The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

“Magic is attracted to the people who can use it. It can also be mischievous. When there’s so much of it in one place, it takes a very, very strong will to keep it in line. Accidents are much more likely.”

Here, Mika explains to Ian, Jamie, Ken, and Lucie why the girls have caused so many unwanted magical outbursts and why it’s risky for her to come to Nowhere House and add to the magic in the area. This quote not only helps clarify the structure of magic in the novel but also develops the theme of Freedom Versus Safety by showing that Mika isn’t free to accept the job immediately because of the risks of doing so.

“It didn’t matter if she was looking across a garden with a tree house or through the shutters of a tiny shed or out of the window of a slightly grotty flat—the sea was the sea. It frothed and frolicked and had a beastly temper, but Mika would never wake up one day and find it gone. It knew all her secrets. It knew her. And it stayed.”

This passage establishes Mika’s affinity for the sea and why she feels drawn to its permanence. The sea symbolizes Mika’s longing for stability and companionship, and her finding comfort in its presence illustrates her deep need for a family and a place to call home. Aside from magic, the sea is the only thing Mika feels close to.

“After a lifetime of going out of her way to fit in with the people around her, after years of perfecting a nice, normal mask to hide who she really was, she couldn’t fathom taking it off.”

This quote describes how Mika has carefully crafted a mask to hide her true self from the world after years of feeling like she didn’t fit in. Her need to hide herself develops the theme of Freedom Versus Safety by showing how Mika protects herself and restricts her own freedom to be herself. Additionally, this quote develops the theme of Letting People In by showing how Mika has chosen not to do so as a means to protect herself.

“‘None of us like it when we’re closed in,’ said Rosetta. ‘I mean, I love being tucked up in my bed with a book, but I always have the window open. Even in the winter.’”

Rosetta describes how she knew that Mika would appreciate the balcony and view—because all witches prefer open spaces. This quote features windows, a motif that ties in with the theme of Letting Others In, suggesting a deeper connection between witches and their desire for company.

“She had spent all her life colossally afraid of fucking up those very same social niceties and giving away just how not normal she was, so it was both novel and nice to not have to worry about it for a few minutes.”

During Mika’s first private conversation with Jamie, she acknowledges how nice it is to interact with someone who doesn’t require social niceties to have a conversation. She appreciates his unconcerned approach to the point. This is one of the first indications of the chemistry between them as they connect on a social level.

“What she didn’t say was that Primrose had not just taken away the nannies’ memories of magic. She’d taken away their memories of Mika. She had seamlessly replaced every memory of Mika with another, perfectly normal girl.”

This revelation shows why Mika’s childhood loneliness was especially traumatizing: She had no permanence in the lives of anyone she ever knew. Primrose’s rules that witches make no connections deprived Mika of the experience of making an impact on anyone. This quote relates to all three of the novel’s main themes: The Importance of Family, Letting Others In, and Freedom Versus Safety.

“Rosetta was lonely. It was obvious she loved her sisters and adored her caretakers, and was for the most part an extremely happy young girl, but Mika knew loneliness. She’d seen it in the way Rosetta had latched on to her the minute she’d arrived, and in the way she’d asked wistfully if it would be such a bad thing if more people knew about witches.”

Here, Mika acknowledges the parallels between Rosetta and herself as a child. This quote helps characterize Rosetta and build Mika’s investment in the well-being of her pupils. Rosetta’s longing to learn about other witches and live in the open develops the theme of Freedom Versus Safety by showing how her magic has restricted her social needs.

“Nowhere House was shifting in Mika’s mind. The new Nowhere House was messier than the first, a place made up of fractured pieces that, somehow, had come together to make something whole and wonderful.”

Upon learning that the residents of Nowhere House all escaped harder situations and formed their own support system, Mika forms a new perspective on her new home. This quote contributes to the found family trope and develops the theme of The Importance of Family by showing how much better they are together.

“Mika had a lump in her throat. She had never felt so welcomed and included, so much a part of something, and she couldn’t rid herself of a lifelong fear that it was too good to be true […] they would decide she was too something or not enough of something else and snatch away their welcome.”

Mika is so used to losing the people she has become attached to over the years that she doesn’t feel comfortable or safe allowing herself to be welcomed into Nowhere House and loved. This quote illustrates Mika’s insecurities and develops the theme of Letting Others In by showing how Mika fears allowing people to get close enough to hurt her.

“‘You couldn’t cast the spell?’ He looked away, suddenly interested in something in the middle distance. ‘If you were still at Nowhere House in the spring, that is.’”

Here, Jamie asks about Mika’s abilities to replace Lillian’s magic. This quote foreshadows the revelation of Lillian’s death—which Jamie hasn’t yet shared with Mika—and hints at his desire for Mika to stay well into spring.

“She hadn’t understood how exhausting and heartbreaking it had been to hide such a big part of herself all these years, to reshape and contort herself into something more acceptable. She hadn’t realized just how heavy her mask had been until she discovered what it was to live without it.

To be at Nowhere House was to put herself in very real peril, so why, then, did she feel safer than she ever had before?”

Mika realizes what a positive change living at Nowhere House has been for her and how she manages her life. This quote develops the theme of The Importance of Family by emphasizing how beneficial it is for Mika to feel accepted for who she truly is. This quote also develops the theme of Freedom Versus Safety by showing how Mika begins to choose freedom over the safety of living alone and anonymously.

“Jamie listened to all of this over the sound of his own thundering heart, and found that it didn’t make him feel a whole lot better. But then maybe nothing would until Mika woke up and he was able to see without a shadow of a doubt that she was indeed okay.”

This quote illustrates Jamie’s concern for Mika after she’s injured trying to protect Terracotta. Through close third-person perspective, the novel reveals his feelings for Mika as he panics over her injury. Almost losing her is a significant moment for Jamie as he realizes how much it would hurt.

“‘You know how this works. Alone is the only way we survive.’”

After learning how a group of witches coming together caused the orphan curse, Mika asks Primrose whether being apart is how things must be, prompting this response from Primrose. The elder witch’s unyielding, rigid adherence to tradition develops the theme of Freedom Versus Safety by illustrating how she prioritizes safety no matter the cost.

“Home. It sounded right, which was frankly terrifying because it wasn’t her home. Sooner or later, she’d have to leave. It was wildly foolish to get attached, to care, because she had never belonged anywhere and had never been enough for anybody, and it was only a matter of time before the people of Nowhere House figured that out.”

Here, Mika allows her insecurities to break her heart as she acknowledges that she sees Nowhere House as a home yet worries that the residents will eventually abandon her or reject her like everyone else. Mika’s inner turmoil develops the theme of Letting Others In by showing how cautious she is about getting attached to people or places because she has been hurt in the past.

“Mika has been so deeply hurt that she has taught herself to run before she can lay down roots, but the thing you have to remember, Jamie, is that when someone leaves, all you can do is leave a window open for them so that one day, if they choose, they can come back.”

Ken gives advice to Jamie, who—despite his developing feelings for Mika—fears getting close because he thinks Mika will leave. Ken’s advice to leave a window open contributes to the motif of windows as an expression of the theme of Letting Others In. Here, windows symbolize extending reconciliation and love.

“I’ve been taught all my life not to draw attention to myself, not to make people angry, not to let anyone notice how peculiar I am. Sometimes, even now, I have to remind myself that I’m stronger than I think.”

Mika describes how her upbringing has impacted her confidence around most people. This quote foreshadows Mika’s finding her confidence and revealing her powers to Edward to intimidate him, drawing attention to herself and putting on a display of strength—exactly what she has been afraid to do.

“Kira looks at you like you climbed up into the sky and hung the moon there yourself, so I think there’s a very good chance she’s going to love and accept you for exactly who you are. That’s the fucking Holy Grail. Tell her the truth. What you two have is worth Primrose’s wrath.”

Mika encourages Hilda to tell her fiancée about her witch side—and thereby defy Primrose’s strict rules. This quote shows how Mika has gained confidence in her own beliefs about interactions between witches and feels that it’s okay to go against her upbringing because of her experiences at Nowhere House. Thus, her words relate to the themes of Letting Others In and Freedom Versus Safety.

“People are usually like the sea, a constant, unerasable part of something bigger, but I’m more like a single wave that washes over the shore, ebbs away, and doesn’t leave a trace behind.”

Here, Mika uses sea imagery to describe how she feels like an impermanent part of people’s lives. Her comparing people to the sea emphasizes how, for Mika, the sea symbolizes the desire for companionship. She longs for the sea in the same way she longs for people. In addition, this quote illustrates Mika’s insecurities about not being enough to leave a mark on anyone.

“Here, she was accepted, understood, and even liked. So would it really be so bad to get attached? Would it really be so bad to admit to herself that she really fucking loved it here, and she loved these people, and she wanted nothing more than to stay?”

Mika internally examines her own stances about not getting attached to people in the places where she temporarily lives. Her admitting that she feels accepted and loved is significant because of how much she was deprived of these things before her time at Nowhere House. This quote relates to the themes of The Importance of Family and Letting Others In.

“She had put herself at risk by coming here, she had put her whole soul into teaching three wonderful children how to use their power, and she had let every person in this house into her heart—and still, they hadn’t trusted her. Nothing she’d done had been enough. She hadn’t been enough.”

Here, Mika analyzes the pain she feels upon learning that the people of Nowhere House kept Lillian’s death from her long after she had established herself as a part of the family. Mika’s biggest fears—not being enough for people and not truly belonging to anything—resurface with ferocity as she grapples with her feelings of betrayal. This quote strongly connects to the theme of Letting Others In.

“Over the years, Mika had embraced all the things that made her different and had discovered that she liked herself very much. But what was that worth without human connection? How was it possible to live, truly live, without the companionship of other people, without a family formed in any of the thousands of ways families could be formed?”

This quote shows how Mika is realizing that she needs to be around people and establish connections to feel fulfilled. These thoughts lead to her decision to return to Nowhere House and forgive its residents. This quote relates to the theme of The Importance of Family and plays into the found family trope by emphasizing that family doesn’t necessitate blood relationships.

“There were people right here who were not necessarily nice, but they were all without exception kind, which was far more important. They had raised three unusual children with more love than Mika had seen in her entire lifetime. They loved them wholly, without exception. Because of everything they were, not in spite of some things.”

Here, Mika recognizes how special the people of Nowhere House are because of the love they give unconditionally to their family. The difference between being nice and being kind is an idea that Mika revisits often throughout the novel, but this instance shows how she understands the true nature of her found family. This quote underscores the theme of The Importance of Family.

“I know there are risks when too much power gathers in one place. I know it’s risky to share who we are with other people and allow them to glimpse our power and trust them with the enormousness of our secret. But I’ve come to believe—really, truly believe—that if we can just be brave enough, we’re strong enough to take those risks. We can protect ourselves and each other.”

This is part of Mika’s speech to convince Primrose to change her policy and allow Mika and the girls to live together. Mika’s standing up to Primrose and asserting that the old ways are wrong shows how her confidence has grown and how she feels protective of her newfound family. This quote again highlights the themes of Letting Others In and Freedom Versus Safety by showing how Mika believes that the freedom to form connections is more important than the absolute safety of isolation.