The Coven Sleepover (Part I)

"Let's go! One more lap around the track!" Sir Chiron, the centaur gym teacher called out over a megaphone. "You can do it!"

Students picked up the pace in the open field outside the academy's gymnasium. Towards the kinfolk that seemed to be struggling, the teacher gave a sympathetic smile.

"Come on students, PUSH!"

"I can't go on!" Kyle, red faced and overworked, groaned before he collapsed on the track. Falling over caused a domino effect and the students that were already behind ended up tumbling over the wizard into a sweaty pile. Sir Chiron gasped at the display. Sigmund and his group of friends laughed as they passed the pile straight.

"See what I told you about Kyle pushing?" Sigmund teased. His friends laughed harder, nearly tripping over themselves, much to Kyle's displeasure who heard the comment clearly. Sir Chiron blew his whistle.

"Alright everyone, locker rooms! You're dismissed!"

Quickly, the students in the pile detangled themselves from one another and parted ways into their designated locker rooms to get cleaned up and changed. As Kyle walked into the boy's locker room, he couldn't help but overhear a conversation taking place.

"Wait, seriously? That's a thing?!" One of Sigmund's friends exclaimed. Another nodded, pulling on their white uniform polo shirt and working on the buttons.

"Yeah, I heard the witches have either annual sleepover around the time we have our annual class skip day! Last year, a couple guys from a higher level snuck into the sleepover totally undercover and came back with like, everyone's secrets."

"Secrets?" Sigmund inquired with a smirk and a raise of his brow. "What kind of secrets?"

"Oh, I'm sure you can take a guess~!" As the group of boys snickered with one another, Kyle grabbed his bag from his locker, crossed his arms and walked himself over to the circle. His expression clearly read how unimpressed he was with the whole conversation.

"You're all so immature." Kyle started. "Entertained by the most tasteless, uncouth, childish behavior."

"Why don't you mind your business?" Sigmund scoffed, pulling on his deep purple Milkweed sweater vest. He sat on the bench beside him to change out of his running shoes and back into his school loafers. "Acting all high and mighty like you wouldn't want to know a witch's secrets. Don't think I haven't forgotten about how sly you were at the Yule ball."

"Oh c'mon, don't start with that mess again!" Kyle pouted. Sigmund rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his friends, who continued where they'd left off.

"So if you're down to join the sneak in this year, I've got the details for you and the potion recipes in my dorm!"

"Potion recipes?" Kyle asked. "What are you all on about?"

"What?! Do you wanna join the sneak in or something?" Sigmund spat back sarcastically, throwing the leather strap of his satchel over his shoulder as he stood up again. "Because the way you're interjecting makes it seem like you do."

"No! Of course not!"

"Then how about you MIND YOUR BUSINESS?!"

Sigmund's friends followed behind him as he walked out of the locker room, making sure to push past Kyle on the way out. Throwing them all a nasty look, the wizard followed behind and out into the halls of the academy after switching back into his own uniform and grabbing his bag from his locker. He watched as Sigmund's circle linked up with two upperclassman, swapped notes and parted ways again.

"Higher levels? What in the world are they up to?" Kyle thought aloud. Inside his bag, his Necronomicon pushed itself around to be let out and Kyle quickly complied. "What the—?! What's the urgency?"

"I heard everything from your gym locker!" The book spoke quickly, floating up to the wizard's eye level. "And oh-ho-ho! I must say, their plan is definitely one for the books!" Snatching the book quickly, Kyle slid over to a stairwell, out of the way of the main hall as to not be heard.

"What's happening?"

"Apparently, this isn't the first time this little prank has been done! They've got a potion to cloak themselves to be able to do it!"

"Cloak themselves?"

"And another that's a truth serum! They're planning to pour that potion into some type of food or drink, bring it to the party and give it to any witch they want answers from!"

"What?!"

"I believe there was one other potion, but I don't recall what it was for. The way they spoke of the entire scheme made it sound like a secret agent film! Oh Kyle, you must go! I just HAVE to hear how this turns out!"

"No way! Shut your contents up!"

"But Kyle—!"

Pushing the book back into his bag, Kyle zipped it up and quickly started down the hall again towards his next class. He couldn't believe Sigmund and his friends planned such a risky prank. Pranks were common during Milkweed's end of term season, especially on their annual Skip Class Day, but they were usually harmful. A toad in the teacher's drawer, suds pouring from the courtyard fountain, a top hat and tie left on busts in the halls. Carefree pranks, not sneaking into the neighboring academy during one of their biggest, end of term events kind of pranks! It was unheard of!

As Kyle sat beside Sigmund in Professor Flan's class, he couldn't help but glance at the sorcerer, who was busy taking notes. Leaning into him, Kyle caught his attention.

"I know your plan and you shouldn't go through with it!" Kyle whispered harshly. "It's insane!"

"You don't know anything." Sigmund whispered back. "And it's just a prank! It's gonna be fun!"

"You're gonna get into massive trouble if you're caught.."

"And what does that matter? We're at end of term already. It's time to have fun, try it sometime."

Fun? Is that what students really did for fun? Risky pranks that could get them expelled? Kyle could see the thrill of it all, especially considering he'd never walked the halls of Halfmoon Hallows. And then there was the whole potion aspect of the prank that peaked his interests, just a tad. He couldn't deny it, the curiosity was strong, but was it truly worth it? The red head pouted in thought and turned back to his own notes.

When the school day was finally over, Kyle walked himself to his dorm and set himself up to start his homework once he was inside. Even though tomorrow was Friday and also Milkweed's Skip Class Day, he still didn't want to be stuck doing homework on his free weekend. As he turned on his desk lamp, the door to the room flew open. In came Sigmund and his friends, all laughing at full volume.

"Let me grab it really quick!" Sigmund smiled brightly, rushing over to his desk. Opening the drawer, he pulled the paper that he'd received from the upperclassman earlier. "Here it is~!"

"I've got the ingredients in my bag!" Sigmund's warlock friend, Ivan grinned. He turned to the last boy in the group. "Did you make sure to clean your cauldron last night, Nicolai?"

"Duh!" Nicolai, Sigmund's wizard friend, quickly responded, conjuring said object. "It's spotless!"

"Then let's start!" Sigmund danced, setting a circle of white candles down and around the cauldron. The boys danced in excitement with him, lighting the candles behind him quickly till Kyle cleared his throat.

"EXCUSE ME!" The conjurer shouted. "DO YOU MIND?!"

"Do you?!" Sigmund snapped back, turning his back to Kyle as him and his friends formed a circle. The sorcerer started an instant fire under the ingredient full cauldron and the boys looked into the pot together, linking hands to close the circle. Kyle watched in awe as an aura started to rise from the center of where the boys stood and slowly, he stood up to get a closer look.

"It's working, Sigmund!" Ivan marveled. "Start the chant!"

"Yeah! Start it!" Nicolai nodded.

Sigmund closed his eyes, humming to himself for a moment to focus. After a moment of silence, his eyes suddenly snapped open and exposed glowing, green orbs. A rise of soft wind seemed to pick up and their hair and uniform blazers waved with it. His friends gasped at the display and glanced at one another, smiles growing brightly as they kept back giggles. They had full confidence that out of anyone, Sigmund would be able to make the potion for the prank successfully.

"Universe silence thy lying tongue, may only truth and honesty come, from the rise of the Gemini full moon to the setting of the Sagittarius sun, from thy lips and from thy tongue, till the next full moon doth come. Blessed be."

"Blessed be." His friends chimed in to finish the spell. The cauldron began to bubble and Kyle couldn't believe his eyes. The boys quickly stirred the potion and each filled a vile for themselves. Aura toning down, Sigmund filled a glass vile for himself held it up at eye level to inspect it.

"Ja! Looks good!" He chuckled, the candles around him blowing out. He high-fived his friends and pushed the vile into his blazer pocket. "We've got all three now! We're ready for tomorrow!"

"You're the best, Sigmund!" Ivan praised. "We couldn't have done it without you!"

"Yeah, yeah! I can't wait!" Nicolai added. "See you tomorrow evening!"

Sigmund's friends helped him conjure away their mess before heading out with excited waves and chatter. Sigmund waved back and closed the door behind him, his eyes falling on an impressed Kyle as he turned into the room again. Kyle couldn't believe how effortlessly Sigmund had boiled that potion. He'd tried his hand at potion brewing and cauldron magic before and not only were his formulas off, but his chanting wasn't nearly as clear with the power surge that typically happens during a séance.

"I can't believe how quickly you just did that..." Kyle breathed. "How did you learn to chant like that?"

"Upperclassman have some good tips if you actually go out of your way to make friends." Sigmund responded sarcastically, pulling the vile from his blazer pocket again. "This was my first time making a truth serum though, so I'm surprised I didn't botch the spell."

"Are you really going through with that prank?" Kyle asked, sitting on his bed after kicking off his trainers. Sigmund nodded.

"Ja, it's gonna be a lot of fun!"

"Aren't you worried though? Even in the slightest? What if you're caught?"

"Kyle, we're students. Youths. We're supposed to be having fun in our youth! Haven't you ever done anything a little risky?"

"...not that I can recall."

"See?" Sigmund giggled. "That's why you're always so uptight. You never let loose with friends. You never go out of your comfort zone to try something new. You don't know how to have fun!"

"I can have fun!" Kyle pouted. "I can! I...I'm just not sure about sneaking into their academy is all.."

"And you think I'm sure?" Sigmund laughed. "That's what makes it fun, not knowing what will happen and doing it anyway. Only one other level has ever walked the halls of Halfmoon and they've been Milkweed legends ever since! We got the formulas straight from them. The prank hasn't been done in a long time, so they won't be expecting us!"

"Hm..."

"You know you wanna join~!" Sigmund teased, wiggling his brow towards the wizard. "If you want to, you're more than welcome, as long as you don't come around to kill the mood." As his phone rang, Sigmund pulled it from his pocket and smiled. Heading for the door, he turned to Kyle as he opened it. "You have till tomorrow afternoon to let me know!"

The wizard watched Sigmund leave with the phone to his ear and pouted in thought as the door closed behind him. Was it true? Was he really uptight? Did he really keep to his comfort zone? Managing to wiggle its way out of Kyle's bag, the Necronomicon made an appearance once more. Kyle, deep in thought, hadn't noticed till it spoke.

"Taking Sigmund's offer into consideration?"

"...possibly.." Kyle murmured. "And I can't believe I am." Turning his attention to the book, Kyle's head tilted. "Be truthful, am I uptight?"

"Oh, absolutely!" The book chuckled. Kyle's brows furrowed.

"Do I really stick to my comfort zone?"

"Look where you're seated!" The book laughed loudly. Kyle looked down at his bed and folded his arms coyly. "Without a doubt!"

"When did I become so much like my father?" Kyle sighed, falling backwards into his pillows. "He's such a killjoy and I used to do everything I could to be less like him. Now, Sigmund thinks having me around will kill the mood..."

"Now Kyle.." The book seemed to frown. "I wouldn't go to that extreme. And you heard what Sigmund said, if you want to join in, you can!"

Kyle pouted up at the ceiling in deep thought. At this point, the prank was the last thing on his mind. The first was his character. A killjoy? Didn't know how to have fun? Didn't go out of his way to make friends? It really was all true. All of it. Enough was enough.

Sitting up from his spot in bed, Kyle rushed to the door of his dorm, put on a pair of slippers and opened it. Scanning up and down the hallway, he spotted Sigmund, still talking on his cell phone in front of the student's common area. He rushed over quickly, waving at the sorcerer as he approached him. Sigmund sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I'll call you back, okay?" Sigmund spoke into the phone before hanging up. Kyle gave a sheepish grin. "What now?"

"I'll join you...if you'll have me." Kyle spoke shyly, fiddling with his fingers. Sigmund's eyes sparkled.

"I see~!" He chuckled, throwing his arm over Kyle's shoulder. Kyle squeaked towards the weight of it. "I guess I was wrong about you! Haha! Alright then, let's go back to our room and I'll give you the details!"

When the boys got back to their room, Sigmund filled Kyle in on the entire plan. Phase one, they'd drink from the cloaking potion. From the word of the upperclassman, Halfmoon witches were allowed to bring a plus one to their annual Coven Sleepover, as long as the other party was also a girl, so the academy was bound to be packed full. With the academy full and entertained, they'd move on to phase two of the plan, finding a place to pour in their truth serum. This was something that needed to be calculated, targeted and executed in a timely order. No one cared about any random witch's secrets. It was the popular ones they wanted to hear from. Sigmund's friends had apparently made a list.

"And when we get the information we want, we can look around the rest of the academy till we're ready to go back to Milkweed." Sigmund grinned. "We have one last potion to remove the cloaking one and we'll get out, totally unnoticed."

Hearing the entirety of the plan made Kyle more excited. It actually sounded pretty foolproof. When the following day came around, Skip Class Day, Sigmund's friends had come back to the dorm to finalize plans. Sigmund informed them that Kyle would also be joining the prank, and after a round of nasty looks and a couple minutes of reassurance, they were okay with him taking part.

"I've got the best route to Halfmoon by air on my map." Ivan told the boys. "And don't worry, I have it saved on my phone too. I don't trust us with maps anymore..."

"Send it to my phone too!" Sigmund told him. "I have the truth serum and candles for the lanterns."

"Lanterns?" Kyle asked. Sigmund's friend, Nicolai, nodded.

"Yeah, for the ends of our brooms so we can see where we're flying at night." He responded.

"Don't you think someone could spot us that way?" Kyle pouted.

"There's no air patrol till you're about a mile away from the academy. Don't worry, we've done our research. We'll be alright!"

"Kyle, you clearly don't know my friends very well." Sigmund giggled. "We're very thorough." As the boys giggled with Sigmund, Kyle rolled his eyes.

"For my sake, I sure hope so..." He muttered.

When nightfall finally came, the boys pulled on evening capes, pulled the hoods over their heads and snuck out as quickly as they could. Already, Kyle was regretting joining in on the plan considering they had to reach the Milkweed boarder on foot first before taking off on their brooms. It was a bit of a jog past the courtyard to get to the enchanted forest and Kyle wasn't much of a jogger. At all.

"Will you all slow down?!" Kyle whispered harshly as the boys jogged a couple feet away from him. Sigmund looked over his shoulder.

"Either you keep up with us or you turn around and go back to Milkweed!" He whispered back, keeping his pace. "We're nearly there! We can't slow down now!"

"I can't keep up!"

"You're gonna get us caught by the academy guards! Come on!"

"Sheep shank!" Kyle whined, practically dragging himself through the trees.

Thankfully, none of the guards happened to patrol the area around the courtyard and the boys made it through seamlessly. The forest finally seemed to open up just enough for the full moon to shine down on them from above. Quickly, the boys conjured their brooms, lit the candles in their lanterns and took off into the sky. Kyle did his best to keep up, especially since he didn't have a lantern of his own. He needed the light from the others to keep on the route to Halfmoon.

The boys laughed with one another as they neared the academy. The route had been pretty simple and easy to follow. Seeing the glow of Halfmoon Hallows in the distance only heightened their excitement. The tall, blue pointed pillars and high, palace-like walls of the witch academy were only a few miles away. Ivan pointed downward towards an opening in the Halfmoon side of the boarder.

"Let's land there, put our lights out and get cloaked!" Ivan suggested. The boys nodded and quickly swooped down into the forest once again. Once landed, the boys let their brooms vanish and Sigmund lit his own fire with his hand.

"Here!" Nicolai spoke, handing each boy a vial. "The cloaking potion. Drink up!"

"I hope it doesn't taste bad..." Sigmund muttered as he popped the cork top open and sniffed it. "Doesn't smell that great..."

"Just drink it!" Kyle spat, setting his own vial to his lips. The other boys followed suit and drank, all breaking out into a coughing fit soon after. Sigmund stuck his tongue out.

"Ugh! It's so bitter!"

"HUH?!" The boys seemed to gasp all together. Sigmund's voice just then had sounded rather...feminine. In fact, all the boys seemed to sound a lot lighter. Pulling down the hood of his cape, Sigmund shrieked when blonde locks fell over his shoulders. His friends seemed to have the same reaction towards their own realizations and they all covered their mouths to go unheard.

"WHAT TYPE OF POTION IS THIS?!" Kyle finally shouted, quickly being silenced by the hands of his peers. Girls. All of them, turned to girls. This couldn't be right.

"We were supposed to be cloaked!" Ivan whispered. "What the heck is happening?"

"Those stupid upperclassman..." Sigmund grumbled, coming to a realization. "This was probably their definition of cloaking. They decided to blend in with the rest of the girls instead of just literally cloaking!" Sigmund's friends facepalmed, but Kyle found it hilarious. He covered his mouth to keep the laughter back, but the little fit of giggles came out anyways. Sigmund was annoyed. "Ah, glad someone finds this funny. Not!"

"So much for being thorough!" Kyle mocked.

"What do we do now?" Nicolai asked. Sigmund thought for a moment and turned his attention to the academy behind the trees. From what he was able to see, guests were arriving to the high walls of the school in pajamas and they seemed to be carrying sleeping bags. The sorcerer grinned and quickly conjured on pajamas of his own, making the other 'boys' jump in surprise. It was actually his usual, dark green silky pajamas with a black monogram robe over the top. He conjured a sleeping bag soon after and tucked it under his arm.

"Get in dress code and lets go!" Sigmund laughed. The boys quickly followed suit, but it had taken Kyle a couple tries before he was able to himself. Halloween costume, aliens are cool, but no. Soccer uniform, no. Tuxedo, no.

"Finally!" Kyle smiled when he managed the pajamas. When everyone was within the code, the group rushed out from the forest and quickly did their best to blend in with the crowd of guests that had just arrived to the academy on a school bus. It was pretty easy to migrate into the crowd and the eyes of the boys sparkled as they came into view of the chandeliers at the entrance of the all girl's school.

"Oh my stars..." Nicolai breathed out, pushing a curly lock of brown hair behind his ear. "We're actually in!"

In the main lobby, the group of guests was stopped by a friendly looking, older witch. She was stunning, with wavy strawberry blonde hair, rosy cheeks and light makeup. She gave everyone a warm, welcoming smile and clasped her hands together with joy.

"It's so lovely to see all you beautiful young ladies here in our haven today!" She spoke in a soothing tone. "Welcome to Halfmoon Hallows on our coven night! I'm Lady Glinda, one of the headmasters here. Please see me for anything you need tonight! Anything at all!" Pointing to her left hand side, Lady Glinda shifted everyone's attention. "Down that hall, you can set up your sleeping bags and meet up with your respective students! Have a wonderful evening!"

The guests who had come off the bus quickly rushed down the hall with great excitement while the boys seemed to hesitate. Kyle was the first to follow behind.

"C'mon!" He called out to the rest of the group. They rushed to keep up and found themselves in awe again towards the room the coven was set in. On one side of the room, the decorations were light and airy and on the opposite, the decorations were more dark and gothic. There was a table, full of food and another area of the room where girls seemed to be fixing one another's hair and nails. It was interesting to see the different kinds of witches and their guests, all coming together.

Ivan and Nicolai immediately went for the table of food, grabbing desserts off the table and shoving them into their mouths. Sigmund gasped, snatching them both and pulling them back.

"What are you doing?!" Sigmund whispered. "Stop causing attention to yourselves!"

"Barbarians..." Kyle muttered, joining them around the table while the two worked to clear their throats. "This isn't part of the plan."

"But it all looked so good..." Nicolai whined. Sigmund pinched him. "Hey! Ow!"

"Forget the food!" Sigmund growled. "Who are we using the serum on first?!"

"Oh...right..." Ivan nodded. He paused for a second to look around the room. "I really wanted to use it on Meghan."

"What?!" Kyle gasped. "That grouchy, green colored witch?!"

"For what?!" Sigmund added in. "She's creepy!"

"And weird too." Nicolai spoke. "She's not even on the list we made!"

"I'm fond of her..." Ivan pouted, hiding slightly behind his black hair. "Shut up!"

"Alright, alright. Ugh..." Sigmund scoffed, turning his attention to the room. She couldn't be too hard to find with skin that bright, but to his surprise, there happened to be more than a few pigmented witches in the room. There was one witch that was highly requested though and attention quickly shifted to her when she entered the room.

"Hi Erin!"

"Erin! There you are! I wanna do my hair like yours!"

"Hey Erin, put your sleeping bag near ours!"

Erin the Enchantress, newly nominated for Witch of the Year, had finally made it down to the coven sleepover. Linked arm in arm with her, was her best friend and dormmate Meghan the Malevolent, a dark magic witch that was also newly high ranking. The two couldn't be more opposite from one another, but for whatever reason, they were never seen without one another. The pair wore matching, fuzzy pajamas in different colors. Erin in white and Meghan in black. Sigmund and Ivan's eyes seemed to sparkle at the same time, for different reasons.

"Okay, hurry!" Sigmund whispered, turning back to the circle. "Everyone get a glass of punch at the table." The boys rushed to the table and helped one another to a glass. In Ivan's, he carefully poured a drop of the truth serum into the cup. "Offer it, don't drink from it!"

"Hey, can I get a drop in mine too?" Nicolai asked. "I wanna give my drink to Erin!"

"H-huh?!" Sigmund hesitated, his eyes going wide. "Why her?"

"You're joking, right?!" Nicolai laughed. "Every guy in our class asked me to ask for her secrets! I mean, duh!"

"Yeah, yeah! Definitely ask her!" Ivan grinned. Sigmund couldn't find it in him to offer up the serum to Nicolai. Even though he knew Erin was popular, he hadn't considered this scenario. This wasn't good, at all, mainly because if they asked Erin more personal questions, they'd end up finding out more than one secret this evening. Kyle glanced at Sigmund, who seemed to have zoned out before he snapped at him.

"Hurry up!" Kyle hissed, grabbing Sigmund's attention. "They're sitting down with other witches!"

"Ah..." Sigmund sighed. He did as he was asked and gave Nicolai a drop of the serum. The undercover boys walked themselves over to the circle of witches and gave smiles as they sat down among the group, setting their sleeping bags down to sit on as the other girls had.

"Hi!" Nicolai smiled brightly, giving everyone a wave. The boys followed his lead and also gave waves and smiles. Erin smiled back just as bright and the witches in the circle waved back. Meghan didn't say much.

"Hello~!" Erin waved. "You're so pretty!"

"O-oh! Thank you!" Nicolai blushed. He wasn't exactly expecting a compliment from the witch and when the other witches in the circle nodded in agreement, the boys struggled to keep in their giggles.

"I'm Erin. I study enchanting and chemistry magic! What's your name?"

"Nico-erm, Nicole!" Nicolai grinned. Erin looked to the other "girls" in the circle for their names as well.

"Ivanka!"

"Khloe."

"Um..." Sigmund felt like he was sweating under his robe when Erin's eyes fell on him. He couldn't find it in himself to lie to her and could hardly come up with an answer. Kyle quickly stepped in for him.

"She's Sophie." Kyle spoke up. "She's really shy. Excuse her!"

"Awe! That's okay! Who's your host witch?" Erin asked. "Is she here?"

"H-host witch?" Kyle gulped. What was she on about now?

"Yeah, the Halfmoon witch that invited you!"

"Oh, um-she just ran to the restroom!"

"That's no trouble then! Nice to meet you all. This is my best friend, Meghan!" Meghan folded her arms, clearly not in a bubbly mood to meet anyone new. Ivan offered his drink to her.

"There's so many good snacks at the table over there." He told Meghan. "I had too many already. Do you want my punch? I haven't drank from it."

"Oh...thanks." Meghan half-heartedly smirked, taking the drink from him and immediately taking a sip. She didn't seem to have any noticeable reaction to the serum. The boys gave each other a knowing glance. "Wow! They actually put enough sugar in the punch this year."

"It's not watered down?!" Erin chuckled. "That's a miracle! I should go get some then. I can guarantee the next batch will be awful!"

"Oh, here, take my glass!" Nicolai offered up quickly. "I didn't drink from mine either!" Sigmund watched the exchange between Nicolai and Erin and chewed down on his bottom lip. Before he could sit up from his spot in the circle and stop the transfer, Kyle grabbed his arm and flashed him a suspicious look.

"Okay, what are you up to?" Kyle whispered harshly into the sorcerer's ear when the attention seemed to be away from them for the moment. Sigmund jumped, his head snapping in the direction of the wizard.

"W-What are you talking about?!"

"I saw you! You were about to stop him! You're acting weird. What's the issue?!" Before Sigmund could answer, they were all interrupted by another witch in the circle who stood up. Her blonde pigtails bounced as she waved everyone down.

"Hellooo! Can we play a game or something?" She asked the group of girls. "These sleepovers are always so boring without games!"

"What do you wanna play then, Hannah?" Meghan asked in annoyance. As the witch, Hannah, paused in thought for an idea, Nicolai raised his hand.

"How about Truth or Dare?" He suggested. The girls in the circle all seemed pretty giddy about that idea and a round of giggles swept over them. They all seemed to close in, sitting closer to one another while others called a couple more witches over to play. Again, the boys gave each other a knowing look, but Sigmund didn't seem to be as excited as the rest of them anymore. In fact, he was dreading this.

"Okay, who goes first?" Hannah asked the circle.

"We need a bottle." Nicolai instructed. "You spin it and whoever it lands on has to go."

Hannah quickly conjured a sparkly bottle and sat down again, setting it in the middle of the circle. The witches quickly made room, moving their sleeping bags out of the way. With a twist of her wrist, she gave it a good spin. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, especially when it started to slow down. When it finally stopped, the entire circle erupted in excitement. Erin first. Lucky spin.