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Belinda was certain that she’d followed the directions in the spell book to the letter. Once the necessary items had been assembled, she’d cleared her mind, closed her eyes, spoken her intentions to the universe and cast the counter spell. After counting to fifty, Belinda opened her eyes. Miriam was still a rabbit. A cute fluffy brown rabbit with a pink nose. Belinda gave Miriam another carrot and wondered if she should try the counter spell again. The book didn’t say anything about repeats. She hadn’t expected the original spell to work and was at a loss on how to reverse it. This was the worst thing she’d ever done.

Belinda hadn’t been a practicing witch for long. A couple of months earlier her friend Lisa invited her to a weekend retreat in the country. Turned out it was a get together for aspiring Wiccans. Belinda took notes and decided to give magick (the “k” was important) a try. After spending money on so-called ritual items that she couldn’t afford and didn’t need, none of the spellcasting she’d tried had worked. Until today, of course. She hadn’t meant to turn her sister into a rabbit. Well, not really. But that day, Miriam had been particularly troublesome. She’d complained about the weather as though Belinda could control it. She whined about the dinner Belinda had prepared. Basically, she’d been a pain in the neck until Belinda couldn’t take it anymore. She remembered seeing a spell in the new book she’d bought on how to transform people into animals. It was just a lark. A way to vent her spleen. Belinda was shocked that it worked. Perhaps she truly was a witch.

Miriam soon grew bored with the carrot and hopped around the room. With any luck, she wouldn’t remember it when she was herself again, if she ever was. Then again, life would be quieter without her annoying older sister. Belinda could take the bigger bedroom. Watch whatever TV shows she wanted, stop catering to Miriam’s every whim. The more she considered it, the less inclined she was to try and change her back. Belinda sighed. As a witch, she had a responsibility to do no harm. That point had been emphasized frequently during the retreat. She pulled Miriam out from under the bed, carefully placing her on the blue rug in the middle of the room. Opening the book to the correct page, Belinda repeated the previous steps, but she knew that her heart wasn’t in it. This time she counted to one hundred then opened her eyes. Miriam wiggled her nose. Belinda shrugged. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad and went out to the garage to build a rabbit hutch. Oh, and she’d better add carrots and whatever else rabbits eat to the shopping list. Goddess only knows what she’d tell her mother. Maybe there was a spell for that. Then again, maybe she should quit while she was ahead.