Hannah always loved magic. Not your magician and tricks type of magic. More like the witches, wizards, and warlocks kind.

Hannah was your typical sixteen going on seventeen high-school junior. Being self-conscious, she hid her love for magic from her friends. The only person who had any clue was her neighbor, Eddie.

It was the night of Halloween. Hannah was having her two closest friends over to spend the night and help hand out candy to the kids in the neighborhood while her parents went trick-or-treating with her younger brothers.

"This looks like the last bag," Jennifer stated as she walked out of Hannah's front door. She was dressed in an over-the-top vampire costume. Including extra pale foundation on her already pale skin, and blackish-purple lipstick to enhance the visual of her fake fangs. She glided, in character, down to the end of the driveway where they had their foldout chairs and candy cauldron set up. Hannah was delighted with her friend's excellent acting skills.

"Really? That sucks," Tina pouted as she tried shifting on her chair, but found it difficult from the massive angel wings attached to her back. Then her dark-brown eyes lit up with an idea. "I'll go check with Eddie, I mean Captain America, over there to see if he has any to spare."

Before anyone could object, Tina stood up, repositioned her wings, and tugged down on her snug, white mini-dress. She made her way to Eddie, who was handing out candy from the bottom of his driveway too.

It was entertaining for Hannah and Jennifer to watch Tina flirt with Eddie by touching and commenting on his fake foam biceps. Tina had a crush on Eddie for as long as Hannah could remember. She always found it amusing that Tina would find ways to see him whenever she was hanging out at Hannah's house.

Tina was still with Eddie in his driveway by the time Hannah handed out the last piece of candy. Luckily, the night sky had gotten darker, and the air was getting colder. The crowds of kids had fizzled down to small spurts here and there.

"Tina!" Hannah hollered to get her friend's attention. "Jen and I are going inside to start the scary movie marathon. Are you coming?"

Tina nodded, gave Eddie an extended hug, and followed Hannah and Jennifer inside, still adjusting her wings and fidgeting with her dress.

*****

By the end of the second movie, it was just past midnight, and the three girls agreed they didn't want to watch another and decided to go upstairs to Hannah's room. Hannah's parents and brothers were already asleep. Not wanting to wake anyone, Hannah reminded the girls to walk ever so quietly to her room. The wood floors tended to creak with each step and somehow sounded louder at night than they did during the day.

"Hey, what's this?" Tina asked, tossing her angel wings and halo on her backpack, by the bed, and picked up a book on Hannah's side table.

Hannah had obtained a stack of different spellbooks over the years. She thought she had hid them all away in her closet, and cursed herself for having forgotten one. "Oh, that? It's nothing, just something fun I thought we could check out while we are still in the Halloween spirit," she said, trying to sound convincing.

"'Spells Real Spellcasters Should Know'?" Tina said, reading the title quizzically. She flipped through the pages. "Oh my gosh, there's a love spell in here! Could we try it so Eddie would fall in love with me?"

Jennifer and Hannah giggled at Tina's request as they changed out of their costumes.

"But then he won't truly love you, Tina. Are you sure you want that kind of spell?" Jennifer pointed out. She looked at Tina through Hannah's full-length mirror while wiping off her vampire makeup.

"Hmm," Tina said, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Yes! It doesn't have to be endless love. Just enough love, so he will want to make out with me and possibly be my first."

"Tina!" Hannah almost choked on her saliva. "Don't you want your first time to be with someone who loves you just as much as you love them, without the help of a magic spell?"

"No! This isn't the 1950's. Sex is just sex now, people don't have to be madly in love to have sex."

"I say let's just do the spell for Tina, so she'll stop all this Eddie nonsense," Jennifer said. She felt the same annoyance about Tina's infatuation with Eddie as Hannah did.

Jennifer moved to sit on the bed with Hannah and Tina as she brushed her brownish-red pixie-cut hair.

Having tried many spell castings over the years, Hannah knew that the probability of one working was low. She sighed and agreed to help. She took the book from Tina and read what ingredients to use, the steps to complete, and words to chant.

"Okay. It says we need something of his to make sure we connect the love spell to the right person. We may have to do this tomorrow. Then you can ask him for one of his hats or shirts or something," Hannah stated, feeling slightly uncertain if she wanted to go through with casting a spell on Eddie. Even if it didn't work.

"Why wait?" Tina asked, confused.

"Well, do you already have something of his with you?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"No, but we can get his attention from here and have him give us something right now," Tina insisted, pointing towards Hannah's window.

Hannah looked at the time on her phone. "Tina, it's half-past midnight. He's probably sleeping right now."

Tina got up from the bed, fixed her mini-dress once more, and walked over to the window. She opened the blinds and looked directly across the way to the window that was parallel to Hannah's. The light was still on. "He looks like he's awake to me."

Hannah and Jennifer looked at each other as Tina looked around the room. She grabbed a few pencils from Hannah's pen-holder on her desk, went back to the window, swung it wide open, and started chucking the pencils. Hannah was impressed with Tina's aim. It only took three tries before Eddie raised his blinds and opened his window. When he saw who was trying to get his attention, he stepped into the light, and his hazel eyes softened as he smiled.

"Hey!" his firm voice said in a loud whisper. "What are you girls up to? Did the scary movies get to you? Do you need me to come over to protect you?"

Tina giggled at his questions. "No, we're fine and I'm sorry to bother you at a time like this," Tina said, leaning on the windowsill to purposely enhance the exposure of her cleavage. "But I was wondering if I could borrow one of your shirts? Silly me. I forgot my pajamas at home. And Hannah's tiny clothes don't fit me at all," Tina said sweetly while batting her dark eyes helplessly.

Hannah was in shock and awe that her friend's lie worked. Within moments, Eddie happily obliged Tina's request and flung one of his large t-shirts through the window to her open arms. She thanked Eddie and said she'd return it the next day. He insisted that he wanted her to keep it. Tina had beautiful mahogany skin, and even though Hannah couldn't see it, she could tell Tina was blushing.

She blew Eddie a kiss and said goodnight before closing the window and blinds again. She sat back down on Hannah's bed and victoriously handed her Eddie's shirt.

"Wow, girl. You've got skills," Jennifer said, in amazement while clapping quietly at Tina's performance.

"Thank you. So, what else do we need?" Tina said, eager to start casting the spell.

"I need something of yours," Hannah said, looking at the spell instructions. Without much thought to it, Tina took off her costume and gave it to Hannah, leaving her in just her white strapless bra and matching white underwear. Hannah and Jennifer laughed lightly at Tina's quick reactions. "Okay, now we need salt, a cup of warm water, and a candle, preferably a thick candle, it states, but it's not required. It also states that the color of the candle should be pink for young love, red for lust, or white for your soulmate."

"I think we should go with lust, don't you? And do you have any thick candles?" Tina asked, wrapping one of Hannah's extra blankets around her shoulders.

Tina was in luck; Hannah had a whole stash of different candles that she collected over the years to help her perform various spells. Hannah excused herself and crept downstairs to get a cup of warm water and the big container of salt from the pantry. As she came back into her room, Tina was putting on her pajamas that she hadn't really forgotten. While Jennifer was curiously sifting through more pages of the spellbook.

Hannah set the cup of water and salt on her desk, then opened her closet to get her box of candles out. She was thankful that her friends were distracted, so they wouldn't see how many candles she had. She rolled the candles around until she spotted a perfect, thick, rose-red candle.

Tina saw the candle as Hannah placed it on the desk next to the salt and giggled with excitement.

"Now, are you sure you want lust? You understand that if this works, that means Eddie could be horny for you until the spell wears out," Hannah said with a warning.

"That's what I want," Tina insisted. "How long will the spell last for anyway? Do you think it could last at least until the Winter Formal?"

"That's just over six weeks from now if my calculations are correct. Let me see if there is any guidance about timing," Hannah reached out her hand for the book, which Jennifer gladly gave.

"Hannah, you really seem to know a lot about this stuff. Have you done spells before?" Jennifer asked suspiciously.

Hannah didn't realize how much she was giving away to her friends until Jennifer said something. She thought about lying for a moment, but then decided it was probably best she told them the truth.

"Yes. I've done spell casting now for the last six years. I started when I was ten with small things, but now I know how to do them properly for the most part," Hannah admitted. "But my spells only tend to work some of the time, so there's no guarantee this will work."

"Wow...really? What kind of spells have you tried that worked?" Tina asked curiously while she wrapped her braids up with a silk scarf.

"I think I got it to rain once, so we didn't have to run outside for P.E," Hannah admitted.

"That's pretty awesome! Maybe you can work a spell on me next, so I won't fail History class," Jennifer suggested.

"You also wouldn't fail History class if you actually studied for it," Tina teased and jabbed Jennifer in the arm with her elbow.

"I know, but a spell would be so much easier," Jennifer giggled.

Hannah returned to looking at the love spell for Tina. She went to her desk and first picked up the salt container. With it, she poured the contents onto her laminate wood floor and drew a heart with the salt grains. Hannah placed it back on the desk, then set the red candle in the center of the salt heart. Next, she grabbed Eddie's shirt and Tina's dress and formed them within the heart, hugging the candle.

"Wow, that looks beautiful," Tina admired Hannah's work.

"Okay, now it's your turn."

"What do I do?"

"First, light the candle. While you're lighting it, don't talk, and only think about you and Eddie. Think about whatever it is you want from him, relationship-wise," Hannah said, handing Tina a box of matches. "Also, don't blow the match out, you want to put it out in the warm cup of water. The sound of the match fizzing out will give the water an extra boost to help make the spell last you until the Winter Formal."

"Awesome!" Tina said, understanding the instructions. "That's it?"

"No. Then you'll want to take the water and pour it steadily over the clothes. Without putting out the candle, and repeat these words, 'Love is blind, but I want to let it shine' until the water is all poured out. Then we leave it like that until the morning. Which is when you should see the first signs of love from Eddie to you."

Tina focused herself and followed the steps Hannah instructed her to do. Hannah and Jennifer sat quietly on her bed, watching Tina perform the spell. When it was over, Tina looked at her friends and smiled. "It's going to be hard to get sleep now. I can't wait to see Eddie tomorrow!"

"Hey, listen to this spell," Jennifer said, interrupting Tina's moment. "It's called the Inter-Dimension spell. It says, 'Legend has it - if you stand in front of a mirror holding a cup and a candle, you can open a doorway between dimensions.' Let's try this spell! I would love to see another dimension."

"I don't usually like messing with dimension-related spells. You never know who or what or where the other dimension reveals, and I've read some pretty crazy stories on spellcaster forums," Hannah warned.

"Oh, don't be such a scaredy-cat. We'll be right here. Plus, you already have the cup here and a box of candles," Tina insisted.

Hannah felt the pressure of appeasing her friends and reluctantly agreed to do it. She looked at the spell more closely. She read and re-read the instructions. When she read the disclaimer, she hesitated. It stated that once the dimensions opened, it wouldn't reopen until the same phase of the moon came back. That means, whatever was going to happen would last a whole lunar month.

Nervously, Hannah took several deep breaths as she picked a small white candle from her box. She struck a match, lit the candle, and held it in one hand while the now empty cup was in her other hand. Taking one more deep breath, Hannah turned to face her full-length mirror in the corner of her room. She stood there staring into the mirror with her friends holding hands and watching from her bed.

At first, nothing happened, but then just as Hannah was breathing a sigh of relief that the spell wasn't working, the candle blew itself out, and the mirror turned pitch black.

__________________________________________________________________________

Author Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you continue reading further. I would be ever so grateful for feedback/comments on anything that stood out to you.

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