“Ugh, it looks like it’s gonna rain,” the brunette girl complained. “I’m almost at Brandon’s house anyway, so whatever.” She’d just gotten out of her last final of the semester at the local community college, and it was her first first anniversary with a boyfriend. The young woman parked her car on the street, pulled her oversized jacket on, and grabbed the gift for her man.

Without a knock, Madeline opened the front door into Brandon’s living room. She stepped inside and turned towards the couch she figured he’d be sitting on… and her heart sank.

“Brandon?” Her boyfriend was indeed on the couch, like she figured, but the part that really affected her was his companion. Tears coalesced in her eyes as she took in everything going on in front of her. Brandon, shirt off, hand up some girl’s shirt, her tongue in his mouth. “How… could you?” she asked as her first tears fell from her cheeks. The gift for him dropped from her hand.

“No, babe-“

Sadness turned to anger in an instant. “DON’T YOU BABE ME! Nothing you can say right now is going to change the fact that you’re cheating on me! On our first anniversary! I can’t- I fucking- AGH!” Maddie balled her fists and tensed her body as she screamed and felt almost as if an energy bled out of her. “Just stay away from me, Brandon! I never want to see you again!” The young woman stormed out the door into the rain, back to her car.

Maddie was back to crying as she turned her car over. Shifting into drive, she sniffled her runny nose and ignored any speed limit signs on her way back home. Mascara and eyeliner ran onto her cheeks as she drove, and she thanked her lucky stars that there weren’t any cops around to pull her over for speeding. In record time, she was back home, trudging through the doorway into the kitchen, a quaint room that hadn’t been updated since the late 90s. Her sister was mixing something up, her back to the door.

“Mad?” she called over her shoulder. “Back already? I thought you were spending the night at Brandon’s.” Not hearing a response except a few sniffles, Jenny placed the bowl and spoon back down on the counter and turned. “Oh no,” she said, noticing Maddie’s state. “What did he do?” Madeline stumbled over to her sister and buried her head in the taller woman’s shoulder, their boobs squishing between them.

“Had some tar- some girl over. Walked in on them on the couch together.”

“And on your anniversary? I’m so sorry, Mad.” She released Madeline from the hug and squatted down a little to be at eye level with her sister. “Tell you what, Mad. You go take a nice long, hot bath, and when you’re done you can come down here and I’ll have some crème brûlée ready for you?”

Despite the tears, a small smile poked through. Maddie held up a pair of fingers. “Can I have two?” she mumbled.

Jenny grinned. “Of course, kiddo. I’ll make a whole bunch, and you can have as many as you want.” Maddie’s smile grew, and she pulled away from her sister, although the flour from Jenny’s apron stuck to her sweater.

A rumble vibrated through the assembled witches’ coven. “Did you all feel that?” one asked.

“Goddess, how could we not? Some powerful magical force is about. One not in this building,” replied a blonde woman.

“We should probably track it down. Might be a new witch in town.”

Madeline sank down in the tub until her nose was just above the water. Steam rose from the surface, fogging up the mirror over the sink and the windows on the far wall. Before resting her head against the wall of the tub, Maddie pulled the hair tie off from around her bun and let her chestnut-brown hair tumble around her face. Looking down the surface of the water, her toes broke the surface, as did her nipples.

She sat up a little higher. “You’d think G cups would be enough to keep a guy faithful,” she mumbled. Madeline was quickly getting over her sadness- if he was going to cheat on her, then he wasn’t worth the tears. Drifting under the water, Maddie tried to rub the ruined makeup off her face, to slight effectiveness. I can’t believe him. On our anniversary! Maddie voiced what would have been a scream if she wasn’t underwater, vocally diffusing her anger into the water. Satisfied that her hair was thoroughly rinsed now, she sat back up.

“Again,” the first witch stated. “Another rumble.”

The blonde woman turned to a quiet compatriot at the end of their table. “Darcy, you’re the only one good at scrying here. See if you can’t figure out who or what is causing this.”

The petite woman coughed gently. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said. “It might take a few days, though.”

“Ow, ow, ow, when did the water get so hot?” Madeline rose out of the tub, water dripping from her curves. She combed her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face. Daintily stepping out onto the tile floor, Maddie bent to pick up a towel and started drying off. She wrapped it around herself and grabbed a second towel to wrap around her hair. Turning back towards the bath, Madeline pulled the plug out of the drain and watched the water spiral out. She sniffled.

Plodding her way to her bedroom, Maddie was wiping tears from her eyes even as she swore she was getting over it quickly. She shut the door behind her and let the towels fall from her as she tossed herself onto her bed. Slowly, she pulled on some underwear, pajama bottoms and an oversized sweatshirt- something she kept for situations just like this. Maddie continued her plodding as she moved downstairs and pulled her hair up into a loose, messy bun.

In the kitchen again, Jennifer was awaiting her. “I’ve got a dozen crème brûlée here waiting for you, doll face.” She held her sister at arm’s length, again crouching a bit to be at eye level. “Feeling any better?”

“A little,” Maddie murmured. “I’ll be better when I’m too full of crème brûlée to feel emotions, though.” Jenny took the cue to light the blowtorch and start caramelizing the sugar of Maddie’s favorite dessert. After doing a few, she snuffed the flame out and set the torch down.

“Take your pick, sis.” Maddie’s hands immediately shot for the two she thought looked a little deeper than the others and awkwardly grabbed a spoon with her pinky and ring fingers. As she curled up on the couch, one brûlée in hand, the other on the coffee table in front of her, Maddie tucked her legs up into her hoodie.

“Thanks, Jen. You’re the best,” she said, breaking through the solid layer of sugar with her spoon.

“Any progress yet?” the currently eight-foot-tall witch asked. She was nearly twice the size of the woman gazing into a crystal ball.

“Well, I’ve narrowed it down to a decently small part of the suburbs, but it gets harder as the area gets smaller. If I could get another spike of energy from whoever this is, I’d find them in a snap,” Darcy replied.

“Our magic isn’t interfering?” The statuesque woman began shrinking rapidly as she climbed into the chair opposite Darcy, then up onto the table. She ended up relatively the same size as the crystalline sphere in front of her.

Darcy didn’t break her gaze into her portent as her expression turned flippant. “Pff. As if. I’ve lived with you all long enough that you’re…background noise at this point, for lack of a better term.”

“Maddie?” Jenny knocked softly on her sister’s bedroom door. “I know you’re upset, Mad, but you shouldn’t lay in bed day in and day out. Can I come in?” An inviting hmph sounded out behind the door, but Jenny knew it was more of a yes-tinged hmph than no. She pushed open the door into Maddie’s unlit bedroom and sat on the foot of her bed after pulling the curtains open. Her sister was curled up under the sheets. “Maddie, you need to get up and do something. I can’t let you just wither away here.”

“Hmm.”

“Let’s go out for a little bit. Nothing too extreme. We can just go shopping or something. Didn’t you say you wanted to dye your hair but Brandon would’ve been upset? Well, nothing’s stopping you now.”

“Hm.”

“Madeline Anne Renard, I’m not going to let you just lay here. I’ll carry you out if I have to.”

“Hmmmm,” she whined.

“Last chance.” Maddie twisted and turned more into her bed. Jenny sighed. “Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She stood and pushed her arms under her shorter sister, squatting down to get better leverage on her. Jenny lifted an unresisting, pajama-clad Madeline out of bed and stood her up.

“I always forget how strong you are,” Maddie mumbled. “Stupid gym. I’ll get ready to go. Let me take a shower, at least.”

Maddie pulled her knitted bun-hat on and stepped outside into the weather that was decidedly colder than a few days ago when she left her finals. Where her finals were marked with rain, now small snowflakes fell around the pair of sisters as they clambered into Jenny’s car. “Can I choose the music?” Maddie asked.

“Of course.” The shorter sister plugged her phone into the auxiliary cord and brought up Spotify. The opening notes of Turnover’s I Would Hate You If I Could flowed into the car and Maddie leaned back and relaxed, closing her eyes.

“How did I know you were going to pick this one?” Jenny teased.

“Shush.”

“Do you think I’ll need to bleach my hair first? Before I dye it, I mean.” Maddie asked as her sister meandered the aisle around her.

“Don’t the boxes have the theoretical results on the back? Like “if your hair starts here, then it’ll end up here,” that kind of thing. What color are you thinking of?”

“Silver,” she said as she picked up the box of dye. “Something uncommon, y’know?”

“Huh,” Jenny responded as she eyed her sister, trying to imagine her hair in the stated color.

Maddie cocked a hip and tilted her head. “Whaaat?”

Jenny smiled at her. “I think it’ll look good. Anywhere else you wanna go before we leave?”

There was an impish twinkle to Maddie’s eyes. “Well…”

“The next non-surprise: Madeline wants to visit the kitties at the animal shelter,” Jenny teased as her sister lead her to their last stop.

The younger sister took her elder’s jokes in stride, happily waltzing into the shelter. “If there was a textbook about me, the number one recommendation for curing my sadness would be cats,” she sing-songed. “Besides, the shelters want you to socialize the cats. It makes them easier to adopt.” Maddie stood in front of the cat cages to find, to her disappointment, they were empty. “All adopted? Well, that’s good, but I really wanted to get some cat time today…”

“Not all of them!” said a voice from behind her. Madeline turned to face the volunteer as he continued. “We still have one little guy left. Just got all his shots done yesterday, so no one’s been around to see him yet. Want to come visit?”

Maddie’s eyes were brighter than the holiday lights around the cages at the shelter. “Uh huh!” She followed the volunteer into the back where one tiny kitten was running around by himself.

“Here he is, Sir Has-Not-Been-Named-Yet.” Madeline hung over the half door leading to the area the kitten was contained in.

“Oooh, a little black kitty! He’s so cute!” Her hands were balled into fists and pressed into her cheeks as she watched the young cat, enraptured by his actions. “Can I go in?” she asked the volunteer.

He sucked in air through his teeth. “Technically, only people adopting cats are allowed in now. I’d only be allowed to let you in if you started the paperwork for giving him a forever home.” Jenny, of course, just stepped into the back as he started talking about adoption.

“What’s this? Something about cats in our house?”

Maddie forced eye contact with her sister and clasped her hands in front of her chest. “Pleeeease, Jenny? Please please pleeeaaaase?”

“You’re gonna take care of him?”

“Of course! I’ll do everything, don’t you worry your pretty little head, sis.”

“I’ll get the paperwork ready for you, then, miss..?”

“Madeline.” She was beaming as the volunteer unlocked the door for her. “Thanks, Jenny!”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t say I never gave you anything.” She leaned into the half-door as Maddie crouched inside, trying to get the kitten to voluntarily come over to her.

“Oooh, come here you little cutie pie,” she said in her talking-to-cats-voice, stretching her arm out towards him to let him sniff her. The kitten hop-walked over to her, then warily approached her hand. After smelling her, he forcefully rubbed his face along her fingers. Maddie squeed with happiness before gently petting him. He climbed up onto her crossed legs and settled down on one, almost immediately falling asleep.

The volunteer returned, papers in hand. “If you’ll follow me, Madeline…”

“I can’t get up,” she said, indicating the snoozing kitten on her leg. “It’s illegal.” He laughed at that, then opened the door into the enclosure.

“You can fill everything out in here, then.”

“I’m glad you agreed to come with me today, Mad,” Jenny said as they were driving back home, backseat taken over by cat accessories.

“Me too. Thanks for literally dragging me out of bed.” She was playing with the kitten through the holes in the carrier. “Ouch!” She pulled a hand back. “I forgot kittens have little needle claws.”

“He sure is cute. I think he’ll do a fine job of helping you forget Brandon.”

Maddie turned towards her sister. “Who?”

“Your-“ Jenny sighed, exasperated, as Maddie broke into a huge smile.

“That was the point, Jen. Besides loving cats with every cell of my body.”

“Any ideas for a name?”

“Yeah, one. You’re gonna laugh, though. Salem.”

Jenny did, indeed, laugh. “You mean like- Sabrina the Teenage Witch Salem?”

“You shush. I love that show.”

“Have you found her yet? It seems like you were getting close.” The muscular girl crossed her arms and leaned into the doorway of Darcy’s study.

“There’s a surprising amount of interference for one witch, Alexia. It’s really strange. But, I think I’ve got her. Writing down the address aaaand… do you want to come with me?”

Alexia laughed. “No, no, I’m intimidating, remember? Take Rose, she’s cute and bubbly.”

After giving Salem time to come out of the carrier on his own, Maddie let him snuggle up against her. With her laying on the floor, Salem plopped down on top of her shoulder, right above her bust. Madeline took the opportunity to make a quick post on Instagram. “I’ve got three-quarters of an associate’s in business and I’m ready to be a mom,” she captioned it. Not two minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It startled Salem enough that he scurried back into his carrier.

“Yeah, you stay safe now, son. My little stud. I’ll answer the door.” The young woman sauntered over to the front door. Opening it, she saw two women- one even shorter than her, and another that made her heart beat a little faster- she was so pretty!

“Can I, uh, help you?”

“Are you sure it’s her, Darcy? She doesn’t look very witchy,” the beautiful girl with a punk undercut and stretched earlobes said.

Huh? Witchy?

“You live here?” the one called Darcy asked.

“Yeah. Obviously.”

“Are you aware of some magical goings on around here?” Darcy followed up.

“Pffft. Magic isn’t real. Are you trying to sell me something?”

“Au contraire, madam,” the tattoo-covered girl said. “We’re witches.”

Maddie leaned into the door frame. “Uh huh.”

“Rose, show her something.”

“Hey,” Rose said, drawing Maddie’s attention to her. “Look at this.”

Maddie focused on the woman. “What am I- oh.” Rose’s eyes were changing color, going from blue to green to brown to an unnatural pink color.

“Convinced now? Enough to let us in? We just want to talk with you,” Darcy stated.

“Jenny is never gonna let me hear the end of this,” she muttered. “Come in.” Maddie stepped aside out of the doorway.

“So let me get this straight,” Maddie said as she rubbed her temples, eyes clenched shut. “You two are saying that I am a witch, and the first instance of my magic was angrily giving my ex-boyfriend permanent limp dick?”

“Yes,” Darcy confirmed.

Maddie’s face slowly broke into a grin, and then she burst into fits of laughter. “That is hilarious,” she got out between laughs. “Oh my goodness, that’s absolute gold.”

“The second was you heating up your bathwater later that day,” Rose added. “That’s how Darcy tracked you down. She’s a diviner, y’know.”

“It was a little tough,” Darcy admitted. “Are you sure there’s not lead pai-” Jenny appeared in the kitchen then, drawn by the sound of multiple voices. Darcy’s eyes fixed on her. “She is the source of the interference. I can feel it.”

Rose looked Jenny up and down. “You sure, Darcy?”

“I’m never wrong. She’s a witch, too.”

Jenny’s face couldn’t show any more confusion. “Mad, what are they talking about? I heard voices so I figured you were talking to Salem, but instead there’s two strangers in our house talking about witches?”

“Why don’t you have a seat and join us, sis? Apparently we’re all witches here. Rose can change her eye color.”

“Not just that,” Rose said haughtily. “I can change basically anything about faces.”

Jenny snorted as she sat down. “That would explain the supermodel face.”

“I could also do this,” Rose stated as her face began to morph, bone structures moving around and eye color changing. In seconds, she perfectly replicated Maddie’s face.

“Holy shit,” Jenny said.

Maddie giggled. “I think you look even better this way.” Rose stuck her tongue out at Madeline as she changed back to her own appearance.

Darcy turned to Jenny. “Who’s this Salem you mentioned?”

“Oh, just a kitten Maddie adopted today. She goes bananas for cats, my sister.”

“Could I see him?” the short witch asked.

Maddie shrugged. “Maybe. He’s a little skittish, but he already loves me, though. I’ve never seen a cat get comfortable so fast.”

Darcy let out a little mhm. Madeline stood from the table and went off to find Salem.

“So, are you two the only witches, or..?”

“No, there’s a bunch of us back home. Five, including us. Darcy’s our leader, I guess you’d call her.”

Jenny raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Five, wow. All local?”

“Yup! Our coven house isn’t too far from here, actually.”

“I’m back!” Maddie announced. Salem was curled up in her arms, clinging to her as he saw the three other women. “Sh, shh, Salem, it’s okay.” He relaxed a little, kneading her sweater and purring.

Darcy hmmmmed.

“What’s up, Darce?” Rose asked.

“Don’t tell me the cat’s magical too,” Jenny deadpanned.

“I think the cat is magical.”

“Is that- is that a joke? From Darcy? And you two think finding out about witches is strange.”

Darcy further observed the witch-animal pair. “He seems to have bonded much faster than a normal cat would, right, Madeline?”

Maddie looked at the fluffy lump in her arms. “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“And he seems to listen to you very well?”

“Yeah, I suppose so. All I had to do to get him from under my bed was to ask him to come out.”

“Hm, so, a novice witch and a novice familiar,” Darcy explained. “I think that would account for all the interference I had while looking for you.”

“So, uh, what happens now? Is there some sort of training we go through?” Maddie asked.

“Now, I’m formally inviting you to join our coven. We’ll teach you what we can, but most likely your specialty will be something we’re not very well versed in,” Darcy answered. The sisters looked at each other.

“Sure, we’ll go,” Jenny said.

“Here we are, home sweet coven,” Rose said as she opened the door and walked into the large house. “Girls! Company!”

A tall woman appeared at the second floor balcony overlooking the foyer. “Oh, is she here? Can I meet her?”

“You can meet them both, Heidi. Get Alexia and Portia and come down here!”

“Two new witches! Alexia! Portia! Get your butts out here!” Heidi was already running down the stairs as the new additions to the coven walked into the house, followed by Darcy. Portia and Alexia poked their heads out of their rooms and saw the gathering downstairs, the pair almost leaping down to join.

“Well, I have to say this is a very warm welcome,” Jenny said, surrounded by witches.

“Give them some space, would you?” Rose pushed the trio back. She indicated each new girl. “Maddie, Jenny, this is the rest of our coven. The girl with all the muscles is Alexia, the skyscraper is Heidi, and the girl in the stained coat is Portia.”

“Hi,” Alexia greeted, smiling. “I’m a muscle witch.”

“Nice to meet you both. Heidi, like heighty, get it?”

“I’d shake your hands,” Portia said, “but I’ve been working my cauldron all afternoon, so who knows what is on them. Portia, alchemist.”

“That would explain the stains,” Jenny said. “It’s a lovely home you have here.”

“We have here. You two are part of this now, don’t forget!” Rose wrapped an arm around either sister.

“Now, now, Rose, they haven’t officially joined the coven yet. We still need to find out what their specialties are.”

The sister witches stood across from the rest of the coven in their meeting room. “So, Maddie and Jenny, what would you say is something defining about you? It could be a skill, a natural talent, or even a noticeable physical feature.”

“Well, Darcy, I’ve always been a good chef,” Jenny responded.

“Good doesn’t even start. She’s amazing. Enough that I’ll make her put up with my nonsense and keep living with her.”

Jenny laughed. “Thanks, Mad.”

Alexia folded her arms under her pecs. “How would we test that, do you think? Do we have anything store-bought in the pantry?”

“There’s those god-awful protein bars you have, Lex.”

“Shit, Heidi, I almost forgot about those. Let me grab one, maybe Jenny can see if she can make it taste better?”

“That should work,” Darcy confirmed. “What about you, Maddie?”

The youngest of the coven sheepishly looked around. “I, uh, well, I don’t know. I’ve never really excelled at anything.”

“There has to be something, Maddie.”

She shrugged. “You’re looking at a B- average student with three quarters of an assistant’s in business. Those aren’t really stellar accomplishments.”

“That shrug gave me an idea,” Rose piped up. “A bunch of us are physical witches, so why not Maddie? You guys have to be thinking what I am by now.”

“Boobs,” Portia guessed.

“Yup,” Rose agreed. “Might as well try, Maddie. Just try sending your magic into your chest.”

Maddie blushed. “I’ll, uh, try.” She tried to remember the feeling from right before she stormed out of Brandon’s house, and again when she was in the bath, that feeling of energy being gathered and pushed out of her. She scrunched her eyes closed. “Right… now!” She snapped her fingers and felt her boobs expand, pushing out into her bra. Flesh ran over and under the cups, tightening the band around her.

The new witch opened her eyes slowly to the amazed gazes of her companions, all eyes locked on her chest. “Ta… da?”

“I’d say we found it, Darcy.”

“Me too, Rose. Alexia, what’s taking you so long?”

The muscle-witch walked back into the room. “Sorry, they were really squirreled away in there. Here you go, Jenny. Good luck, those things are nasty.” She handed Jenny the protein bar. “Try and change the taste from cardboard and chalk to what the wrapper actually says.”

“Alright, I’ll try.” Having not known what Maddie felt while casting, Jenny was more in the dark about what to expect, but she concentrated on the bar in her hands, trying to change cardboard flavor into strawberry. She furrowed her brow, and the bar glowed slightly pink.

“I… think I did it? I did something, at least.” She handed the bar back to Alexia.

“Here goes nothing,” she said before biting into it. Her eyes lit up in surprise. “Amazing!” The witch chewed and swallowed. “It honestly tastes like a real strawberry. I love you already, Jenny!” She wrapped the smaller woman up in her arms, hugging her tightly. “Welcome to the family! You come here, too, Madeline!” She shimmied over to the younger woman and held both sisters in a tight bear hug.

“Alexia, you’re going to crush them if you keep it up,” Heidi joked.

“We’ll have a big celebration tonight to welcome you two,” Darcy stated. “We might not be on your level, Jenny, but we still make decent food. Before you ask, no, I don’t want your help with it. We’re celebrating you two, so you just relax. Alexia, do you want to carry them up to their rooms?”

The muscle witch finally let them down. “We actually have three empty rooms, so you have some choice.”