Strictly Sparkly (or the importance of finishing your education before casting nasturtiums and spells)

and during all this, what had - you may ask (if you are still awake) - become of the Weird Sisters. Good sense dictates that they should have been studying for their Advanced Transmogrification Diplomas: Leilitchka still had stability issues which had caused serious problems when for example, disguised as a Bluebird, she had sneaked into Taras Bulba's camp to rescue several members of the Militant Mermaid Militia, but the potion she had mixed was not of the correct  strength and just as she flew out, she started turning back into a Weird Sister. The incident had left her with a scar on her right temple and a sense of wounded pride and goes to show the importance - even at a couple of centuries old (she was still young) - of finishing your education.

Anyway. Leilitchka and her older sister Mounitchka were holed up in the Bermuda Triangle where Barry Manilow's nose was still proving hazardous to shipping, trying to prevent the Evil Empress from hijacking the
latest Bond movie on its way to Shepperton. In doing this, they were attempting to summon the spirit of

Agent 00Sparkle, who was proving hard to track down, as she was busy watching re-runs of Strictly Come Dancing. They had decided to go for the failsafe method of holding a Mirror up to Nature...well I say failsafe, but it is in fact extremely hazardous and once you open those portals, all Hell can break loose (quite literally ...and I mean literally literally, not 'literally'...ok - glad we got that sorted).

So they had made a mirror from seaweed and the odd discarded fish-bone and were pointing it towards the sky and singing a selection of Sambas (Sparkle's specialty in the Latin Ballroom section) and eagerly anticipating a grand entrance from Sparkle herself, when to their horror, the sea started bubbling and gurgling and making generally discordant noises and who was to appear but........

isis-k gets back to her roots and finds new routes for adventures

isis-k woke up and found herself in Paris. She had answered a distress signal sent out by a drug-addicted three-legged accordionist, and while she suspected he was a lost soul, she could not help but answer the call.


It was months since her last adventure, which had found her battling the Evil Empress just off the Bermuda Triangle where Barry Manilow's nose was continuing to prove hazardous to ships that passed in the night (unless any of the crew were named Mandy, in which case it sent them away).
Strange sounds heard in the Bermuda Triangle
Her worse fears about the Evil Empress's global ambitions had been confirmed when the BBC's former headquarters at Television Centre had been swallowed up by a movable portal and reappeared on a small island off Miami. However, she could only fight so many battles and had opted to leave Janka the One-eyed Wonder (Queen of the Bulgarian witches) in command of a legion of Romans borrowed from Claudius, a few flying monkeys (defectors from a Disney sequel) and the Weird Sisters, who were on their Easter holidays and were on the verge of trading in their broomsticks for provisional driving licences. We will come back to them later.

For old time's sake, isis-k wandered into the nearest Absinthe bar to look up her old friend Toulouse Lautrec, who was still trying to catch the Green Fairy (a very old friend of the Weird Sister's from Elementary Elf-school back in the 60s.....(1660s), for they were still relatively young and hence somewhat unpredictable)). She asked Henri about the

accordionist and he sighed:
'Best leave him be, isis, he will snap out of it in another few hundred years. If you are looking for a good cause, go see my friend Dartagnion who is putting together an expedition to catch the Jabberwocky, who is running rampage in the 11th arrondissement, ravishing virgins and roasting unsuspecting urchins. Dartagnion needs some help rounding up the gargoyles, who have been on strike since the Eighteenth Century because they are fed up with having their differentials eroded'.

isis-k didn't need to be asked twice. She picked up her bag, mounted her broomstick and headed straight for Dartagnion's house...