Chapter Four

Mika gazes at the sea from her Brighton flat, reflecting on her transient life and the constancy the ocean provides. After receiving Ian’s email, she signs a contract for a two-week trial and at least six further weeks tutoring the three witches at Nowhere House, despite unanswered questions about absent guardian Lillian.

Noah, her neighbor and Circe’s favorite sitter, arrives with the dog. Mika reveals she is moving on Friday for a new job, offering only partial truths. Over tea blended with subtle magic he does not know about, Mika weighs the burden of secrecy and her practiced normalcy, acknowledging nerves about teaching but prioritizing the girls’ needs.

That night at Nowhere House, Terracotta wakes Jamie to declare she will not accept the new tutor, escalating to dramatic threats as a way to assert control. Jamie challenges her impulse toward extreme solutions and probes her distrust, recognizing he may have modeled her wariness.

Jamie reflects on meeting Mika: her deliberately ordinary presentation, the shattering of that facade when Altamira’s witchfire exposed her power and courage, and the household’s real need for guidance. Despite his reluctance, he concludes they owe Mika the benefit of the doubt, while Terracotta refuses to promise cooperation, setting up tension for Mika’s arrival.