Page 49 of Big Witch Energy

Josh jerked his shoulders.

Riley glanced up at Ben. “As long as your parent and guardian approves of you joining said club, because I don’t want to contribute to the delinquency of a minor.”

“I-I, wha…?” Ben moved his hands helplessly as he managed to reach a heretofore unknown level of panic. “What does this mean? I mean, the puberty era, I could handle, sort of. But this, I can’t buy a book to help me explain this…or one that will explain it to me.”

“Ew, Dad,” Josh grumbled.

“That depends on which bookstore you go to,” Mina added.

“I can’t tell you that it’s not dangerous,” Caroline sighed. “After all, we’re trying to protect the house from a rival magical family that’s trying to steal secret artifacts so they can use the ghosts for their own ends.”

Mina looked absolutely thrilled at the very idea of this sort of intrigue. “Really?”

“I think I like you,” Alice murmured. “You’re a little bit of chaos in a bottle, aren’t you?”

Mina wriggled her eyebrows.

Oh, no. Mina had found like-minded souls. Ben knew this day would come.

“I can tell you that no member of my family, to my knowledge, has died from their interactions with ghosts,” Riley said. “The Dentons died off from what seems like pervasive fear of commitment. Sorry, Plover.”

“Your aunt made ‘commitments’ to me in every way she could,” Plover said.

“Really?” Josh marveled. “Way to go, Plover.”

Josh held his fist up for a bump. Plover just stared at him.

“I can’t keep them from this, can I?” Ben asked.

Caroline shook her head and looked a little sad. “Probably not. But we won’t teach them anything you’re uncomfortable with. I can’t leave the island, but your kids… I don’t think the same rules apply. If you wanted to take them away from here, I wouldn’t blame you. I just don’t know what it would do to them, physically, emotionally. We didn’t give them magic intentionally, I swear. The island, the magic, whatever it is, it’s a wild card.”

“It’s still pretty cool to get picked,” Mina said.

For a moment, Ben’s heart caught. Mina’s gifts were finally quantifiable. She couldn’t necessarily use it to get the attention she deserved, but she was special. And she knew it. There were people who would recognize it and value her for it, but also simply because she was Mina—sassy mouth, Pop-Pie issues, bright colors, and all. She’d found like-minded souls…and Ben had been right to be terrified of this eventuality.

Ghosts. Freaking ghosts.

“Magic chooses the user,” Riley said. “I’m not sure why it chose you, Mina. And I’m not sure why your hearing is so sensitive, Josh. But there has to be a reason. There’s something you can do that the house or the universe or whatever bureau of ridiculousness that oversees these things has decided you need to do.”

“You’re making us sound terribly disorganized,” Alice noted.

“If there’s one thing the Shaddow House Ghost and Friday Night Euchre Club is, it’s disorganized,” Riley said.

“Still not the name,” Caroline said.

“I kind of like it,” Mina said.

Josh agreed. “Me, too.”

“Do they get a vote?” Caroline asked.

The corners of Alice’s mouth pulled back. “Yeah, I think the magic pretty much guarantees they do.”

“We’re also going to be in charge of music choices from here out,” Mina informed Riley.

“Oh, no.” Riley looked aghast. “Plover, what hath thou wrought?”

Plover shrugged. “It’s not so bad, really.”

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