Her sister had dreamt of this moment and here she was incapable of joining in her enthusiasm.

It was an opportunity of a lifetime for the both of them, both economically by virtue of the potential clientele and the wealth of knowledge to be extracted from the halls of the coven’s current myth-making but these ideas were abstract and bittersweet.

Yes, the Scarlet Society of Sorceresses was a burgeoning coven with the means to shirk the authority of the Association of Witches and Wizards (a claim she was dubious in believing on the face of it) and yet the material realities of their power was undeniable.

She’d gone out of her way to market herself and her sister as a couple of capable fledgling Incants from Savannah with enough spunk and experience between them to represent the best of their list of applicants.

And even then, the conditions she needed to bargain for…

“Come on, June! They have someone traveling here to get us!” Magnolia was positively radiant with her blue floral dress and bouncing blonde hair. Unlike June, her skin was much lighter and her eyes shared in that ethereal fog white color.

Juniper preferred her old eyes but that was neither here nor there.

They were quite different for blood sisters, with June wearing her dirty blonde hair in a tight bun, a loose fitting black band shirt so faded with reuse and resale that the colors and letters were an incomprehensible mess, jeans, and a pair of worn running shoes.

The apartment room they had was cluttered with their possessions. More of a mess had been made with Magnolia spinning up a storm to find articles of clothing that ‘matched her style’ and ‘made her fit in’ in a way June couldn’t sympathize.

She’d tried but her preoccupations were of their immediate survival and caring about how one presents to a crowd ranks lower on that ladder for her.

“Maggie, you’ve got everything you need. I don’t get what you’re getting so worked up over.” June attempts to untangle her sister's anxiety.

To no avail.

“June! This opportunity is, like, incredibly serious!” Magnolia shouted with exaggerated hand gestures, “We’re dealing with an honest to goodness witch coven! There are like, what, four in what’s left of this country? And we’re being offered an invitation to be members!” Her expressions were at once manic with joy and dramatic with despair at the seriousness of their offer.

She was undoubtedly sure that there were more witch covens across the country but she wasn’t going to correct her sister and dampen her enthusiasm. June was familiar with the pedigree of such an invitation and her general disdain for the AWW made her look at such an offer with more interest, among other things, but it didn’t hold a candle to what she truly valued in life.

She liked where they lived and the few acquaintances they had in the area. She liked her slice of the river-walk and the bar that still held game nights giving them that sense of community. She liked the hole in the wall sandwich shop that still made food from scratch and always gave her an extra pickle spear.

They were going to Atlanta to join a bunch of other women she’d never met before to live in a building they weren’t privy to the location of, and for what?

Juniper managed perfectly fine with her personal hustle and it was better for everyone around that Magnolia didn’t tap into her own.

What did they need a coven for beyond prestige and connections?

It was a rhetorical question. She knew that it’d be good for business to connect with the socialites and debutantes in the coven, a condition she’d succeeded in acquiring for herself if her invitation is any indicator, and that her sister would benefit from learning about her abilities with people her own age than from June and the old leering wizard that lived at the pier.

There was more to it but she focused on the good it’d be for her sister.

And herself.

“Alright, if you’ve got everything accounted for, we should get going. I’m not planning to wrangle a traveler to come back here so you better be sure.” June warned her sister in a motherly tone.

Another squeal from Maggie and she was out of the door with her suitcases and bags.

Honestly the things she did for her sister.

June carefully inspected the chaos and pulled out her own bags from the mess before locking the door behind them. Maggie bolted off but it didn’t make June worry at all.

Juniper ran after the increasingly distant silhouette of her sister.

The air was crisp on her skin and the treetops hid the worst of the sun from the cobblestone sidewalk. Numerous buildings wore their age gracefully, with the encroachment of ivy and moss a foregone conclusion to the dreamy southern city.

Juniper ran down the streets in practiced ease. She recalled that they were meant to meet the representative of the coven at what remained of the manicured park of the previous era, now a vibrant forest where the planes thinned out.

Approaching the verdant grove with its pastel colors and shimmering insects, Juniper saw her sister waving and bouncing around and a cloaked figure in a scarlet robe and white gloves.

Her eyes were wrapped in an ornate white blindfold with golden accents. Her hair was incredibly short, so much so that if Juniper wasn’t familiar with the all-female requirements of the coven and the generous hint of a figure underneath the robes, she’d have confused her for a man.

The cloaked woman gave June a soft smile.

“Hello, Juniper and Magnolia Winthrop. My name is Dahlia Antiguarre. It is a pleasure to be your first contact to our illustrious institution.” Her voice was deeper than expected with a practiced intonation and silky smooth expression of amusement. The faint gravity of her words and the way she carried herself made June uneasy.

The Incants that held themselves this way were either overly confident or sociopathic from her experience. Neither a quality she wanted in their teleporter.

“This is it!” Magnolia squealed and hugged her sister for good measure. June was grateful that she was still cheerful and bubbly about the whole situation.

“Are there any questions you’d like to ask me before I begin casting the spell? Once we’re on campus, I am restricted from talking about certain topics.” Dahlia explained. 

Juniper thought it was weird she’d be able to talk freely away from the coven and was immediately reminded of how these institutions maintain a vice grip on their alumni and frowned.

“How many people are on campus?” Maggie asked with stars in her eyes.

“From my estimations, your current cohort has twenty or so fledglings with the campus-wide population fluctuations dependent on the seasons and events our Matron hosts. If I remember correctly, there are graduates still living in the dorms as they attempt to source positions elsewhere through our private connections.” Dahlia answered.

“Can we leave campus?” Juniper asked.

Dahlia gave her the same amused smirk, “Anyone can leave the institution although I’d advise against it. The location is kept a secret for a reason and we’d hate to lose a fledgling so young in their career.”

Juniper scoffed, “You don’t have to worry about me getting lost. If there’s no rule against leaving campus, that's good enough for me.” Whether her tone was combative or assertive didn’t bother June in the slightest.

It didn’t look like Dahlia took offense to the attitude either with how that smirk remained.

Magnolia laughed, “Oh don’t be like that Junie! She just wants to make sure that we’re safe is all.”

“Of course. Your safety is of the utmost importance.” Dahlia provided an easy canned response.

For the utmost importance of the institution's reputation, maybe. And she didn’t think they were above making mistakes go away. 

“Can we talk about the curriculum once we’re on campus? I’d like to know the extent of what we signed up for.” Juniper asked.

“I’d be more than happy to oblige. The two of you look like you’d be able to get the fundamentals down quickly so how about I give you a demonstration of how this teleportation spell works?” The practiced and reserved grace she had carried herself with up to this point was momentarily removed and replaced with a burning and brilliant passion.

Dahlia snapped her fingers and the air twisted. From nowhere, a decorated staff notched down its length in sigils, the head of the implement housing smooth obsidian disks.

Magnolia stared at the staff with wide eyed wonder but refrained from taking a closer look as the two became mesmerized with the work of the artisanal witch. She used the talon-like end of her staff to carve a circle around them and their possessions. She adjusted the disks, upon closer inspection lined with similar sigils to the staff, and turned to the sisters.

“Spells, in all of their forms, hold three fundamentals. The first is the claim. We are witches. Conquerors of the magical world and thus we lay claim around our dominion.” Dahlia delivered her speech with the intensity of a zealous professor.

She took a deep breath and muttered a long incantation. Her hand slowly rotated in the air above her head, fingers melting into the barrier between this world and the next. Light was repelled from their surroundings and a sudden chill swept over them.

“After you make the claim, you make your demands. Neophytes would mistake the mere casting of a spell to be incantation and then results. They miss the forest for the trees. It is not enough to cast and expect actions but to bend the will of the Weave to our whims. We do not bargain or borrow. We have taken this power and it is ours to use.” Her voice held a clear mania now.

Magnolia and Juniper shared a fearful expression but could not lift a finger to stop the spectacle of the trained Incant.

“And now, for the finale.” Dahlia whispered. She flicked her wrist and snapped her fingers.

In the blink of an eye, the tear in reality consumed them all. Juniper couldn’t perceive the gradient, the interstice between their meeting spot at the park and the front fields of the coven institution.

Juniper schooled her face stern as she looked around her, the campus having materialized before them. Three crimson pillars scraped the sky from the northern end of the institution. They were nestled within a large building of white wood speckled with brown tones. As she rotated around to catch glimpses of other large buildings, each with some form of pale coating, Juniper made note of the treeline that remained in the background from end to end.

“The final component to a proper teleportation spell is the most important step of all. It is the follow through, the terminus of our claims. Your will is steel and your eyes are unclouded because you have visualized your destination and have extended your dominion over it.” Dahlia ended her lesson with a subdued zeal, clearly winded from the performance.

Magnolia clapped, “That was amazing!” She turned to Juniper, “That was chilling! Oh my goodness, the- it was just, wow!”

Juniper couldn’t keep herself from smiling.

“Now that I’m on campus, I can inform you of your curriculum. Magnolia, it was deemed by the Matron that your proficiencies as an Incant are lacking and the fundamentals must be instilled within you. Your summer will be spent in the accelerated program with any block in progress grounds for your immediate dismissal.”

What was once joy melted away. Magnolia’s face was equal parts confusion and worry.

“Juniper, your experience as a delver has been recognized and the conditions requested for your admission to the coven have been approved by the Matron. We look forward to your progress.”

Juniper gave the guide a death glare but they either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“I hope to see you two around for the graduation ceremony if the academy doesn’t chew you up first.” Dahlia gave the two a traditional woodland witch cackle before walking off to a decadent white building with black windows and magically chromatic garden.

“Oh my goodness,” Juniper turned back to see her sister gawking at the manicured grass around them and the shimmering field of rainbow hues above them, “We’re finally here! Juniper, I just, I don’t know how you did it but this is amazing.”

Magnolia paused.

“You didn’t do anything unsavory to get us here, did you?”

Juniper broke down in laughter, a cackle that violently cut through the serenity of the academic campus, “That’s what you worry about.” She wiped a tear from her eye and gave Magnolia a long and deep embrace, “I just applied for the both of us and posted stars for our tuition. I didn’t have to do anything else.”

She stared into her sister’s eyes. In them was Juniper's whole world, the remnants of her joy and goodwill.

Magnolia smiled and returned the hug, “Thank you, June. I’m so happy we were even considered worthy enough to get this opportunity.”

The two stood together in silence.

“Cough.” Interrupting the moment was an olive skinned man wearing a tailored suit with the academy's whites, golds, and reds. The terms ‘manicured’ and ‘fuckwit’ jumped out at Juniper when she laid eyes on him. From the white and gold gloves to the strip of long black hair laying on his forehead where the rest of it was swept back, the man was deliberate in looking like a debonair sleazeball. “I hope I’m interrupting all this. I’m Professor Del Marin and I’ll be tasked with taking you to your rooms.”

“Isn’t it that you hope you’re not interrupting the moment?” Maggie replied with a raised eyebrow.

The professor gave them a disinterested look, “Oh no. I assure you that I’m glad to see this display of familial affection mercifully ended for the rest of us. If you want to hug and cry about being here, do it in your dorm room.”

“Tell them to turn around then. If they want to grumble about us, they can do it in person.” Juniper dared the Professor to say otherwise.

He relented, “The Matron did mention one of you was going to be defensive. Should have expected it’d be you from… everything here.” He gestured at June’s person before turning his attention to Magnolia, “Let your sister see reason here. We’re on a timetable right now and I’d rather get rid of these duties quickly. I’ll answer all of your questions while we walk. I promise it’ll be fun.”

Maggie pivoted between the two before sighing, “Let’s get a move on, Junie. I don’t appreciate the snark but we should be good about making proper first impressions.”

Juniper glared at the Professor before grabbing her bags. She refrained from grumbling obscenities at the man.

For Maggie’s sake, she’d behave.

“Good!” He clapped his hands together, “We’re going to be heading to the building down south. Grab your things and follow me.”

He sauntered past the both of them towards another monochromatic building with golden trim and crimson flags. In the distance were a couple of women basking in the sun and holding small chit chat.

“You said you were a professor. What subject?” Juniper asked.

“My domain is vast and generalized. I’ve been selected to teach this latest cohort of the fundamentals of our craft and hopefully polish those poor muddled things into glimmering representatives of this institution.” Professor Del Marin replied with flamboyance and gusto.

“Why are you a man?” Magnolia asked.

The man paused before finding clarity, “Ah, you mean why is a man here on a campus that markets itself as a haven for young women? Honestly, miss Winthrop, you must be more complete with your questions. Bad contracts are made with sentences like that.”

Juniper rolled her eyes.

“To answer your question, our wonderful Matron understands the value of having experienced Incants under her belt capable of teaching the next generation with their particular set of skills. Although the institution was founded with the expressed condition of housing and caring for female students, faculty are under no such restrictions. They simply employ the best this world has to offer.”

Maggie suppressed a chortle but Juniper held no reservations.

“Maybe the best in Georgia, if that.” Juniper remarked.

The professor kept his head held high, “Your words will not wound me, Juniper. I know I am the best and to display a hint of my power would be beneath me.”

She rolled her eyes again.

“Careful there, teach. Words like that’ll have me think you’re on the cusp of ego strain.”

“June! Be polite. A little boasting here and there isn’t the worst thing in the world,” Maggie leaned in close to Juniper’s ear, “And he’s my dang teacher. Please don’t antagonize the man.”

She huffed but made no further comment.

“When are classes expected to begin and where would I go? My invitation didn’t have anything like a schedule written on it and our transport quickly left us behind after our arrival.” Maggie asked.

“Classes start tomorrow in the main building just over yonder. Take heed of the three old scarlet stone pillars that thrust out of the pristine white building as they denote our commitment to traditional tenets of magical governance and an image you will associate with pleasure should the experience in class be kind to you.” He spoke in a roundabout manner but Juniper understood the reverse of such a statement; we would strive towards excellence or be casted away and expelled from these premises.

Magnolia could only wince at the pressure.

Juniper spared sympathy for her sister's sudden predicament.

“Here we are at the dorm and here are your keys.” The professor handed Juniper a golden key with a stark red line running through the length of it. “Do not worry about losing your key. Should this be the case, ask the smith for assistance and they will drain you for their services.” He gave them a mischievous smirk.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Juniper gave the man a leveled stare.

“Well, my duties are fulfilled. I look forward to seeing you in class on time, Miss Winthrop. As for you, Juniper, I hope your abilities allow you to find a better personality, because this combative attitude is beneath your beauty.”

Motherfucker.

Magnolia gripped Juniper tight, “I look forward to learning from you, sir. Thank you again for your time.”

Juniper struggled to get out of Magnolia’s grip but the girl had kept a strict regimen of physical exercises if not to restrain an assailant than to restrain her sister from committing murder in cold blood.

Once he was out of sight (and out of range for death) Magnolia released Juniper from her grasp.

“That pompous little shithead.” Juniper grumbled, violently reaching for her bags to enter into the ‘hallowed’ halls of the covens dormitory.

“June! We expect eccentricities from all kinds of Incants. We don’t have to like the guy’s attitude. We just have to learn from them.” Magnolia played soothsayer as she followed behind her big sister.

“If he makes another comment like that, I’m gonna help him find something alright.” She continued to complain but the anger was quick to wash past her in favor of the begrudging respect she was acquiring for the secretive institution.

The interior of the dorm opened to an expansive common room with subdued displays of the covens colors and symbols. Women wearing robes and summer clothes chit chatted with one another, drinking sweet tea with open books and trinkets. To the outside world, these college age women were the equivalent of nascent weapons of mass destruction and here they were talking about their journeys in the astral and what kind of dinner they were going to wish for.

Those that pulled themselves away from their personal affairs gave Magnolia a cordial smile, doing their best to avoid the gruff and tumble bodyguard walking beside her.

They didn’t look like her crowd anyway, the losers.

The sisters walked down a hall and found their room at the end of it. Juniper had taken note of the elaborate sigils etched into the wood of each door, with paints and embellishments likely added onto by the denizens of the rooms.

Theirs was a simple wooden door cast in white, the sigils accented with a deep scarlet.

“This is it.” Magnolia squealed. She inserted her key into the knob.

The sigils flashed softly in the dim corners of the hall before opening.

The room was surprisingly spacious. On either side of the room were soft looking beds of white cloth and umber shaded desks with accompanying shelf space. There was a window that overlooked the woodlands beyond streaming bright sunlight into their new home.

“Huh.” Juniper failed to find it in her critical heart a fault with their accommodations. The stars were being put to good use then.

“Ah!” Magnolia dropped her bags at the entrance way and ran for the bed. She bounced lightly on the mattress, ruffling the pristine blanket as she rolled around from end to end. “It’s so soft, June. You have to give it a go.”

Juniper smiled, “After we get our stuff in order, Maggie.” She dragged both of their bags into the room, letting Magnolia have her fun.

Unpacking the few possessions she had, Juniper sifted through her documents finding the pair of opened letters.

She hid them in her desk drawer and piled on clutter above them.

Her sister didn’t need to know.