Page 121 of Witch You Would
“Cool weird.”
“Exactly.”
We reworked what we had to, tweaked our schedule, and Iran 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 rosepetals, a compass, and measuring tape. I barely noticed Nate creeping past me when I struggled to get the angle of a mirrorright, or the camera on the crane dipping down to get a closer look at my reagent placement. I was so in the zone that evenGil’s chanting was a background buzz, and the occasional bursts of magical energy from him and Felicia and Charlotte slidacross 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 crawlup my throat. My heart sped up, fast as a hummingbird’s, so loud I wondered if Liam could hear it through my mic. If thisworked... It would work. It had to work. I wasn’t a teenager anymore; I knew what I was doing, and nothing distracted mefrom 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 ofenergy and a gentle pop, the lightning vanished into the metal. He exhaled, then looked over his shoulder at me with adid 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 hisspell’s energies.
“Behold.” I gestured at my work. He walked around it, checking symbols and mirrors and prisms and pieces of hematite. I waitednervously 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; unfortunatelyit was hidden under his shirt, and his pants were too baggy. Well, I’d grab it later.
I remembered Quentin telling me Leandro was checking out my butt almost two weeks ago. How the turntables had, uh, turned.
“Looks good to me,” Gil said finally. “Last chance to go with the original plan.”
The urge to barf came back and all my veins filled with burning ice, but I shook my head. “In it to win it. Anyway, we haveluck on our side.” I showed him the queen of hearts card I kept tucked in my apron pocket.
“Your Majesty,” he said, bowing. “We won’t fail you.” Gently, he pulled the card closer and kissed it, looking up at me ashe did. I felt that promise all the way to my bones.
He handed me the coin and took the athame I’d sterilized. With one last surge of nerves, we stepped inside the circle’s outerring.
I put the coin in its spot at the center of the circle, then backed up and slipped my hand into Gil’s. It took me longer than usual to center myself; years of panic attacks from fires and any associations with pressure-cooking weren’t going to magically disappear. But Gil squeezed my hand, and I listened to his breaths, matched mine with his, inhaling and exhaling in a steady rhythm until I was calm enough to keep going.
We started to chant, a simple couplet: “As I will it, so shall you be. Take your shape from my memory.” Magical energy rose,hovering around us like a heat shimmer. After nine repetitions, I held out my hand, and Gil carefully nicked the tip of myring finger—connected to my heart line. Together we knelt down, and I squeezed a drop of my blood onto the coin.
Light blazed through the lines of the circle, starting at the center and moving outward until all my painted lines and symbolsglowed as brightly as fluorescent lights. As we stood, the light reached the hematite array, then the prisms, then finallythe mirrors. So much energy filled the space, it was like standing in a sauna with a wet blanket dropped onto my head. Heat,pressure, but also a feeling almost like being drunk, lightheaded and spinning and ready to dance until my feet were dirty.
I closed my eyes and pictured my abuela. It was embarrassing how difficult it was, how long it had been since I’d seen her—I didn’t want to, didn’t want to remember her sitting near-comatose in a recliner with a blanket up to her chin, staring at nothing. Instead, I thought back to my childhood, before the fire and the burns, before old age swallowed her like quicksand. I imagined her dancing in the kitchen, a spoon in her hand, salsa playing on the radio. Her eyes closed, shoulders bobbing, hips swaying, feet shuffling. The high-waisted pants that had gone out of style yearsearlier, the short-sleeved button-down shirt covered in a tiny floral print. Her short brown hair pushed back from her pale face by an elastic hair band.
More than that, I remembered how she felt, who she was. Strong and capable, smart and funny, patient and cheerful, even whenthings went wrong. The heart of the house, the one who cleaned my scrapes and pulled out my splinters and hugged away my tears.The one who insisted I could do and be anything I wanted if I believed hard enough.
Today, I believed as hard as I could.
The coin glowed, brighter than the rest of the circle, so bright I could see its shape through my closed eyelids. The smellof anise and cumin filled my nose, so strong I could taste it. After I don’t know how many heartbeats, all the energy insidethe circle swirled toward the center like a whirlpool. A heavy wind scraped across my skin, pulling on my clothes. If my hairhad been loose, it would be blowing sideways. Gil held my hand, grounded me, kept my fears from letting the magic get outof control. The spell would be fine as long as we stayed strong and anchored in our focus and intention.
We would. We could do anything together.
My ears popped as the last of the energy was sucked into the coin. For a few seconds, I couldn’t breathe, like all the airin the circle was gone, too. I opened one eye, then the other, blinking away the afterimages of all the bright lights.
“Presto,” Gil whispered.
I laughed. My body shook and my legs turned to jelly, adrenaline crash mixing with magic energy drain. Down I went, sittingon the floor. Gil went with me, still holding my hand. I don’t know how long we stayed there, leaning against each other,wrung out like wet towels.
