November 1st 23:30

"Ethel no!"

The words were screamed into the still night air, but the figure stood in front of the picture didn't flinch. The spellbook sat open on the table, the witch's hands poised mid-cast.

"You can't, you mustn't do this."

The door slammed shut in the protester's face and there was soon pounding on the door. "You can't do this Ethel. You can't let Agatha out." The handle moved violently up and down, but the door was never going to move. It was shut and magically sealed.

Ethel tried to tune the voice out of her head and concentrate on the words on the page. This wasn't some second level spell she was trying to cast here. It had taken the combined magic of HB and Miss Cackle to get Agatha trapped in the picture in the first place; it was going to take everything she had to get the witch back out again.

The pounding on the door continued unabated and Ethel flexed her fingers. There was only going to be one chance to get this right. The desperate pleas from the corridor were mere background noise as she uttered the first words of the spell and felt the magic form in the air around her. The world shifted slightly and a shimmer appeared before her… it was working; the spell was actually working. She tried to push down the feeling of excitement and instead concentrate on the job in hand. None of them had listened to her, now; now she was going to show them.

October 31st 21:00

The last notes of the song hung in the air and Esmeralda Hallow closed her eyes, taking in the moment. For the first time in what felt like forever, she was surrounded by magic and felt a part of it. Magic once again coursed through her veins and it wasn't a feeling she ever wanted to lose. She heard the applause and the laughter from the other girls as they carried on their evening unburdened by the weight of responsibility. She envied them that. Miss Cackle had mentioned the need to sort out the events of recent days, and she had felt the head teacher's eyes fall directly on her. She had been at fault; the whole series of events could be traced back to her one action in the turret room. She'd tried to shake the feeling, and to concentrate instead on the positives, but her mind kept bringing her back to the same place. She had, not for the first time, been at the very heart of an act that had nearly destroyed the school.

She had been the head girl once; had been feted as the most promising young witch to pass through the school in a number of years. It had never been a label that had sat easily on her shoulders, and she'd always sought to distance herself from the attention it brought her. Now, now she felt as though she'd be lucky to be allowed to remain within the castle walls. Whilst there had been no formal removal of her name from school records, she doubted she'd ever be permitted to wear the sash again.

There was a tug on her arm and it brought her out of her reverie; she glanced down to see her younger sister looking expectantly up at her, and realised she'd not taken in a word Sybil had said. It wasn't unusual for Sybil to seek to be with her, but even by her standards she was being remarkably clingy.

"What's up Syb?" she asked, her own concerns pushed immediately to one side.

"You will stay, won't you?"

She opened her mouth to reply and then promptly closed it again. She was supposed to go home; it was expected. Their mother had made it perfectly clear she should be back before the end of the day. There had been promises of days away, but behind it there was still a simmering, barely suppressed, anger. She had been ordered not to visit the school, been ordered to never again set foot within the castle walls whilst the woman her mother blamed for the loss of her magic was still in charge. She had ignored the words and followed her heart. There would eventually be reprisals for that; she just didn't know for certain where the blame would finally settle. Her mother had an infinite capacity for apportioning blame far and wide.

"Esme?"

She looked down into Sybil's wide eyes and knew in that moment she had no choice.

"Of course I'll stay." She turned her head as soon as the words had fallen from her mouth, her gaze settling on Miss Cackle. "That is to say, I'll stay if it's permitted."

There was a pause, a pause that felt uncomfortably long, and then a small nod of assent from the head of the school. Esme rocked back on her heels as her sister threw her arms around her, and held her as tightly as she could. She placed her own arms protectively around the young girl.

"Thank you Miss Cackle. It means a lot to me, to us." Her eyes sought out Ethel who was standing just out of her reach, but the look wasn't acknowledged. Her heart sank; she didn't want things to return to this state so quickly. She had hoped Ethel would relent a little. She didn't want anything other than to be in the company of both her sisters, but Ethel never seemed to see it that way, always imagining some hidden agenda that was never there.

"I thought mother was sending someone to collect you." Only Ethel could make the sentence sound bitter; as though she was the one who wanted to leave the festivities and head back to a house that had all the welcoming ambiance of a mausoleum. The place had never been particularly full of life but, since the ruling of the Great Wizard, every day had been a trial. Her mere presence in the house serving as a constant reminder of all that had befallen the family name.

"I'm sure Mrs Hallow will understand." Esme was grateful for the unexpected intervention by Miss Cackle. "We'll get word to her, don't you worry."

Ethel scowled at the comment, but said nothing. There was some sharp comment on the tip of her tongue - Esme was certain of that - but whatever it was Ethel kept it to herself, turning on her heel and stalking away.

"Esmeralda. I think perhaps we should have a few words." There was that small, almost sad, smile on Miss Cackle's face. Esme swallowed nervously; not certain that she wanted to know what was coming. She gently attempted to prise herself away from Sybil, but her sister only clung on tighter, her head buried in the folds of her jacket. "Syb, please. I'll only be a few minutes." She looked to Miss Cackle for confirmation, and received a nod of agreement. "I'll be straight back."

"Promise?" The muffled word was barely audible.

"I promise." She tried again, and this time felt Sybil's grip loosening. "Clarice and Beatrice are just over there. I'm sure they'll want to talk to you after everything that's happened today."

Sybil's hands finally dropped away, and Esme caught sight of the tears that were brimming in her youngest sister's eyes. She smiled and gently wiped them away with her thumb as they silently fell. "Today is a day for happiness Syb, not tears." She squeezed her shoulders, and then turned her around and pointed her in the direction of her two friends. She had sensed them hovering on the edge of her peripheral vision, wanting to come over, but not wanting to intrude. She smiled at the two girls and gave Sybil a gentle push in their direction. Bea acknowledged her with a wide grin, and then moments later she lost sight of the three of them as they wrapped arms around each other and disappeared into the crowd. Sybil would be fine; she had good friends who would look after her.

She turned back to speak to Miss Cackle and the world swam alarmingly before her eyes. She gripped the back of the nearest chair for support, and willed the room to stop spinning.

"Are you alright?" There was concern in Miss Cackle's voice but Esme imagined that she could sense a note of fear mixed in there as well.

"I'm fine," she replied, trying to convince herself as much as the witch in front of her. Her fingers burned red hot and she fought to keep her magic contained. "I'm just tired…it's been something of a long day."

"Perhaps the little chat can wait."

"No really. I'm fine. Honestly." She forced a smile onto her face. "I think it was all that dancing. I think I'm a little out of practice."

"If you're sure my dear…"

"I'm sure," Esme gripped the back of the chair tighter. She had just regained her magic; she wasn't about to do anything that might see it taken away again.

Melody Evensong sighed heavily as a fat raindrop splashed down with an audible slap upon the brim of her hat. It was bad enough being sent out on Halloween of all nights, the one thing she didn't need was for the heavens to open and leave her looking like a drowned rat. She hefted her broom from her left to her right shoulder and pushed up the brim of her hat with her free hand. The broom, which had served her well since her first year at school, had carried her halfway up the hill before deciding that it wasn't prepared to go any further. It had, at least, had the decency to lower her gently to earth, rather than plummeting from the sky like a dead weight. She'd tried tapping it firmly and threatening it with summary burning on a bonfire if it didn't buck its ideas up, but it had simply stayed on the ground and sulked. Melody wasn't a hundred percent certain that a broom could sulk, but it was the only rational explanation she could think of.

She sighed again as her right boot sank deep into the soft earth. It was as though everything in the world was conspiring against her. She took a pause and tried to gather her thoughts. She'd been taught to centre her thoughts and to try and find the positives in any situation. She chewed her lip and then tried screwing her eyes tight shut. The rain fell heavily down upon her and she gave up trying to be positive and let out a long stream of invective that would not be considered becoming to a member of the witches council.

She was one of the youngest witches to be co-oped onto the council. She'd imagined, upon joining, that she'd been brought in to shake things up, and to try and bring in a new, forward looking, momentum to modern witching. Now it was starting to dawn on her that she was only there to pick up the work that no other council member in their right mind would take on.

The story coming out of Cackle's Academy beggared belief. The Great Wizard himself had swooped in and removed one member of staff to some other location, and that's when she'd been called in…. After all the action was over, because they needed someone to ask all the awkward questions regarding how the school's founding stone had come to lose its magic in the first place.

The rainfall became noticeably heavier and Melody pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. She shouldn't be out traipsing along muddy paths and unkempt undergrowth on Halloween. She should be with her own coven, singing, and knocking back a glass or two of something. Above the steady pounding of rain she heard the unmistakable sound of twigs snapping.

"If you want to try some sort of Halloween prank, you're going to have to try harder than that!" Honestly, did they really think she'd not hear their approach when they had all the subtlety of a ten tonne elephant. There was no response, no stepping out of the shadows to own up to their actions. Melody's sigh became heavier. What was Ada Cackle teaching her students these days. "Come on girls," she was starting to lose patience. "Whilst you may think yourselves rather clever, you're not. You really should know the basics of a sneak potion by now."

She spun smartly on her heel, ready to catch her pursuers in the act, a spell on the tip of her tongue ready to scare them with. If they wanted to prank a member of the witch's council, they were going to have to work a lot harder.

The words of the spell were lost as she surveyed the space in front of her and saw nothing but the trees and bushes. She had heard them, heard them above the sound of the pounding rain. She'd not imagined it.

"Come on," she called out into the darkness. "I don't have time for this!"

Somewhere over her shoulder she heard a faint rustling sound. It grew in volume and within moments the bushes that surrounded her started moving as though whipped up by a gust of wind. She stood in the patch of stillness where only the rain fell and tried to fight against the wave of fear that was steadily rising within. Her heart thumping hard against her ribcage, adrenaline racing through her body as it reacted to the danger she was in. The rustling behind her grew louder, the air around her swirling and battering against the vegetation but leaving her untouched. She flexed her fingers, her broomstick clattering to the floor as she turned smartly, and prepared to face what was coming for her head on.

The scream that followed rent the air. Wildlife venturing out on their night-time prowl paused in mid-step as they heard the shrill cry. Dark magic walked abroad.