“More or less,” said Mika. “The tricky part is getting magic to listen.”

Altamira was now upside down, her braid dangling about an inch off the floor. She looked like she was having the time of her life. “So how come I can’t get myself back down?”

“Have you tried asking again, like you did with the plum? Instead of thinking, I want to get back down, try something like, I’d like to be gently lowered back to the floor, please.”

Once again, Altamira closed her eyes, screwed her face up, and tried to cast the spell. Mika had been using magic so long now that casting simple spells was second nature to her, but it hadn’t always been. Learning how to use magic was unwieldy and unpredictable, with no easy incantations or shortcuts. The spells jotted down in a witch’s spellbook weren’t spells so much as snippets of conversation the witch had either figured out for herself or had learned from another witch. Spells weren’t tidy, clear commands to wave your wand and say “Abracadabra!” so much as they were friendly tips like, If you want the spider vanished from the corner of your bedroom, make sure you ask the magic to put it somewhere specific or else you may find that it’s been deposited under your pillow instead.

Mika had discovered that the hard way.

“I can’t do it,” Altamira said at last, not sounding particularly bothered by this. She was still upside down.

“That’s okay,” said Mika.

She narrowed her eyes at the glimmers of gold around Altamira. The child was returned to the floor at once.

“The thing about magic,” Mika explained as Altamira bounced to her feet, “is that it really likes us. There’s a little inside all witches, which is what makes us just a bit different from other people, but most of the magic we use exists as energy outside us. You can actually see it if you pay attention. It looks like gold dust. And it’s attracted to us because we can use it. It wants to be used. But it’s also mischievous, like a naughty puppy,” she added. “And if we forget to be very firm and bossy with it, it has a tendency to run wild.”

Altamira found the puppy comparison hilarious, but Rosetta’s face brightened with the interest of someone eager to learn more. “Is that why we keep losing control and accidentally casting spells?” she asked. “Because we haven’t been bossy with the magic?”