Chapter 1: Hot Magical Mess

Silvana Sparks hadn't expected to blow up the house on her 21st birthday.

Pots and pans from the wooden cabinets flew around the kitchen while the refrigerator door slammed open and closed. A massive purple ring of fire blazed on the tiled floor, and Silvana rushed about, having no clue how to fix it. She was young, fit, and gorgeous, but she should have obeyed her father and studied harder for this spell exam. Every birthday, a witch needs to prove their abilities by casting a spell that conjures a cake with candles that the witch needs to blow out and make a wish upon.

Although she'd been casting the birthday spell for two decades, her wish never came true. The spell got harder to cast each time, and with each passing year she was meant to become stronger. Except, she hadn't cared about strength for a while now. What Silvana wanted and wished for each year was love, and to be in the arms of a handsome, powerful, protective man.

Of course, Silvana's father Solaris, the town's Guardian Witch, had different plans for her.

A purple fireball wisped over the kitchen stove and exploded in a blaring roar, spreading pink flames onto the countertop Silvana hid behind.

"My dear?" Solaris asked, the hurried thump of his cane echoing from down the hall. "What's all that ruckus?"

"Nothing, Dad!" Silvana exclaimed, hoping that her wavy strawberry-blonde hair hadn't gotten singed in the blast. "I'm just rummaging for a nighttime snack!" she shouted in a lie.

She still wanted to sneak out, and was praying her makeup hadn't smudged in the fire's heat; Silvana had amazing blue-green eyes as mystical as crystal balls, and the eyeliner she'd applied made her eyes glisten.

Solaris entered the kitchen wearing an elegant crimson bathrobe and brown slippers. Gray hairs peppered his face in a stubble beard, and his long silver hair was parted straight down the middle. He shook his head. Fury and disappointment wrinkled his face and he cried out, "How could you have let this happen? If you can't even master your birthday spell, how do you expect to defeat those nasty werewolves?"

It was true.

Silvana had a lot on the line, and she'd been slacking. But it was her birthday, and of all nights, it was on Halloween. She couldn't be bothered with the fact that she was being trained to be the next Guardian Witch; she wanted to escape the house, if even for a single night, and be free.

And she hoped that maybe, just maybe, she could finally meet that man she'd been wishing for.

Solaris waved his cane and shouted, "To control this spell, think about what you desire the most: to accept the title of Guardian Witch from me!"

That was what Solaris wanted, not Silvana.

The dishwasher tore from the wall in a fiery purple vortex and spun around the kitchen, releasing shattering glasses and plates as Silvana considered what she really wanted. She took cherry blossom flowers, tossed them into the raging flames, and thought deeply about a rugged man undressing her, tearing the buttons off her tight black dress shirt and sliding her frayed blue jeans down her legs.

Solaris and Silvana both raised their arms as the inferno raged a bright pink, then blasted out the wall to the kitchen, leaving behind a giant, heart-shaped hole. The dishwasher smashed to the floor with a few remaining embers, and beyond the hole in the wall, past the backyard glimmering in moonlight, Silvana could see in the distance the Halloween parade, the festive lights, and the carnival rides whirring around. She heard joyous music and people happily hollering on the rides.

Then Solaris stepped in front of her, and all Silvana saw was her father's tired, gray eyes caught in a scowl. "I don't know where your head is at," he told her, "But at this rate, you will only disgrace this family."

With the tip of his cane, Solaris angrily swept away debris and walked out of the kitchen. He turned his head only to say, "Clean this mess up." He started to walk again but stopped, then added, "Maybe you can at least do that right."

Silvana watched her father trudge to his quarters, and her heart grew heavy and her eyes watered. It seemed like nothing she did ever made her father proud, and he made her feel so low and unappreciated.

For hours, she cleaned, but there wasn't too much she could do. Her magic wasn't strong enough to get the cinder and ash out of the kitchen floor's tiles, or to repair the damage to the cabinets. She couldn't even straighten the bent silverware. So she spent the night scrubbing and packing debris into garbage bags, all while watching other people from town enjoy the Halloween parade.

It was well past midnight and she was still sweeping when she just barely caught the announcement for the firework finale over the carnival loudspeaker. The carnival was shutting down and people were getting calmer, but Silvana wanted to be as close to the fireworks as possible. She wanted to feel their warmth and witness their glory, and she wanted to do so front and center, not through the hole in the wall from her failed spell.

Her father hadn't checked on her while she was cleaning, so she figured he had fallen asleep.

Silvana had set the broom down and climbed out of the heart-shaped hole, her hair in a messy bun from cleaning. She ran through her backyard and through the woods, hoping with all her might that she would at least catch the fireworks and would not miss celebrating Halloween, or even her birthday. As she sped through branches and dried orange leaves on the forest ground, she thought about how her father hadn't even wished her a happy birthday.

She thought about how much that hurt.

Silvana reached the cliffside overlooking the carnival and smiled wide as she took in the sight of the glowing ferris wheel and humming roller coasters. A couple carrying a stick of blue cotton candy both nibbled on it, their eyes radiant with love for one another. In the carnival parking lot, the fireworks were released, and eruptions of gold, orange, yellow, and purple in the shapes of ghosts and pumpkins filled the starry sky.

Silvana sat on the grassy cliff and sighed; she'd gotten to watch the fireworks, but she was doing it alone, watching all the couples in the carnival enjoy themselves, snuggled on blankets on the grass, kissing.

And then, as more fireworks crackled in bright bursts, Silvana noticed something horribly wrong. A dark red shadow loomed over the carnival like a crimson rain cloud. The shadow gave her goosebumps, and she could feel its evilness.

The shadow thickened, and couples pointed up, gasping.

A bolt of red lightning crashed into the fireworks machine, sending metal pieces onto the parking lot in an earthshaking boom. Silvana lost her balance and tumbled down the cliff, whipping up dirt and stones behind her before landing in the grass outside the carnival's fence.

The back of her head was bleeding, and her vision went hazy.

Claps of thunder rang overhead, and in a blur and thick like mud, she saw the red cloudy shadow right above her.