Page 49 of Witch You Would

Our spell was missing something.

Whatever Doris had planned to sabotage, she hadn’t managed to do it, thankfully, so Gil and I were still on schedule. But

as he finished the circle for his card tricks, I had this nagging feeling... or maybe it was more that I didn’t have the

same sense of everything being right that I’d had in round three.

I spun my pencil on the table and tried to figure it out. Was I nervous? Overthinking? Catastrophizing? Did I need more caffeine,

or less?

Felicia and Charlotte were arguing at their station, if I was reading their ice-queen expressions right. Both covered their

mics with their hands instead of turning them off.

Syd and the judges, minus Doris, watched from one corner, while Rachel stood in another. Tori followed Nate and his camera

like they were tied together with a rope. No one was taking chances now, I guess. I still couldn’t believe they were making

us finish this when it had clearly been rigged, but I wasn’t a lawyer ninja, so what did I know.

“You okay?” Gil asked.

I yelped and spun the pencil right off the table.

He caught it. “What’s going on in that big brain of yours?”

Felica cut the air with one hand, while Charlotte shook her head so hard I thought it would pop off.

“I think our spell needs something,” I said. “I don’t know what.”

Gil leaned on the table, looking up at me sideways. “Conversation hearts?”

I clicked my tongue at him. “No.”

“Jellyfish?”

“No.”

“Kittens?”

“No!”

“You’re right, it would be hard to keep them from going after the bunnies and birds.”

I bumped him with my hip. “I’m serious.”

“Me too! Look, so serious.” He narrowed his eyes and made a duck face at me.

I laughed and made the same face back. He crossed his eyes, so I stuck out my tongue.

Later , he mouthed, waggling his eyebrows.

Felicia put her hand up in front of Charlotte’s face, palm out, then walked toward the exit. She paused at the edge of the

warding circle, glancing over her shoulder at... me? With a sigh so deep her whole body got into it, she headed for our

station.

“Incoming,” Gil said.

Hands opening and closing like she wanted to punch something, Felicia clacked to a stop. “Penelope,” she said through clenched

teeth, “can I talk to you?”

“Okay.” What could she want? Gil made big eyes at me and I shrugged.

We headed for the supply area, moving halfway into a row with drawers of hardware and various kinds of wood. Felicia slowly got a grip on whatever was upsetting her until only the ice queen was left, then switched off her mic. I did the same.

“You owe me,” she said. “For telling you about Charlotte.”

I blinked at her, not sure what to say.

“She’s going to ruin our spell,” Felicia continued. “She wants to mix rose hip oil with garlic in our catalyst.”

“That won’t work,” I said. “They’ll cancel each other out.”

“That’s what I told her!” Felicia threw her hands in the air, pacing in a tight circle. “She won’t listen to me. She’s a stubborn

asshole who thinks she knows everything.”

Memories flickered through my mind, of Past Penelope wanting to work with Charlotte so badly and freaking out about being

stuck with Leandro Presto. I grinned, unable to stop myself.

“Laugh,” Felicia said. “Go on. Get it out of your system. Then tell me how to fix this.”

Now I knew why she’d led with me owing her.

“What is the garlic supposed to do?” I asked.

“Just a potency enhancer.”

“Are you going to be stirring or mashing the reagents together?”

“Yes, stirring.”

I stared at the meticulously labeled containers of nails and screws and bolts, thinking. My abuela had used garlic all the

time, so she’d drilled me on what worked and what didn’t in her calm, firm voice.

“Using a stainless steel spoon or pestle on the garlic should neutralize it,” I said. “You could also try adding some tomato

juice or cinnamon, if they won’t react with something else in the spell, or use lemon as an enhancer instead.”

“Stainless steel, tomato juice, cinnamon, lemon,” Felicia repeated to herself. She started to walk away.

“How do you know I’m not lying?” I asked her back.

Felicia gave a short laugh. “Are you kidding? You’ve been helping out every single team since you got here, even though it

could have made you lose. I don’t think you could give me bad advice if you tried.”

Ouch, but fair. “If you know that, you should know you didn’t have to tell me I owed you anything. I would have just helped

you because you asked.”

“Really?” Her tone said now she thought I was lying.

Was I? She’d been a total asshole to me and everyone else here from day one. No one would have blamed me if I sabotaged her

as soon as I had the chance, or told her to go fry ice. But my abuela taught me better than that. Magic knowledge was meant

to be shared, to help people, not to get revenge or hurt anyone.

“Really,” I said firmly.

Felicia shook her head and left me standing in the aisle, wondering whether I’d made a mistake. Gil probably wouldn’t think

so. Neither would my abuela; she would have wanted me to win fairly, which meant everyone’s spells should have a chance to

work and shine.

My abuela. That’s what was missing from our spell! I’d been so focused on Gil’s charity that I hadn’t put anything of myself

in this. Too late now.

Or was it? I thought through our concept and presentation, our recipe and reagents and processes, as I walked back to our

station. By the time I got there, I’d sketched out a plan that I thought might work, and I immediately started making notes.

Gil booped me on the nose. “What is this?”

“Making our spell more awesome.” I talked him through it, his eyes getting bigger behind his safety glasses.

“That’s a lot. Are you sure we can do all this in time?” he asked.

My hands shook, and my pulse sped up. I swallowed spit and made myself say, “We’re going to pressure-cook it.”

“Whoa, hey, are you sure?” He put his hands on my shoulders. “I don’t want you doing anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

This whole competition made me uncomfortable. I’d let Rosy talk me into it because she said I knew more about magic than half

the people who usually competed; then I’d cosplayed as confident until even the producers were fooled; and then, to top it

all off, I’d agreed to fake flirt with my derpy partner. No part of this had ever been comfortable for me.

But that was the point. I’d been stuck in my crappy job for so long, I’d believed it was the best I could do. I’d believed

that my parents, especially my mom, were right about me being a failure with delusional aspirations. That I’d never be as

good as my sister. I’d let myself get comfortable in my life, except it wasn’t comfort, it was avoiding new ways I could fail

and feel worse about myself.

I needed to be uncomfortable. To try harder. To take risks like... Leandro Presto. Okay, so those were fake, but still!

It was the attitude that mattered.

You can’t let one accident stop you from casting forever, mi vida.

I hadn’t, and it wouldn’t stop me now. No matter how much I wanted to throw up.

“We’re doing this,” I said firmly. “We’ll show those two who the real jokers are.”

Gil smirked. “It’s us, right?”

“Yeah, but in a cool way.”

“Cool weird.”

“Exactly.”

We reworked what we had to, tweaked our schedule, and I ran back to the supply room for the extra stuff we’d need.

Meanwhile, Gil set up the equipment that would let us pressure-cook—“thaumaturgical pression” was the official name for it, and the exact process varied depending on the spell.

In this case, I’d need not only a complex magic circle, but also an array of mirrors and prisms and gemstones.

Also, I’d have to keep from completely freaking out.

Gil hustled to do twice as much stuff, while I crawled around on my hands and knees with tempera paint made from tea rose

petals, a compass, and measuring tape. I barely noticed Nate creeping past me when I struggled to get the angle of a mirror

right, or the camera on the crane dipping down to get a closer look at my reagent placement. I was so in the zone that even

Gil’s chanting was a background buzz, and the occasional bursts of magical energy from him and Felicia and Charlotte slid

across my senses like warm breezes on a sunny day.

Finally everything was ready. I stared down at one of the most complex circles I’d ever created, and my stomach tried to crawl

up my throat. My heart sped up, fast as a hummingbird’s, so loud I wondered if Liam could hear it through my mic. If this

worked... It would work. It had to work. I wasn’t a teenager anymore; I knew what I was doing, and nothing distracted me

from my focus and intent.

And I had Gil. He stood inside his own circle with his arms open, a crackle of blue lightning gathering between his palms.

It formed a sphere that he carefully placed on top of the coin we were layering all the enchantments into. With a rush of

energy and a gentle pop, the lightning vanished into the metal. He exhaled, then looked over his shoulder at me with a did you see that? grin.

I grinned back. I saw it. I saw him. All of him—inside and out, serious and goofy, real and fake. I couldn’t wait to keep seeing more when this was over. My panic didn’t go away, but it drained a little, enough that I could breathe instead of drowning.

“Let’s go, Presto,” I told him.

“Anything for you, m’lady!” He practically bounced over to my area, rubbing his hands together to discharge the last of his

spell’s energies.

“Behold.” I gestured at my work. He walked around it, checking symbols and mirrors and prisms and pieces of hematite. I waited

nervously for him to approve or adjust it.

He gave me two thumbs up. “Want me to measure just in case?”

“Measure twice, cast once.” I knew he’d do it anyway, but he had to himbo.

“As you wish.” He spent a few minutes crab-walking or on his hands and knees. I tried to check out his butt; unfortunately

it was hidden under his shirt, and his pants were too baggy. Well, I’d grab it later.