Chapter One

It should SO not be aloud to give homework over the weekend!
I ran up the stairs two at a time, jumped over my black cat Bugs, and into my room. It was small, and had a mural of the Salem witch trials that I had painted two years ago on one wall, and a huge, orange, harvest moon on the ceiling, that was more recent. In the corner, there was a double bed that had a big, fluffy olive green comforter wadded up on top of it. Open on my desk was a copy of ‘WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: THE COMPLETE WORKS’.
I opened the middle desk drawer, and pulled out a piece of black paper, and a white pencil, and headed back downstairs. As I went, I began wave my hand over the piece of paper, and chant:
circle spirits, be my compass
guide the pencil in my hand,
make me like Da Vinci,
who drew a circle in the sand.

I put the pencil tip to my paper, and it was as though my hand was moving on it’s own accord. When I opened my eyes, there was a perfect circle, scribed in white, in the center of my page. Thank goodness! I thought, because to tell you the truth, I wasn’t very good at that one at all. That was only the second time in three months that i had actually succeeded in that particular spell.
“Juliet, your gonna want to hurry in case it gets covered by the clouds.” “Yeah I know, I’m going now.” I answered my mom, still running, towards the front door. “’kay, good luck” I would’ve answered, but I already had my boots on, and was out the door, heading for the front yard.
“Hey Juliet, wanna play football with us?” It was my neighbors and their friend from school. “Sorry, homework.” I explained, “Have any of you seen the moon?” Carl, the older boy, blinked at me. “The moon? No it hasn’t come out yet.” I just barely restrained myself from rolling my eyes. “Yes it has, we saw it on the way home from-” We had been at a party for my brother Gamn and his class, and, well lets just say that if a human had walked in, they would think that they where going insane. So would you if you came into a clearing full of cauldrons, fires, and people of all ages singing and chanting. “Well any way, it’s huge. If you see it let me know.” Carl’s friend, who’s name I couldn’t remember, asked me why I needed to see it. If HE were a warlock, he wouldn’t have asked, but sadly enough, he wasn’t... which meant I would have to either tell the truth, or come up with an excuse within the next five seconds, which wouldn’t be easy, ‘cause I stink at making up excuses.
I sighed, and decided on the truth. “I’m supposed to sketch it. You know, just one of those stupid homework assignments. That’s all.” Carl’s friend didn’t let it go. “Why don’t you just go on the internet, and search a picture of the moon, and sketch it from there?” Stupid humans. “Because we have to draw the changes in the craters over the course of three days.” I explained. “The moon changes?” this time it was Carl’s younger brother Theo, speaking. “Yup.” I said, and trotted back towards my porch steps, where I sat and waited for the moon to come back out.
After about 15 minutes, Carl’s friend had to leave. Theo ran right across the street, and into his house, but Carl stayed back. His friend had dropped the football somewhere, and since it was dark, he was having trouble finding it. Just to be polite, I crossed the street to the empty lot they had been playing in. “He said it landed near a slope...” Carl was muttering. “Hey, any luck?” I asked. “Nope, how ‘bout you?” “None.” i said. At about that time, Carl spotted the ball in a garden a little ways away, so I headed back towards home, warmth, and light. Just when I was about to go up the front steps, I heard a shout from Carl. “Hey Juliet! You can see it now!” He was standing in the middle of the road, pointing up at the night sky. Sure enough,the full moon was there; huge and marvelous. “Yes! Score! Thanks Carl!” I yelled as I ran back into the middle of the street for a better view.
Each fall, as the Harvest Moon gets brighter, witches and warlocks spend all of September and October preparing for the 31st night, which is known to humans as “Halloween”. We make potions, spells, and write songs with healing powers. On the day of, all the witches and warlocks in the area gather in the designated spot, which is usually a field or clearing, and set up. We make a giant bon fire, and set up the cauldrons. After that, we all make masks and costumes that are WAY cooler than anything you’ve ever seen in a Halloween store. We dress up, and at midnight, we dance, sing, and tell story’s. We show off our newest spells and enchantments, gossip, and play games. The Harvest moon is the easiest time for us. The pull of the moon is stronger, and it strengthens our powers, and ability to control them.
As I stood there, looking at the moon, I felt as though I could do anything, and pull it off. I felt like I could fly without a broomstick, breath underwater, write a great american novel...
“Aren’t you gonna draw?” I’d almost forgotten that Carl was still there. “Oh... right. Of course.” I shook my head slightly, to get myself fully out of the daze, and began to draw the craters on the moon inside the white circle I’d drawn earlier. I was quick, and was done after only about 5 minutes. Carl left about half way through, which was probably good, ‘cause I ended up having to use more magic to make it look as though it were actually glowing on the black paper.
On the way back inside, it started to rain. Not hard, but with huge drops every here and there, so that by the time I was under the shelter of the porch roof, my page had a bunch of even darker spots on it, but there was no way I was doing it again ‘till I had to, so my teacher was just gonna have to live with it.
I took off my boots, and put my sketch down on the dining room table. I was about to put my name on it, but Bugs hopped up, and lay down on my paper. I’d just have to try again tomorrow.