One night while heading to my table at a diner, I encountered a little baby coven oozing black magic. When I used my psychometry to chart my new course, the pink gem on The Mentalism Ring gleamed and I was taken away.

***

In a normal house on a normal street in one of the suburbs of Sunset City a sleepover was happening. One just like many others that have occurred in this very house, except in one small but meaningful way. One of the participants brought what she believed to be a party game.

The participants were a trio of friends, sisters in all but blood.

Sapphire was a young woman with red dyed hair and snow-white skin wearing a faded band t-shirt and worn-in pajama pants. Her biggest passion in the world was magic in all its forms, even though she did not truly believe in it. It served more as an escape from the harshness of her home life.

Elizabeth was a blonde elfin girl with large blue eyes that had a white night gown hanging off her frame. She was the only daughter of the neighborhood’s preacher.

Cassandra was a young black teenager with long wavy hair. She had gym shorts and an over-sized T-shirt on. She was her school’s star athlete and was on track to be valedictorian.

“Lookie what I got here, a real-life spell book.” Sapphire said with a glowing face and laugh.

“Come on Saphie. I know you like all this witchcraft stuff, but it’s a bit dull for the two of us.” Cassandra explained to her friend.

“I know, but It just looks really cool and I wanted to share my hobby with you guys.” Sapphire said with a small pout.

“You know my father would freak out if he got even a whiff that I was even anywhere near that. I’m already on thin enough ice as it is with the gossip going around.” Elizabeth said with a worried look.

“Lizzie it’s just a party game. Let loose a little, your father’s not going to find out.” Sapphire exhorted.

“That’s what you said last time I was in a situation like this and look how that turned out.” Elizabeth said with a semiserious glare.

“Oh, come on Lizzie, let’s just humor her for a bit and then we do something else. The only reason what happened with Chris happened was because Chris is a b***ard.” Cassandra explained.

“Ok, let’s get on with it.” Elizabeth said with a defeated look.

They all sat cross-legged on the ground around the book opened on a page describing a cleansing ritual. It was not the most magical or visually stunning, but it was quick and easy. It only required a cleansing agent; they used a facial cleanser. It was also the only ritual that Sapphire and Cassandra could convince Elizabeth to even pretend to try.

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“Let purity scrub the wicked deeds from our minds, bodies, and souls” They all chanted.

“Let purity scrub the wicked deeds from our minds, bodies, and souls” They all repeated.

“Let purity scrub the wicked deeds from our minds, bodies, and souls” They all repeated a third time.

When they were finished white fireworks launched out of the book and hit the three teenagers.

Each girl had a different reaction to this mysterious event: Sapphire was elated, Cassandra was curious, and Elizabeth was frightened.

Cassandra’s firework purified her mind. All the stress she accrued maintaining her athletics, academics, and social life just melted away leaving her at peace.

Sapphire’s firework purified her body. The spark scrubbed her hair of its dye, cleaned her skin of the secret tattoo she got, pushed the piercings out of her body, and then healed the resulting holes.

The last firework purified Elizabeth’s soul. It cleansed her soul of its needless guilt and regret, but the largest effect was that the spark shattered the chains of her father’s repression. All those mental chains that previously bound her thoughts and actions were gone. She felt freer than she had ever been.

The three sisters in all but blood looked at each other in shock as none of them expected the ritual to work and for good reason too. The only reason it did was that several conditions were met: the three considered each other sisters, all of them had magical potential, the artifact belonged to the same branch of magic as them, and there were three of them which was an important number in magic. These conditions made the three teenagers into a coven and thus empowered. This empowerment allowed them to perform magic without skill, experience, or even true belief in the mystical arts.

Elizabeth’s face turned bone white, “What have we done?”

“We discovered magic, that’s what we did” Sapphire replied while cackling.

“We performed the devil’s work!” Elizabeth cried hysterically as even without her metaphorical chains; her upbringing gave her a certain perspective on things.

“Didn’t what just happen just seem right. I know personally that I haven’t felt better since all of us were running around on the playground as kids.” Cassandra comforted her friend.

“Its… its… just the devil’s influence. It corrupted us.” Elizabeth said before slumping drained of energy as even she did not believe in her words.

“It felt so right. If that’s the devil’s work, then maybe he is better to follow than some distant deity.” Cassandra, trying to convince her friend.

“How could you say that!!” Elizabeth screamed at her friend.

“Do you even really believe any of that stuff or are you just regurgitating what you heard from your father?” Sapphire called out from the side.

“Yes. No. I don’t know at this point. All I know is that ritual changed something in me, and I don’t know if I’m okay with that.” Elizabeth equivocated, confused with the situation surrounding her.

“Some change is for the better. And this was better. This has the possibility to change all our lives for the better. Think about it: me out from under the thumb of my father, Cassandra you could be the star student and athlete of our school, and Elizabeth you can have your vengeance against Chris.” Sapphire said, trying to convince her two friends.

Cassandra looked her in the eye full of resolve, “Alright I’m in.”

Elizabeth sounding unsure replied, “I just don’t know.”

“And that’s fine. We don’t do a thing until you are on board and if you decide against it, that’s fine too.” Sapphire reassured her friend.