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I grab my notebook and flip to the notes I have written down for this day. Sure enough, I’ve writtenSpell Circlein red and circled it several times.

I groan.

Goddess, I hope I don’t regret agreeing to this.

* * *

At 10:00 p.m., after most of my coven sisters have either made their way back to their rooms or headed out to another party this weekend, I sit in the house’s library, flipping through a book on Indigenous witchcraft in Peru, jiggling my leg a little.

There are no windows in here, but even without looking, I know the new moon is all but invisible out in the night sky, and I try not to let that spook me too much.

In spellwork, a new moon is good for illusion, hiding the truth, and cloaking enchantments. It also happens to be good for dark magic, when the goddess’s third eye has wandered away from the earth.

I hear the soft pad of footfalls, and I set my book down just as Kasey enters the library.

“Hey, good to see you,” she says, nodding to me. “Ready to go?”

Nope. Not one bit.

“Yeah,” I lie, getting up and crossing over to her. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Kasey says cryptically, giving me a wink, as though this is all in good fun and not at all unnerving.

She leads us out of the library and walks down the hall opposite the kitchen. I haven’t gone this way much, though on the left is a small attached greenhouse, where even now a witch is watering plants.

We pass it, then continue. I feel the sharp absence of Nero, who is out gallivanting in the woods, too busy being a fluffy forest creature’s nightmare to attend some spell circle. That cat, as moody as he is, is my rock. Without him by my side, my nerves are just a pinch more frayed.

At the end of the hall is a door to the Ritual Room. It’s where house meetings and official ceremonies are held. We had a brief welcome-back meeting here during my first week and another one about a week ago, so I’m not totally unfamiliar with the space.

Kasey enters the room ahead of me, walking confidently down the makeshift aisle, brushing her hands along the chairbacks nearest her.

I hesitate, looking beyond her at the dark room. The walls and ceiling are painted black, and there are no windows; even the wall sconces and the iron chandelier barely give off light. It’s not exactly the room I want to be hanging out in at night.

Not that I’m doing any of this for the fun of it.

Reluctantly, I follow Kasey in, our footsteps echoing around us. Like the rest of the house, various wards and enchantments cloak this space. But in here, with the dark walls that feel like they’re closing in on you, the magic feels a bit suffocating.

“Are we meeting other people here?” I ask, eyeing the rows of empty chairs that have been left out after the room’s last meeting.

“Not exactly,” she says, offering nothing else.

Her cryptic response sets my frazzled nerves further on edge.

Kasey doesn’t stop walking until she reaches the back wall of the room.

She pulls out a vial from her pocket and pours a powdered concoction of herbs and who knows what else into the palm of her hand.

She lifts it to her face. “Reveal yourself,” she whispers, then blows the powder at the wall.

Where a moment ago there was solid, unbroken wall, now there is a simple black door.

I’m speechless at the hidden door.

Kasey turns to me with a mischievous grin. “Pretty neat, huh? This coven is full of secret stuff.” She grabs the doorknob. “Ready to see more?”

I nod, struck by the sight—and the realization that there’smore.

Kasey opens the door, and on the other side of it is a small white room. The only thing remotely interesting about this room is that it houses what looks like a spiral staircase, one that twists below my line of sight.