Witch in Hiding (#1 in the Witches Trilogy) (EDITING)

Prologue: Happy Birthday

Mom has made special effort for the occasion. She straightened her hair, did her full makeup—with the dark red lipstick—put on a new pantsuit and worn her heels and accessorised with white-gold. She manages to sip her wine without smudging her lips, which is this adult skill that amazes me, because the few times I tried lip gloss for special events it was gone after my first glass of Coke.

"The candle's going out," I say, watching it flicker in the corner of my eye. I reach over and take a spoon of her potatoes.

"You want steak?" She offers me a cut to go with it.

I shake my head and bite into my burger instead. She sighs. "Are you ever going to try anything else on the menu?"

"That's what you're for," I say. "And is the rest of the menu featured on the signboard? No." Another bite. Owned by a friend of Mom's, Beaulieu Bistro has some of the best burgers this side of the city—and an insanely good tower sundae. Mom's more in it for the little discount and the alfresco option: it's very garden tea-party-esque, spindly white tables on the grass under fairy lights and a gauzy canopy, which is currently littered with fallen leaves from the spreading tree just beside us. There's the bubbling of a fountain somewhere around the corner as well.

"I'll drop a note to Esme to change her signboard, then."

Narrowing my eyes, I take another deliberate bite. Suddenly, a loud buzz zips past my ear and I duck instinctively. "Bee?" I hear it coming back and drop closer to the table. I see it this time—fat, striped, and fuzzy.

"Wasp," Mom says, unhelpfully. "It'll go away."

It does not go away. There are two stages to a huge bug invasion of your privacy. First, the wild duck and dodge as you try to maintain your dignity and whatever you were doing before being rudely interrupted. Second is the motionless hunch as you wait for it to finish finding the space above your head so interesting. Unfortunately the wasp seems to love me. My burger is so close, close enough to smell, but I don't want to straighten to get it. "Mom!"

"Just ignore it, Vinni." Easy for her to say. She's sitting upright sipping her wine.

The annoying thing about wasps in particular is that you can't kill them without being attacked by all 5000 of their relatives. So you're at the mercy of a thing the size of your thumbnail.

Interrupted meals are the worst. I'm not full yet. "Go away," I hiss, eying it like a crouching cat who doesn't dare to pounce. "Just die already."

"It'll go away," Mom says sharply.

Suddenly the buzzing hurtles towards me. I dive sideways. "Ohmygoddiediedie—" then there's a loud thwack and Mom's standing there with a menu. "All right, it's gone," she sighs, sitting back down.

"Mom, but the wasp—" I have a horrible image of the whole swarm coming after us. "Should we go—"

Mom opens her mouth, but then there's a loud whoosh, the sound of a winged nightmare, a thousand buzzing avengers, and my heart stops. "Let's go let's go let's go—"

But the swarm never comes. In fact, there's a loud gurgle of water and then everything is silent. Mom pauses with the wineglass halfway to her lips. "Did the fountain stop?" She says oddly. Without waiting for an answer, she gets up.

A minute later she comes back with pursed lips.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"Fine, I think the fountain just got clogged." She doesn't mention the wasps. "Do you want dessert now?"

"Um—" we're only halfway through our food. "If you want."

She hails a waitress and orders the sundae. "And put a candle on the top? I talked to Esme about it already. Thanks." She smiles at me, gorgeous in a way I could never be. The candle is a running joke—birthday candles on everything but cakes. Still, the smile is a little stiff.

When the waitress leaves I ask again. "Mom—you're okay, right?"

Her smile quirks. "I'm fine," she assures me. "Don't worry. You should enjoy your dinner. Tomorrow you can go out with Nat and Reyna."

But parents are supposed to say they're fine, and that everything is fine, until you grow up and find out it was all a lie to make you feel better. Ten days after my twelfth birthday, we move out of the city to a neighbourhood where magical creatures like me can be looked after. Or, more accurately, where blossoming witches like me aren't as likely to give the secret away.