I wrote this for Halloween but I think Valentine’s season is actually better for it…
When Jade, Rita and May refused to go to their company’s Halloween party, they used the excuse that they had plans. Then they had to make plans, in case anyone asked for details. May’s flat was the smallest but the cosiest, so Jade and Rita arrived at seven o’clock armed with booze, homemade snacks and old timey games. If Jade was being honest, she could have used an evening at home after a long few weeks wrangling legal contracts. She liked to celebrate the changing of the seasons privately, by going on a walk or meditating. Sometimes she’d even visit her grandmother and listen to her yammer about the wheel of the year and ancient powers shifting and the importance of lighting candles for the ancestors. But there was no way she’d set foot in an office party after last year’s Secret Santa debacle, and May always organised wonderful get-togethers, so booze and games it was.
By nine o’clock, all three women were quite tipsy and very glad they carved turnips while they were on their first glasses of Rita’s ‘spooky sangria.’
They were also glad they waited until they were three glasses in before they tried apple bobbing, courtesy of Jade.
‘This really should have gone out of fashion for good during Covid,’ Rita winced as she wiped her face dry of water and ran a cloth across the kitchen table. Out on May’s tiny balcony, three turnips-with-faces leered at the women. May had been right: turnips really were more sinister than pumpkins.
‘We’re drinking enough to kill any bacteria,’ Jade said cheerfully. ‘More dead cat cake?’
‘The cake stencil was meant to be a normal alive black cat,’ May said sadly over her glass. ‘The doorbell rang at the wrong moment.’
‘It’s atmospheric,’ Jade said bracingly. ‘What’s next?’
Rita grinned and whisked a sports bag from under the table, pulling out a large mirror. ‘Scrying for our future husbands.’
‘That’s a Halloween tradition? I’ve never heard of it.’ May eyed the mirror suspiciously. ‘You bought that in Primark.’
‘I don’t think it has to be an old mirror. Okay, so, we turn out the lights and peer into the mirror and we’ll see the man we’ll marry.’
Jade raised an eyebrow, but she dutifully switched off the lights as May and Rita propped the mirror onto the table.
‘Host first,’ Rita said, and May sat down in front of the mirror with the air of someone who’s agreed to an appointment with a drunk dentist.
A minute ticked by.
‘May,’ Jade said eventually, ‘did you fall asleep?’
May relaxed her shoulders and turned around triumphantly. ‘I saw Mark!’
‘Really? Him?’ Jade asked, just as Rita said, ‘that’s great!’ Mark worked in their company’s accounting department. Jade thought him as charismatic as a beige tea towel; Rita said he was fine once you got him chatting about something that wasn’t Microsoft Excel.
‘I’m glad things work out with him,’ Jade said quickly.
May smiled and even in the dark Jade could tell the smile reached her toes. ‘Thanks. Go on, Rita.’
Rita plopped herself down in May’s chair and leaned in towards the mirror.
Another minute ticked by. This time it was May who spoke. ‘Rita?’
Rita’s head dropped abruptly into her hands; the mirror almost went flying. ‘Mmmmpppph.’
‘Rita?’ May asked. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Did you see someone horrible?’ Jade asked.
‘No. Um. Not really. No. I saw.’ Rita peered between her fingers. ‘I saw a woman.’
‘Okay,’ May said. ‘So?’
‘I’m straight!’ Rita wailed. ‘What’s that about? Where is the nice man I’ve been seeing from my gym? Is it a marriage of convenience? Is she the only person who can provide my standard of living?’
‘You provide your standard of living,’ Jade said, thinking about the designer clothes Rita was wearing this very moment. Three years ago, Rita joined the company as a receptionist. Now she ran an office of twenty people and organised conferences in Paris.
‘I don’t like women!’ Rita insisted.
‘It sounds as though you like at least one,’ May pointed out. ‘Have another sangria.’
Jade sat down as Rita noisily downed the entire jug.
Taking a breath, Jade gazed into the mirror.
Initially, nothing happened. Jade blinked a few times; the only light in May’s little kitchen-living room came from the tea light turnips outside. Jade wondered if May had really seen Mark, or if she’d only wanted to. Rita… well, Rita hadn’t been sober for a good ninety minutes. She probably saw her own reflection.
Then Jade saw it. It, not he or she or they. It. Clouds. Heavy, swirling grey clouds. Like when you’re in fog so thick you can’t see your hands in front of you. Lightning forked across the glass and Jade could hear whispers and murmurs, getting louder—
Jade leaned closer—
The clouds swirled faster—
‘Jade?’ May’s voice made Jade jump. ‘Are you okay?’ May asked. ‘You started to sway. Should you swap the booze for water?’
‘Probably,’ Jade said. Her voice croaked, like she’d been shouting. ‘Can we put the lights on?’
Rita flicked the big light as May stared at Jade. ‘You didn’t see what you were expecting, did you?’
‘I don’t know what I was expecting,’ Jade said slowly. ‘But… no.’
‘Man or woman?’ Rita asked, clearly hoping for something to deflect from herself. ‘Or non-binary person.’
‘Neither. None. I didn’t see anybody. I saw clouds.’
‘Clouds?’ May asked.
‘Yeah.’
‘That’s odd.’
‘Mm.’ Jade found her way to May’s couch and collapsed onto it.
‘Jade, you’re shaking. Should we call someone?’ May sounded alarmed. Jade heard herself laugh.
‘No. No… I need to make a phone call. Thirty years and I thought I’d dodged the bullet.’
‘What bullet?’ Rita asked. She and May sat down on May’s sagging armchairs and stared at Jade. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘My future,’ Jade said. ‘It’s… my grandmother is—was—the family witch. And now it looks like it’s my turn.’
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