Page 3

“What? But I’m the one with the power!” Natalie looked even more upset than she had when her grandmother had informed her that Brad was cheating on her. “I’m the witch here.”

Her grandmother made a dismissive sound and shook her head.

“You haven’t got a drop of magical blood in your body, girl—my power skipped right over you. It’s time you stopped playacting and started getting serious. Stop pretending you’re something you’re not and find some other man—a nice man—so you can settle down and give me some grandbabies.”

“But…you can’t mean that Celeste is a witch?” Natalie glared at me with even more hatred than she’d had for Tamara. “She doesn’t even wear black or do any spells.”

“Being a witch isn’t about doing spells—it’s about the power inside you. And that young lady has more of it than I’ve ever seen,” Nana Cordelia said, nodding at me.

“Look, I’m just an office worker!” I somehow managed to get out. Though I was secretly flattered to be called a “young lady” I certainly didn’t want people thinking I was a witch. “I don’t know anything about witchcraft or supernatural power or anything like that. I’ve never done a spell in my life!” I told her.

“That’s because you haven’t had your powers awakened yet,” Nana said to me. “But it’s time now, my dear.”

And then the strangest thing happened—she reached right out of the crystal ball with one long, see-through arm, and dropped something in front of me.

I looked down and saw it was a key—a big, heavy, iron key that looked antique. The head of it was a stern-looking gryphon and the barrel of the key was its long wings, laid flat against its back.

“What’s this?” I breathed, looking down at it.

“Your destiny, my dear,” Nana Cordelia told me. “Now take it and go where it leads you.”

The long arm which was still coming out of the crystal ball pointed to the corner of the room. There had been nothing there before but a display of foam pumpkins. Now I saw a door—a vast door that looked too big to be in the room but somehow was anyway. It was black and outlined in golden light that spilled out of the cracks around it in blinding profusion.

“Go,” Nana Cordelia said. “Go, for you are needed.”

“But…but…” I was sure by now I must be in a dream. None of this could be happening in real life—none of it. And then Nana Cordelia started speaking in rhyme.

“Seek the house which haunted be,

Find the lock that fits the key.

Wake the one who sleeps inside

And bring him to the other side.”

As she spoke, my fingers finally came free of the crystal ball. Without thinking, I scooped up the heavy iron key—which felt like an icicle in my hand—and rose from the uncomfortable folding chair I’d been sitting on. I grabbed my purse too, which was slung on the back of the chair, though I hardly realized I was doing it.

Then, still feeling like I was in a dream, I floated towards the huge door that had appeared in the corner. I don’t mean I actually floated, of course—but that was what it felt like. Like my body was drifting in the direction of the mysterious doorway without any input from me at all. I was being carried along and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

As I walked, or drifted, I was aware of Bartleby, Natalie’s black cat, circling my legs. He was twining around and around my ankles in a way that should have tripped me up but somehow didn’t. It was like he felt I needed an escort to the door and had appointed himself to that duty.

I was prepared to open the door with the key, but before I could even raise my hand, it swung open on its own. A gust of Autumn scented wind blew in—redolent of crisp leaves, apple cider, and freshly carved pumpkins. It seemed to swirl around my shoulders like a guiding arm that was pushing me forward through the doorway.

“Hey!” I heard Natalie shouting behind me. “Hey, where do you think you’re going Celeste? You can’t just decide you’re a witch like that—it’s rude. I’m the one who’s a witch!”

But her voice got fainter and fainter as I was drawn through the doorway and it cut off abruptly once I stepped all the way through, still clutching the key in one hand with no idea where I was going or what I was going to do once I got there.

2

CELESTE

The minute I was fully through the doorway, it was like the spell I’d been under snapped. I’d been drifting, my head all full of cobwebs—which actually wasn’t unusual for me, since I was going through perimenopause and the hormone fluctuations made my head cloudy sometimes. They also gave me hot and cold flashes and made me so irritated at people sometimes I wanted to commit murder. But that wasn’t the point—the point was I had stepped through a magical doorway into a new world, and I had no idea where I was.

I looked behind me and saw that the door was still standing there, open. It showed the shocked faces of Natalie, Tamara, and Phyllis who were all staring at me in surprise.

I stared back, equally surprised myself. Why had I walked through the door, and hadn’t I better get back to the real world as fast as I could? I did have to work tomorrow, I reminded myself. In fact, I had a presentation to make that would probably fall flat since my direct supervisor, Angie, didn’t like me for some reason. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I couldn’t miss it either.

Hesitantly, I started to step back through the doorway—only to have the door slam in my face!