Metro ride

Donuts. Chocolate donuts. Dano was dreaming about chocolate donuts from a bakery she had seen when three loud knocks came from the front door. She jumped out of the futon quickly because of the fright.
"Who could it be at this hour?" — It was almost nine in the morning.

"Danooooo — Miss Sutaru was calling from the other side of the door — I don't have all day."

Dano opened the door — "Come in."

Dano got ready quickly and gave her mother a kiss — "Mom, I'm leaving now. I'll talk to someone who will probably solve your disease."

Miss Sutaru had not entered. She was now waiting on the broomstick.

"Did you know that my sister or I did this broom, Miss Sutaru?"

"So the brooms in the Kabu Boulevard were yours?"

"Yes, they were."

"It's well made, good job. It fell from a great height yesterday, and it's here, safe and sound, and almost intact. But I think I need to renew the potion. It wouldn't be good if we felt mid-air."

Sutaru got the flask she used the day before, pouring the rest of it onto the broomstick.

"Liquor, liquor. Do I hear you?" — She said in a normal tone.

"Sorry, Tadano, but I see you kept my glasses yesterday. Can you give it back to me? I can't be using this one, but you can, keep it." — she said while holding the glasses made of sticks and leaves.

They switched glasses. Tadano's hair was falling onto her face, so with a movement of her wand, Miss Sutaru took four sunflower petals out of the bag and made it hard, building two clips.

"Now — she said while adjusting the petal-shaped clips in Tadano's hair — just... like... yesterday. Great. You're cute."

Dano was now using glasses and clips. The glasses weren't that pretty, but they were cool. Dano was excited by the fact that she now had her own glasses. Glasses that would allow her to see magical creatures.

"Come on, get on the broomstick. — It was a little difficult for her to balance on the broomstick — Now, say with me, the words. Can you remember the words?" — Dano nodded.

They adjusted themselves on the broom.

"Alta Volant!"

It was now flying, a little above the ground. No one visited the ruined temple they were near, so there was no risk of being spotted flying in that public area.

Miss Sutaru summoned a compass, which wasn't pointing north. Tadano realized it after noticing that it was pointing in the opposite direction from the sun.

They went flying in the direction the compass was pointing.

"That isn't the... north. I think this compass is broken, Miss Sutaru."

"Oh, how do you know it? It isn't pointing north. It's pointing to the witch's house. The witch who I said could teach you magic."

"I see..."

They spent the rest of the flight in silence. Tadano was excited, but afraid of disappointing herself. If she couldn't save her mother, she would feel bad. Very bad. She would feel sad. A tear ran down her face.

The glasses they were wearing protected against the wind, even though they looked like ordinary ones.

A few minutes later, Miss Sutaru stopped on a building rooftop.
"She lives in the metro."

"What? Really?" Dano wasn't expecting that.

"Yes, she lives under some metro line intersection."

Before going down from the building, Miss Sutaru cast a spell.

"Come right here, next to me. Ok, right here. Don't move. Let me see if I can remember... is it Mutatia or... Mutata. I think it is Mutatia. Ok... let's go... stay still. Mutatia Vestimenta!"

Both clothes vanished for a millisecond, producing a little smoke. Sutaru's clothes changed into those of a generic construction worker, with an orange vest and a helmet, while Tadano's did not change. They were just... clean.

"This spell makes us have the most appropriate clothes for the place we're at."

Dano was staring at Sutaru's face. It had a mustache. A hairy one.

They went down the stairs, trying not to be seen. But Dano's legs were hurting, so they took the elevator on the last ten floors. Leaving the building, they walked to the subway station.

After reaching the underground and checking some maps, calculating where the compass was pointing, they took the metro.

They went to the back of the subway cars.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen — she tried to speak in a masculine way — these last two cars are now under maintenance. I am going to ask you, please, for your own safety, to occupy a car that is not one of these last two. Thank you." 
While the people were leaving, she used magic stones to create a temporary door on the train's wall.
"We're going to have to jump off soon."

"Jump off? — Dano didn't want to do it, not with that thing moving — Jump off? You serious?"

"You'll be fine as long as you stay close to me. Count to ten, then we jump."

1...
2...
6...
8...
9...
"Ten!" 

They jumped. Dano had her eyes closed, hugging Sutaru's waist.

"We're a few steps ahead of the entrance. We have to hurry. In two minutes, another metro will pass and crush us."

"Right!"

After walking for a while, she found a marked piece of rail.
"It's here."

She took her wand and knocked it 4 times, and faked a 5th, all with the back of it.
"It's the password she used to use."

A translucent hole opened in the ground. Dano entered first, followed by Miss Sutaru.

They fell for a long time, until they were not falling anymore, but running, slowing down their pace. Somehow, the walls had now become the ground. Dano was now walking and then standing in front of a door.

It looked like the end of a hall in a normal building. A building full of apartments, even though there was just one.

Miss Sutaru pressed the doorbell. She heard someone approaching the door.
"Who's there?"

"You owe me a favor."

"Oh, Sutaru, it's you. Come back another time."

"Can I talk to you? It's important."

...

"You owe me a favor. I need you to do a favor in return. Now."

After some silent murmuring and reluctance, the door was opened. Miss Sutaru gestured for Tadano to wait outside while entering.

Dano couldn't hear much, only a muffled sound of the witches' voices at the other side of the door. The moment she was sitting down with her back against the door, the door opened once again. She fell, hitting her head on the ground. She was still conscious, but embarrassed. Two adults were looking at her.

While looking down, she got stood up by Miss Sutaru. Slowly, she raised her head.

"YOU! — Dano yelled, scaring both of the grown-ups — You're the witch they were talking about."

In front of her, a witch, almost exactly like Dano, was staring at her.
"The cops were talking about you."

Miss Sutaru interrupted — "I have to go somewhere now. Bye Dano, good luck for now."

The other witch was going to say 'wait'. But Sutaru had already closed the door. After it, Dano heard a kick and then a scream. Miss Sutaru had already returned to the subway lines.

The witch looked at Tadano's face.
"You really... look like me. Ok, kid, I'm Mechakucha."

Dano knew who she was, even though she didn't, because the cops arrested her by accident, mistakenly believing she was the witch.

"What did you do to make me go under arrest?"

"That's none of your business. You want to learn magic? Just don't annoy me, and everything will be okay. Come in, we'll go to the attic."

"Is there an attic here? Why would we go there?"

"Do you have a wand?"

"No, Miss Mechakucha."

"Please, stop, you're already annoying me. Just call me Meku. Everyone calls me Meku, so do it too. Ok... I'll give you one of my old wands."

They walked through a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and lastly, to a corridor. Mechakucha made a movement with her wand, and a ladder came down from the roof. She climbed it with some difficulty to reach the first rung. At the top, she picked up a shoebox, grabbing it down the ladder. It said it was made ten years earlier.

She was now on the floor, next to Dano, opening the shoebox. There was a lot of dust inside.

"That's a big box." — It was almost the size of Dano's trunk.

"There... is almost... all the wands I got since... let me think... since I was fifty-six."

"So you're really 900 years old?"

"Yeah... but I lost a bet a century ago. I looked like a 26-year-old woman, but they reduced my appearance by half. Just choose a wand."

"Oh, okay." Dano pulled a green wand.

"Oh, I remember this one. I got it from a trip in the early days of America. An ancient sorcerer gave it to me after I taught him a spell to turn sand into glass. In return, I received this enchanted sunflower stem. It still has some leaves left on it."

"Can I really use it?"

"There is no other way for now. It is not recommended to use another witch's wand, but I have only used it once. It was more like a souvenir I kept."

Dano liked it. It was still alive. There was no flower, but it was still her favorite flower, so she would take it with pride.

Mechakucha closed the box, making it float back to the attic with the ladder. After being excited for a while, remembering the old days, she remembered the amount of work she was going to have.
"Ah... Dano, follow me."

She walked to the end of the corridor, followed by Tadano.

"You will train here." — They were now in a greenhouse. There were no plants besides the grass covering the floor. It was a glass greenhouse, overlooking the void.

"Sutaru said you wanted to learn healing spells. We'll get there, but first, you will need to learn the basics."