Isolated, I stood in the middle of the dance floor feeling like an idiot. I approached the only person I knew, Veda.

I came up behind her. “Outdone yourself with the glamour tonight, didn't you?”

She glared at me, and I felt lucky, lucky to have her notice me enough to glare at me. “Actually, I always look like this. I dumb down my beauty constantly. I just let it out for once. It doesn't mean I like you.”

“Of course, it doesn't.” I shooed away her admirers with grouchy looks too foul for them to ignore.

“Are you planning to dress like that all the time then?”

“No. Did you see Emi? She's still so witch-like even though she abandoned the coven. No matter what happens, I'm not giving up basic witch behavior. This dress is only because--”

“You're never getting married, so if you didn't wear a white dress tonight, you'd lose your only chance,” I supplied.

“Exactly. Would you get me something to drink?”

“No. Like you would ever drink something I gave you. You'd be too paranoid I’d slip something into your drink.”

Veda smiled. It was world-stopping. Then she whispered in my ear, “Too true. I’d be suspicious because I slip things into people's drinks all the time.”

“Do you really? Like what?”

“Like a sleeping drought into a girl's pop at a sleepover party when I think she's annoying. Sometimes I mix in medicine if she's got a problem she won't get help for.”

“Have you ever slipped me anything?”

“Of course not. You need your eyes wide open so you can see why I am a terrible choice for you.”

“Your little outfit tonight isn't helping. Antony had to be escorted from the room.”

“Don't worry about that,” Veda said confidently. “I told Pearl how to deal with problems like this efficiently. If she listened, she’ll correct the problem swiftly.”

“What did you tell her to do?”

“Antony wants to be a successful lover. He’s going to like her for her easiness. I'm not easy. I don't make things easy. He'll do something nice for her and it actually will sweep her off her feet. He’ll feel like Adonis. She just needs to capitalize on that feeling and make it last.”

I gave her a look.

“What?” she asked. “I don’t get swept off my feet.”

I gave it to her again. “I don't believe it. All that means is that no guy has ever gone about it in the right way. Has anyone ever written a spell book just for you before?”

“I said I would read it and consider you,” she said slowly like she was extremely interested but did not wish to appear so at all costs.

“Don’t use your beautiful mouth to lie to me. You are planning to read my book and discard me.”

She smiled—all sparks and sparkles. “Doesn’t that make you want to forget about me? I mean, you shouldn’t like a girl who would use you so obviously.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Go ahead and use me.”

In the scattered light of the dance, her cheeks went flush with heat. “I wish you would get back to Intarsia and forget all about me. What do you think of her lipstick?”

“You're right. It is a great improvement. Though, I think you shot yourself in the foot.”

“How so?”

“You look so charming tonight. How am I supposed to give Intarsia all my attention when you deliberately outdid her. That's why they're all so angry.”

She looked at me like she was dealing with an unpleasant customer at a service desk. “Just because I look better doesn't mean I am better. Remember how I said Pearl was easy-going? That's her power—flexibility. Well, Intarsia is nice. She is a kind witch. If I were choosing your wife for you, I'd choose her, and you would never be sorry.”

“I know.”

She stamped a white-slippered foot. “Then what are you waiting for?”

“At the moment, Fair Isle is hosting a pow-wow over what a brat you are. I'm fanning the flames standing next to you, but I don’t know anyone else here. I'll stay here if you don't mind.”

“I’m telling you to leave me, not just here on the dancefloor, but in every other way. I’m telling you to fall in love with her instead of me.”

I changed the subject. “Do you want a drink?”

“No. I'll spill on my dress.”

“Didn't you just ask for one? What makes you so sure you'll spill?”

“I always spill. I'm clumsy.”

I gawked. “I don't think I've ever met any person less clumsy than you. Don't you teach dancing?”

“A very hard-won ability, I assure you, and if another instructor is in the room while I'm teaching they practically have a fit. I have poor posture, lousy footwork, and my motions are too large. I am not a very good dancer, but the people I tutor don't care. They're boys. They just need someone there to help them who doesn't make them feel like a loser. I'm very good at that. They request me.”

I looked at the curve of her silhouette from behind. “I bet they do.”

She rolled her eyes.

“What if I wanted to take dancing lessons from you?”

“I don't give lessons. I supplement courses already being taken. Get it? I help the boys learn specific dances.”

“I get it,” I said. “What about now? Will you dance with me now?”

“Do you know how to dance, or are we just going to stand in one spot with both my hands on your shoulders and both your hands on my hips?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Not tonight. Your date needs attention.”

Antony and Pearl had joined the group and Intarsia looked embarrassed. I would have gone to her immediately, but that meant leaving Veda alone. I had scared off her crowd of admirers. I didn't know if I could leave her.

“Get going,” she said calmly. “I won't be alone.”

“Do you have someone in mind?” I asked, wondering if she'd fall in love with someone else if I left her alone. A woman was vulnerable to that sort of thing when she put too much effort into being beautiful.

She flicked me between the eyebrows. “No. Get going.”

Reluctantly, I turned away from her. Then I remembered Fair Isle was having a party at her house after the dance. Was Veda still going to go after Fair Isle was so unfriendly toward her? I turned around to ask her, but in the three seconds, since I'd turned my back, another guy had taken my place and asked her to dance. Apparently, he’d had better dance lessons, because she had taken his hand and was swirling across the floor.

⚘⚘⚘

I was living in the attic of Fair Isle's house, which was a house enchanted from six directions. It wasn’t Fair Isle’s magic that made my attic alluring. It was her mother, Willow, who worked the magic. The attic was designed like a tiny house, meaning there was a loft in the room with one bed above and another one below. I understood it was common for students to stay as boarders from time to time and the space needed to satisfy their notions of decent living accommodations.

I chose to sleep in the loft as there was a beautiful triangular window that looked out over the school grounds. If I looked far out that window, I could see Veda’s house.

One of the walls of my room was covered in a wallpaper designed to look like the forest, while the adjacent wall was covered in wood panels to make the wall look like a wood cabin, which, of course, the house wasn’t. A different window pointed toward Edmonton’s skyscrapers. My bed had a black metal frame that extended high over the bed. Each of the metal poles was wrapped in fake foliage and fairy lights. The inside was a cozy wilderness and the outside was a cold metal city.

The other end of the room was divided in half. One side was an extremely limited kitchen with a tiny rose gold fridge. The other side was the bathroom. A miniature room with half a bathtub. The mirror over the sink was very grand and I wondered if I spoke to it if it would spring to life and tell me how attractive I was. Not that I needed much flattery. I already thought very well of myself.

When the dance was over, we went back to Fair Isle's for her backyard party, I went upstairs to change. Who wanted to stay in a tux all night?

In my loft, I could see Veda's house across the green. Someone hadn’t closed the drapes as carefully as they normally did. Across the way, I saw Veda's starlight dress shimmer in the kitchen.

When I saw her, I got this brainy idea to go over and escort her over to Fair Isle's. It seemed like the gentlemanly thing to do, so I didn't change but slipped out the front door unnoticed. With my hands in my pockets, I walked directly toward the window that showed that enticing view of Veda.

I could see her clearly. June was beside her. The older witch gave Veda an envelope. Veda looked delighted, but June didn't. June's concern was evident across the grass. Veda opened the envelope, took out the paper within, and read it. She shook her head like she couldn't believe what she was reading. It was not good news. She read it again and asked June for clarification. June explained. Veda dropped the paper on the table like it was poison and backed away from it.

I quickened my pace.

The last sight I had of her before she passed from view was the bustle of her skirt bobbing as she ran down the hall. June blocked my view as she took off after her with a lady-like stride.

I bounded up the back steps and knocked on the door twice. No one answered. I tried the knob and let myself in. The paper was left in plain sight on the kitchen table. I glanced over it. The exact meaning of the document took a minute to unravel. My first thought was that it was good news, so why was Veda upset?

There were no sounds from her bedroom down the hall. I expected Veda to come out, dressed in something more comfortable, because even if the cousins were mad at her, she was expected at the bonfire. Minutes passed and no one emerged from the room. The house was silent, not even a clock ticked and I suddenly felt very out of place. I let myself out the way I came.

Walking back across the grass in the late spring evening I thought about what the paper said. Veda was to be the sole owner of the house she was living in. Her mother was turning the title over to her on her eighteenth birthday, which was only three days away. The document explained how much money was left on the mortgage and advised Veda to sell the house, take the earnings, and live the way she wanted to. Her mother expressed some wish for her to attend university.

I froze in my place when I realized what the news meant. Veda’s mother was not coming back and she was on her own.