Witch Twins Series

by Adele Griffin

  Fluffy popped the end of her sandwich into her mouth, then stood and brushed the grass from her pants. “I’ll go find your brother and invite him along, too. He’ll probably be keen to see how movies get made. Glad you’re excited about it! Bye, now, gals.”

  The twins watched as Fluffy went off in search of Justin.

  “I wonder if Melody has her own hair-dresser?” Luna mused.

  “She probably has her own beauty salon and her own maid and a butler and a Rolls-Royce and yacht and plane and a dressing room and an ice-cream parlor and everything,” said Claire. “She’s a star! And we’re going to meet her!”

  Luna slowly licked the pink frosting of her cupcake. “I read somewhere that in real life, movie stars are short with big heads, like Martians.”

  “No way. I bet Melody’s got a perfect real-life head.”

  “Maybe she’s spoiled and stuck-up.”

  “Luna, you are a doomsday prophet,” said Claire. (That’s what their mother always said about Luna.)

  Her sister shrugged.

  Claire would not let her twin get her down. She stretched out on her back and looked up into the elm tree’s leafy canopy. This had been her most fantastic summer, ever. First she and Luna had spent five incredible weeks at Camp Bliss. Then came the news about baby Ubiquitous. And now she would get to meet her idol, Melody Malady.

  Life did not get much better than this.

  2

  Animal Magic

  LUNA HAD A SECRET. The secret was that she was jealous of Melody Malady. The reason Luna was jealous was because she thought it was too-too-too extra-lucky for a girl her very own age to star in a weekly television show and have a perfect singing voice and olive-green, almond-shaped eyes.

  Luna was not even sure if she wanted to meet Melody, but she would never confess this to her sister. All through dinner, Claire had been chattering on and on like a squirrel about her idol.

  Claire did not seem the teeniest bit jealous, so Luna did not want to seem like a spoil-sport.

  “I raise you three Oaty-oats,” Luna said, yawning.

  It was almost midnight. Luna and Claire were sitting at their grandparents’ kitchen table playing five-card poker. They were betting Oaty-oat cereal pieces instead of money. The picnic guests had gone home, but Luna and Claire always stayed at Bramblewine for the first weekend of each month. It was a happy tradition, not only because they loved-loved-loved to be in the country with their grandparents, but also because it was then that Grandy, who was also (very secretly) known as Head Witch Arianna of Bramblewine, taught the girls new spells.

  Claire lifted one eyebrow. “I’ll see your three Oaty-oats and call you.”

  Luna showed her cards. “I have a pair of sevens. What do you have?” She was pretty sure that Claire had nothing, because she had been biting on her thumb. Claire always bit her thumb when she bluffed. Claire was not very good at poker.

  Claire put down her cards. She had nothing. “Um, I was bluffing. You win again.”

  “After singing lessons, Clairsie, you should take poker lessons,” said Luna as she swept up the pot of oats.

  The clock struck midnight. The twins’ faces turned solemn, and they stood up from the table and pushed in their chairs. It was time for their spell lesson. Tonight, Grandy had made the rare promise that she would be teaching them something “outstanding.”

  As they climbed the spiral staircase to the study, Luna could hear Grampy snoring from his bedroom. His snores rose and fell in perfect zzz-zzz-zzzs. Grandy had probably put him under a sleep spell. Luna figured that her grandmother must have cast it so that Grampy would not wake up during their midnight lesson.

  Silently, the girls entered Grandy’s candlelit study. All the green velvet curtains were drawn. The door locked and bolted automatically behind them. Witchcraft is a mysterious practice, and No Telling is its first rule. Although Grandy was a five-star witch and Luna and Claire were one-star witches, nobody else in their family knew. It was extra-extra-extra secret.

  Grandy was seated behind her desk, scribbling on a notepad. Wilbur was flung out across the back of her chair. He was wearing his special rhinestone collar and trying to look noble.

  “Shhh. One minute while I finish this grocery list,” said Grandy. She jotted on her paper. “Dust balls, furniture unpolish, glass smudger. I just noticed how tidy this room is! Blech! A genuine study needs to look neglected.”

  The twins stood in the middle of the room, waiting patiently. Their grandmother was not a woman to be hurried.

  Finally, Grandy stood from her desk and swept to the middle of the room. Her dark witch-robe dragged behind her, and her shadow was so long it bent up into the ceiling.

  “Hear this, witches mine. Tonight what you learn, you cannot return,” Grandy intoned. Her face fell into its spell-casting expression, as she moved to stand between the twins. She raised her hands, palms-down.

  Luna trembled slightly. On spell nights, Grandy seemed taller, bolder, and less grandmotherly than she did during daylight hours. Luna tried to look brave as Grandy began to chant:

  “We stand before this sacred shrine,

  To learn a new spell quite divine.

  Wipe your minds of thought and dream,

  Gather, garner, reap, and glean.

  Student witches, Wicca teacher,

  Transform to thine hidden creature!”

  Then Grandy coughed three times into her hand. A pair of velvet curtains parted to reveal an altar, upon which sat two glass chalices, Grandy’s Big Book of Shadows, a few odd jars of spices, and her crystal ashtray. The ashtray was not part of the magic. After a midnight spell, Grandy often liked to smoke a cigar.

  On Grandy’s signal, the twins followed as she glided to the altar.

  “Eyes closed, mind open,” Grandy commanded.

  Luna closed her eyes. At her side, she wondered if Claire was peeking. She heard her grandmother cutting free some of the spices from their pots. She sniffed. Luna’s sense of smell was terrible. She could detect only a whiff of spice mingling with something sweet.

  Soon, the scent of spices was strong and made Luna’s head whirl. In another moment, some rather odd changes began to brew inside her. First her skin got warm. Then her sense of hearing became needle sharp, even picking up the hum of Wilbur’s purr and the zzz-zzz-zzz of Grampy’s snores below. Finally, her legs seemed too weak to hold up her weight.

  Luna dropped comfortably to all fours, her hands planting squarely on the carpet. All of this was confusing, but not nearly as odd as Luna’s sudden urge to run and run and run and run! But she hated running! In fact, she hated any activity that got her sweaty. No, she was not feeling like herself one bit. If she didn’t know any better, she could have sworn she had turned into—

  Luna opened her eyes and stared down at her paws.

  —a dog!

  “Woof!” barked Luna. Her tail thumped the floor. When she turned her head, she saw a jewel-green salamander staring up at her. A salamander with ruby eyes and Claire’s grouchy expression.

  “Woof!” barked Luna happily. She’d turned into a way cooler animal than Claire!

  Claire-the-salamander’s forked tongue darted and she flicked her scaly tail. Luna wagged her floppy tail in return. She tried to feel what kind of dog she was. Part Border collie, she guessed, with maybe some Saint Bernard?

  “Excellent, girls,” said Grandy. When Luna looked over, she saw that her grandmother also had changed into an animal—an elegant red fox. Grandy the fox made Wilbur the cat look extra shabby.

  Luna tried to ask what kind of dog she’d become, but all that came out of her mouth was another cheerful bark.

  “Within every witch is the power to transform into a single creature from the animal kingdom,” explained foxy Grandy. “The spell is one of the most powerful listed in the Book of Shadows. However, it’s listed as a Samaritan Spell. That means it can only be used to help others, and not for your own fun. I guess that’s why it’s been thirty years since I bo
thered to be a fox. Now, twins, close your eyes and imagine that you are looking into a mirror. Concentrate.”

  Luna closed her eyes and pictured herself: brown eyes, six freckles on her nose, bad haircut, and even the little chicken pox scar under her chin.

  In a heartbeat, she jumped onto two legs and was Luna-the-girl again.

  “Grandy, that’s the best spell yet!” she exclaimed. “Outstanding!”

  “That’s the worst spell ever!” Claire-the-girl sputtered at her side. “Luna gets to be a dog and I’m just a dumb lizard?”

  “Salamander,” Grandy corrected. “A witch transforms into the animal that best represents her human traits.”

  “I guess I really am a loyal and trusted companion,” Luna noted.

  “But I’m not slithery and cold-blooded!” Claire argued.

  Grandy looked unconvinced. “If I were you, I’d read up on salamanders.” She sniffed. “Interesting. It takes three spices—cumin, coriander, and cardamom—for you to transform, Claire. But not a single spice for you, Luna. That means that you, Claire, need to memorize the spell, but Luna, it’s already here.” She tapped her forehead. “Right in your head, in one-star memory files, for whenever you need it.”

  Now Grandy brushed her hands together and a cigar appeared between her fingers. “Oh, one other thing. If each of you can use this spell to help someone, you’ll earn half of your second star.”

  “Just half?” faltered Luna.

  “Everything gets harder as you get better,” snapped Grandy. “That’s life. But a one-point-five star sorceress is better than a single-starred simpleton.”

  At the twins’ glum faces, Grandy added, “You’ll get your spy globes, too. All one-and-a-halfsters do.”

  Luna exchanged a grin with her twin. Spy globes were cool.

  “One last thing,” mentioned Grandy as she set the cigar between her teeth. “A Samaritan Spell is about using individual smarts to benefit someone else. So you can’t consult your twin when it’s time to use the spell. Got it?”

  The twins nodded. Got it.

  “Good. Time for a smoke, then bed. Nightie-night, twinsies.”

  With that, Grandy winked one eye and wriggled the opposite ear, which was actually an easy, insta-port spell that jumped her straight from the study and into her bed, her teeth spell-brushed and her clothes spell-changed from satin robes to cotton pajamas.

  “A salamander!” Claire shook her head in disbelief once Grandy was gone. “I’m only one up from a beetle or a centipede.”

  Luna silently agreed. She felt sorry for her twin. “Oh, it’s not so bad, Clairsie,” she comforted her. “It could have been worse. You could have turned into a cockroach or a rat or a…” She yawned. She could not follow her train of thought. “I’m sleepy,” she said. “Animal magic takes a lot out of a witch.”

  Claire let out a giant yawn of her own. “Stupid spell,” she slurred. “I’m sure there was a mix-up. My real, true animal-self is more like a panther, or a wise old owl. It must be some kind of wrong spice or…”

  Now both of them yawned again. It took all the rest of their energy to wink and wriggle themselves straight to bed.

  3

  “Don’t Bore Us, Dolores!”

  DOUBLE DELIGHT WAS BEING filmed two blocks over on Pine Street, so Jill Bundkin allowed the twins and Justin to walk there, as long as they looked both ways before crossing.

  Turning onto Pine Street, Claire saw that the whole block had been transformed to look like a fall day. Red and yellow and orange autumn leaves were heaped on the sidewalk, and more colorful leaves had been twisted and tied into the branches of trees that lined the town-house buildings.

  Instant October, Claire thought. Wow! Hollywood magic at work!

  Movie equipment was set up everywhere. Sawhorses and plastic cones blocked off Pine Street’s entrance. Lights, cameras, and folding chairs cluttered its edges. Movie extras in wool sweaters and long pants sat around looking hot and bored. Other men and women in jeans and black T-shirts darted around, speaking on headsets. A crew of T-shirted people was hard at work, sponge-painting red and orange and yellow fall colors onto flat cookie pans of ordinary brown leaves.

  “Hey, that looks fun. I bet they’ll let me help!” And Justin shot off to pester the painters.

  “Yoo-hoo! Gals!” Fluffy waved from behind the snack table that was set up near a big steel trailer.

  Fluffy looked extra sparkly today, Claire noticed. Her denim maternity shirt was studded with jeweled pins shaped like fruit and flowers. Privately, Claire thought it looked like Fluffy had decorated herself with refrigerator magnets.

  “Melody is inside, preparing for her next scene,” said Fluffy, pointing to the trailer. “She’ll be out in a jiffy-pop. I told her all about you two! Ooh, there’s Bernardo, the photographer. Howdy, Bern!” Fluffy wriggled her fingers at a skinny bald man who was walking around, aiming and snapping from the large zoom lens camera that hung around his neck.

  “You’ve already met Melody?” Claire squealed. “What’s she like? Is she nice? Is she tall or small? Does she look like a big-headed Martian?”

  “Naw, sugar, she’s just a normal gal,” Fluffy answered. “Take a seat, and she’ll be out soon.”

  “Does my headband look okay?” Luna whispered as the girls sat in the folding chairs that Fluffy indicated.

  “It hides your nice new haircut I gave you, if that’s what you meant,” Claire answered, “plus it shows off your pumpkin forehead.”

  “If I have a pumpkin forehead, that means you have one, too, dummy,” Luna retorted.

  “Hush, y’all.” Fluffy handed the twins each a cup of apple juice and a napkin of graham crackers from the snack table. “Melody will be with us any minute,” she said, “so well just stay put.”

  Claire and Luna fell silent. They munched down their crackers and drank their apple juice and stayed put.

  And stayed put.

  And stayed put some more.

  “Look, Justin is painting leaves.” Luna pointed to their brother, who was huddled with the crew, a sponge brush in his hand. “I want to paint, too! Are movie sets always this boring? And where is Melody?”

  “Oh, don’t be so impetuous,” said Claire. “Movie stars are known to be temperamental.”

  “If you keep using those words,” warned Luna, “Melody will think you’re a know-it-all nerdburger.”

  “She will not!”

  “Will, too!”

  “Will not, double cross my fingers.”

  “Will too, no crossies count.”

  “Gals, hush!” Fluffy scolded.

  Right then, the door to the trailer opened. Claire jumped from her chair and smiled the warmest-blooded smile that she could muster. Ever since last weekend when she had changed into a salamander, Claire had worried that her human self was cold-blooded as an amphibian. So she had been practicing her warm-blooded smiling.

  Now her smile widened. Yes, it was Melody Malady, all right. Wow! And she was walking down the steps directly toward them!

  Claire could not wait. She sprinted across the set. “Hi, Melody! My name’s Claire Bundkin, and I just want to say that I’m your biggest fan. I think The Melody Malady Show is the best thing on television after Galaxy Murk!”

  Melody smiled as she shook Claire’s hand. “Well, thanks!” she said. “I love Galaxy Murk too. Captain Xeno is so cute. Once I got to go on set and sit in his Solar Excelsior. And guess what’s inside the space-control compartments? Makeup and hair spray, for his emergency beauty touch-ups!” Melody threw back her head and laughed her throaty, famous laugh.

  Claire laughed along in a happy Claire laugh of her own. Was it really possible that Melody Malady was even nicer in person than on television? Amazing!

  “What’s so funny?” A girl had crept up next to Claire and Melody and was eyeing them suspiciously. She was dressed in cargo shorts and a camouflage vest that was weighted with bulging pockets. Her arms and legs were scabbed and bug-bitten. In one hand,
she was carrying a small curved chisel.

  The smile dropped off Melody’s face. “Claire,” she said, “this is my sister, Dolores.”

  “Greetings,” said Dolores, waving her chisel. “I’m Dolores Gologly. Gologly is our family’s real last name. It’s of Irish descent. As you might have guessed, Malady is a fake stage name of no descent.”

  “Be quiet, Dolores,” said Melody.

  “Hi.” Claire shook Dolores’s free hand, which squeezed back in a granite grip. She turned to Melody. “Cheese and chips! I didn’t know you had a sister!”

  “We’re more than sisters. We’re twins,” said Dolores.

  “Twins!” Claire was dumbfounded.

  “Melody is the public, artistic twin and I’m the private, academic twin,” said Dolores.

  “Dolores, get lost,” said Melody. “Go be the silent, invisible twin.”

  “My twin sister is here, too.” Claire looked around. Luna was standing by the snack table, picking grapes out of the fruit salad. “Loon!” she shouted.

  Luna approached slowly. Claire made introductions. “Luna loves your show, too!” Claire piped up when Luna forgot to compliment it.

  “Really?” Melody smiled. Her teeth were pearly white and perfect.

  Luna touched her headband. “Mmm-hmm,” she said. She looked over at Dolores. “Whatcha got in your vest pockets?”

  “Rocks,” Dolores answered. “I collect them. That’s why I’m here on this boring movie set, instead of back in Bethesda, Maryland, where we live. The outlying region of Philadelphia is a rich rock resource. If I can get samples of—”

  “Don’t bore us, Dolores!” snapped Melody. “Aren’t we ready for photos or something?”

  “Howdy, Melody! I see you’ve met my twin stepdaughters.” Fluffy had appeared with Bernardo the photographer at her side. Every pin on her shirt flashed and glinted in the sun. Claire felt her cheeks flush. Why did Fluffy have to look so over-sparkly on this important Melody-meeting day?