Page 24 of Witch You Would
Inside, the ceiling rose two stories, painted black with shiny chrome pipes and ducts crossing it. The left wall was a long,mirrored bar, bottles on shelves that went all the way up, lit by green and purple neon. To the right, an empty chest-highstage surrounded by rigging and speakers said this place hosted a lot of shows. No chairs or tables, just an empty dance floorwith about a dozen people standing around.
The second camera crew stayed on us as we passed through the club, their lights shining at our faces, leaving bright spotseverywhere I looked. Rachel waited for us upstairs in an area overlooking the stage inside, with another small bar plus anopen circle of seating around a wooden table.
Still paired up, everyone sat except me. I had a spell to perform.
Tori positioned me with my back to the balcony, the second camera in front and Nate to my left with a view of the table. Onemic and makeup check later, I started setting up my reagents and gear. While she’d avoided me before, now Penelope watchedme like it was her job; everyone else drank mocktails and poked at bar snacks.
Deep breaths. Focus. Be funny.
“Ready Freddy,” I told Tori.
She counted me down and gestured for me to go.
I grinned at the camera. “Welcome toMage You Look,Cast Judgmentedition! We’re here to have a good time before we start the competition tomorrow.”
Quentin cheered, and the others followed a few heartbeats after. I gave him two thumbs up before grabbing the deck of cardssitting on the table.
“I call this spell ‘The Queen of Hearts, She Made Some Hearts.’” I cut and shuffled the deck in a fancy series of motions with one hand, then two, then I let the cards fly across the air between my hands in a wide arc. Manual dexterity could be as impressive as magic, if it looked cool enough.
“The queen of hearts, she made some tarts, all on a summer’s day.” I cut the deck and turned it around, showing the queenof hearts card. “The knave of hearts, he stole those tarts, and ran off and ate them and got a massive stomachache.”
A few people chuckled. I revealed the jack of hearts, then shuffled the deck again.
“The king of hearts called for the tarts, and he was super salty when he found out they were gone.” I showed the king of hearts,then put him back. “The queen hated to see him upset, so she had to make more.” I stopped shuffling and spread the cards outin front of me on the table. “I need a volunteer for the next part.”
Everyone looked at Penelope. She fake grinned and stood next to me.
“Pick a card, any card,” I said. “But make sure it’s the queen of hearts. We need her for the spell.”
Penelope ran her hand over the cards like she could feel out the right one, then picked one at random. The surprise on herface was awesome. She turned the card around and showed it to everyone: the queen of hearts.
“Thank you, m’lady,” I said, then flipped over all the cards with one hand, starting from the end. The rest were alternatingversions of the king and jack of hearts.
“Oh!” Amy said, delighted. Quentin clapped, and Zeke made a gesture like,can you believe this guy?
“Now, we could make tarts appear, but that might get messy.” Ireached for my premixed reagents and dumped them in a glass mixing bowl. “So instead, our queen is going to make some candy conversation hearts. Here we have gelatin, powdered sugar, and salt.”
Penelope peeked into the bowl, still holding the queen. I handed her a spoon.
“Could you stir while I pour?” I asked. She nodded. I slowly added a bottle of lemon-lime soda to the bowl, trying not tobe distracted by how I could brush her shoulder if I moved. Once it was all blended together, I held up a small tin.
“This is a pre-spelled blend of honey, rosemary, and forget-me-nots, plus the ashes of the recipe for the hearts. Law of contagionfor the win! Penelope, could you hold up that card?”
She did, and I dipped a paintbrush into the gooey mixture, then carefully painted it over the hearts on the playing card.
“And now, the raw materials.” I used the same brush to add some of the lemony gelatin.
“When I say the magic word, the queen is going to make some hearts for her kingly husband, so he knows exactly how much sheloves him.” I looked down at Penelope, who stood so close to me, I thought my own heart was going to pop out of my chest.
She would hate the next part.
“Here, let me have the card, and you can catch the hearts when they come out,” I said. Penelope nodded and held out her cuppedhands. Then she turned her head so only I could see her and mouthed something at me:stop control, I think, which meant she had figured out the flaw in this casting. I pretended not to understand.
Murmuring the incantation I’d written, I focused on filling the card with my energy and intent. Tingles ran up and down myarms. As soon as I felt the magic link between the card and bowl solidify, I said, “Presto!” and gestured at the card.
The places I’d painted with goop glowed pink. A pair of perfectly shaped conversation hearts fell into Penelope’s palms. Everyone gave a little cheer.
Then another pair fell out. Then another, every couple of seconds at first, then faster and faster until they were pouringout. Penelope tried to catch them, but they quickly overflowed her hands and clattered onto the table.
