The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
by Sangu Mandanna
Contents
Chapter Nineteen
Overview
Mika and Jamie drive north using her space-bending “speed” spell, pausing to forage ingredients. They bond over confessions: Mika yearns for a permanent home and a potion–tea shop, while Jamie reveals the abuse he suffered after his father’s death. A sharp argument gives way to apologies, and Jamie commits to facing his family at his mother’s sixtieth.
Summary
Jamie and Mika set off from Nowhere House under wintry skies, using Mika’s so-called speed spell, which she explains actually folds space in short intervals. After the first jump, they stop in a brambly wood so Mika can forage chestnuts, sloes, rosehips, honeysuckle, winter heather, and any winter blooms. As they gather, Mika contrasts kindness with mere niceness and admits lifelong caution about drawing attention, reminding herself she has power; Jamie, in turn, shares that his father’s journals once got him through fear and loneliness.
Back on the road, Mika casts again and brainstorms a potion to soothe missing someone, inspired by a pink camellia. They discuss how witches relate differently to magic; Mika and Primrose, she says, need magic like breathing. Jamie likens that to his love of books. Prompted by Jamie, Mika describes her dream: an enchanted tea and potion shop where she could help people openly. She wonders if some country might welcome witches, but ultimately longs to stay put and find a true home.
When Mika asks why he left Belfast, Jamie explains: a gentle father who loved him died in a work accident; afterward his older brothers, Ryan and Matt, tormented and beat him, and his grieving mother withdrew, leaving him unprotected. The painful confession triggers a flare-up—Jamie snaps, questioning what Mika knows about families. Hurt, Mika asserts that her lack of family sharpens her sense of mistreatment and tells him he deserved better.
They quickly step back and apologize—Jamie for the cruel remark, Mika for pushing after he asked her to stop. Mika asks why he is going now. Jamie says his mother has finally asked to meet for her sixtieth, and he feels he owes her this, despite the past. He hopes that seeing his brothers will shrink old terrors into mere cobwebs, and he continues toward the confrontation.
Who Appears
- JamieDriving north; witnesses Mika’s space-bending spell; reveals childhood abuse post–father’s death; lashes out, apologizes; goes to his mother’s sixtieth.
- Mika MoonCasts space-bending travel; forages ingredients; dreams of a potion–tea shop and a permanent home; argues with Jamie, then reconciles.
- Jamie’s motherGrief-stricken after her husband’s death; now invites Jamie to her sixtieth; the reason for the trip.
- Ryan and MattJamie’s older brothers; abused him after their father died; looming figures he hopes to defang.
- Jamie’s fatherA gentle builder whose journals comforted Jamie; died in an accident, precipitating family collapse.
- PrimroseReferenced as a witch who, like Mika, needs magic like breathing.
- LuciePacked car snacks; previously informed Jamie’s mother when he first arrived at Nowhere House.
- KenMentioned as comparison to Jamie’s father’s kindness; part of Jamie’s support system.
- TerracottaMentioned humorously regarding appetite; previously levitated and later apologized.
- LillianMentioned as the one who needed someone to run the library Jamie loves.