Page 10 of Enchanted to Meet You

“Other entities exist in the world besides the World Council of Witches,” he said. The sarcasm was back. “Entities that care as much as you do about saving this town from evil.”

“Right, right.” That called for another chocolate bar. “And precisely how long do we have before that happens? Did your bosses at this mystery entity give you a deadline?”

“Yes, actually,” he said, with a brisk nod. “Halloween.”

I choked a little on some peanuts and caramel. “I’m sorry—did you just sayHalloween?”

“Yes. You know that Halloween is when the veil between this world and the spirit world is at its thinnest. That’s when we’ll have the best chance of defeating this evil.” He must have noticed my expression, since he asked, “Sorry, is that inconvenient for you?”

“Yes, actually. Halloween is next week. How am I supposed to save West Harbor from being rifted, or whatever it is, ina week?”

“I don’t know.” He was edging toward the door. “But I’d think you could start by contacting Esther and—”

“Please don’t say the wordimplantagain.”

That caused both corners of his mouth to turn up—a hard-won victory for me. “I was going to say, see if you think she truly is as gifted with magic as we’ve heard.”

“Right. And how will I let you know if I do?” I’d already scanned the papers he’d left me, and seen that they had no phone numbers or email addresses or anything listed on them that could be considered remotely useful information. This was one thing I’d always hated about the witching world. The magic was wonderful, but witches themselves could be so flaky—except of course for Rosalie Hopkins, who was a stickler for the rules, and loved nothing better than coming after those of us who didn’t follow them to the letter—except herself of course. She defied them flagrantly. “Or are you just going to dump all the responsibility for this girl and the continued existence of West Harbor into my lap and then leave town?”

“I would never do that,” he said, as if he were not standing by the door, looking ready to do exactly that. “I’ll be around, enjoying the quaint ambience of this picturesque little seaside village during its Tricentennial celebration. You’ll be able to find me when you need me. In the meantime—how do they put it on the Council? Oh, right.” And then he smiled—an actual smile, showing a set of white, even teeth. “Blessed be.”

Then he was gone, leaving me with only a pile of paper, a pendant, a task I didn’t have the slightest idea how to accomplish, and the sinking feeling that West Harbor’s “rift”—which apparently only I could heal—might somehow have been caused by me in the first place.

Jessica

Journal Entry from 2005

To rid thyself of unwanted pests place a turnip near thy breasts.

Goody Fletcher,Book of Useful Household Tips

Today at lunch, Billy came and sat next to me. Because of course he did. Dina and Mark and everyone else were cool about it...

... until Billy got up to get us more soda—Coke for him, Diet Coke for me. That’s when Mark burst out with, “I can’t believe this, Jess. He’s sitting with usagain? When is this going to end?”

“Mark!” Dina cried.

“What?” Mark looked mad. “It’s true. That guy’s a dope. Worse, he’s a dope I have to sit with at lunch every day because Jess put the hex on him with her witchy magic.”

I glared at Dina reproachfully. “You told him?”

Dina gave an apologetic shrug. “I had to tell him. He kept asking why a jock like Billy was sitting here with us emos. He pretty much knew already anyway after the thing with the stewa few weeks ago. You did look kind of weird walking around the caf and eating it, instead of sitting down like a normal person.”

“You girls.” Mark looked at Dina and me and shook his head, his long black hair swaying against his leather-jacketed shoulders. “Goddamned witches. Is that how you got me, Dee? You cast a spell on me, too?”

Dina grinned and reached out to pinch one of Mark’s cheeks. “I didn’t have to cast a spell on you, honey. You’ve been in love with me since the moment you saw me.”

“Lucky for you that’s true.” The adoration that was always in his eyes when Mark spoke to or about Dina softened them, and suddenly, the two of them were kissing. I sighed and looked at the dome-shaped skylight above our heads.

Being a witch is hard, no matter how pure your intentions might be. And being a solitary witch might be harder than anything—AP Chem included. Obviously I had let my best friend, Dina, in on my secret, way back in middle school.

Fortunately Dina took to magic like a duck takes to water, and the two of us had formed our own little mini-coven. It’s nice to have someone to try out spells with, even if most of them didn’t seem to work—or at least not the way we meant them to.

But I can’t say Dina’s boyfriend, Mark, is always one hundred percent supportive of our mystical endeavors.

“Butyou,” he said to me, his gaze hardening, when the two of them resurfaced from sucking face. “Billy Walker?Really?”

I smiled and ate some more of my peach yogurt. “Don’t you worry about Billy. I’m taking good care of him. Reeeeaaaal good care of him.”