Page 34 of Witch You Would
Leandro read over my shoulder. “Do we want it to float overhead or stay at ground level?”
Ground would be easier. “Let’s try to float it.”
“Playing on hard mode,” he said. “Nice. What’s our delivery mechanism?”
What containers could trap a spell like this inside? “Bottle, like a genie? Balloon? Mason jar?”
“A teapot!”
“What?” I blinked at him.
“You know, like a tempest in a teapot?”
“Is that a pun?”
“It’s a saying,” he explained. “It’s when a small thing gets blown up into a huge deal.”
“So like... exagerada? Muy dramática?”
“Pretty much.”
Well, he was the pun expert. Every spell for his show had a funny name.
“Tempest in a teapot it is,” I said, writing it at the top of the paper with a flourish. I smiled at Leandro, who grinnedback.
“Should we high-five now?” he asked.
I sort of wanted to, but Felicia’s bitch ass popped up in my brain. “Not yet. Let’s work up to it. We don’t want to do ittoo much or it will get old.”
“True, true.” He looked at the list of reagents I’d started. “If we don’t want the cloud to dissipate too fast, we’re goingto need something to make it persistent or regenerating, beyond the mineral oil.”
“Spearmint?”
“Maybe zephyrlily...”
We debated how they would interact with each other and what activation mechanisms would work best. Hot or cold mist? How thick did we want it to be? How large did the teapot need to be to account for Boyle’s principle of hydrostatic recursion? Which baseincantation type did we want to use? I didn’t notice the camera crew creeping up on us, with Syd in the lead, until they were right next to our station.
My customer service smile activated instinctually.
“Yellow team!” Syd said. “You’re matching again. Adorable.”
“We’re on a wavelength,” Leandro added, making a wave with his arms.
Thunder rumbled again, louder this time. Rain started pounding on the roof.
“Do you two have a plan yet?” Syd asked.
“Yes,” we said at the same time. Leandro made ago aheadgesture at me.
“We’re calling it ‘Tempest in a Teapot,’” I said.
“Catchy!” Syd grinned. “Are you planning to bottle some of the bad weather we’re having right now?”
Leandro and I laughed.
“Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Check in soon!” Syd drifted away, toward Quentin’s area.
Deep breath. That went fine. I glanced at the clock again. Seven twenty-five. Yikes.
