The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
by Sangu Mandanna
Contents
Chapter Sixteen
Overview
Mika meets Primrose, lies about the cause of her recent surge, and receives rare praise for her potion skills. Primrose reveals the true origin of witches’ orphaning: a 17th-century collective protection spell by fifty-three witches that backfired. She affirms strict isolation remains essential and recalls ties to Mika’s grandmother.
Summary
Mika, still weak after the recent magical surge, travels to a posh Cambridge hotel to meet Primrose. She masks her exhaustion and, when pressed, lies that the surge happened after she saw an ex at a university reunion. Primrose offers help via memory manipulation, which Mika declines, and unexpectedly praises Mika’s exceptional gift for potion-making.
Prompted by Mika’s probing, Primrose finally expands on witch history: the Witchfinder General and similar persecutors spurred a 17th-century attempt by fifty-three witches to cast a global protection spell for newborn witches. The spell catastrophically backfired, killing the parents of new witches and creating the enduring cycle of orphaned witches. Witches once met widely and traveled by magical means, but the disaster led to strict separation to keep magic and gatherings limited.
Primrose reveals she corresponded with Mika’s grandmother, Sita, a regional leader in South India, and that circumstances led Primrose to take infant Mika in. She explains that history is passed from eldest witch to eldest witch and hints Belinda is a likely successor—though not soon. When Mika asks if traditions could change to allow witches to gather more, Primrose is adamant: secrecy and separation are necessary, insisting, “Alone is the only way we survive.”
Who Appears
- Mika MoonArrives weakened to meet Primrose, lies about the surge’s cause, presses for history, learns the origin of witch orphaning, and challenges isolation.
- PrimroseAustere mentor; offers memory magic aid, praises Mika’s potions, reveals the failed 17th-century spell, mentions Sita, hints Belinda as successor, and defends isolation.