Months passed as Estoria and the twins lived happily without any more secrets between them.
Both Tino and Angie were diligent in their learning of the different herbs and materials and their effects.
Since there was a limited quantity of supplies, they could not wantonly waste them in an attempt to familiarize themselves with the process of making tonics and potions.
Estoria resigned herself to demonstrating the process of a few basic concoctions while the twins watched.
In her spare time, she took the twins outside to teach them how to identify herbs in the wild and differentiate between poisonous and harmful plants.
When there was nothing else to learn about the basics, she brought out books on the concepts of witchcraft and spells, but had limited knowledge herself, so she could not provide any substantial advice for the twins.
It was unknown how long Estoria had been practicing as a witch, but Tino figured she must not have been doing so for much longer before he and Angie were born.
There was also the question of who their father was as he had not been around for the entirety of their lives.
Tino wrote it off as a man not responding well to the matter of having children at a young age.
Seeing as Estoria was still glowing after having to kids, Tino figured she should only be in her late twenties at the most.
That coupled with the difficulty of earning a livable wage meant that his father must have left Estoria as soon as he caught wind of her pregnancy.
Since they were still young children, Tino did not want to pry about the whereabouts of his father.
He would rather cherish the time he had with Angie and Estoria while learning more and more about witchcraft.
Tino might not have had as much of an affinity for the craft, but he still worked towards learning about every detail.
Angie on the other hand was obsessed.
She took in everything as if she had been practicing it herself for decades even to the point of surprising Estoria.
While she was not the smartest in her past life, that did not mean she was too far from the gifted.
Now that she had a fresh perspective and newfound interest in something it was like a fish learning to swim freely in water.
And so, time passed while the family grew together.
Tino and Angie were reborn as humans, so they were still developing physically as kids at around six years old.
They should have been a couple of snot-nosed brats, but their single parent household coupled with their reincarnated memories made for an environment where they ended up obsessing over whatever stimulus they could find.
Reading the books on witchcraft introduced them to ways they could communicate with and summon beings.
For isolated people like them, communication with anyone else seemed like the best solution to their growing boredom.
One day while Estoria was out of the house, Angie told Tino of a plan she had to come into contact with another being via a ritual she read in one of the books.
"Are you sure about this? Shouldn't we wait for Mom to get back to have her opinion on things?"
"Oh, come on," Angie said while pouting, "It's just a little contact with a foreign spirit. It's not like we're summoning a demon or anything."
The existence of beings such as demons were listed amongst those that could be reached through a communication ritual depending on the materials and effort put into the performance.
Not just any ritual could beget the response from a being that had their own life and subsequent problems that ensued.
"Fine. But if something happens it's all your fault."
"Yes," she cheered while doing a little dance, "I've already made the preparations for the ritual. It doesn't require much in terms of materials, but there is one thing that I found to be the best when trying to find the best spirit."
Tino could tell where this was going, but he acquiesced and humored her, "And that is?"
"Blood," she spoke without skipping a beat.
"Blood?! As in our blood? Are you serious? That's like the one thing you shouldn't just carelessly use to summon something you have no idea the origins of."
"Hey! I didn't say it had to be our blood. That was just your assumption," Angie spat, "It could work by using the blood from any other animal."
"And where do you suppose we find one? We're more the gathering type than the hunter."
The more Tino spoke, the more sense he made which irked Angie.
He took her silence as a surrender to the idea, but after thinking on it could not help but become curious, "How does the ritual work exactly?"
Angie lit upon hearing his curiosity get the best of him, "It's rather simple! We just draw out the summoning circle and recite the chant of the spirit or being we wish to summon."
Tino frowned, "That sounds to simple. There must be a catch somewhere in the process. Are you certain we have to use blood though?"
"That's the simplest way the books have to gain the interest of the summoned. Other methods require certain rare materials and more specific chanting— sometimes in a certain archaic language."
"Well, I still think we should consult Mom before we try anything," Tino decided to play it safe.
"Oh, come on! You know how overprotective she is. She'll tell us no in a heartbeat and we'll be stuck playing hide and go seek for the millionth time. You always just hide under your bed," Angie was tired of sticking to the boorish comfort in the safer options.
"We already got lucky we weren't separated in this new life we have! I'm not going to risk your safety to satisfy your boredom. Anyways, you always hide in the closet. How is that any better?"
"If you won't help me, I'll just do it on my own regardless. I won't let you stop me!"
Knowing how overprotective her brother was, Angie played the final card she had against Tino.
'Why is she always like this?! If Mommy found out we did something this foolish, she'd kill us both herself."
"Fine! But you had better know what you're doing. If we summon a monster we can't face then you must cancel the summoning immediately if I say so, no questions asked."
"Deal!"
Angie was over the moon now that Tino would let her cure her boredom.
She was mentally older than she looked, but in some ways, she was still the childish little sister that Tino always knew.
"Okay! So, you're gonna be the one to cough up the blood, right," Angie smiled despite the psychotic undertones of her question.