Page 113 of Witch You Would
“Seriously, though,” I said. “What about your glasses?”
“I have a backup pair in my bag,” Gil said. “Leandro is a mess, but I like to be prepared.”
Ah, I did love this man. We were going to rock this round. As soon as we figured out what the hell we were doing.
Chapter 23
Gil
Penelope and I had to get our hair and makeup fixed before we were allowed on camera, so by the time we were back at our station,hunched over her notebook, we’d lost a half hour. Felicia and Charlotte were already sorting through their reagents and preppingtheir equipment; we needed to hurry if we wanted to catch up.
With a last dot on an exclamation point, Penelope put her pencil down. “Perfect. This is going to be awesome.”
“Extremely.”
Once we started brainstorming for real, Penelope had suggested the best thing we could do for the final spell was celebratethe charity I was competing for. If we lost, it might still impress enough people to get them to open their wallets. Maybeeven pull in some new sponsors who wanted to be part of the magic, too.
We were calling it “Making Magic Together”: using the base spell I’d cast the night we met, we’d make a top hat that wouldpop out residual echoes of old stage magic stuff—flowers, cards, rabbits, white doves. There were more cool bits, like fogand sparkle effects and fireworks, but that was the general idea.
“Hopefully Felicia didn’t grab all the duskywing butterfly wingsthey have,” Penelope said. “We can substitute crushed amethyst, but then we’d have to change the—”
“Go check first,” I said. “We’ll adjust if we have to.”
“Right. Stop catastrophizing.” Penelope smiled softly. “You know, after what happened last night, I almost feel like nothingcould be worse? It makes all of this weirdly chill by comparison.”
I was still recovering from the adrenaline check of a few minutes ago, but I knew what she meant. This wasn’t over, though.Penelope needed the cash prize and the residency, and I needed the charity donation. None of that had changed, even if everythingelse had.
“We just have to stay focused, and watch out in case of...”
I nodded. In case Charlotte or whoever she paid to sabotage the others tried again now. If Felicia was right, and she wasn’tdoing it herself directly, basically anyone on set was a suspect.
“It’s too bad we can’t...” Hmm, didn’t want to say it out loud, so I took the pencil and wrote: “Trap.”
Penelope grabbed my arm. “Yes! I used to make charms at the store, for when I had to do casting in the back. I can’t believeI didn’t think of it before.”
“Do you need an extra cauldron, or—”
“Nope.” She pulled out another pencil and wrote down a list of ingredients: a jar, a black candle, vinegar, a lemon, paper,and twine.
I raised an eyebrow and wrote, “Freezer spell?”
Penelope nodded.
I’d never heard of those being used in stores. They could be bad news, but I trusted Penelope to know what she was doing.And if anyone deserved to get an ugly shock, it was whoever kept sabotaging stuff.
She left to grab our supplies, while I started setting up our gear.It was a routine now, and honestly, I loved it. Maybe she’d work with me onMage You Lookwhen this was all over? The thought made me grin.
I paused, crouched in front of the open cabinet with a cauldron in my hands. Thinking about working on the show with Isaacand Rick had given me so much anxiety, even before I’d known the specifics. So had being onCast Judgment, but I’d sucked it up because I’d agreed with Sam and Ed that it was a great opportunity.
Imagining working with Penelope, though? I was totally amped up. I wanted to do it, looked forward to it, instead of beingfreaked out so much I had to self-medicate. Even the idea of cutting back the explanation tiers like Sam and Ed had suggested?I still thought we shouldn’t, but if we did, it wouldn’t sting so badly because I would be able to talk things over with Penelope,in ways I couldn’t with my friends.
Those conversations—trading ideas and getting into debates and thinking deep thoughts about how magic worked—were why I’dmajored in magical theory in the first place, why I started myDoctor Witchblog, and why I didn’t completely hate being an adjunct even when the work was grueling and demoralizing.Mage You Lookwas so one-sided by comparison. Most of my fans wanted to laugh at me and move on, and even if they wanted to chat for realabout magic, I couldn’t because I had to pretend to be a clueless fuckup.
With Penelope, I didn’t have to pretend. Even if everything in my life stayed the same after this show, having her changedhow I felt about it. And that made all the difference.
Failure to launch a career in Hollywood might disappoint my friends, and it would be bad news for my bank account, but therehad to be other ways to get ahead that wouldn’t make me miserable, right?
Shit, I hoped so. I probably shouldn’t have snapped at Isaac, but seriously, fuck that guy.
