my nana's about or..."
" or?"
"Or else."
"You say that a lot," Jon noted.
"I hear it a lot," Cinder smiled sweetly. "So, since my room's got nothign in it yet, do you have somewhere we can hang out?"
