Kait ran back from the house but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a glint in the grass. Acting on impulse, she threw a stick she’d been holding to the ground, then kneeled and began shuffling through the grass, searching for the object of her interest. Suddenly, she froze up as her spell to keep the cold away was canceled. After standing still for a moment in coldshock, she continued searching, finding the source of the glint just as an unfamiliar voice came from behind her.

“Helllloooo!!”

Kait looked over her shoulder, just in case they were calling to her and not someone else. She saw a woman wearing...familiar clothes, with Hailey trailing behind them. Clearly, she was calling to her. Kait pocketed her treasure then waved to the approaching woman. “Hey?” she focused on putting aside her emotions, allowing the void to overtake her thoughts so she could analyze the woman’s thoughts. It was a neat new trick, so even if she wasn’t happy to use it, she could acknowledge it was entertaining to use.

The woman quickly shortened the distance between her and Kait, shoving her face in front of Kait’s, “Are you the ‘Kait’ I’ve heard so much about?!”

She reluctantly let some mischievous feelings through the void before speaking in an oppressed tone. “No, I’m just passing by...”

The woman froze in place, then apologized with disappointed politeness, holding herself low in embarrassment, “Oh, I didn’t mean to bother you then...” Kait could tell from her reaction she wanted something from her.

Kait watched Hailey snicker behind the woman as she let her emotions return to normal, storing the feeling of satisfaction she’d attained from tricking the woman for later and discarding the guilt. Freeing her emotions once again, she smirked mischievously, “Nope, I’m joking with you. My name’s Kait.”

The woman jerked upright, “Waaaaaiiit! You were just pulling my leg?!”

“Pulling your leg? What does that even-”

The woman spoke to the Hailey behind her, “Ya didn’t tell me your witch was a prankster, Hailey!”

She shrugged, expertly concealing her entertainment. “I figured she wasn’t much of one.”

Kait shrugged haughtily. “I simply saw an opportunity and took it.” Finished with her short charade, she remembered the cold was chipping at her, “I’m suuuuper cold. Why don’t we go inside and warm up?”

A minute later, Kait and Taila sat on couches opposite each other. Hailey hunched down on a chair in the kitchen, subtly grimacing and squinting in pain. She would have gone to her room, but she needed Kait to help her with the agonizing emotion.

She watched as Kait and Taila settled down. Taila began, “So, you’re a witch?!”

Kait sighed. “Yep.” She’d tried to lay low while she figured what to do with her life...

“Awwwwwsooome!” Taila said with giddiness, then muttered audibly, “Though, I guess you couldn’t be that good since you’re so young and probably didn’t have time to learn too much...”

Kait blinked a few times in appalled confusion, “Hey, who said witches needed to be old to be good?! I know-knew quite a few young witches in my time who were the best of the best!”

“You don’t say...could you...prove it to me?” she challenged Kait.

Kait scratched her head, “I can’t exactly prove that my friends were strong because they’re all kind of...dead...” for an instant, her face turned dark with remembrance. She muttered under her breath- also, much to Hailey’s exasperation, audibly- “Well, I can, but I’m not in the mood for complicated spells.”

Seriously what’s the point of muttering if you’re going to do it audibly?!

Taila leaned on the coffee table between them and held her head up with her hands, “Sorry, you must have misunderstood? Can you perform a great ritual of old?”

“What’s that?”

“...You don’t know?”

“Oh, maybe you don’t realize...how do I even begin to explain...”

“You were born around the time that the Crusades of Kallaran occurred, right?”

Kait tensed at the mention of the event, “Nevermind, you do know. But yeah, I am from that time.”

Taila noticed how Kait reacted and instead waved off what she’d asked. “Well, anyway, if you’re really a witch, surely you can perform one of the rituals, right?”

“I’m still not sure what these ‘rituals’ are.”

“Ahh, I guess that names have changed over the years. You should know about the rituals, the ones they say let witches do amazing feats, like flying on brooms, cursing people, teleporting, that sort of thing!”

Kait raised an eyebrow, then spoke without reservation, “Of course I ca-” she rethought her response. “Well, actually, those are pretty powerful spells...”

“Aww, you’re saying you can’t fly...?”

She shook her head, conflicted. “N-no, no doubt I can.”

Taila bounced in her seat, “Really, can you show me?!”

“If you want me to...”

Hailey broke into their conversation, “Kait, could I speak to you in private before you two go on your merry talent show? I kinda feel like I’m going to barf.”

Kait turned to look at her with an apologetic expression, “O-oh, if I can help you, certainly!”

Hailey led Kait up the stairs, where they talked out of Taila’s range of hearing. She began by placing her hand on Kait’s shoulders, staring her in the eye. “When you threw Taylor into that void today, I woke up early because an...an emotion woke me up. It just so happened to invade my brain at the same time you used the spell.”

Kait grimaced with guilt, then spoke to Hailey with warmth. “Oh...I’m so sorry, Hailey...you’re probably being unofficiated...”

Hailey leaned into Kait with a burst of anger, “Unofficiated?! I couldn’t even guess what that means!!”

Kait placed her hands in front of herself defensively, “We can talk about this a little later, but before we do, how about I fix the problem....”

“Please do...and I’ll hold you to that!”

“Yeah.” Kait closed her eyes for a moment, then shoved Hailey away from her, “All done.” She ran down the stairs without another word.

Hailey stood still, mistakenly thinking Kait had run out on her before she noticed the emotion that’d been plaguing her was replaced with a strange sense of freedom and solitude. It wasn’t what she expected, but she didn’t know what she expected anyway. She would never understand witchcraft...

Taila stood in anticipation, waiting for Kait to unleash one of the ‘old rituals’. She’d taken a broom outside and wasn’t sure what to do. She could perform one of those ‘rituals’ but...

“N-nevermind, maybe I shouldn’t do this...flying high in the air is dangerous. If I lost my concentration...”

“That’s fine! You can always fly close to the ground, right?” Taila said.

Kait smiled in relief, happy she’d been given an excuse to seem unimpressive. “No doubt I can!” she said, holding her hand in front of her.

Taila instinctively took her hand and shook it.

“...That was a salute.”

“Hmm?”

“I wasn’t trying to ‘shake your...’” Kait sighed with exasperation, “...No matter. Before I do this, promise me whatever you see here will be kept secret, am I understood?”

“Zipped and sealed!” Taila made a zipping motion over her mouth.

“Ok...here goes nothing.”

Kait flipped the broom round and round in a circle, batting up wind as much as she could while trying to make the magic seem like a spectacle. Then, she caught the broom with her hands as it was horizontal and hopped onto it, the broom sticking in place statically, leaving her a few feet in midair.

“Woah! That’s so good! Can you move it too?”

Kait tried her best to keep her face from making any unconscious movements, all too familiar with how her thoughts and feelings could be communicated without her knowledge. “No doubt...” she clacked her shoes together, then pointed the direction she wished to move. The broom inched forward, gaining speed until it was about walking speed, where she then began to circle the front lawn.

“How high can you go?”

“I said I wouldn’t go very high.”

“I guuuesss you did.” Taila said with disappointment, “But how high could you go?”

“I’d say...t-twenty feet.”

“That’s pretty high!”

“N-” Kait stopped herself, unwilling to respond to the fortune reader’s comment.

“So...do you want to collab?”

“No,” Kait said without hesitation.

“Wait, I haven’t even given you the proposition I was going to suggest we-”

“Maybe sometime else.” She leaped off the broom then walked to the front door. After realizing she’d left it hanging midair, she instinctively called it, sending it flying faster than a car into her hand, where she grasped it with practiced ease.

Taila gaped in surprise, then took a step forward, “Kait, wai-”

Taila knew she’d just been played the fool but shrugged it off and walked back to her shop. “I’ve always got another day.”