Kyla wants to scream. Or cry. Or die. Or do all three. She shouldn't limit herself. 

Why? Because Park freakin' Siyeon is going to be at her house in two hours. 

Park Siyeon: the most popular girl in the ninth grade, the pretty girl that sits next to her in Honors Biology, and now Kyla's project partner for said class.  They were supposed to go to the library after school, but the library was closed today without warning. A slew of nasty storms over the past week caused some flooding, apparently. Siyeon would've volunteered her own house if she didn't have two younger sisters that are too curious about new visitors and potential friends. So, that left Kyla's house.

The Massie residence: a pretty ordinary, perfectly normal, and painfully suburban house on the outside. And a literal witch's cottage on the inside. Giant pewter cauldron in the fireplace, jars of strange liquids and various animal parts, plants with teeth and spikes, books of weird symbols and diagrams, the works. 

Oh yeah, Kyla's a witch. Just like her mom. And her mom's at work right now so she can't help Kyla with the spells to make their home look not as witchy. And instructions for the incantations she needs is too hard to describe over text. And Kyla definitely can't do this with a phone call. And worst of all, this isn't something that can be googled. 

Basically, she's screwed. 

Kyla's roped her siblings into helping her 'de-magic' the place. Or as Karisa called it, ''make it look super boring and lame.''  Her brother and sister can't help much in the magic area. It's only the women in their family that have the potential to have magical capabilities-- so that rules out Luke. And Karisa's still young and hasn't shown any signs of having magic yet.

But like all middle children, Kyla is a problem solver. She gets the two of them to tidy up the kitchen, living room, and bathroom. And hide the really weird magical stuff in their mom's workshop. Which is a glorified storage room where she brews potions and enchants objects and does other witchy things. This includes taking all the jars of questionable contents, packing them into empty boxes, and stowing them away. Relocating the scary plants to their mother's terrarium in the garage. Re-shelving all the spell books and ancient texts. Rolling up the scrolls. And blowing out all the creepy candles. (They leave the scented ones still burning-- because it's fall and cinnamon sugar apple butter smells delicious). 

Kyla has to deal with all the actual enchanted things. The wall colors that change according to the weather outside are covered up with shades of dull and drab beiges and browns. Talking mirrors are quieted with silencing spells. The subjects in the moving portraits and photographs are held still with freezing jinxes. Their pet crow Poe and their owl Rutabaga are released from their cages and ordered outside (they were not pleased at first with this eviction but Kyla promised them extra treats next week so they happily flew away to who even knows where). The old family cat is allowed to stay inside the house because well, a black cat is fairly normal as far as pets go. And all Beatrice does is sleep anyway.

The two hours go by too fast. The doorbell rings. Luke and Karisa agree to stay in their bedrooms and out of Kyla's way. Mostly because when Kyla gets nervous, her magic gets a lil' awry. 

Kyla briefly considers not answering the door. But it's raining outside and Siyeon's mom drove all the way here so that idea is quickly shot down. Politeness is a curse.

After a quick look-over in the now-silent mirror (at least her bangs looked okay), Kyla opens the door in a way she hopes is very relaxed and low-key. 

''Hey Kyla!'' Siyeon beams. She's wearing a bright yellow raincoat with the hood pulled up and all of her hair's tucked inside so only her face is visible. Her backpack looks huge and heavy enough to have its own gravitational pull. Right now, Kyla thinks Siyeon looks like a cute little duckling with a turtle shell on its back-- if such an animal even exists. (She'll have to check her mom's animal encyclopedia later). 

But then Kyla realizes she's been staring at Siyeon for way too long. She pretty much yanks the front door open even wider and mumbles ''come in.''  

Siyeon waves at her mom's minivan as it pulls out of the driveway and then kind of stumbles inside with her wet sneakers but Kyla holds her steady. ''Thanks for inviting me on such short notice! Oh, and I brought cookies.'' She shoves a plastic bag with said cookies in Kyla's face, almost punching her in the process.

Kyla's not a huge fan of store-bought desserts. (Why would she be when she can bake her own from scratch and have them taste twice as good?) But Siyeon doesn't know that, so Kyla smiles and says her thanks. She takes the cookies and Siyeon's backpack (which she thinks is packed to the top with big rocks) to the kitchen. 

She returns with clean rags to mop up the puddles. And has one look at Siyeon and laughs, genuinely laughs, at the Siyeon's hair. No long tamed by the jacket, the inky black strands are sticking out at all sides and ends and swaying around like seaweed at a rave. 

Siyeon doesn't even ask what Kyla finds so funny. She already knows. ''Yeah, it gets like this whenever it's stormy outside,'' she explains with a sheepish grin. ''It's all the static. It gets real bad this time of year.''

''Yeah, the weather in October isn't the most consistent.''

''And in October there's a lot of magic in the air.''

Kyla swears that her heart stops beating.

''Like, Halloween?'' Kyla nervously laughs (and internally panics). The possibility of having a heart attack right now at fourteen years old seems very likely and more embarrassing than tragic.

''Well, yeah. But it happens all month long,'' Siyeon's not even looking at Kyla now-- she's too busy looking in the mirror and tying her hair up into a slightly-more-sedated ponytail. ''Right now is when everyone's magic's at its strongest but most unstable. And a lot of magical beings try to suppress their magic at this time of year because of it. Like you, for example.''

Kyla is about to throw up. ''I-- I don't know what you're talking about.'' 

Luckily, Siyeon's more forgiving than most pretty, popular freshmen girls. She merely turns back to Kyla, ponytail swinging behind her, and tilts her head towards Kyla's shirt. ''Your necklace.''

Kyla immediately clutches at the silver chain around her neck and looks down. . There it is. A large silver pendant, in the shape of a crescent moon, given by her mother to help keep her magic under control. Kyla never leaves the house without it-- hides it underneath her shirt when she goes out (it's kind of an eyesore)-- and lets it hang free the minute she gets home. Which means Siyeon can clearly see Kyla's pendant glowing bright ing blue right now from all the magic in the air. (If Kyla didn't cast a silencing spell on the mirror, that obnoxious piece of glass would've reminded her to hide the stupid necklace again before letting Siyeon inside). 

''Oh.'' 

Siyeon's teasing grin softens into something more gentle and warm. ''Hey, it's fine. Don't worry about it.'' She proceeds to tug at the collar of her sweater, revealing a gold chain hanging around her neck. And then deadass dives underneath the fabric with the other hand.

She fishes out a large gold pendant, in the shape of the sun. It is currently glowing a very casual shade of neon orange.

''I picked you to be my project partner because I thought you were cute,'' Siyeon confesses with a completely shameless grin. ''But the fact that you're a fellow witch makes you even cuter.''

Once again, Kyla cannot decide whether she wants to scream, cry, die, or do all three. 

She ends up doing none of the above. Instead, Kyla goes with a more eloquent approach. 

''Okay, what the is going on?''

A/N: If you thought that the 'Wee Woo' MV directly inspired this chapter and this pairing, then congrats! You are correct.