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Of all the places Lincoln’s family could have moved to, he had not expected Salem to be on the list. And the fact his parents decided to move in October just made it feel all the more like they were messing with him.
“What, scared of witches?” Amanda, his sister, teased.
“Shut up. And there’s no such thing.”
“You sure? You wook a wittle frightened baby Wincoln.” She leaned across the pile of snacks between them, going to pinch her baby brother’s cheek. He ducked, hitting his head on the car window.
“I’m not a baby,” he shot back, “I’m fourteen.”
“Itty bitty babe’s ‘fraid of mean ol’ witches.”
“I’m not afraid of witches. If they did exist, which they don’t, they’d probably be a whole lot nicer than you.”
“Hey, be nice you two,” their mother reprimanded, turning in her seat.
Lincoln folded his arms and huffed as Amanda sat back in her seat with a smile.
“I wasn’t doing anything,” Lincoln muttered.
“Well, still be nice. And Mandy, stop giving your brother a hard time will you?”
“I was just being sisterly.”
“You were being an asshole,” Lincoln said with his chin to his chest.
“What did I just say?”
Lincoln bit the inside of his cheek and stared pointedly at the floor of the car, watching as a water bottle rolled out from under his mother’s seat.
“You know, they have a whole museum on witches here,” their father said brightly. It was his habit to cheerfully break into a conversation right after it had gotten uncomfortable. “Now, personally, I’m not completely convinced there aren’t witches here.”
“Seriously?” Lincoln said, looking at his dad in the rearview mirror. Amanda just rolled her eyes and laughed goodnaturedly.
Their mother shook her head with a hand over her face. “Oh, Peter.”
“What? Who’s to say witches didn’t live here? Who’s to say they aren’t still wandering about today?”
“Okay, dad,” Amanda said, “we’ll let you have your witch theory. We still love you even when you’re wrong.”
Lincoln and their mother laughed as Peter Campbell gave a little “tsk” and shook his head.
“Mark my words,” he said overdramatically, “there be witches here in Salem.”
Four Years Later
Daisy was quite a skilled witch. She was a good flier, could deliver a mean jinx, and was rather proud of her transfiguration spells. Her potions, however, left something to be desired.
“Have Fitz help you,” her father said when he assigned her the task of looking after the shop. He and Daisy’s mother were off to visit Daisy’s sister Kora in Boston. She had just become an official healer there and they were off to help her set up her new apartment. Daisy could’ve tagged along, but school made it hard and someone needed to watch the shop.
To the human eye, the little apothecary was just a nice tourist attraction meant to look like the Salem of old. However, the witches and wizards of the area knew better and went there for their day to day magical needs. It was helpful that the two owners were each suited to the different sides of the business. Jiaying, a gifted witch herself, manned the more magical part of the operation while Cal, a human, dealt with the rest. Since Kora had moved away, Daisy was the only one left to help around the place. With her parents out, it was quite the task to do all by one’s lonesome. Luckily, she had friends to help her out.
“You know you’re supposed to be helping me. Helping. Not sitting there eating chocolate and watching me struggle,” Daisy said, plucking the bottle lavender from the collection of vials floating about the kitchen. It was a neat little trick Mack had taught her; to keep one’s workspace clear, have the needed ingredients float about you. Very useful. Plus, Daisy thought it looked cool.
“We are helping,” Bobbi said.
“Yeah, Daisy,” Fitz agreed as he unwrapped another piece of chocolate, “we’re providing encouragement and emotional support.”
“Well can you emotionally support me by helping?” Daisy said. She flicked a few grains of lavender into the pot. It hissed, sending up a cloud of peach colored vapor. Daisy grimaced and looked to Bobbi.
“Hey, Bobbi, you know potions right?”
“I’m a herbologist.”
Daisy gave her a yes, and? look.
“Yeaaah, different speciality, Dais. Ask Fitz.”
“I’m not potions,” Fitz said, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth from all the chocolate.
Daisy huffed. “Well, will one of you tell me if it’s supposed to be pink? Because it’s pink.”
Fitz jumped up from his seat, nearly choking on his bite of chocolate. “It’s pink? How in the bloody hell did you turn a sleeping draught pink?”
“I don’t know!” Daisy snapped, backing away as Fitz looked over the cauldron, “I’m not a potions master! You’re the potions master!”
“For the hundredth time, I'm not a potions master. I’m a fix-it Wizard.”
“Yeah, but you’re good at potions.”
“Big gap between good at potions and potions master,” he said.
“Can you help me or not? Lincoln is picking me up any minute now for our three year anniversary and I need this batch done before I can go.”
Dropping his shoulders Fitz tapped Daisy away from the stove. “There’s no fixing this in ten minutes.” He saw the look of desperation on his friend’s face and sighed, “Yeah yeah yeah, I can stay and fix it. I’ll have to restart the batch, though. Seriously, I have no idea how you turned it pink.”
“What did Daisy turn pink?” Mack asked, entering the little kitchen with sandwiches and sitting next to Bobbi. He took his wand out of his pocket and placed it and the bag of sandwiches on the counter.
Bobbi took a sandwich from the paper bag and began unwrapping it as she replied, “A sleeping draught.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be blue?” Mack said, trying not to smirk.
There was a loud splash as Fitz dumped out the cauldron into the designated side of the sink. “Supposed to be,” he said.
“Listen, I was only partly paying attention,” Daisy tried to justify.
“It’s alright, Tremors, we know potions aren't your thing. Also, front bell’s broken again.”
Daisy groaned, leaning her head back before thunking her forehead against Fitz’s shoulder.
“Seriously, what did you do to that thing?” Bobbi laughed.
“I’ve got no clue,” Daisy said, “And it wasn’t just me. Kora’s jinx hit it too!”
“Why doesn’t your mom just replace it, again?” Mack asked.
Fitz was the one who answered. “It’s historical. An original part of the shop. What? Jiaying told me while I was helping her repair that broken box of wine glasses.”
“You’re a dork,” Daisy said, ruffling her friend's hair.
“A dork who is fixing your potion for you. Now can you please hand me the jar of chamomile?”
Turning to grab the requested jar from the many floating up above, it was then that Daisy caught sight of a figure frozen in the kitchen entryway. Lincoln. Eyes wide, mouth agape, and bouquet of daisies and white roses hanging limp at his side.
The objects floating about all crashed to the earth, causing Fitz to jump about a foot in the air and let off a string of curse words as Bobbi and Mack spun to stare at the new arrival.
“Lincoln,” Daisy said, a bit of panic leaching into her voice.
“Oh shite,” Fitz muttered, trying in vain to hide the bubbling cauldron.
Bobbi ducked her head low. “Uh oh.”
Lincoln just continued to stand there, looking between his girlfriend and their friends.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” Daisy said, tripping past Fitz to make her way over to Lincoln.
He limply threw his thumb over his shoulder. “Bell’s broken.”
“Really need to fix that bell,” Fitz whispered. Bobbi threw a chocolate at his face.
Meanwhile, Daisy grabbed lightly onto Lincoln’s arms, applying just enough pressure to signal reassurance. “Listen, I can explain.”
“Those things were floating,” he said.
“Yes. I was just--”
“And Fitz said he was fixing your potion.”
“He did say that.”
“And there’s a wand on the counter,” Lincoln said, pointing to the mentioned object. Mack quickly put his wand pack into his jacket.
Daisy gripped Lincoln a bit tighter. “So I can explain--”
“You’re a witch,” he said, meeting her eyes. There wasn’t any fear, just a bit of surprise in that dazzling blue she was so familiar with.
“Yes,” she said and she gave him a shy smile.
“You’re all witches?”
Fitz gave a thumbs up, Mack pointed with a that’s correct face, and Bobbi bobbed her head with her lips tucked over his teeth. Lincoln nodded slowly several times before an incredulous smile broke over his face. “Well, I owe my dad an apology.”
Daisy’s brows quirked a question.
“Nevermind. Just...wow. That explains a lot. Like how you get places so quickly, and how Fitz fixed my watch so fast, and how Mack could lift all those groceries at once.”
“No, that was just Mack,” Daisy said.
“Oh. But still. Explains a lot.”
Daisy took his hands in hers. “So, are you okay? Not in shock or anything?”
“Most people are a bit in shock when they discover magic,” Bobbi said.
“Or they freak out and try and kill us,” Fitz interjected.
“Or that,” Mack agreed.
Lincoln just shook his head. “Not freaking out. Might be a bit in shock, but mostly I just think it’s cool. I mean, shit, you guys can do magic. I guess there do be witches here in Salem.”