The bell above the café’s door tinkled lightly as Annie entered The Magic Bean, and she was greeted with the scent of freshly brewing coffee. The woman who ran the café, Ella, was sitting behind the counter, lost in a daydream, as she usually was.

“Excuse me,” said Annie as she approached the counter, startling the woman out of her reverie.

“Oh, hello,” she replied with a polite smile. “Can I help you?”

“What’s today’s special?”

“Chai mocha latte.”

“Great. I’ll take one, please.”

“Sure.” The woman smiled again. Annie returned the smile, but deep down, she felt a little unnerved by Ella’s mesmeric eyes. The way she looked at you, it was as if she could see straight into your soul; could foretell your whole future with a single glance. Annie paid for her drink and took a seat on a couch in a corner.

She didn’t have to wait long until the bell tinkled again, signifying the arrival of Annie’s friend, Jane. After she ordered, paid for, and received her drink, she joined Annie on the couch.

“She’s some sort of an enchantress, I’ll bet you the world,” was Jane’s opening statement.

“How on Earth could you possibly think that?” asked Annie.

“I just do,” said Jane. “She’s too good at making coffee, for one thing. Y’know, I heard that a lot of those teas and herbs and things have divinatory powers and stuff.”

“Jane, you know that’s just myth,” said Annie, sipping her latte.

“Is it really? We don’t know. I still believe she’s brewing more than coffee back there.

They sat for a while, drinking and talking, observing life go by at The Magic Bean. After about and hour, a man walked in, a smug smile on his face, his cell phone pressed to his ear. He passed close enough to Annie and Jane for them to hear him say, “…out of my hand. She’s fallen for everything I’ve told her. There’s nothing I can’t get her to do.” He spoke some more, not loud enough for Annie and Jane to hear, before hanging up and inquiring about the latest deals and specials.

“Today’s special is our Chai Mocha Latte, but I think you’d much prfer this.” Ella spoke as she set a cappuccino on the counter. Annie watched as Ella sprinkled some exotic spice on the top, making a design she couldn’t see. Annie, under Jane’s suspicious` influence, almost believed she was placing a charm on some sort of bewitched conjuration.

“She’s jinxed him, I know it,” Jane whispered conspiratorially to Annie. “I hope she’ll doom the pig.”

She and Annie watched as Ella hypnotically convinced him to accept the charm. Annie had Jane convinced themselves it was some bewitchment, and he was unnaturally at ease taking something he didn’t order. He dreamily sipped it, drinking it away quickly. Jane and Annie watched anxiously, waiting for some kind of sorcery to befall the man.

They were surprised when it did.

He gasped slightly and backed away, strangely gaping at, and listening to, some phantasm unseen by all but he. He nodded, as though being instructed. The man quickly paid for his drink and left.

Annie and Jane, having finished their coffee and chat, said one last “thank you” to Ella and left.

“Okay, I have it all figured out,” Jane smiled. “I know why Ella the witch is working here.”

“Go ahead,” said Annie, amused. Jane was always making up ridiculous stories about the world around her. “Mystify me.”

“So, like, a thousand years ago, she killed the daughter of some wizard or sorcerer or something. It might have been an accident.” Jane shrugged. “So, he decided to hex her and bind her to this place. Then he cursed her so she could use her craft for good.”

Annie shook her head wonderingly at her friend’s silliness. Yet, neither of them knew that, for once, Jane’s joking story was absolutely true.