Rewitched

by Lucy Jane Wood

MAGIC IN THE mundane can be difficult to find, but it is always waiting patiently somewhere, snuffling quietly, curled up like a sleeping animal and ready to be found by those searching hard enough.

“It’s never the right time. Ever. If you’re waiting for all of the stars and planets to align before you make decisions that’ll make you happier, you’ll be waiting forever.”

“I told you, I had that epiphany. We’re past the point of having to think we can take over the world. We can just exist happily if we want to. As long as it pays the bills. And you would be happy, which is really all that matters. You could be spending your days recommending fiction to old people in your own bookshop, reading stories to sticky-fingered kids, stressing over barely making ends meet but loving the quiet day to day. That’s the dream right there, Belle.”

“Thousands of years of magic at your fingertips, and you decide to use it for the sole purpose of insignificant vanity?” An older warlock with thick eyebrows barked his opinion. Belle answered quietly. “Obviously you’ve never been at war with your own body. At the time, nothing else mattered.”

“Fantasy? Grizzled goatweed, not likely. They never get the magic theory right, they always overcomplicate things. More of a romance girly myself, Belle, the more swoon-worthy the better.”

“The library, of course. Anything of importance is always in the library, dear.”

“One of life’s kindest and cruellest gifts, old friends. Anyone’s Achilles heel,” Bronwyn said sadly. “I miss her and she’s still here. Love does leave you vulnerable, if you allow it to endure.”

“But I suppose many people collect things that remind them of the past. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.”

“Fate can’t be twisted and turned as you like, Belle. What’s meant for you is meant. No matter which turn you take or hurdle you stumble at, you’ll always end up on the path that’s meant for you. Love, let the dust settle on choices that you’ve made or that you didn’t make. Leave all those different lives behind and make peace that this is the right one. Tell yourself, this is how my story is supposed to go, but I am the one who can write it as it’s supposed to be.”