“Seven would have a much better chance of achieving her biggest dream, becoming a witching-world-famous journalist, if she was in one of the powerful covens, like her mom. Because being a Spare meant your destiny and magic didn’t match up with anyone else’s. Being a Spare meant you didn’t belong. And Seven wanted desperately to belong.”

Ortega uses repetition to show that becoming a Spare is the protagonist’s worst fear at the start of the novel. The words “being a Spare” repeat, mirroring how Seven’s anxious thoughts revolve around her terror of being excluded from the coven system. In addition, the repetition of the word “belong” emphasizes Spares’ ostracization, which develops the theme of Systems of Exclusion and Disenfranchisement.

“‘Valley Pepperhorn, Seven Salazar, Thorn Laroux, your impossible task…’ The three Witchlings leaned forward as one. If Seven had been sitting in a chair, she would’ve fallen out of it by now. ‘Is to fell a Nightbeast!’”

The slow, deliberate pace of the Gran’s dialogue adds to the scene’s suspense. She stretches out the tense moment by stating the girls’ full names and by using an ellipsis, and the mention of how Seven “would’ve fallen out” of her chair underscores that the protagonist is figuratively on the edge of her seat as she waits to learn her fate. The proclamation of the Witchlings’ Impossible Task is the novel’s inciting incident, and facing this dire situation together turns three unlikely individuals into close friends.

“Seven didn’t want to admit Valley was right. She also didn’t recognize this calm, nicer version of her bully. She didn’t get to suddenly get a fresh start after everything she’d done to Seven. Not without a serious, and Seven was talking mega, apology. ‘The Gran didn’t put you in charge,’ Seven said.

‘She didn’t put you in charge either!’ Valley countered.”

The narrator’s diction provides insight into Seven and Valley’s characterization as well as the conflict between the girls.