Therapy: Three Witches and a Shrink

When Icy walked into Dr. Shreever's office that afternoon she found him leaning back in his chair massaging his temples. She smirked as she sauntered up to his desk.

"Sick of seeing us already Thaddeus?"

Dr. Shreever opened his eyes and gave her a forced smile.

"Not at all Icy. I'm actually glad to see you. It's my other patients who sometimes drive me mad. It baffles me how dense people can be sometimes. So often they come to me to talk about issues they are having with someone else in their lives when they really ought to be talking to that person directly. They get themselves all tied up in knots over things they should be able to deal with on their own if they only had the backbone to speak their mind when it really counts. That's one thing I can definitely say about you three, you're never afraid to speak your mind. Talking with you and your sisters this afternoon will be a pleasant break for me."

Icy shook her head as she sat down in the chair opposite him.

"I told you listening to other people's problems is no fun. And there you were trying to talk me into becoming a shrink too."

Dr. Shreever chuckled and gave her a wry smile.

"Whatever was I thinking? Honestly, there are some days I wouldn't wish this job on my worst enemy, but then again it does have its moments."

Icy raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Like when?"

Dr. Shreever leaned forward, folding his arms on the desk.

"You will no doubt find this ... what is the word? 'Lame'? ... but there is a peculiar satisfaction to be found in helping someone to overcome their problems, especially problems that may have plagued them for years. Rather like solving a mystery or completing a particularly difficult crossword puzzle."

Icy rolled her eyes and turned her head aside.

"You're right Doc. That really is lame."

Dr. Shreever grinned impishly.

"Speaking of lame, how is Ms. Hop-along faring this morning?"

Icy turned a smirking grin on him.

"Oh, Stormy's just fine. She complains that she's feeling kinda stiff this morning, but then if she wasn't complaining about that it'd be something else. So what's it to you anyway?"

Dr. Shreever spread his hands and shrugged.

"She is my patient, and I am, after all, partly responsible for her current condition. It would be inconsiderate of me not to at least inquire after her well being. In addition, I see my patients as something akin to an extended family and I feel badly for having been so rough with her yesterday."

One corner of Icy's lip crinkled up in a look of disgust.

"Family? Ugh! Are you trying to make me gag?"

Dr. Shreever raised an eyebrow.

"Why not at all. Aren't the three of you like sisters yourselves?"

Icy frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

"Oh please. I thought I set you straight on that yesterday. We three are sister witches, partners in a dark coven, nothing more than that. We don't go for any of that love and friendship crap."

Dr. Shreever nodded thoughtfully.

"I see. So then it's all about power, is it? The three of you merely support one another out of shared selfish self-interest?"

Icy nodded approvingly.

"Now you're getting the picture. We stick together because we're stronger as a group. It's an arrangement we all benefit from. We support each other because we know if one of us goes down the rest of us are weakened. On the other hand, if one of us wasn't pulling her own weight the other two wouldn't hesitate to dump her."

Dr. Shreever stroked his goatee.

"Indeed? And the fact that you are all descended from the same ancient coven doesn't play into it at all?"

Icy sat back and shrugged.

"Well, that was one of the big factors that helped us decide we should team up in the first place, but that doesn't mean we have any sort of loyalty to each other. In the world-conquering biz it's survival of the fittest. Alliances are made for power. If one of us felt the others were holding her back she'd split just like that."

She snapped her fingers for emphasis. Dr. Shreever jotted down a few notes in his notepad.

"Ah. So it's merely a coven of convenience then. That makes sense. But what of your own family? Aren't they supportive of you?"

Icy tossed her head contemptuously.

"My family? Hah! You've obviously never met my folks. My mother's a manipulative bitch and my father, well, let's just say that nothing's ever good enough for daddy. It's all about upholding the family rep with him. 'Bethany, bring your grades up.' 'Bethany, start planning for a career.' 'Bethany, why don't you engage in any after school activities?' Gah! I'm so sick of them! Mom keeps bugging me about finding some guy and getting married. I mean, how lame is that?"

Dr. Shreever was scribbling down notes at a furious pace.

"Fascinating! Please continue!"

Icy pinned Dr. Shreever with a piercing glare.

"Oh, you think you're so clever right now, don't you?"

Dr. Shreever blinked and looked up at her blankly.

"Do I now? Exactly how do you mean?"

Icy folded her arms across her chest.

"You had me going there for a while with that whole playing dumb routine, but I'm onto you now. This was all just another trick to get me talking. You ask questions that are so patently stupid that I can't help but set you straight and in the process I spill my guts to you. Nice try, but it isn't going to work."

Dr. Shreever laid his pen and notepad on the desk and smiled at her.

"But my dear Bethany, it already has."

Icy's eyes flared with anger.

"DON'T call be Bethany! My name is Icy!"

Dr. Shreever feigned a look of astonishment.

"Oh really? Dear, dear, dear. Well, let me just see."

He picked up a clipboard from his desk and flipped to the second sheet on it.

"According to this your given name is Bethany Anastasia Darkholme."

Icy unexpectedly lunged across the desk and snatched the clipboard out of his hands.

"Gimme that!"

This time Dr. Shreever's look of astonishment was entirely genuine.

"What the ... ? Icy! Give that back!"

Icy backed away from the desk, well out of his reach.

"In a minute. I wanna check something first."

She flipped to the second page and scanned down the list of patients' names.

"Let's see now. Bethany Anastasia Darkholme, Amanda Stormwind, ah, here it is. Darcy Andromeda Romanov. Andromeda? Hah! So that's her little secret! No wonder she would never tell us what the A stood for!"

Dr. Shreever came around the desk and yanked the clipboard out of her hands angrily.

"I would thank you not to be reading my patients' confidential records! That was very ill-mannered and rude of you."

Icy rounded on him with a challenging glare.

"Hey, you started it by calling me Bethany. You should be grateful that's all I'm gonna do to you in the way of payback after you went and dissed me like that. You know, you've got some nerve pal."

Dr. Shreever was taken aback by Icy's rebuke. He could hardly have been more astounded if she had slapped him in the face. He looked at her in bewilderment for a moment, then lowered his gaze contritely.

"You're right. I shouldn't have done that. And after I had words with Dr. Foler just this morning on this very same issue. How ironic to now find myself on the other side of that argument. I suppose I got a little carried away with 'playing dumb'. I guess I owe you an apology."

Icy closed her eyes and folded her arms as she turned her head away dismissively.

"Just forget it. Doc Foler called me that every time we met, but he never got under my skin the way you just did."

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Congratulations. You've officially gotten farther with me in two days than Doc Foler did in three whole weeks."

Dr. Shreever bowed to her in courtly fashion.

"I consider it an honor. Now my dear Icy, shall we get back to our session?"

Icy grinned at him.

"Why not? I'm up for another round."