Page 120 of Witch You Would
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 thetime, 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 tomatojuice 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 itcould 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 helpedyou 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 heras soon as I had the chance, or told her to go fry ice. But my abuela taught me better than that. Magic knowledge was meantto 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 thinkso. Neither would my abuela; she would have wanted me to win fairly, which meant everyone’s spells should have a chance towork 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 myselfin 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 ourstation. 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 halfthe people who usually competed; then I’d cosplayed as confident until even the producers were fooled; and then, to top itall 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 believedthat my parents, especially my mom, were right about me being a failure with delusional aspirations. That I’d never be asgood as my sister. I’d let myself get comfortable in my life, except it wasn’t comfort, it was avoiding new ways I could failand 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.”
