Pointy Hats and Witchy Cats

by Addison Creek

  A couple of paranormals waved at me and wished me luck. Jolly old Julius was one of them, a neighbor who always wore suspenders and a big grin. He might have been part ogre, but I wasn’t sure. I waved back at him and yelled thanks. At least none of these people were already expecting me to fail.

  I reached the trolley and saw that today’s colors were red and blue. When I climbed on, I thought I was the only one there, but as I made my way down the rows of seats I realized that I wasn’t. In one of the seats was a chameleon, who nodded to me. “You’re not as green as when you first got here,” he said.

  I stopped as the trolley lurched to life. “What do you mean?”

  “You nearly sat on me when you first arrived. Now look at you. You can distinguish me from the actual seat and everything,” he said.

  I smiled at him and kept moving toward the back. At least he didn’t think I had completely failed to learn witch lore. He recognized that I had learned something.

  It didn’t take me long to get to the dance hall, where the examinations would be held just as the classes had been. They were closed examinations, three in all: spellcasting, crystal ball reading, and cauldron work. The announcement of who had passed would take place later.

  Every person I passed looked at me strangely. They knew who I was, and they knew that this was most important morning of my life. I had thought I’d be early getting to the hall, but I wasn’t. Jackie, Kelly, and Glory were all waiting on the porch when I arrived, and I joined them on the benches to wait.

  Jackie looked ill. Kelly was pale but calm. This didn’t surprise me at all. Without a doubt, Kelly was the most capable of us, although to be honest, Hannah and Taylor were also very good. Glory approached becoming a witch as she approached sports. She put her head down and barreled through. Over the weeks I had come to think that her approach might not be the best for witchcraft. There were finer details to spellcasting and cauldron cookery that she missed. She tried hard, but she didn’t always get it right.

  “I feel ill,” said Jackie, leaning forward and tucking her head between her knees. Kelly patted her back awkwardly, while I took the opportunity to glance at their outfits. Despite my reservations about the suit I was wearing, it appeared that my stylists hadn’t been far off. All the other witches wore similar costumes.

  Glory’s was brown. I thought that whoever had styled her had done the girl a particular disservice. Brown was a dull color and didn’t stand out, and the suit was ill-fitting to boot. Some people looked excellent in brown, but Glory wasn’t one of them.

  Jackie had it better. Her suit was orange and her button down shirt was navy blue. She looked sharp and well put together. This didn’t surprise me at all given that her mother was the mayor of Twinkleford.

  Kelly had a dark gray suit over a frilly white shirt. She was the only one of us who wouldn’t have been out of place in the ordinary human world.

  “I’ve been practicing my spellcasting,” whispered Jackie, “and I think I can do it. What I’m most worried about is cauldron work. I’ve never been good enough at it.”

  “You’ve been practicing a lot,” said Glory. “I’m sure you can do it by now. This afternoon when the names are announced, we are all going to pass.” It worried me that she didn’t look anywhere near as confident as she sounded.

  “What about you?” Kelly asked me.

  “What do you mean?” I responded.

  “Do you feel ready?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Not nearly.” Kelly smiled a little at that.

  “At least we don’t have an audience,” said Jackie from between her knees.

  “That would definitely make it worse. I don’t know if my family would come. They’re pretty busy,” said Kelly.

  “My grandmother would come,” I murmured, “and she’d probably heckle the judges. I’m glad she had to stay home. Of course, she’s probably packing as we speak.”

  “Why would she be doing that?” Glory asked.

  “Because if I don’t pass this examination, my family is going to be kicked out of the coven. I’m the last hope,” I said.

  All three of them nodded sympathetically, but I could tell they didn’t really get it. Their family positions were all secure, and I could only hope that mine would be by evening.

  I had a bad feeling about it. Jonathan Quickgrace had been murdered for a reason, and we had yet to discover why.

  Just then the sound of a honking horn jolted us out of our respective reveries. We all turned and saw a procession of cars moving slowly up the street, the same fancy Rolls-Royces that I had seen every time the Carlisle witches had come around. They rolled to a stop in front of the dance hall, and Hannah and Taylor emerged at last.

  Hannah was dressed in red. If I had thought that my suit was bright and colorful, hers was ten times more so. She was wearing a very low-cut top, and unlike the rest of us, she finished off the effect with a slanted hat and an umbrella.

  Taylor wasn’t far behind her friend, and when I got a good look I actually wondered if they had coordinated their outfits. Given that they had showed up in the same car, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

  Taylor was wearing black on black, the only one of us to wear just one color. I didn’t really think it suited her pale skin, but what did I know.

  After Hannah said her goodbyes to whoever was in the car, the two of them made their way toward us. It wasn’t until they actually reached the bottom step of the porch that they took any notice of the rest of us sitting there.

  I was familiar with this sort of behavior, since it had been one of Blossom’s habits. She did it to put me in my place, to make it abundantly clear that she had better things to worry about than me. These two were no different.

  “Morning, ladies. Are you ready for your exams?” Hannah asked.

  Glory said, “Ready as I’ll ever be. I just hope I pass.”

  Jackie had pulled herself together enough to lift her head, probably because she didn’t want to deal with the judgments from Hannah and Taylor if she didn’t. “My mom is coming to the ball tonight. She expects me to pass. I just hope I don’t disappoint her.”

  I turned and watched the Rolls-Royces drive away. To my surprise, one of them didn’t leave. The last car in the line turned around and went to the back of the dance hall.

  “What about you, Rhinestone? Are you ready to do honor to your family?” Taylor asked.

  I looked at the other girl in surprise. This might be the first time she had spoken to me directly since classes had started.

  I decided that it might be a sign of her nerves that she didn’t recognize me as somebody below her, and I answered mildly. “I’m just going to do the best I can. I’ve already prepared as much as I’ll be able to. Only time will tell now.”

  Taylor gave me a look that said she was entirely unimpressed with my response, but before anyone could say anything else the front door opened and France appeared. I was relieved that he was the one who came to get us. He was the one teacher I liked. He winked at me as he let us in.

  “No use standing out here in the cold. Might as well come in,” he said. It wasn’t very cold, but he was so jovial, I didn’t care.

  Hannah and Taylor pushed their way to the front. It was just how things were. Kelly was the quietest of the group, which surprised me given that she was the best of us. I figured she really didn’t have much to worry about, but she still looked pale and drawn. I took that as a measure of the pressure on all of us.

  After Hannah and Taylor walked past us, Jackie gave an exaggerated bow toward the front of the little line, smirking a little as she did. France was the only one besides me who saw her. I covered my amusement with my hand, relieved to see some fight in her. She shouldn’t give up, and this was some small indication that she hadn’t.

  Inside, the building looked the same as it always did. The only trouble was, everything felt different. The place suddenly felt alien, and I couldn’t help but think that I might become the only witch here today wh
o didn’t return tonight for the dance. If that happened, Quinn would have nobody to escort.

  I was impressed with my grandmother for getting him to agree to such a thing. As the only known half-merman in existence, he was very sought after around Twinkleford. Even the Carlisle witches paid attention to him, and as far as I could see they didn’t pay attention to anyone else except themselves and their hairdressers.

  “Here’s how this works,” said France, stopping in front of the double red doors to face us. “We all go in together. You have three sessions, each lasting forty-five minutes and covering what you have already learned. If you could do each task during class, you should be fine. There will be five judges: myself, Ms. Mallon, and the Bergers.”

  Before he could finish, Jackie’s head snapped up. “Mrs. Berger is here?”

  “Yes, she heard that there’s a student who is excellent at cauldrons, so she offered to sign on as the fifth judge. I rather think she’ll be impartial. And there is one more judge. We decided to have five this year to ensure that we made the right decision in every case. This year one of the three queen witches will be joining us: the queen witch of the Carlisles. Most of you know her. Her expertise in spellcasting is known far and wide. She should be able to give us a comprehensive assessment of all of your skills,” he added.

  Hannah and Taylor smirked at each other. I could just see how delighted Hannah was to have her own mother as a judge. No wonder she had strolled up the stairs with so much confidence and then strutted into the building with the same. She knew that they’d have no trouble passing. I mean, we had all known that all along, but now there was irrefutable proof. I tried not to sink into the floor as France talked. I stopped myself because I knew it would be silly, but nevertheless, I was tempted.

  The Carlisle witches hated my family. To serve that hatred, I felt certain that they would do anything to keep me from passing the examinations. Now they had the perfect chance, one of their own witches—their queen, no less—on the panel that would be judging us.

  Ms. Mallon had never shown any warmth to me. Mr. Berger was too oblivious to notice much of anything not in a brewing pot. The only witch I would have on my side was France, and I was sure there was only so much he could do.

  I was doomed.

  “Is everyone ready?” France asked. Then his face suddenly broke out into a smile, “By the way, you all look fabulous.”

  Then he turned around and flung open the red doors. The space was as I had expected it to be, divided into three parts. Along the long side of the wall was a table with chairs. In front of that table stood the other judges. The rest of the dance hall had a station for each test we would be doing. Six cauldrons were set up, then there were six crystal balls, and lastly six chairs from which I thought we’d be doing the spellcasting. What we would need to sit down for I didn’t know. Maybe it was in case my knees gave way and I collapsed.

  All I wanted now was to have the cauldrons be first. If I just got that out of the way and it went fine, I might be okay. The crystal ball should work well for me; it had in the past. I felt a comfort with it that I didn’t feel in the other tests. But I had practiced spellcasting enough so that I should also manage that okay.

  “The order will be crystal ball reading, then spellcasting, with the cauldrons last,” said France.

  Foiled again.

  As we took up our stations at the crystal balls, I found myself examining the two judges I had not met before. Mrs. Berger was a world-renowned cauldron brewer, much more famous than her professor husband. She was so short that I wondered how she even saw over the top of her cauldron. She was wearing a long skirt, a cardigan, and eyeglasses. She struck me as a good match for Mr. Berger.

  The other judge I hadn’t met was of course the queen of the Carlisles. She was terrifying. Her hair was pulled severely back and she was wearing a perfectly tailored black suit. She had added a dark green shirt underneath the jacket, and stiletto boots. I had a feeling those things could puncture granite if she wanted them to. She caught me looking at her and smirked, then looked away first. To her I was worse than the dirt under those sharp heels.

  “Just focus on what you have to do. Don’t worry about anybody else,” Jackie whispered to me.

  “Are you saying that for my benefit or for yours?” I asked with a slight smile.

  Jackie glanced at the judges. “At this point I’m pretty sure I’m saying it for both.”

  “Morning, students,” said Ms. Mallon, striding forward. “Welcome to another year of confirmation. If all goes well, tonight you’ll be at the dance. I’m sure all of your dresses are beautiful, but for the moment we’ll get right down to business. For crystal ball reading, what I would like each of you to do is to start off by reading your own fate. After that I want you to read the weather for tomorrow. It is of the utmost importance that all six of you get the same reading for the weather.”

  “Those two things aren’t exactly equal,” Glory muttered.

  Part of me felt relief. Crystal ball reading wasn’t an exact science. Just because I saw something didn’t mean it was going to come true. All that was really relevant was that they could tell I was seeing something about myself to report on. After giving myself that little pep talk, I concentrated on the crystal ball. I place my hand exactly as we had been taught, closed my mind, and took a deep breath. Then I took another. Then I took a third.

  Then I opened my eyes.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  A swirl of movement floated inside the crystal ball. I was mesmerized. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. I had no idea where the judges were or how my fellow students were doing. All I could do was watch carefully.

  Inside the crystal ball were several prancing unicorns, running through the back field as they did most mornings. Cats were jumping between their legs and around and around.

  At first I thought I was watching them from Bethel’s house. Then I realized I was in the shed. My crystal ball self came out holding a small white trinket box. My heart started to hammer when I saw what I was holding. Then I disappeared back into the shed. The next instant I appeared again, this time holding yet another white box. Several of the unicorns came over to see what I was doing.

  I held up the white box to one of them. He sniffed and then whinnied. He didn’t like the smell of it.

  I saw my mouth move, then the scene changed. The next scene appeared from amidst a swirl of dark clouds, so mysterious that I couldn’t tell whether they were part of the scene, or magic within the ball itself.

  This scene had me downtown in the Twinkleford square, the place where my mother had died. It was still a charred and empty mess, but there was some sort of ceremony going on. My grandmother was being honored. Various people were bowing and scraping to her. She was not smiling. I looked around and around at the people surrounding us. My only hope was that Ethel was there. Maybe that would tell me something about her fate.

  But there was no sign of my sister, and the dark clouds were gathering again. I turned my face up to look at the sky and saw a streak of black. When I looked back at my grandmother, I took note of others in the crowd. It felt like the entire town was there.

  Then the scene started to fade. I tried to follow it, because I desperately wanted to learn more. My fingertips tingled with the effort of holding on to the scene, but no matter what I tried to do, the crystal ball became ever more opaque.

  I came slowly up out of what felt like a trance. My head was a bit hazy and my eyes were bleary. I looked around to see the judges and my classmates all staring at me.

  I opened my mouth to say something, then snapped it closed.

  Eventually France cleared his throat, “Were you seeing images that whole time?”

  “I think so,” I said, my voice sounding shaky even to me.

  Nobody said anything at first. Then Ms. Mallon claimed our attention. “If we could move on to the next task,” she said, “we would all like to know whether rain boots will be necessary tomorrow.”

&
nbsp; Hannah looked particularly put out. I had no idea why, and I told myself I didn’t have any time to devote to figuring her out anyhow. Along with everyone else, I simply bent my head to my crystal ball again and got to work.

  This time, as soon as my fingers touched the crystal ball a scene formed inside it. A storm raged. The rain slanting down in the sky was pure black. It took only a split second, and once it was over I released my fingertips from the glass and glanced at my classmates.

  “So as to not undermine the integrity of the test, I would like each of you to write down what you saw on the sheet of paper provided,” said Ms. Mallon. “At the end of the exam we will read out each prediction. That should give you some idea of where you stand going into the verdict phase.”

  If each of us said the same thing, then we’d all be right. If any of us were off, that would be bad news for whoever deviated from the pack.

  “You get a fifteen-minute break, and then we’ll move on to spellcasting,” said France.

  In the fifteen minutes I had to relax, I didn’t. I felt my hands shaking as I took a drink of water. Some biscuits were provided for us to snack on, but again, I couldn’t. Instead, I just looked at them. Hannah also turned her nose up at the biscuits. I figured that was more because she didn’t eat carbs than because she was too nervous to have a snack.

  All too soon it was time for the next round of testing. After we took our seats for the spellcasting phase, we were each given a simple set of instructions. I felt a bit more confident as I heard the instructions read out. This was all stuff I had done before. I had no idea how the other girls had fared in the first part of the test, but everyone looked more comfortable now.

  Bring all five fingers together, twist, and open, that’s what I kept repeating to myself over and over again. A mantra to try and survive.

  There was a bit of a hiccup when Glory’s spellcasting was too strong. She started to pull the entire judges’ table toward us. With shocking efficiency, the Carlisle queen put a stop to that. Glory’s face went beet red.