A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping

Luke is surprised to learn that Sera really did reanimate a dead chicken. Sera remembers Luke from school and is struck by how handsome he is. She wonders why he is here, and it occurs to her that the spell must have brought him. When Luke claims not to need anything, Sera suggests that Posy might. Luke explains that Posy doesn’t understand that she ought to hide her magic, and Sera realizes that he must constantly justify Posy’s existence and behavior to others; this makes her angry on behalf of them both. She explains that the spell invited them to the inn, so they get to stay. When Posy asks for chocolate cake, Luke explains that she has autism, and Sera tells him that he needn’t explain. She leads them to a bedroom and promises to return with the cake.

A woman from the Medieval Fair calls to ask Sera to pick Nicholas up because he sustained a head injury while jousting and isn’t allowed to drive. When Sera and Nicholas return to the inn, Luke asks to stay for a few more days, even though he insisted earlier that he and Posy would stay for one night only. Luke and Posy’s mother doesn’t think it would be a good idea to bring Posy home. Although their home would be the safest place for her, both she and their parents would hate the arrangement. Luke notices the swan pendant that Sera wears, and she explains that when she lost her magic, Albert called her a “swan who had clipped her own wings” (102). She tells Luke that he and Posy can stay as long as they want.

Luke asks Sera about the vegetables in the garden, and she admits that she spells them regularly to keep them alive. He thought that she had been left with no magic at all, and he cannot understand why her magic refuses to replenish itself. Sera believes that it is because she created “exit wounds” in her night sky when she pushed too hard.

When Luke tells Clemmie that he is a historian who works for Verity Walter, Sera realizes that Verity must have been the one to help Theo and Clemmie enter the archives. Clemmie suggests that the spell brought someone that Sera needs, so Sera asks if Luke can translate the restoration spell. He can, and he does, but the three ingredients that the spell calls for—“a strand of sunset,” “a phoenix feather,” and “a thorny heart” (113)—seem utterly impossible to retrieve.

After Luke texts Verity to let her know that he has translated the restoration spell for Sera, she finally takes his call. She explains that she couldn’t tell him the truth about why she was sending him to the country because the spell doesn’t work on those who expect it. Albert made her sign a contract promising that she would never tell anyone the contents of the book that Theo stole, so Verity used Luke to circumvent this clause. She says that she’s obeying the laws of physics and that Sera’s magic is “an equal and opposite” to Albert’s (116), as his power must have an equal to check it.

Luke has told Sera that he doesn’t want to be involved in her spell and that he and Posy will leave soon. However, he ends up explaining to Sera that the spell isn’t likely to be literal. They discuss the different kinds of spells: Inanimates, which work on nonliving things; Animates like the resurrection spell, which work on living things; Bindings, which are extreme Animates, like the one Clemmie tried; and Adaptables, which, like the restoration spell, are the least understood and most uncommon. Luke explains that “rigid, literal thinking” won’t work with an Adaptable spell (122), so when it calls for a phoenix feather, for example, the spell does not actually require a feather from a bird that does not exist. Sera will have to think creatively in order to fulfill the requirements of the spell.

Sera finds, washes, and enchants the glass teapot that she needs for the spell. In an attempt to create a metaphorical “phoenix” feather, she finds a feather in the yard, lights it on fire, and drops it into the teapot, but the vessel spits it back out.

That night, Jasmine makes Nicholas’s favorite foods, and Posy demands that Luke play “Dragon” with her. He resists, but she insists, so he chases her around the inn, to her delight. Soon, Theo takes over, which thrills the girl. When Luke apologizes for her behavior, Matilda and Jasmine assure him that there is no need.