Greta reached into her Organic Bliss bag and set out the brownies; they were in a hatbox covered with old-fashioned-looking bird stickers. Binx picked up a brownie and bit into it. Huh. It was actually pretty good. Maybe she could get the recipe? She scarfed down the rest and chased it with chocolate milk and a handful of popcorn.
“You both did the pleukiokus spell on yourselves, right?” Greta asked.
“Yup,” Binx replied. Ridley nodded.
“Good. Keep repeating it every day, for protection.”
Greta next pulled out the clear bag with the shadow message. She extracted the note carefully—the sharp smell of rosemary filled the air—and laid it down in the center of the circle. The glossy black words—YOU AND YOUR KIND NEED TO DISAPPEAR—looked even more ominous by candlelight.
“Let’s start our group scrying ritual. The Goddess may be able to help us figure out the shadow message’s true origin.”
“Yeah, her, or maybe Victini,” Binx said, picking up her Pokémon deck. “I usually use Charmander for fire, but today, I’m going with Victini because it’s a psychic type plus a fire type.” Quickly scarfing down a second brownie, she crisscrossed her legs and fanned four cards in her palm. “I have another substitution, too. For water, I’m going to use Magikarp instead of Squirtle. People always say Magikarp is useless, but I think it has potential. Like, it’s kind of an underdog. Or underfish, I guess.”
“Underfish, that’s hilarious!” Ridley said, cracking up. But Greta just looked confused. She was not up on Pokémon characters and lore. (Also, being a coven leader and a perpetual worrier, she was kind of like a stressed-out mom with no sense of humor.)
When calling the quarters (their coven always commenced their magical gatherings with this ritual, which they’d adapted from C-Squared’s book), Binx usually liked to begin in the South. The South was fire, an element she could relate to; it was a powerful tool if you knew how to tame it, but it could burn you if you weren’t careful.
Binx knew that a Pokémon deck wasn’t a standard witchcraft item. But there was no “standard” in magic, with the exception of C-Squared’s book, which hadn’t really been available until that descendant of hers put it online for like a minute. And still, most likely, not all witches had a copy or had even seen a copy. (Binx, of course, had managed to download it onto an untraceable off-site server.)
Also, she’d known about her witch identity since she was thirteen. So between then and the appearance of C-Squared’s book, she had (like many witches?) developed her own magical methods and magical tools (in her case, her phone, her computer, and her Pokémon cards).
Binx turned to face southward, which meant orienting her body toward the pink NOT UR BABE poster above her bed; Ridley and Greta followed suit. “Go, Victini!” Binx said, laying the card on the floor.
“Be with us, Michael,” Ridley murmured under her breath. She believed in angels, and the archangel Michael corresponded with the South and with the fire element.
“We honor you, Pele,” Greta added quietly, invoking the Hawaiian volcano goddess. Greta, who was way into goddesses, rotated through different ones that represented the elements; sometimes, she even made up ones of her own, like when she went through her “Ignisia the Flame Goddess” phase based on a short story she’d written in elementary school. She placed a sprig of peppermint next to Victini. (Greta used both fresh and dried herbs, but she preferred fresh because she felt they were more powerful, more closely connected to nature.)
Next was the water element in the West. Binx pivoted toward the window; the curtains had parted slightly, revealing a dark gray sliver of the Puget Sound in the distance. “Go, Magikarp!” she said, placing the card. She briefly touched its long, whisker-like barbels to give it extra strength. These barbels were white, which meant this Magikarp was a girl; the boy Magikarps had tan barbels. Girl power! she added silently.
“Be with us, Gabriel,” Ridley chimed in.
“We honor you, Aphrodite,” said Greta. The Greek goddess had been created out of sea foam. She placed some lemon balm leaves next to Magikarp.
North was the earth element. “Go, Diglett!”
“Be with us, Uriel.”
“We honor you, Gaia the Earth Mother.” A sprig of vervain.
And finally, the East, the air element. “Go, Spearow!”
“Be with us, Raphael.”
“We honor you, Feng Po Po.” Parsley.
The three witches sat very still, eyes closed, taking in the magical energy that was being generated by the ritual.
The first few times Binx had participated in the calling of the quarters with Ridley and Greta, she hadn’t felt a thing except maybe sore and cranky from sitting cross-legged for so long or bored by the repetitive incantations. She’d even had (brief) second thoughts about having joined a coven. Then one day, at the fourth or fifth or sixth coven meeting, it had happened—the electric thrumming in her chest, the adrenaline jolt, the sense of power and purpose… and at the same time a sensation of being surrounded by a palpable white light of protection. It had been… amazing. Epic. Better than reaching Level 20 in Witchworld and acquiring the Staff of Immortality.
Not to mention it was nice to have other witches to hang with. (Real witches, not virtual ones.)
After a while, Greta broke the silence.
“Goddesses, angels, and Pokémons—”
“For the hundredth time, Poké-mon, no S,” Binx corrected her.
“—Pokémon, please help us solve the mystery of this shadow message. Who sent it, and why? And please help protect us from whatever malicious intent is behind it. Love and light.”
Binx cracked open
