Art by Lissy Marlin

Seven

Seven looked more like her dad, tawny-brown skin and dark curls.

amulet starts off white

In it sat a ceramic bird. she turned the bright pink-and-blue bird over in her hand, and it came to life suddenly, shaking its feathers and chirping a beautiful song. The Gran smiled, and the bird turned to ceramic once more. “This is an ave.”

Seven took her black wool cape off and pushed the sleeves of her sweater up just so.

disguise: straight blond wig

their matching outfits:

Inside the bags were beautiful red outfits, the color of their Witchling pendants, but … somehow Thorn had made the color Seven always thought to be ugly and muddy … absolutely stunning. Seven reached out to touch her outfit, and her eyes welled with tears. A thick, shimmering red thread stitched every piece into place. The fabric was supple and luxurious feeling. Each outfit came with a cape, dark red pants (except for Thorn’s ensemble since she usually only wore skirts), and a matching shirt and vest. Each vest came fashioned with a harness that held small vials for Seven, holsters for Valley’s blades, and darts for the three of them. Thorn’s outfit had gloves with needlelike spikes that sprung up from the knuckles, and Seven’s had a small golden dagger that gleamed in the light.

Valley picked up her cape, spun it around and onto her shoulders expertly, and buttoned the brass button at the neck.

Thorn

straight, short black hair and bangs

her round, pale face and flush red lips. She was much shorter than Seven, petite in every way. Even her feet were small; her shoes looked like they were less than half a toadstool long. Despite the darkness, she could see her eyes were a deep, dark blue. There were tiny pins, like the kind seamstresses use to hold fabric in place, stuck to her hat. It was interesting her name was Thorn since she sort of looked like a rose and was also being a real pain in the buns.

disguise: brunette, prairie dress.

usually only wears skirts

Valley

her hair tucked behind her ears and her hat sitting haphazardly on her head

She didn’t look like any of the other kids from the Hill, with their pastel-colored clothing, neat hair, and bright smiles. No, Valley was quite the opposite. For one thing, she was tall, way taller than either Seven or Thorn, and probably all the other kids in their class too. It wasn’t unusual for witches to wear black; in fact, it was Seven’s favorite color, but Valley never ever wore anything different. It was always black top, jeans, boots, and sweater. She wore dark eyeliner all the time, her nails were always painted black, and sometimes she even wore black lipstick like the Moth House witches. Seven’s mom would never let her wear lipstick and especially not black. The only colorful thing was Valley’s rusty-colored pink hair. It was the color of a dried-up rose.

Thorn pulled another hat and a fluffy scarf from her rucksack and flitted around Valley like a fairy, trying to wrap her in the thick green wool. By the time she was done, Valley looked like a scowling overstuffed burrito,

Valley was already getting up, brushing snow and soil off her cape and black jeans.

disguise: curly ginger

thick black turtleneck sweater, her pink hair down in loose waves

Fox

Fox wiped her slender fingers on her apron and let down her curly red hair

deep brown skin and freckled face

bright aquamarine (house of stars) pendant that hung from the necklace Fox always wore.