A Kind of Magic

Matt, the son of a prominent witch family, is expected by the Witches Council to marry his good friend Lizzy. But when Matt meets Sara, a psychiatrist, his magic fails him and Sara discovers that she suddenly has gained magical powers. The families having known each other for generations, the Andovers, the Parises and the Tates own and operate The Elixir of Life, a juice company. They are also only three of twelve remaining members of the Witches Council, the dwindling numbers due to one form of attrition or another. Of the next generation, Matt Andover and Lizzy Paris are on the executive of the company, while Colin Tate, who has never demonstrated any warlock powers and thus has always felt the black sheep of the group, has left the company to lead a mortal life in a want to feel like he belongs. Colin leaving the company was much to the dismay of his father, Jason Tate, especially as he feels like the Andovers and Parises are making moves to consolidate their power leaving the Tates out in the cold. The latest such move is the announcement of Matt and Lizzy's engagement, the wedding to take place in one week on Halloween. In reality, the marriage, arranged largely by Matt's widowed mother Abby, was purely to protect Matt, who on his thirty-sixth birthday in a couple of months, will lose his warlock powers as is tradition if he is not married by then, although the tradition has never really been tested. Both Matt and Lizzy agree to the marriage seeing as to the small dating pool with that attrition of eligible families, that agreement despite neither Matt or Lizzy truly loving the other in that romantic sense. While Matt has largely used his powers for the small conveniences in life as well as to charm women, his dating life largely consisting of one or two dates with each woman, he makes a true connection with a woman he meets at Colin's early Halloween costume party, he only knowing her first name, Sara. Matt and Sara are up front about their dating situations - Matt being engaged in an arranged marriage, and Sara in a long distance relationship with her physicist boyfriend, Alex, the two who only see each other a few times a year - stopping them from pursuing anything with each other despite their attraction. But what happens in sharing a single kiss at the end of the party leads to Matt's powers slowly being transferred to Sara. When Matt finally learns what is happening with the help of his mother, they, with Colin's help, try to locate Sara with what little information Matt was able to glean from their short time together. In the process, some truths come to light which may affect what happens within this collective. —Huggo