The fresh cut grass smell drifts through the house. Every window is open. Jess’s parents won’t be home for several hours, plenty of time for Jess and Lana to cook up a potion. They barricade themselves in the bathroom with plastic cups and bath salts. Lana fills the cups with water. “Do you even have a grimoire?”

Jess scoops out salts for each cup. “No, but I’ve read plenty of books about witches and magic. Besides, we have innate knowledge.”

“What’s innate mean?”

Jess pulls a red hair from her head. “Get one strand of hair and dip it into the cup.”

Lana wraps her black hair around her finger and yanks. Jess nods in approval and they soak the strands in the cups. Lana stares hard at the hair. “How is this going to tell us who we’re going to marry?”

Jess lifts her hair from the cup, turns on the sink, and runs her strand under the faucet. “The hair should turn the hair color of who we’re going to marry.”

Jess’s strand starts to change color, deepening to chestnut brown. She scowls. “Jeremy has this color hair.”

Lana wrinkles her nose. “He’s gross.”

“Your turn.”

Lana removes the hair from her cup and holds it under the water. The strand doesn’t change. “What’s wrong?”

Jess takes the hair and holds it closer to the tap.

“Maybe he has the same hair color as me?”

The hair remains black. Jess throws it into the trash. “This was stupid anyway.” Does this mean she’ll be alone forever?

Lana reaches to turn off the sink and brushes Jess’s hand sending cold shivers up her arm. Steam clouds most of the mirror only clear around Lana’s pale, purple face. She won’t make it to her first boyfriend. Jess throws the door open and the steam evaporates.

“What was that?” Lana wraps her arms around herself.

“Just a stupid side effect of the spell.”