By Julie

“Luna,” Misty addressed the new witch at breakfast (omelets yet again) the next morning. “That was a very nice spell you pulled yesterday. The aura was complimentary. And,” Misty said rather reluctantly, “You’re an all right composer. I’m one myself, you know. And Mallory’s in training.” Mallory scowled, probably because someone had mentioned something she couldn’t do. But Luna blushed with pleasure. It was the first time anyone had congratulated her on her accomplishment, since Basil’s had been a big distraction. “She’d probably best crack some of Midnight’s spell books,” Dawn suggested. One question answered! “All right,” Luna obliged rather gleefully. She loved to read and she liked to cast spells- to leafing through spell books and trying out spells on things lazily sounded fun. Basil had a strange expression on her face which gave way when Mallory insisted, “You too, Basil. You’ve proved yesterday that spell books can be quite useful.” Basil rolled her eyes. “I do this all the time,” she mouth-groaned to Luna. “Boring!” Luna was slightly appalled. Spells? Boring? She trotted behind Midnight and Basil when breakfast finished up the stairs to Midnight’s room. Luna gasped as the door of the small room creaked open to reveal a giant library and a scattering of comfy-looking navy armchairs. Through a tall and skinny doorway sat Midnight’s rather squishy-looking bed, some cabinets, a lavatory, and a wand case. Midnight looked rather strangely back at Luna after her gasp. “All of us have rooms like this,” he said as it dawned on him that Luna had never been in a witch’s room besides her own. “Big, I mean. Dawn’s room has a great assortment of this and that filed all over the place and she always gets her great collections mixed up. She’s rather stingy, you see, and disorganized. Mallory’s got another collection filed of this and that with a very interesting astrology library. Eve’s got an orderly little corner filled with enchanted things. Basil’s got a little witch’s room. And I’ve never been inside Misty’s room. She’s got some magical charm on it so only she can get in. Quite mind-boggling. But I’ve got my books. Basil-” he turned to the young witch, and she turned to an armchair with a rather tall stack of books next to it. She took the first and flipped it open to a scrap of parchment being used for a bookmark. “Now, let’s get some for you, Luna.” Midnight said, and she followed his lead to a large bookshelf that appeared to be bulging out on the sides to make room for more books. Midnight skillfully scanned the bookshelf, pulling out a few, and handed them to her. “These would be some good ones to start with.” Luna nodded and set the books down on the floor beside another armchair. She chose the one next to Basil. Leo leaped up onto one armrest and Luna sat down and examined the titles of her books. Witches: fact and fiction, Spells for Beginners, Basic Book of Spells, The Calix III Spell Book Volume I, and The Calix III Spell Book Volume II. “Calix the Third?” Luna whispered to Basil, who replied, “Some famous composer. Witches don’t often have last names, you see, so they have a first name and a number. Calix the Third was the third witch with the name Calix. I’m Basil the Nineteenth. Some of the more common names, like Dawn, are up to the sixties (Our Dawn is Dawn the Fifty-First). Witches have been around a long time, you see, but there’s not many of them. Of course, Calix is very very old now to be the third. You’d be… I don’t know, you’ll have to wait for your witch certificate and papers to come.” Basil rambled on, then turned back to her spell book, which seemed to be a long tedious-looking page of fine print. Luna cracked open Witches: Fact and Fiction and began to read. Her print wasn’t as small and her book was thinner than Basil’s. Luna read the book all the way through before lunchtime. It was just what she needed: it was a book full of witch FAQ. Luna selected her favorite chapters: 1, Common Witch Questions; 2, Witch Myths; and 6, Composing Spells: Can You Do It? and had time to read each one more time. Luna’s head was teeming with knowledge as Misty called the two girls downstairs for lunch.
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast a yummy luncheon spell:
“Not a pile of water, not a dish of goop,
“We’d like some complimentary soup!”

Luna was used to the witch’s meal schedule by now (and she’d read a few tidbits about which foods gave witches certain powers to do certain types of spells). Misty always conjured omelets for breakfast, soup for lunch, and chocolate with some strange witch mush rather like mashed potatoes called “boiled spell paste” for supper. It was not quite as bad-sounding as it sounded, it had rather a tangy flavor and Luna could almost feel power ringing inside her after a plateful.
After luncheon, Luna was a bit sleepy from reading all morning but she wasn’t about to give up on spell books yet. She hurried up to Midnight’s library after Basil and opened up her first real book of spells.