Witch Is When It All Began by Adele Abbott

eye open for anything suspicious.”
    Before I could reply, she’d disappeared.
    Holy moly. I was a witch. An actual witch. I desperately wanted to tell someone, but I couldn’t. Normally, Kathy would have been the first person to have heard my news, but I wasn’t allowed to tell her because she was a mere human. Pah! Humans—ten-a-penny. It’s all about the witches! It was probably just as well that I couldn’t tell her. What kind of reaction would I have got? She’d have probably put in a call to the men in white coats.
    It would have been nice to spend more time practising spells, but it was already mid-morning. Mrs V would be wondering where I was. I’d left my phone in the bedroom, and sure enough when I checked, there were three missed calls—all from Mrs V.
    “It’s me,” I said.
    “Jill? Are you okay? I was beginning to worry when you didn’t answer your phone.”
    “Yeah. I’m okay now. I had a bit of an iffy tummy overnight, so I slept in. My phone was in my coat pocket, so I didn’t hear your calls.” I hated lying to Mrs V, but what else was I supposed to do? She’d have disapproved of the hangover, and I could hardly tell her that I’d been practising spells with the help of my mother’s ghost. “Anything I need to know about?”
    “That stupid cat has got himself caught up in the blinds again.”
    Not again. Winky loved to sit on the window sill, but would occasionally get carried away and launch himself at a bird that was flying past the window. That usually only resulted in a sore head when he crashed into the glass, but occasionally he’d get tangled in the blinds.
    “Did you get him out?”
    “No.”
    “Is he still stuck there?”
    “Just a minute.” I heard her place the phone onto the desk. Next, I heard her open the door into my office, and then slam it closed again. “No. Looks like he got himself out.”
    “Is he okay?”
    There was silence on the other end, and I realised Mrs V was probably shrugging.
    “Okay. Well I’m on my way. Anything else I should know?”
    “You had a call from Mr Peterson. He wanted to know if you had any news for him.”
    “What did you say?”
    “I said I didn’t know. I asked him if he had any idea how to free a cat from a blind.”
    I cringed. “What did he say?”
    “He said he didn’t, but that he’d like you to contact him with an update.”
    “Okay. See you soon.”
    I was going nowhere fast with this investigation, but then in my defence it wasn’t every day that you discovered you were a witch, and had a visit from your mother’s ghost. Not that I could tell Danny Peterson that.
     
    Spells are addictive. After I’d showered and dressed, I started for the door, but my gaze was drawn to the book. Maybe I had time for one more before I left for work. Something quick and simple. I flicked through the pages looking for those with the least number of images to be memorised. Eventually, about two-thirds of the way through the book, I found one with only five images. It was one of the shortest I’d seen. Titled ‘faster’, it allowed you to move at what it described as 'breakneck speed' in short bursts. Hmm, interesting—that could come in handy. I read it through a few times until I was confident I had it memorised. After sliding the book under the sofa, I made my way out into the corridor. I did a quick check to make sure no one was around, and then I cast the spell. Nothing happened. Had I visualised the images out of sequence? There wasn’t time to go back and check, so I began to walk down the corridor. The next thing I knew I was standing next to my car. Wow! I hadn’t made a mistake with the spell. It just hadn’t taken effect until I had started to walk. This was wild.
     
    “Afternoon,” Mrs V greeted me. I took the sarcasm on the chin—I deserved it.
    “Sorry about this morning. Iffy tummy.”
    “Alcohol can do that.”
    The woman knew me too well. No point in arguing—I never was a good liar.
    “What do you