Juliet arrived at the observatory a few minutes before midnight. It was early October. The weather was chilly, even though the first snow had not yet fallen. She had brought her winter coat as well as her toque to help fight the frigid wind. She didn’t know how long she would be able to sit outside since the observatory was not an enclosed space, but simply a gigantic telescope on top of one of the science buildings. However, the top floor had a comfortably heated room that led out onto the roof, so everyone was meeting there before staring in wonder at the moon.

“Welcome!” Taylor called out in a tone that was almost friendly when Juliet came through the doors. “Glad you found the place okay.”

“Yeah,” Juliet said, shaking hands with Taylor.

“I don’t think I caught your name yesterday,” she said.

“I’m Juliet.”

“This is Fiona and Halona,” Taylor said pointing to two exquisitely beautiful blonde women. They looked like fourth years, or maybe even grad students, and almost identical. They had taken to tinting their hair in different colors to help people differentiate between the two of them. Fiona had tinted her hair silver, while Halona had tinted her hair gold.  

“Nice to meet you,” Juliet said politely.

“You know Rylan,” Taylor continued, introducing the people standing around the room.  

Rylan was crouched in the corner with his laptop stretched across his lap. The bright screen illuminated his face as he examined something closely. He had quite a bit of equipment with him and a long tube of rolled-up paper, undoubtedly her poster of Seth. Her fingers itched to open it.

“This is Blanche, Ceries, and Tawnee,” Taylor said, introducing Juliet to three more women. They were standing in a circle behind Fiona clasping hands and praying.

“Are they nuns?” Juliet couldn’t help asking.

“Not exactly,” Taylor said swiftly. “They are not triplets, just in case you were wondering. Tawnee is still in high school, but since not all of our membership has to be made up of university students, she is welcome to attend. Ceries is a first-year like you and Blanche has been a member for a few years. You probably won’t believe this, but they actually make up a small coven of white witches.”

Juliet’s eyes rose. “Really? Are they looking for members?”

Taylor shook her head. “No. Witches do things in threes. They wouldn’t dream of taking you on unless you brought a couple more with you. You would have to help them have six members or nine or twelve. But, you’re not a witch, are you?”

“No,” Juliet said.

“Then you don’t qualify. They only want real witches, the kind with real magic and if you don’t have it, then you don’t have it. It’s as simple as that.”

“So if they’re witches, what are Fiona and Halona?”

Taylor waved to Fiona. “Talk to the president. She can answer for herself.”

Fiona appeared and dismissed Taylor. Then she smiled and explained, “Halona and I are the true Gemini. We’re not two souls trapped in the same body. We’re one soul in two bodies. Our bond is such that we can feel each others’ thoughts and wishes.”

“What about Rylan and Taylor?” Juliet asked, eager to learn as much as she could.

“That’s interesting,” Fiona said, inviting Juliet over to sit down at a small table by one of the windows and drawing the conversation back to herself. “Normally, when I tell someone something about Halona and myself, they think we’re crazy.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” Juliet said.

“No, I guess not. You are really into this stuff, aren’t you?”

Juliet nodded eagerly.

“Taylor and Rylan are conjoined twins,” Fiona said seriously, and then she waited for Juliet’s response.

Something in Juliet’s brain clicked and she immediately started up, “Are you sure? Aren’t conjoined twins always the same gender because they are identical twins who haven’t quite separated?”

“Very good,” Fiona praised, although it appeared that she was only slightly impressed. “They say that they were joined at the hip, and I’ve seen their scars from when they were surgically separated, so I don’t think they are lying. They say that one of them is cross-dressing, so they might be two boys or two girls.” Fiona glanced over to them. “I’ve been watching the two of them for years and I can’t decide which gender they could both be. Sometimes Taylor’s voice is so husky that I think that it couldn’t possibly belong to a girl and other times Rylan’s cheek is so smooth that I think that he couldn’t possibly be a man. What do you think?”

Juliet glanced at the two of them. Taylor was sitting beside Rylan looking at something he was reading on his laptop. Taylor wasn’t very curvy, but Juliet didn’t feel like criticizing her for that since she wasn’t very curvy herself. Juliet studied Rylan. When Juliet met them yesterday she had taken it for granted that Rylan was a man and Taylor was a woman. It was quite the mystery.

“I don’t know,” Juliet said to Fiona sheepishly. “I wish I could tell the difference.”

“So do I,” Fiona said. “I have a reason for explaining all this. You see, the Occult’s Addict is not a club that Halona and I formed. Back in the day, Halona and I had to prove we had a psychic connection in order to gain membership.”

“Really? How did they test you?”

“They took us into separate rooms and asked us random questions. We gave the same answer for ninety-five percent of their questions. So, we were invited to join. Blanche, Ceries, and Tawnee are witches and I’ve explained about Taylor and Rylan and Halona and me. The thing is, right now you only have a trial membership. You only get full membership if you are or can do something unusual.”

“Like what?”

“Once we had a girl who could bend spoons with her mind.”

“I can’t do that,” Juliet said weakly.

“Let me see,” Fiona said, thinking. “I heard you say you’re not a witch. Psychic?”

Juliet shook her head.

“Rylan said that you like tarot cards. Do you tell an accurate fortune? Having a fortune teller could be cool.”

Juliet shrugged her shoulders. “I could give it a try.”

“Wait,” Fiona said, raising her finger as though she had just thought of something brilliant. “What about vampire hunting?”

Juliet’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Do you mean killing vampires?”

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