Goddess, please watch over my friend.
Keep her safe until we find her.
Part of her couldn’t believe she’d automatically used the word “friend,” but she went with it. They repeated their search in three more rooms: a home office, a home gym, and a guest bedroom with a private bathroom. Just as they walked into a second guest bedroom, a voice called out to them.
“Are you guys lost?”
It was a young girl, maybe a tween, holding a cardboard box filled with bottles of shampoos, conditioners, and lotions. A tablet was propped on top of the bottles, its screen flashing brightly
“I got this,” Mira whispered to the others. “Oh, hey, Caitlin! It’s me, Mira!” she called out to the girl.
“I’m Cassie, not Caitlin. Hey, Mira.”
“Ohmigosh, I’m sorry! You two look so much alike! Yeah, so, I was just showing my friends around your house. Didn’t this room use to be yellow? I like the new color, plus this silk bedspread is to die! Is it Italian?”
“I have noooo idea.” Cassie chin-nodded at the box in her arms. “’Scuse me, I just need to get to the bathroom. I’m moving my stuff down here. It was Liv’s idea. Caitlin hogs our bathroom all the time, plus she uses my stuff without asking!”
“Liv?” Greta repeated.
“She’s Colt’s friend… or maybe Hunter’s? She’s nice, and she has cool hair. It looks like ice.”
Greta’s eyes widened. “Is she here at the party?”
“Yeah.”
“Could her name be Div, not Liv?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Do you know where she is? We’ve been looking all over for her.” Aysha spoke up.
“Dunno. She was in the library before.”
“What’s the fastest way to get there, Cassie?” Binx asked.
“There’s a shortcut through the laundry room. I can show you if you want. I just need to tell Sienna I’m AFK.”
Cassie set the cardboard box on the bed, typed a message on her tablet, and gestured for them to follow her down the hallway. Along the way, they ran into some of the catering staff, but no one paid any attention to them. Which was good, because Greta really didn’t want to have to resort to memory-erase spells.
A few minutes later, and after a confusing exchange between Binx and Cassie about Mad City versus Jailbreak, they reached a heavy-looking oak door. Cassie turned the large brass knob and pushed, but the door wouldn’t budge.
“I think it’s locked. I can get the key from my dad.”
Binx coughed. “Obex.”
The door creaked open.
“Oh, weird, I guess it’s not locked!”
Cassie ushered the girls into the room. Greta scanned it quickly. Hundreds of books, an Oriental rug, a desk… but no sign of Div.
“I guess she left,” Cassie said, shrugging. “Oh, well. Maybe she went back to the party?”
“Guys! Over here!” Binx had crossed the room and was crouched on the floor next to the desk. “Vivifica!”
No.
“Vivi-what? Is that like a secret code?” Cassie asked Greta.
Greta didn’t reply. Vivifica was the revival spell for someone who was unconscious or badly hurt. Or dying.
Mira and Aysha rushed to Binx’s side. Greta followed, stumbling a little, dreading what she might see.
Div lay on the floor behind the desk, her wrists and ankles bound with rope. Her eyes were closed, and her lips had an odd blue tinge.
“Div!” Greta cried out.
“Vivifica!” Binx repeated.
“Vivifica!” Mira and Aysha said in unison.
Div’s eyelids fluttered, then blinked open. Color returned to her lips.
Oh, thank Goddess.
Div coughed and tried to sit up.
“Hold on. Solvo!” Binx said quickly.
The ropes around Div’s wrists and ankles loosened and slumped to the floor. “Thank you, Binx,” she said with a weak smile. “Thanks, Mira; thanks, Aysha.”
What about me? Greta wanted to say. But mostly, she was just relieved that Div was okay.
As Binx helped her to her feet, Div turned to look at the wall behind the desk. She ran her hand across the wood paneling.
“It’s gone,” she murmured.
“What’s gone?” Greta asked.
Div twisted around. “What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you,” Greta replied, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.
“I didn’t need rescuing.”
“Well, you obviously did!”
“I’m quite fine with just my girls here.”
“Div, I was scared!” Greta blurted out before she could stop herself.
Div cocked her head. “Yes, that’s why you’ll never be as powerful a witch as I am. I don’t get scared.”
“You guys are witches?”
Cassie was still in the room. Greta had forgotten all about her.… They all had, in the urgency of the moment.
“Actually—” Div began.
“Praetereo,” Aysha interrupted.
Cassie blinked. Her expression went blank.
“Um… hey! Are you guys here for Dad’s party?”
Mira hooked arms with Cassie and hustled her out of the library. “Yup! Colter invited us. I love your earrings! So, are you dating yet? The last time I saw you, you were crushing on someone named Dylan.”
“Dylan? Ew!”
Behind Greta, Div was speaking quietly with Binx and Aysha.
“… and there’s a good chance she’s a witch, too.”
“What?” said Binx.
“How do you even know this?” Aysha asked.
Div whispered a response as she led Aysha and Binx out of the library, but Greta couldn’t hear. She trailed behind, suddenly depressed, wondering when she had become the odd witch out.
27 WITCHES DON’T BELONG HERE
Some believe that Witches want to take over the world with Magic. They are not entirely wrong.
(FROM THE GOOD BOOK OF MAGIC AND MENTALISM BY CALLIXTA CROWE)
Iris was having a strange dream.
In the dream, she was walking through a forest—a forest of sycamores, pines, and willow trees. Long strands of silvery-green moss dripped down from above. Invisible birds called to her from the shadows, a cacophony of chirps and songs and cries.
She thought it was daytime, but it was hard to be sure; the thick canopy of branches overhead let in only slivers of sunlight. Nervous and unsettled, she wrapped
