Page 59 of Big Witch Energy

The three senior coven members were sitting on the porch of Shaddow House, drinking “grown-up cider” late into the night, discussing the kids’ dizzying magical development. Plover did not appreciate his exclusion from the discussion, so they propped the door open so he could participate.

They could already detect which random antiques were attachment objects and which ones weren’t—though Mina scored more accurately. Riley had set up a whole test involving pieces from Alice’s family shop mixed with attachment objects from the house. Between the two of them, they managed to pick out the creepy stork with a saxophone, a murdered kayaker’s paddle, and Natalie’s dry-erase board—from the next room! But then, Charles had an actual tantrum when he saw his dearest Edith’s favorite soup spoon being used in such a “disrespectful display of charlatanry.”

Riley had to write him a personal note of apology—and judiciously left out the bit where she explained that the test wasn’t “charlatanry” if it involved genuine psychic powers.

While Josh definitely enjoyed his time with “Mr. Plover,” Mina was pretty much a daily presence at Shaddow House. If she wasn’t working at the Rose, she was working at Shaddow House. Caroline got the impression that Mina wanted female company. She understood. There were times, growing up with three brothers, that she felt completely overrun by testosterone. And Caroline at least had her mom to balance things out.

“It feels weird, meeting without the kids,” Alice noted, sipping her cider. “Like we’ve formed a club within a club.”

“I know, but I don’t want to say any of this in front of them and make them nervous,” Riley said. “I feel like their advisor or their den mother, or something. The thing is, they’re pretty much lapping us, in terms of development. Mina is already doing spells it took us months to master. And I know Josh can only hear, but he seems to communicate better with the ghosts than I do now.”

“I’m just glad they’re on our side,” Caroline muttered. “Can you imagine if they were working against us?”

“There’s no shame for you in their ‘promotion,’ Miss,” Plover assured Riley. “Frankly, the pair of them remind me of your mother and Miss Nora at that age.”

“Is it because we’re not progressing fast enough?” Alice asked. “Our magic decided we needed an A string, so to speak?”

“Oh, man, does that mean we’re the B string?” Caroline gasped. “RUDE!”

“From what I understand, it’s not a judgment of your work,” Plover assured her. “Magic does what it will, to help maintain the balance of the house. Adding the young people to the effort is only meant to make you stronger, not replace you.”

“Thanks, Plover,” Riley said. “Though, I’m starting to feel like the youngest sibling on a family sitcom getting the ‘your parents will still love you, even when the new baby comes’ very special episode talk.”

“I did not understand a single word of what you just uttered,” Plover said.

Riley laughed. “So, change of subject to adult topics we should not and could not talk about with the kids around—how are things with Ben?”

“Oooh, yes!” Alice cried, clapping her hands together. “I’ve wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to intrude. Also, I didn’t want to emotionally traumatize the kids talking about their father’s sex life in front of them.”

“There’s no sex life,” Caroline objected. “Not yet.”

Riley’s jaw dropped. “Really?”

“I’m going to excuse myself,” Plover mumbled, disappearing from the front door. “There are some things I do not need to overhear about my ladies.”

“Not me!” Natalie called from inside the house. “I want to hear every word! I can’t live, but I can live vicariously! Well, sort of!”

“I realize that I am not exactly tightfisted with my favors,” Caroline said.

“Is that really how you want to phrase that?” Riley asked.

“Now that I’ve heard myself saying it out loud, no,” Caroline amended. “And no, we haven’t had sex yet. For one, we haven’t had time or opportunity. There’s Ben’s schedule at the clinic. And then the kids. And I’ve been wrapped up like a bruised mummy for weeks. So, yeah, we’re taking things slow. Which is…nice? I mean, there’s still baggage there—and by that, I mean emotionally, because I would never refer to his children as baggage. That’s wrong. I actually expected to have more issues getting to know the kids and them adjusting to the idea of their dad dating again, but that part has been surprisingly easy.”

“Magic is the great leveler of playing fields,” Alice intoned solemnly, even as her lips twitched into a smile.

“I think we’re just sort of moving past all the really old stuff, what happened between us when we were kids ourselves, because we don’t have the words or the time or the emotional energy to explore all that,” Caroline said.

“That doesn’t sound great,” Riley said carefully. “That sounds like leaving an unchecked land mine in the middle of your relationship and hoping for the best.”

“I’m not disagreeing with you,” Caroline said. “I just don’t know how to approach it.”

“Both Edison and I have our own ‘land mines,’ and even when we do make the effort to talk about it, it can blow up in ways you don’t expect,” Riley told her. “And our past issues don’t stem directly from each other.”

“I know, I know,” Caroline sighed. “I think we’re just moving slow and waiting to see what develops naturally. Without too much pressure or heavy conversations.”

“Well, I will not tell you ‘I told you so’ when the fight springs up out of nowhere,” Riley assured her. “We will just be here to liquor you up and assure you that your point in the fight was absolutely correct and he was super wrong, even if he is objectively right.”

Alice squeezed Caroline’s hand. “We will pretend that logic and accountability do not exist, for your sake.”

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