"Would you rather have that advantage, Finea?" Rinna asked.

Aerin cleared her throat before speaking. "Our next face-to-face meeting is on the 31st of October?"

"Yes, Aerin, you read that right," Finea replied. "Our next actual meeting is on the 31st of October, at 8pm."

Aerin slammed her papers onto her desk so loudly that the other two women were able to hear it through their screens.

"Finea," she started, standing with both her palms on the desk. "Do you not realize the flaw in your plans?"

"I doubt she doesn't realize the flaw in this plan, Aerin," Inda spoke up. "I trust that she only saw it best to hold our next meeting on Halloween."

“And how in the world is this the best course of action?” Aerin asked. “You do realize that some of us have to use magic as a means of transport? And that you’re threatening the reputation of the witch community by executing this plan?”

Ladies, a written text said as it flashed across each of their screens. Finea raised her fist to her lips to clear her throat. “I have good reasons for choosing Halloween night as our date of meeting. First of all, we’ve been postponing our face-to-face meeting for way too long.”

“Yeah, and I wonder whose fault that is,” Aerin sighed as she rolled her eyes.

“You know each of us has been struggling in our own ways during this sudden pandemic, Aerin,” Inda stated. “Stop being so insensitive.”

“Secondly,” Finea said, raising her voice to stop any more quarreling. “The number of recent national deaths are nigh to another 1660 event.”

“Wait, seriously?” Aerin interrupted once more. “Then that’s all the more reason we need to hold this meeting later! The more deaths, the greater spiritual power for us witches!”

“History for Witches and Wizards Alike, Volume 2, Chapter 6, Aerin!” Inda exclaimed. “The witches who waited and hid from humankind for so long were consumed by an overload of spiritual power and became cursed! I know you only discovered that you were a witch 10 years ago, Aerin, but this is merely the second volume of HWWA! You ought to have studied this, right?”

“Ah, yeah, it did mention something like that, didn’t it? I mostly skimmed through any HWWA books. I can’t stand how boring the writing is.”

“HWWA?! Boring?!”

It was only then that they heard the beeps signaling Finea’s latest messages. In the portion of the screen where they were previously able to see Finea’s face was a picture of a grinning child reaching their fingers up to the sky. Her camera had been switched off as a sign of her irritation.

The deaths of the humans are almost high enough to give us an ample supply of inner peace to satisfy, but we have to receive that power before the majority of humankind falls into despair. 

I made this decision based on my theory that witches need humans and humans need witches to live. 

We can’t be cured of despair if we are surrounded by humans in despair.

You would have realized how increasingly dependent we are on humans’ mental stability if we didn’t have this sudden pandemic. 

Last but not least, we can avoid other witches when meeting on Halloween night. They know how risky it is to meet then.

Until then, ladies. 

Finea left the group call. 

“Huh,” Aerin muttered. “She’s really intent on us meeting on that date, isn’t she?”

“It’s likely that she has her own personal problems to deal with,” Inda sighed. “Before this pandemic ever happened, she was always busy with work- human work, not witch work- to spend time with her family, who needed her in terms of company.” 

“Ah, right,” Aerin said as the thought hit her. Family was a word most witches were never associated with. Though, some witches get married to each other. “She has a family. She’s married to a man and has a child, correct?”

“Accurately,” Inda continued. “During this pandemic the governments cancelled all work except for some they consider important services. Of course, Finea and her husband had to stay home with their child. Finea being a witch could have just ignored the government order because, as you know, us witches are immune to this virus, but you would also know how Finea studies People in her United Witch and Wizardry Studies. She takes her chosen field very seriously.” 

“Ah, so she chooses to blend in?” 

“That or she has changed during this past semester, and if that is the case, we wouldn’t know what her true motives are.”

“That’s kinda scary…” Aerin murmured. “But I trust in Finea.”

“Wow, you aren’t wary at all?” Inda raised an eyebrow at her classmate.

“She’s very wise, and she must be doing this for a good reason. And even if it’s not, we’re a coven. If we go down, we go down together.”

There was silence on the other side while Inda stood still in front of her desk.

“Alright,” she said at last just when Aerin thought she was about to disagree. “I’ll see you there.”

“Thanks, Inda.”

Aerin left the call and sighed as she sat down. The coven had been inactive for a few months because of Finea's choice to blend in with the humans and comply with the lockdown order, but even so the only thing Aerin ever felt these days was exhaustion. She thought back to her days of studying witchcraft before joining Finea’s coven. 

“Would it have been better that way?” Aerin asked herself. “If I hadn’t begged Finea to join her coven so early, would things have been better for each of us?”

“Funny,” a voice sighed behind her as she heard the door to her room close. “For beings who can cure themselves of biological feelings using magic, you are pretty hopeless.”

Aerin turned to see a girl holding out a mug of rich hot chocolate for her. “Rinna.”

“Here, take it,” Rinna said as she handed Aerin the mug. “I don’t need magic to make a good hot chocolate. Drink it up.”

Aerin giggled. “You could’ve phrased that to sound more charming.”

“Shut up, I know I’m bad at talking to people.”

Aerin giggled once more and Rinna chuckled softly to herself. “Thank you, Rinna,” Aerin muttered under her breath with a smile, staring at the swirling chocolate. “I really appreciate it.”

She took a long sip from the mug and looked up. Rinna was wearing a small frown on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing,” Rinna replied as she looked away. “I was just wondering why witches have the advantage of magic while humans don’t. I mean, we’re almost just the same, aren’t we? We feel the same feelings and think the same. I thought that mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, OCD couldn’t ever be cured unless the patients change their mindset somehow at least, not including the drugs required. But then you told me that witches and magic existed, and suddenly magic was another option, just one that isn’t for humans. And I’m…”

“Jealous?” Aerin asked. 

“No, I mean… yes? Kinda,” Rinna replied, looking away again.

“You can always be honest with me, yknow. I trust you a lot.

Rinna gave her a sad smile. “Yeah, I know.”

Before Aerin could say anything more, Rinna swiftly exited the room with a hasty “I-I’ll go now”. 

Aerin sighed for the millionth time that day. She knew taking Rinna in when the young girl ran away from her family and home was a potential source of trouble. At first, she thought Rinna actually was a handful, but when the motives for her questionable behaviour were explained, Aerin found more trust in herself for the girl faster than she ever had for anyone else. But that didn't guarantee Rinna's trust in her, and after all, she could go back to her home at any time, so she wouldn't have to trust Aerin too much at all. It was unlikely that she would ever return, since she had been living with Aerin for 2 years now, but the possibility was always there. 

Aerin glanced at her watch. 9:45 pm, 20th of October. There were a bunch of things to set up for the coven's meeting. 

-

Inda’s boots hit the ground with a loud thud. All the people nearby; children, adults, and teens, all in costumes, turned to stare. She struck a pose and smiled slyly at them. “Happy Halloween, ladies and gentlemen.”

She could see a smile growing on some of their faces. Some of them shook their heads. Either way, they all returned back to their trick-or-treating and cheerful discussions with each other.

Inda sighed of relief while keeping a straight face. As much as she would’ve liked it to be, her short performance wasn’t intentional. She used to fly all the time before 2020 ever started. But in the first few months of the year, she was tasked with little work compared to the year before and she might have been just a little bit lazy while doing them. They were pretty light anyway, and she had been taking Finea’s advice on using human transport. But then suddenly, the lockdown order was issued and even though witches were immune to viruses, Finea had specifically ordered them to comply with the lockdown order. The said reason was to avoid suspicion and not completely destroy the witches’ reputation.

I doubt she was lying, Inda thought to herself while she walked past all the children walking around giggling and laughing, smiling warmly at them. But I don’t think she asked us to comply for this long with the government order for the same reason. Besides, we barely even had group calls as one complete coven because she was always busy. 

“What changed you, Finea?” Inda muttered under her breath. “What aren’t you telling us?”

Suddenly, her legs felt weak and her knees buckled. In a pathetic attempt to catch herself, she bent her upper body forward and ended up tumbling on her head, falling on her back with her legs outstretched backwards in front of her face. 

“Oh, gosh,” Inda mumbled to herself, feeling the stares of the young men nearby. “It seems I haven’t just been lazing around on flying, but walking normally too. And now, I have tripped in a Mikan pose. This is just downright embarrassing.”

She got up and wiped her butt to make sure there was no dust or dirt. “Man, Finea is going to be really mad at me, isn’t she?” The leader of the coven had encouraged them to wear witch outfits but keep a low profile from the humans. And Inda was just being flashy. “I should get some sugar. I really need some energy.”

She stumbled into a nearby shop. There were costumes, candy, and more accessories specifically for Halloween. The only thing appropriate for its name was a Halloween shop. The things they sold were too varied to just call it a normal shop. “This’ll do quite fine,” Inda whispered to herself. “But what is that sound, though?”

Crying.

There was a child crying in between the racks of candy. “Ah, yes,” she sighed. “Despair even at such an early age.”

She went up to the child. “Child? Child, are you okay? I don’t think anyone would like to see a crying child while all the others are laughing during Halloween night, dear. What is wrong?”

The child looked up from his knees, tears running down his cheeks. “I-I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “I didn’t m-mean to c-cry, I just…” His sobs escaped his mouth while he was speaking. “My m-mommy told me th-that I should get some c-candy f-from the o-other k-k-kids so we could share it t-together when I got home… But I’m too scared, and now I won’t have any c-candy from anyone again…”

Inda was quiet as she let him cry for a moment. “Why is your mother not with you?”

“She… she has work… That’s why… I have to bring b-back the c-candy for her… I-it would show her that I-I’m a brave boy w-who can talk to o-other p-people… But I have n-nothing… And all the p-people are s-s-so sc-scary…”

The slowly increasing despair around the child was fulfilling. Inda could easily just inhale it and regain her long-lost energy. In fact, it would do even better than candy. The child was bawling into his knees again. He wouldn’t even notice. She could do it in a quick second and just leave the child there. She was a witch, anyway. This is what they needed partly to survive.

...

Inda snatched a huge bag of candy from the shelf, almost scaring the child with the loud crinkling of the plastic. She then went around the rack and got a small pumpkin-shaped pail. She slammed a 10 dollar note onto the counter without saying anything to the cashier. They raised an eyebrow but just accepted the money. 

Inda ripped open the bag of candy and gobbled down 5 pieces before dumping the rest into the pumpkin pail and holding it out to the child. “You talked to me just fine, boy,” she said as the boy looked up at her, confused. “Talking to a scary witch woman like me is a very courageous move. And for that, you deserve all of this candy.”

He slowly reached out and grabbed the pail with trembling hands. He looked speechless, as if he could start crying again, but with tears of joy and relief. “Th-thank you.”

Inda was just about to smile back and reply when out of the blue, two rough arms wrapped themselves around her waist and she could smell alcohol from behind her shoulder. Her brows furrowed. 

“You and me could do for a nice night, sweetie,” a drunken teenager breathed into her ear loudly. “Would you mind making my Halloween sweeter? Or if you prefer it... scarier?”

Inda rolled her eyes and scowled. She waved her left arm backwards as if to elbow him in the face and knocked him down (along with the rack of sweets behind them) while barely touching him. “Oops,” she said as she realized her magic had been activated as part of her instinct. She looked back at the child who was thanking her just a second ago. By his stare, she couldn’t tell whether he was amazed or terrified.

“Uh, hehe,” she said, chuckling nervously before dashing towards the exit. “Oi!” she heard the cashier yell behind her. She didn’t dare turn around as she kept on running to where the coven was going to meet. She had attracted enough attention for one night.

-

“Inda!” Aerin cried when she saw her friend and peer approaching the graveyard they were at. “There you are. What took you so long?”

“I had to buy some candy for energy. I tripped because I haven’t walked in so long,” Inda replied, intentionally excluding the whole story.

“How many days did you spend at home asleep, Inda?” Finea asked out of concern. 

“Uhh,” Inda mumbled as she thought about it. “I don’t recall.”

“Oh, you slept for days too, Inda?” Aerin asked. “That’s surprising for a diligent witch like you.”

Aerin took a second to realize that Inda had hit her in the head with her fist. “You slept for days, Aerin? You have a lot of studies to finish, you know! I could sleep for as long as I wanted to because I long finished my studies before joining the coven! We accepted you in with the exception that you continued your studies, you know!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, don’t hit me!”

Finea rolled her eyes, but not without a small smile forming on her lips. Aerin’s lack of knowledge was a bit tricky to deal with sometimes, but she contributed to the coven in other ways as well. She would never admit it out loud, but she had missed seeing the two quarrel like this. It was a small joy that greeted her every time they were together.

A joy small enough to not regret defusing from her life.

“Alright, ladies,” Finea spoke up and the two others went silent. “We should start right now.”

“Okay! I don’t know whether I’m scared or excited though, we haven’t done this in so long,” Aerin said.

“That’s true,” Inda replied. “Finea should say the spell out loud to assure you.”

“I think I’ll settle with it in my heart,” Finea said, chuckling nervously. “I’m a bit insecure on whether I’ll get it right or not.”

“You get insecure too, Finea?” Aerin asked. “Wow, I thought it was just me.”

“Even if you say it out loud, there’s no shame in being wrong. That’s what you always used to tell us.”

“Inda, let her be! Insecurity happens to everyone, you know.”

Inda looked like she had something to say, but that only lasted for a split second. “Okay, your cue, Finea.”

“Alright,” Finea said. “Here I go.”

She took a deep breath, taking in the smells of the graveyard.

“Goodbye,” she whispered under her breath.