Interlude: Letters Home

Dear Kara,

How are you? I hope you are studying hard because you can’t yet imagine how useful it will be when you get to college. I have already been given muffins, a new set of scrying crystals, and fifty dollars just for my tutoring skills! It turns out that most of the girls here at WCH went to public high schools and barely know anything at all about witchcraft. Weird, right? I wonder what their mothers are like…

You know how you made that bet with Dad that I wouldn’t make any friends for at least a month here? Well, you’re going to be washing the dishes for an awfully long time, sis… As strange as it might seem (no need to remind me of my lone wolf days, okay?) I have no less than three friends in my House already, and I just received an invitation to have coffee with one of my professors. And everyone seems to know my name because of Mom. At first I thought that was annoying, but it’s nice that Mom has such a good reputation among our kin.

You would like my house mates, I’m sure. Angelica is a bit of a daredevil, but I bet her antics would make you laugh instead of the near panic attacks they give me. Nicola likes all of the same books I do, and she’s a poet to boot! Then there’s Echo… Kara, you would adore her. She’s the sweetest, nicest girl I’ve ever met – although she is also extremely outgoing. She’s already friends with everyone on campus. Well, everyone except our other house mate, September. We tried to be friends with her, but that girl is irredeemably rude. I’ve been thinking about asking our class dean if we could get a new house mate, it’s so bad.

As for my classes, I am enjoying all of them except for Speaking. All of my professors are quite knowledgeable in their subject areas, and most of them are less strict than Mom when it comes to giving out work. But Speaking… I know you love it, Kara, but I just don’t see the point of talking to animals. I’m never going to live on a farm at any rate.

The strangest thing happened in our first Blessing class. (I found it strange, but you’ll probably think it was hilarious.) Professor Mayfield was showing us examples of good luck charms when she suddenly turned into a rabbit! Apparently your mind goes a bit when you get turned into an animal because the rabbit flipped out and tried to escape the room. We spent the rest of the class chasing her all over campus.

It turned out to be a prank pulled by another professor and someone you actually met when you dropped me off here – Natalie Wilde. I’m pretty sure she’s CRAZY, but she seems to really like me and the quicker I can advance in Casting, the better my spring application for Salem will look. She’s also the professor who invited me for that coffee date, so I hope that means she’s willing to tutor me personally.

If you don’t hear from me again, you’ll know she turned me into a rabbit too!

Please give my love to Mom and Dad. I hope you can all make it up here for Samhain in a few weeks.

Your sister,

Dana

P.S. In case you were worried, Professor Wilde did turn Professor Mayfield back into herself. She just laughed for a good five minutes straight first.

-----
<--- Episode 5: Toil and Trouble
Episode 6: Where There's Smoke --->

Season 1 - Full Episode List 
 

Episode One: Admissions

Sunset at the Bolete residence.

Dear Dana Bolete,

Thank you for applying to the Salem Institute for Witches. Upon completion of the difficult task of selecting this year’s group of students for admittance to SIW, our Admissions Committee has concluded that we are unable to offer you acceptance to the institute.

My heart stopped. It stopped as though a sledgehammer had smashed into my chest, destroying my life in an instant. But when the agony of it kept going, I realized my heartbeat was still chugging along, if somewhat erratically. I shook my head in an effort to refocus my blurred vision and looked at the letter again.

We deeply appreciate your interest in the Salem Institute. Please consider applying again as a transfer student in the spring. Thank you, and we wish you success and happiness in all of your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Antonia Rivers

Dean of Admissions

I stared at the words until they blurred again. But it was just that my hands were shaking. I set the letter down on my desk and clenched my fingers to form fists. Anything to bring reality back.

            

 …we are unable to offer you acceptance…

             

Impossible. My mother was friends with Antonia Rivers; they’d gone to the Institute together! How could they reject me? My grades were perfect. I know I aced their entrance exam. I studied harder than any other witch I knew, and while that wasn’t a lot of girls, it was certainly enough for me to feel like I had an upper hand against any of them. And I knew for a fact Opal had already been accepted.

“What’s that?”