By Julie

When Luna stumbled out of bed the next morning, she first almost ran into Dawn and then a rather large stone anvil that had not been sitting in the middle of the hallway last night.
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast upon this thing a spell-
“I do not want that anvil, that,
“Turn it back to a shadow cat!”
The large stone statue shrank down until Little Dip was sitting in its place, looking extremely annoyed. The shadow cat bounded away down the stairs. Luna peered down at the floor. A deep rectangular shape was sunk in. “Well,” Dawn said optimistically, “At least she didn’t crash through the ceiling. That happened once when I accidentally turned her into a boulder.” Little Dip flicked her tail in irritation at the bottom of the stairs. “You turned your cat into a boulder?” Luna said with shocked amazement. “Yes. And an elephant. That was a disaster.” Dawn chuckled. “I never really mean to. I just get annoyed at her sometimes or try to turn her into something useful.” Luna squinted at her. “A giant anvil is useful?” she asked. Dawn blushed. “Not really. I just wanted to see if I could do it.” Luna rolled her eyes and walked back into her room. It took her only a second to realize that she’d gone a doorway too far and was now in Basil’s room.
The room was amazing! It was very large, like Midnight’s. A real rocking horse whinnied near the doorway and licked Luna’s hand. A few doves were roosted on golden swings that were fastened to the ceiling. Mobiles of planets and orbs and witches and cats and fish slowly turned around on the ceiling and a small statue of a mermaid sang from atop a navy desk. A display case showed off two brooms, one tiny one and one a few inches shorter from Basil’s broom now. Statues of monkeys and moving pictures were on the walls, along with a bookshelf full of thin books. Basil was throwing feed up to her doves. She didn’t jump when she noticed Luna wandering around, gaping at each new potion or magical toy. “Wow,” Luna finally managed to say. “Yeah, it’s okay. But it’s too babyish. I want to redecorate so it looks more like a room for a witch my age. I haven’t changed it since I was six. I mean, please. I have a rocking horse and a mobile of witches with green skin. And picture books.” She pointed to the bookcase. Luna was astonished that anyone could be displeased with this room. “I want a room more like Eve’s. C’mon, I’ll show you.” Basil finished feeding her doves and led Luna out of the wonderful room and into a doorway at the far end of the hall painted blue with clouds on it. Luna’s eyes widened when she saw that the clouds were slowly moving. “It’s enchanted to look like the sky.” Basil explained. “There is so much you don’t know.” Basil pushed the door open. A beautiful bronze statue of an elf juggled golden balls off to the side, and a magnificent silver statue that was molding itself and then shrinking back to a lump caught her eye. Everything was white or navy or black or gold or silver. Chimes produced beautiful tunes as a warm breeze blew in through the open window. The room was lined with magical things and had a rather maze-like interior filled with more magical items on pedestals. Luna fell in love with the room at once. She loved Midnight’s room for its dozens of books and Basil’s for its coziness and wonder, and now she loved Eve’s room for its beautiful and interesting items and for its sophisticated elegance. Basil led Luna through a short tour of the maze before finally finding the way back out. Luna was already thinking about ideas for a room of her own. Luna and Basil hurried to breakfast, Basil muttering something about redecorating. After Misty and Mallory rattled off a few spells to fix injuries in Cuba and fix televisions somewhere in the United States, Basil brought up the subject of the witches’ bedrooms.
“Misty, oh please can’t we redecorate my room today? Or at least clean it out?” Misty sighed. “Basil, we’ve told you a million times. You may redecorate if you clean out your room and redecorate it all by yourself. We don’t have time to pick through items in little witches’ bedrooms. Will you finally do it today, and stop whining about it?” Basil thought about it. “Eve, will you help me?” Eve looked rather sad. “Sorry, Basil. I’d love to, but I’ve got to fly down to the Isle of White to get some business settled with a rather strange coven.” Luna raised a hand. “I’ll help,” she said. Basil’s face glowed with please. “Oh, thanks! Tell you what, how about we work on my room and then when it’s done we’ll start on yours. I’ve got lots of ideas. Let’s start right away!” Pegasus and Basil danced up the stairs out of sight. Dawn sighed. “Will we ever end this redecorating business? No offense, Luna, but you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. She’s got so much baby junk up there.” Luna almost scoffed. It wasn’t junk. They were valuable witches’ items! She shrugged and stepped out of her chair. “Basil, wait!” she cried as she darted up the stairs. “Thank goodness Basil has finally got herself a playmate,” Mallory grunted just before Luna was out of earshot.

After another hour, Luna was reading happily through Spells for Beginners by Various. Every once and a while, Basil pointed her wand at something, muttered something, and then either shook her head or flipped through and found a counterspell to whatever she had just done. The only time Basil ever got too excited was when she pointed her wand at a dying flowerpot on the windowsill and murmured something that made flowers rise quickly out of the soil at the flick of her wand. “I did it!” Basil told Luna happily. “I wasn’t able to do that last week! I wonder if the next spell I’ll be able to do is…”
The first spell that Luna came across was the cleaning spell she’d tried to do in the bakery headquarters. The spell was written above a short paragraph that explained that the spell was composed by Kitty the Forty-Second and a few of it’s uses. Luna carefully raised her wand and recited-
“O Great Spirits let me tell
“And cast upon this room a spell.
“Pluck and scrub and wipe and clean-
“Wash this floor ’til it’s squeaky clean!”
Luna watched as the dust bunnies and specks scattered on Midnight’s green carpet popped into nothing. Very few were left. Luna was very pleased with herself, and gave Leo a few fond pats since he’d had to work to pull of the spell. “That’s good,” Basil said in a monotone as she flipped a thin page of Martha the Sixty-Third’s Spells Book Volume IV (Martha seemed to be another popular witch name). Luna scanned the rest of the chapter and found a polishing spell for small objects and a spell to raise warts that sounded interesting. She tried them out and was able to make Midnight’s candle-holder a bit more shiny with the polishing spell (composed by Martha the Sixty-Third), but couldn’t raise a wart at all (with the wart-raising spell, composed by Calix III). She was still trying to get a wart to pop up on the end of her nose when Misty called her downstairs. She reluctantly left the book with the lovely spells in it on Midnight’s chair and scurried downstairs. Misty was standing in front of the fireplace. “There you are,” Misty grumped. “Your forms and witch certificate have arrived.” At first Luna saw nothing, but then a rather clear patch of smoke formed in front of her eyes and there were the forms: made out of smoke! “Smoky paper,” Misty explained briefly. “You’ll need to sign these…” with a few motions of her hands, the thin stack of smoky paper shuffled and some forms were on top. Luna stepped closer, being careful not to breathe directly on the smoky paper and rip the sheets apart. She signed one form clarifying that she was a witch and the next clarifying that she agreed to join Mulberry Coven (until October 31st, when other arrangements could be made if the coven was disliked). Another asked for her hight and weight and age and gender and such. Luna wrote on them all by gently dragging her finger through the smoke. The final sheet of paper was, Misty told her, Luna’s witch certificate. In script-like type, it pronounced Luna a true witch and a member of Mulberry coven. It was signed with a flowery signature by Head Witch Rain and another in small, pinched cursive by Cloud. With a mutter of a spell, Misty transformed the certificate from smoke to parchment and handed it to Luna. Then with a wave of her hand, she sent the rest of the smoke paper back outside and to the Quiet Springs Bakery. Luna was officially a witch. This fact must have given her an extra power boost like boiled spell paste, because when she got back upstairs and said in her best witch’s voice-
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast a warty warty spell-
“I don’t want a rainbow, I don’t want a torte-
“No, give me a big and ugly wart!”
A small wart sprung up on the end of her nose. Luna smiled as she turned the pages of the book looking for the counterspell.

“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.

A whisper woke Luna up. It was a little boy’s voice- but more knowledge was woven into the voice than a little boy knew. This voice also had some strange edge to it- not like any voice Luna had ever heard.
“Luna.”
“What? Who? Show yourself!”
“I’m in plain sight. Look a little harder.”
Luna strained her eyes, but all she saw in the thick darkness was an empty room and Leo licking one paw.
“I don’t see you.” Luna’s voice trembled.
Leo turned his head sharply and his green eyes seemed solid as he stared at her.
“Leo? Is that you who’s talking.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never heard a cat talk before.
“Well, I’m no ordinary cat. I’ve never seen a common girl be made into a witch before. Or so I assume you common.”
“I’m not your ordinary girl.” Luna paused. “Can they hear you?” she asked, motioning to the rooms in the hall. The small apartment in which the witches lived seemed to be much bigger than it looked. Luna assumed that was magic.
“No. Or, they don’t. Some of the other cats do. Gemini. But that fat one-”
“Cass?”
“Is that her name? She won’t even speak to me.” Leo huffed, stepping closer to Luna. “Do you mind?” he asked as he jumped with agility up on the bed. Luna shook her head. “That’s funny,” Luna said. “Does the thin one either? Orion, I mean?” Leo circled around a few times and collapsed in a little ball on the floor. “Naw. But she isn’t so arrogant about it like that other one.”
“And they say pets look like their owners,” Luna told him.
“Hey- let’s get this straight. I am not your pet kittycat, all right? I’m not some little kitten you can pinch and pick up and put down and cradle around. We’re equals. You say the spells, but I help you do your magic. Familiar, maybe you could call me. And I’m fine with shadow cat. But no, I am not your pet. And I might mind slightly if you change me into a handbag.” Leo scolded her.
“All right, all right. But don’t call me your owner. I’m not an owner. Get that straight? Equals.”
“Agreed.”
Luna and Leo sat in the dark a little longer.
“Leo?”
“I am assuming you are talking to me. I had no input on my name, but it looks like that Leo the Lion thing is set in stone.”
“I’m scared.” Luna carried on.
“Of what? I’m not scared. I’m never scared.” Leo replied.
“Of being a witch. It seems like I find something else about myself and what I can do every few minutes.”
“Well, that’s life. You chose to be a witch, or so I am thinking. You’re going to have to live with it.”
“Do you know things about witches? I have quite a few questions.”
“No, I don’t know anything about witches at all except for that you’re one. And they can do magic.” Leo replied rather crossly, “I’m a shadow cat.” Then he softened. “But just out of curiosity, what are your questions.”
“Well, is there any sort of training I can get? And are there spells that require certain amounts of power? And what are potions and what’s in them? And am I allowed to read spell books or whatever it was that Basil mentioned?”
“Basil…” Leo inquired.
“Um, the witch that works with Pegasus.” Luna rattled off for him.
“Well, I have no idea at all. Except for it’s not fair if you get any training because I never got any training and I’m managing well enough. I helped you with that cleaning spell, and the water fixing spell, and the curling spell. Very well, I might add.” Leo told her.
“Leo?”
“What?”
“I’m exhausted.”
“So am I. Are you suggesting that we should shut our yaps and go to sleep?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind.”
“Do I mind? It’s about time already. I’m just as exhausted as you.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”.

“Did you get it!” Basil squealed the second the coven had stepped through the door. “Get what?” Luna said, still a bit dizzy from the day’s happenings. “The mind message I tried to send you! The one about how to compose a spell!” Her mind cleared. “Oh! Yes! It flashed before my eyes and I just read it and thought of a spell! I thought I’d imagined the whole thing!” Luna cried excitedly. “I sent that! I did it! I never thought that reading all of Midnight’s dusty old spell books would ever teach me anything, but today I finally remembered the witch message spell that I’d read about! Chapter sixteen of Ways of Witch Communication, second paragraph! I found it among all of the smoke paper and magic ink and leaf messages and found it interesting! And now it’s saved the coven!” Basil blurted quickly! “This spell!
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast a witchy witchy spell-
“Let this message travel from my sharp wit
“And in front of Luna, where she’ll find it!”
“And then I recited my message and Luna found it!
Everyone was very excited. Eve jumped up and down for joy, Dawn blushed and patted Little Dip and her hair at the same time, Midnight scratched Basil’s head like a cat’s affectionately, Misty looked rather surprised, and Mallory dropped her hat.
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast a yummy snacking spell-
“With cinnamon sugar and milk for her cat-
“Prepare for Basil wing of bat!” Eve chanted excitedly. “You deserve a treat, Luna! And Peg too!” Peg rubbed against Basil’s leg and licked at the dish of milk conjured on the floor before him. On the kitchen table sat what looked like a sugared piece of beef jerky. “Wing of bat?” Luna asked, confused. “Don’t you know? Most witches have a hankering for something witchy- you know, what the stories say they put in their brews and potions. I personally love mouse toes. Basil craves bat wings, and Mallory’s mouth starts to water at the thought of frog tongues. Don’t see what’s so great about them myself. They are all right with salt, though.” Dawn explained. Luna watched Basil hungrily gobble down the bat wing. “Has the aura given that to me, too?” she asked as she cringed at the sight of the last of the bat wing being eaten up. “Probably,” Midnight answered. “I’m in no hurry to discover it,” Luna said as Basil finally finished the wing. “Mmm,” she said, licking her lips. “I do love bat wings. Especially with cinnamon sugar. They’re quite sweet. Here, come on. There might be some left in the cabinet!” Basil tugged on Luna’s sleeve. “No thanks, I’ll pass,” Luna said, and sat down on the couch running her fingers through Leo.

“This is Luna,” Mallory told the witches fearlessly. Luna almost cringed as the witches looked upon her curiously. “We found her yesterday lost on the street. Seems that she’d no parents. Looked up and she saw us and recognized us for what we were, so Misty tried to clear her memory. But something fought back. She wasn’t able to do it. Some witchy aura inside of that little girl resisted, and now Mulberry Coven has a new witch. This is Luna and Leo.” Head Witch rain looked once again curiously through her thick spectacles. “Mallory,” she addressed the fat old hag. “Misty. Dawn. Midnight. Eve. Basil.” Each witch straightened a bit at the proper greeting. “Dawn,” the powerful witch rested her gaze once again on the middle-aged witch. “Where is that cat of yours?” Dawn blushed, her corkscrew curls seemed to droop suddenly. “Er- I’m pretty sure he’s in my handbag.” she said, and as Rain’s gaze intensified her curls seemed to flatten. Luna was sure they were made by magic. “Interesting handbag,” Rain said coldly, then held out a thin wand and zapped it. The smooth leather handbag with thin silver clasps started to change- and Luna soon recognized it as Little Dip, the skimpy little furball she’d met the other day. “Oh- many thanks, Head Witch Rain.” Dawn whispered, her face macadamia red. “I couldn’t remember what I’d changed him to. He kept falling off my broom, see. I thought he was my brooch.” Basil nudged Luna slightly. “She does that a lot,” Basil said out of the corner of her mouth. “Very forgetful. She messes up her potions more than I do. Midnight’s the opposite, even though they’re twins. Always knows exactly what he needs and where it is and what to do with it.”
Head Witch’s witchy glare turned on Luna. “You… yes, I do feel an aura.” Luna twitched. “So,” Rain went on rather conversationally, “You’ll have to show us a spell.” Luna’s mind was blank. “Er…” Part of the spell came back to her. Then the rest.
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast upon this room a spell…
“Pluck and scrub and wipe and clean,
“Wash this floor ’til it’s squeaky clean!”
Nothing happened.
“Um.” Luna tried. Head Witch scoffed. “The floor is squeaky clean, Violet. Try another one.” Luna chewed her lip. “It’s Luna actually,” she stalled. She remembered a spell that Misty had cast yesterday morning.
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast a very friendly spell-
“Not enough for a bath, not even a sip,
“Hurry to London and stop this drip!”
Nothing happened. This time Luna wasn’t expected anything to happen. “Leaky faucets in London were cleared up a few days ago,” Rain criticized. “Another, please.” This time Luna was in trouble. She couldn’t even think of any more. Suddenly a message flashed before her eyes. She blinked and almost didn’t read it, but she caught it as it faded away.
First two lines only need a word or two different
The last two have to rhyme.
Luna suddenly jerked into action.
“O Great Spirits, let me tell
“And cast a perfect hair day spell-
“Fix up Dawn’s hair with every twirl-
“Make it curly, every curl.”
Luna opened her eyes. She had squeezed them shut thinking of how silly this was. She was no witch. But the aura was covering for her! Dawn’s limp hair was swirling and twirling like curlers in fast forward. In a few seconds, they were as normal. Dawn touched her hair. “Oh, thank you dear. I’d forgotten the spell,” Dawn blushed. Basil rolled her eyes. Eve beamed. Everyone tried not to look too surprised.
“Well well well,” Rain said, grinning with some missing teeth down at Luna, who stared down at her silver pointed shoes. “We’ve got ourselves a little composer here, do we? You could get into business writing spells. You seem to be quite good at it. That spell isn’t listed in the book. You used an alternate to the written one. Pardon me if I’m wrong, but this is how the other goes for future reference, Dawn.
“O Great Spirits let me tell
“And cast upon Eve’s head a spell-
“Foolproof from wear and tear
“O Great Spirits- curl Eve’s hair!”
Luna blushed as Eve’s hair curled beautifully. She hadn’t known there already was a curling spell. Well, no one seemed to be mad. And she could go into business writing spells.
“All right, Misty. You’ll be sent some official forms and such, but for now you’re permitted to leave. Good bye.”
One by one, the witches filed out the door. Luna was last to leave and she jumped in surprise as the room started to swirl and pop and blister until it became the rickety old Quiet Springs bakery. Head Assistant Cloud sat pleasantly behind the desk. Luna gawked back at her.
“Is there anything I could help you with?” the baker asked.
“No, no. I was just leaving. Sorry,” Luna said quickly, and stepped out the door. It was like nothing ever happened.