It was then that I first saw the Witch. She appeared in the middle of the room with me. There was no cloud of smoke or loud bang. One moment the phantoms were closing in, another she was there and they'd all fallen back. They were densely packed in their circle around us, yet at the boundaries of the room. It was as if we were in the eye of a storm of phantoms. She spoke very softly to me. The same force that dulled my sight was dulling my other senses as well. I shook my head, I couldn't hear her. The phantoms became agitated, moving slower now, but more ominously. She gestured to the phantoms, then back at me and handed me an apple.

It was as if the world fell away. Everything was heightened. The background was black, my skin was pure white, the apple was bright green. Slowly, as though entranced yet frightened of this new world, where colors were so vivid, I bit into the apple. It was the juiciest apple I'd ever eaten. Apple juice ran down my arm in three small rivers, leaving a slightly darkened trail behind it. Just as I swallowed my bite of the apple, the juice changed from light brown, like all apple juice, to the bright red of blood. The pulp in my mouth turned to the coppery taste of pennies as I swallowed it. I dropped the apple.

The Witch picked it up. She laughed and the phantoms dispersed. She handed the apple back and said, "Know this. We are bonded, you and I. I will come for you later in your life. Every year you live bonded to me, is a year you owe me. And you will pay for it."

I woke up.