Page 16 of Witch You Would

in the fridge when the command was given. That meant all we needed was to imbue the catalyst with our intent using the circle,

then wait until the two potions were ready to combine in the teapot.

Except... Hugh said this was too simplistic. How could we take it to the next level? I should ask Leandro—he did have a

good imagination—but I super didn’t want to talk to him.

Storm things, go. I shook my brain and hoped something interesting would fall out.

We already had the spark lightning effects from the duskywing butterfly wing, but maybe quiet rumbling to go with it? That

might get annoying, but the extra sensory angle would make the spell more complex. Scent? Maybe alternating layers of petrichor

and something else. Salt water and jasmine? Yes, that would be nice. But this was a lighting spell, so the lighting needed

to go all out.

Leandro had mentioned the aurora borealis earlier, and I had a sudden mental image of it raining down in streaks of color. Could work, but how to integrate it into the existing spell recipe?

“You’re halfway there, everyone!” Syd yelled from the front of the room. “Four hours remaining!”

Ew. Barf.

Leandro walked up to me slowly, like he was worried I would spook. “You okay?”

I ignored the question. “What do you think about adding scent and a color effect to this?”

“Like what?”

I explained my ideas, and we both drifted into brain land to think them over. We reached for the pencil at the same time,

our hands touching, then flinched back.

“Go ahead,” he said.

Fine. I would. I did.

He didn’t read over my shoulder this time; he waited until I was done, then asked, “May I?” and gestured at the paper.

I handed it to him and waited.

“Crystal and mirror array for the infusion, do you think?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Okay. We’ll need a nine-point circle with at least four tangents—”

We fell back into our earlier discussion pattern, but the enthusiasm was gone. All business now, like two classmates assigned

to a school project. A couple of times he wandered off to clown around—juggling plastic containers, joking with Doris Twist,

sneaking up behind Syd with his rubber chicken—but otherwise the most ridiculous thing about him was his comemierda grin under

his curly mustache.

He didn’t touch me again. So much for flirting.

The clock on the wall ticked down, down, down. Crew rotated in and out on some arcane break schedule. Syd shouted again when

we had an hour left, but I didn’t jump. I was in the zone.

With about twenty minutes to go, Leandro and I carefully combined our separate reagents into one of the teapots I’d found

in the supply area. It was plain white porcelain, to which I’d added some sigils that should give the spell an extra level

of cool if they worked properly.

Big if. I hated that we didn’t have the chance to test anything. It wasn’t like baking cookies, where we could make a double

batch for backup. Everything had to work correctly the first and only time we cast this.

“Fifteen minutes!” Syd yelled.

We were finished, though. I glanced around the room and thought about all the times I’d seen casters rushing around as Syd

counted down from ten. No one seemed to be freaking out. Amy started to clean her area, but Tori barked at her to leave it.

A messy counter was more dramatic, I guess. Maybe I should spill a few things on our table?

I thought of the fire and shivered. Nah.

The clock seemed to slow down as I stared at it. Leandro stood just outside my personal space bubble. I caught him looking

sideways at me a few times, but he didn’t say anything. Until he did.

“Do we want to do the secret handshake again when the time is up?” he asked quietly.

I thought about it. “Not at the end. They probably want us looking stressed and out of breath. If we win the round, let’s

do it.”

“Okay.”

No argument, no pressure, just “okay.” Why did that make me angry?

Because of the fire. It had set me off, and now I wanted him to be more of an asshole. I had built up a Leandro in my head

from his videos, someone I didn’t like or respect, and I wanted the real guy to give me reasons to go back to feeling that

way. I wanted a clear Leandro-is-a-giant-jerk moment so I could shit-talk him to Rosy and my sister afterward.

Maybe I wanted to be able to blame him if the spell went wrong, so I could tell myself I’d done my best, but I couldn’t possibly

win when I had a comemierda yelling, “Presto!” and wrecking stuff behind my back. If he listened to me, and respected me,

and cast the spells correctly as we’d planned them, then if we failed it would be my fault, too.

Rosy would tell me I needed therapy, then we’d laugh about how we couldn’t afford it.

Five minutes.

Two minutes.

“One minute left, casters!” Syd shouted gleefully.

Leandro jumped up like a rabbit and ran to the exit. What? Why?

He ran back holding... a flower? Oh god, had we forgotten something?

“Thirty seconds!”

Leandro slid to a stop next to me, catching his breath. He grinned like a naughty kid and handed me a gardenia.

“This isn’t part of the spell,” I whispered.

“Ten! Nine! Eight!”

“It’s for you,” Leandro said.

Ah. Flirting. Sweet. I smiled back, only half faking.

“And time’s up!” Syd announced. “Step away from your stations and prepare to be judged.”

I stepped back automatically, putting my hands up like I was being arrested. Not that I’d ever been arrested. Also, I was

still holding the gardenia.

The judges stood around Syd, all looking suitably kind or serious. I could practically hear the theme music as we all tried

to figure out what we should do now.

Tori clapped to get our attention. “We need a few reaction shots here. Give me nervous, confident, excited, whatever feels

natural.”

Natural? I covered my mouth because a hysterical laugh was trying to get loose and make me look unhinged. I ended up with

the gardenia on my cheek. Was this Leandro’s way of apologizing?

“Penny,” Tori said.

It wasn’t Ofelia, but I still flinched. Then I felt weird for flinching. It was just a nickname.

She didn’t notice, or didn’t care. “You and Leandro did some kind of handshake earlier. Let’s see it again.”

The cameras pointed right at us. Natural. Right. So much for not doing this unless we won the round. Leandro grinned at me

like he always did, but I wondered if this time his smile was as fake as mine.

I stuck the gardenia in the front pocket of my apron. The smell drifted up, sweet and soothing. Leandro looked at it and his

smile seemed to change. More real?

I held my hand out and he took it. By the time we’d finished our spin and explode, everyone was staring at us, not just the

cameras. A few of the crew clapped, and someone whistled. I blushed.

“Great job, everyone!” Tori said. “We’re going to break for food now, and we’ll start the judging in an hour. Does anyone have any questions before we lock down the room?”

Quentin raised his hand. “When do we get our phones back?”

A few people laughed.

“Day six,” Tori said. “If there’s an emergency, we’ll notify you or your contact as needed. Anything else?”

“Are we doing confessionals after judging?” Amy asked.

“Yes, first the Spellebrities, then the pairs, then solo contestants.”

Why Spellebrities first? I wondered. Maybe Leandro would tell me.

Except he couldn’t, because once again, we were taken to separate greenrooms. Catering had left us a tray of random sandwiches

and croquetas and mini fried chicken drumsticks, like this was a Cuban birthday party. There was also a bowl of falafel with

a tub of tzatziki next to it; Felicia and Amy went straight for that while Dylan and I hovered over the sandwiches and Quentin

tried the chicken. I’d barely eaten all day, and now I was starving.

Eventually Quentin blurted out, “That blackout was something, wasn’t it? I can’t believe they didn’t have an automatic backup.”

“Did it mess with anyone else’s spell?” Dylan asked.

“Yes,” Amy replied. “I had to throw out a half-spelled paper component.”

“We had just put some things in the fridge,” I said. “I’m glad the power didn’t stay out, or the potion might not have cooled

down in time.”

“Tanner and I were in the supply room,” Quentin said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I screamed. It was really dark!”

“Did Tanner say anything?” I asked.

“He said, ‘Oh fudge!’”

Hah. Adorable.

“What about you, Felicia?” Dylan asked.

“My spell is excellent,” Felicia said. “I’m sure the judges will agree.”

So stuck up.

“You’re not worried about getting cut this round?” Quentin asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Felicia said. “There’s no chance whatsoever that I’m going to lose.” And then she straight-up turned

around to eat without looking at us.

“Well, I’m worried,” I said.

Amy swallowed a bite. “What did Leandro set on fire?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I, um, had a bathroom emergency, and he fixed it by the time I got back.”

“Knowing him, he probably messed up some essential step,” Felicia said, still facing the wall. “I’m surprised he didn’t set

his mustache on fire.”

Amy gave me a sympathetic look, and Dylan went back to the table for another sandwich.

Quentin patted my arm. “It’s not your fault you got stuck with Leandro Presto.”

“I flipped out when I saw him,” Dylan said. “I was so glad I already had my partner.”

Irrational urge to defend him: rising. “He’s not that bad.”

“He was totally checking you out, you know,” Quentin said.

“And he gave you that flower,” Amy added.

I couldn’t tell them about the flirting thing. “He’s just being a goof for the cameras.”

Quentin sighed. “I miss my husband. We haven’t been apart this long since before my top surgery.”

Top... Oh! Right. Trans man.

“I don’t have anyone back home but my mom,” Dylan said. “I miss her cooking, though. These sandwiches are . . .” He picked out some wilted lettuce and curled his lip.

The conversation switched to wondering what the celebrities were eating, how fancy their greenroom was compared to ours, what

other field trips we might be taking, what we would do with the rest of our hotel time if we lost... Felicia sat as far

from us as she could and occasionally rolled her eyes, like she was annoyed at slumming with us common folk.

Finally the door opened, and Little Manny stuck his head inside. “Meal is over. Time to go—”

We all jumped up like our butts had springs in them.

“—to hair and makeup for touch-ups.”

Quentin laughed, and it cracked ice we didn’t know had frosted over us. The rest of us laughed, too, except Felicia, and we

followed Little Manny to our doom.