Page 7

“Let’s hope it wasn’t a murder,” Leo says in a singsong voice.

The real horror of it all is my mother’s reaction. She laughs, unbothered. “Ghosts are misunderstood. Harmless.”

She’s lost, and we’re all doomed.

There must be somewhere else we can live in Starbrook, right?

Wrong.

My mom is in love with an obviously haunted house; she doesn’t even care that her beloved real estate agent was obviously keeping secrets from her. She spends the better part of the day on the phone and only manages a slight discount. Why she doesn’t try to cancel the deal entirely, I’ll never understand.

The house settles down, and when Mom starts to unpack the kitchen, I meet with my brothers upstairs. Emergency sibling meeting, obviously. Mom would be invited, but she’s clearly ‘team house,’ and I’m definitely on team ‘get the hell out of here.’

I press my hands to my bedroom door, muttering an incantation under my breath. It should be a simple soundproofing spell, but there’s no magic at my fingertips. It never comes when I call.

“Luke?” I say, trying not to make a big deal of the moment. “Can you…? The spell? I’m a little shaken up.”

“Oh, yeah.” Luke beams. “Sure. No problem.”

He’s my little brother, and I was the one to teach him this spell, but now, he does it better. The room is soundproofed within thirty seconds.

I huff and start the meeting. “Mom is right about most things, but this is one exception. It’s our duty to talk her out of this and move back to Moonglade Harbor.”

“Please.” Leo scoffs. “It’s a couple of fucking ghosts. What are they going to do?”

“We don’t know if it’s ghosts,” Luke says calmly. “There are other explanations.”

“Like what?”

“Sentient house.”

I shake my head. “Is that really any better? I don’t want to live in something that’s, like, a person. Ew.”

“Mom isn’t going to leave.” Luke’s voice is soft, and he glances at the door, his expression melting. “So, I’m staying.”

Which means I’m stuck with both of them—and even worse, with Leo, who’s either pretending to be fearless or actually is. Dammit. How is it that, out of my family, I have to be the voice of reason? It’s not a role I had to consider when Dad was around.

But I’m not about to be the pessimist, not when my mother has a reason to smile for the first time in three years. So, I paint the kitchen with her, we unpack our boxes, and I pretend the house doesn’t feel… just… weird.

That evening, we get dressed in our witch’s best and prepare to meet the local coven, as any good witch would. Starbrook has a bustling witch community, which is surprising for a town of its size. Years ago, I was involved in Moonglade Harbor’s coven—well, one of their covens. A bigger city has many groups, ranging in size, and I was part of one full of witches like me. Star witches.

Apparently, Starbrook has one, and I don’t know where I’ll fit in. Will there be any star witches?

Not that it matters. I’m hardly a witch at this point.

I fluff up my bangs and slip a dark cardigan over my tight-fitting celestial top and matching skirt. All black. Black eyeliner, with deep, rusty lipstick, and little stars glued to the corners of my eyes.

“Are you ready?” Mom appears behind me, smoothing her hands down my wavy hair.

I nod. “Is it weird that I’m nervous? Like, I’m sure their coven will be just a bunch of old lady witches⁠—”

“It won’t be.” She chuckles. “Your father and his father before him were once important members of this coven, you know. He was primed to be the leader when I met him.”

“And?” I turn to face her, frowning. “What happened?”

“We moved away instead, but they still have nothing but goodwill for us.”

Even though she sounds so certain, the pressure of a supposed family legacy is heavy on my shoulders as we make our way to Starbrook’s little Main Street. It’s exactly like I remembered from when I was small: little shops, twinkling lights, and music floating from the park.