His loyal servant

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.