It’s a special day. I turned thirteen today! It’s the day that I move from tween to teen. It’s also the day that my twin sister, Janet, gets her magical powers.

The women in my family are all witches, dating way back to the Salem witch trials in 1692. The story goes that my great, great, very great grandmother Helen was just a regular middle-class Massachusetts woman until she angered a real witch named Margaret Hathorne by marrying her brother. That witch felt that Helen was “impure” as she was neither a real witch nor was she really rich. For the crime of tainting her bloodline, Margaret claimed that Helen was a witch. Margaret put a small spell on her that would cause her to glow at the trial. This would make the town think she was a witch and she would be immediately hanged.

Fortunately for my family, Helen had latent powers herself that were awakened once magic touched her soul. She could feel the rogue magic inside her, so she cast it out of her body and into the soil. At the trial, Helen showed that she was a good Christian woman as she was courted by her fiancé, Robert Hathorne, in the Puritan fashion. They didn’t do sinful things such as dancing together in public, so the Puritans regarded her well. Her fiancé was also very respected in the town of Salem, so his testimony about her good Puritan values helped sway the magistrate to close the matter. Thankfully, a warrant was never issued and she was one of the lucky people that were accused but never brought to trial.

Fearing another act of vengeance by his sister, Robert snuck himself and his fiancée out of town at night. Helen used her powers to provide and protect Robert and herself as the couple made their way to the English settlement of Rhode Island. The couple settled down into a normal life until their daughter turned thirteen. That’s when they discovered that the magic was passed down through bloodlines. As none of their four sons gained powers at thirteen, the couple figured that only daughters received the gift of magic. Generations of children proved that hypothesis correct.

My twin is a fourteenth-generation witch. It’s now nightfall, so my sister, my mother, my two aunts, and my grandmother are now heading towards a clearing in the forest outside our house. The four women will teach my sister how to control her powers in a special ceremony. Meanwhile, my dad is taking me, along with my older brother, Nathan, into the woods in the opposite direction for a special ceremony of our own. My dad came up with a special bonding night for the men of our family after my brother turned thirteen. He hoped that on the night my sister hit thirteen, the guys could celebrate my thirteenth birthday and I would not feel left out.

It is hard to not feel left out, though, especially when I look back and can see beautiful colors that look almost like fireworks lighting up the night sky. I was so occupied with watching the sky behind me that I didn’t even realize that I had stopped walking until my father came back to me. Sighing he told me, “Son, don’t worry about what your sister is doing back there. We guys can have fun in our own way, isn’t that right, Nathan?”

“Yeah, it really is fun, squirt. I guess I can’t really call you that now that you’re a teenager, huh, Jake?” I smiled, as my brother never calls me by my first name. It’s always squirt, shrimp, or little guy. That alone made my night special, but my brother continued with the list of things we’ll be doing. “Our dad has a cabin back there that’s more like a little house. It’s got full electricity and water. It also has food and stuff in the fridge. So, we won’t be roughin’ it. There’s a bright light that he turns on, and there’s a range back there. We’ll teach you how to use a bow and arrow. Dad’s even got strange weapons we can use like a fustibal.”

“That’s the weapon that David used to beat Goliath.”, my dad said, smiling. “Afterward, we can do anything you want to do. There are video games and a rock-climbing wall. We even have blow-up sumo suits.” My dad laughed a bit and then composed himself and continued. “That’s always fun. Your brother loved that. He even beat your old man. He knocked me right out of the circle.”

I was still watching the beautiful colors in the sky when my dad put his hand on my shoulder. “Come on son, I promise we’ll have a lot of fun.” I hadn’t even realized until then that I hadn’t moved. It all did sound like fun, but the colors lighting up the night sky were so beautiful. “It all sounds great dad, but can’t we watch the fireworks first?” As soon as I said that there was a huge green streak in the air that burst into light fragments that looked like a dragon. “Holy cow. That was awesome. Did you see that?”, I exclaimed.

I pointed in the direction of the fireworks and the craziest thing happened. A purple spark came out of my finger, streaked into the sky, and burst into a beautiful firework in the sky above us. All three of us stood dead cold in our tracks. I brought my hands up towards my face and just stared at them. I then tilted my head up a bit and noticed that the fireworks had stopped as well.

I don’t know how long we were just standing there. It felt like hours, but I’m sure it’s only been a few minutes at most. My brother startled me when he broke the silence, causing me to jump a bit. “Holy shit, Jake, how did you do that?” I was expecting dad to admonish him for swearing, but he was in a trance, just staring at me. I didn’t know how to answer his questions, so I just kept looking at my hands.

We heard a rustling of leaves and we all simultaneously turned our heads toward the sound. We were surprised to see all the ladies, including my sister, come through the forest towards us. My mom looked furious. She’s usually a serene person and I don’t think I’ve ever heard her shout before. Today, I got to hear what that sounded like, as she practically screamed at my father. “James. I told you not to bring fireworks. You broke our focus when you let one go. Unfocused magic could have had devastating effects.”

My father didn’t say anything, but both his and my brother’s heads turned toward me. I gulped, as I didn’t mean to disturb their ritual. I didn’t even know what happened. I sheepishly looked toward my mother, and squeaked out “I did it, mom.” My mom looked toward me, still with anger in her voice. “You did that, Jake? I expected better from you. Where’d you get the fireworks from? Hand them over, young man.” Tears started coming down my face as I always tried to be good and never wanted to hurt anyone in my family, especially my mother. I could practically feel the heat coming from her anger. I tearfully told her, “I don’t have any fireworks. I swear. A spark just flew out of my finger when I pointed into the sky. I don’t know how I did it, but it’s the truth. Really.”

I sniffled, wiped away my tears, and slowly tilted my head up towards my mom. I was surprised to see that she was white as a ghost. She was staring at me with a wide-eyed, shocked expression on her face. I looked around and saw that everyone in my family was looking at me like that.

My sister broke the silence. “How is that possible? Can boys use our family magic?” Mom, still shocked, shook her head and simply said, “No.” My grandmother, color coming back into her face, looked at me like she was studying me. “No. No boy can use our magic.” She emphasized the word boy. Oh no. I think I know where this is going. “There’s only one way that he could have done that.” No, no, no. Please don’t say it. "In here," she said as she pointed to my heart. I swallowed hard. She is going to ask the question I feared most, I just know it. My grandmother looked at me lovingly and asked, “Honey, are you a girl?”

Everyone snapped their heads towards me. Embarrassed about having my secret out in the open, but knowing that I had to tell my family, I nodded my head and whispered, “yes”.

I was expecting some scoffs or shouts of denial. Instead, I was enveloped in hugs, first by my grandma, mom, and sister, then by my aunts, followed by my dad and brother. After the hugs and crying were over, my dad spoke up. “Well this changes our plans, I think. The women now have to train both girls.” I broke out in a huge smile at being called a girl by my father.

It did surprise me though that everyone was so supportive so soon after my secret came out. “Not that I’m not grateful, which I am. A lot. But, I really wasn’t expecting you all to accept that I’m a girl so easily.” My dad smiled and said, “You managed to declare yourself a girl in a way that no one could argue against since boys in this family can’t use magic. Once we saw you using magic, we knew that there was no way you could be a boy. You are my little girl. And I love you so much, princess. You’ll always have my love no matter what.”

My sister smiled. “I love you too, sis. We were always close before since we’re twins, but we’ll be even closer now that I know you’re a girl.” My brother actually started tearing up. “I’ll always be there for you. And I’ll make sure you’re safe. If anyone messes with either of my sisters, they better watch out. I’d move heaven and earth to keep you both safe and happy.” My mother began tearing up herself after my brother's sweet comment. “You have more love from this family than you could even imagine. Especially from me. You were always special to me, but as a girl, our bond will be even greater.” My aunts and grandma were too teary-eyed and choked up to do more than nod in agreement, but they enveloped me in another hug. Soon I was being hugged by everyone, this time all at once. I was crying now too. “I never got so many hugs all at once in my life. I love you all so much.”

After we broke from the hug, my dad looked over at my brother. “I guess it’s just you and me, champ. I call for a rematch. I know I can out sumo you this time.” My brother grinned at my dad. “You’re on! There’s no way you can beat me, especially now that I’m five years older.” My dad put his hand around my brother’s shoulder. “We’ll see about that.”

With that, the guys headed towards the cabin, without me. I wasn’t one of the guys anymore. I smiled even harder than I thought was possible. I’m now one of the girls. Everything is finally as it should be.