Page 32 of Witch You Would
Leandro shrugged. “Let’s go with what feels right.”
Of course he didn’t want to plan it.
Before I could pin him down, Felicia sneered at us. “You two are ridiculous. You’re not going to win. Everyone knows you’rejust here to make the rest of us look good.”
Someone said, “Oooh,” and loudly finger-slapped a few times like we were gonna scrap. Leandro froze, and my brain refused tocome up with a snappy response. I’d said almost the same thing last night, hadn’t I? Nicer, but barely. With an epic eye roll, Felicia walked out.
“What’s that French thing?” I asked.
“French thing?” Leandro replied.
“You know, when you come up with a really sweet clapback way after the thing happens?”
“Esprit d’escalier?”
“Yeah.” Himbo my ass. “I’m going to figure out the best insult ever for that witch in like two hours, while I’m watching acauldron boil.”
A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Or in the shower? I always have good ideas in the shower.”
“Hey, me too! I keep telling myself I need to buy bath crayons so I can write them down.”
“Smart.”
We stared at the door and sighed at the same time, then said, “We should go,” in unison.
I cracked a smile, he smoothed his mustache, and together we headed out into the Miami morning sunshine.
Leandro and I stood next to each other at our stations, wearing our matching clothes, trying not to look nervous as Syd didthe usual opening banter. Bruno and Fina did my hair and makeup again, with the “sloppy albondigas” from yesterday—Amy saidthey were called space buns—and purple and gold eyeshadow to match my apron, which they loved. Was this anime waifu? Probably.
Syd finally cleared their throat and grinned, as if they knew we were all ready to explode from suspense. “Since we’re in Miami,and this edition ofCast Judgmentfeatures truly amazing Spellebrities, we’ve decided the theme for this season will be: celebration!”
Celebration? Like, a party?
“Every spell you design and cast will be working toward a huge, final event, a party like this show has never experiencedbefore.”
Butts. I wasn’t a party person. My cousin Gina worked for some extremely fancy event planning company, but we didn’t hangout much. Not that it mattered, since I couldn’t call her for help.
“For today’s round, one of the most basic things every good celebration needs is...” Syd paused dramatically. “...light!As fun as it is to party in the dark, we want each of you to come up with a unique, interesting lighting method that doesn’tinvolve anything flammable. No candles, no lanterns with open flames, no fireworks or sparklers. Got it?”
We all nodded. I glanced at Gil, who was smoothing his mustache again. He seemed to do it when he was nervous.
Syd raised their arm and gestured at a giant LED clock on the wall. It lit up with a number eight and a bunch of zeroes. “Yourtime begins... now!”
The timer switched to seven fifty-nine as the seconds began disappearing. I pulled my notebook and pencil out of my apronpocket. As soon as the empty page was open in front of me, my brain locked up like my car’s brakes in the rain.
What were words? What was magic? Who was I? Seven fifty-eight and thirty-six seconds. Thirty-five. Thirty-four.
“Penelope?” Leandro peered into my eyes like he was checking for a concussion.
“I’m good,” I said.
“Are you sure? Because you’re choking that pencil to death.”
“No, I’m not.” My knuckles were white, and the wood creaked.
He grinned. “Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
