Page 55 of Witch You Would
Leandro watched her hip-swaying, high-heeled walk, and something ugly dug around in my chest. I had no right to feel evenslightly jealous. She was pretty, and he could look.
“Do you think her farts are super high-pitched because of the huge stick in her ass?” he asked.
I snort-laughed so hard I had to cover my mouth. The thing in my chest disappeared.
“She has to take it out to poop,” I said.
“Does she hold it the whole time, or does she rest it on her lap?”
“That’s disgusting. And we probably shouldn’t shit-talk the other contestants.”
“Shit-talk?” Leandro waggled his eyebrows.
“Pun not intended!”
I opened the tarragon to check it, imagining Felicia waving around a poop-covered stick. Hold on. I wafted the scent of thejar toward me again, then checked the label. Tarragon. Except it wasn’t. I shook some of the herb onto the counter, then tastedit to be sure.
“This is thyme,” I said.
Leandro tried a pinch, too, then grabbed my wrist and turned the jar so he could read the label. He was touching me. My braincrashed and rebooted.
“Wrong ingredients can cause huge problems in a spell,” I said.
“Someone could get hurt,” he agreed.
I glared at Felicia, who was either ignoring me on purpose or had no idea what she’d done. Only one way to find out. I tookthe jar back to her station and held it up.
“What’s this?” I demanded.
Felicia looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “I know you’re dense, but I assumed you could read labels.”
“This isn’t tarragon,” I said. “It’s thyme.”
Felicia wasn’t dense; she understood what I was implying. She grabbed the jar and checked it, her blue eyes narrowing. Butinstead of fighting with me, she started going through all her other jars of tarragon. Charlotte joined her a second later.
“Who’s in charge of the supply room?” I asked Leandro, who stood quietly next to me.
“I’m not sure.” Leandro smoothed his mustache. “Maybe we should grab Syd? Or Tori?”
“Tori, yes.” She was important. She’d want to know, either thatFelicia was screwing around or . . . Except I didn’t see her. I did see Big Manny, looking grumpy. I walked over to him, waving the jar.
“Yes?” Big Manny asked, watching the jar move.
“This has the wrong ingredient in it,” I said.
He blinked. “Are you sure?”
The memory of Ofelia asking me whether I’d messed up the reagents for sparkle-hair guy flashed through my brain. My customerservice smile appeared on my face like dark magic, hiding the irritation buzzing in my chest.
“She’s sure,” Leandro said firmly. “Get Tori.”
My irritation fizzled. He’d backed me up. No hesitation. No jokes. He looked angry, actually, which was new.
He trusted me. It shouldn’t have felt so good, but it did.
Big Manny walked toward the door, muttering something into his collar mic. He ran into Tori coming in, and they whisperedback and forth. Big Manny pointed at me, and Tori’s face went all flat again. She gestured us over.
I handed her the container. The other contestants and celebrities were watching us now, and Felicia grimly brought over ajar of sage that apparently wasn’t. I tried to stay calm, but inside I was still freaking out. What if Quentin had used awrong reagent that broke his spell? What if Felicia hadn’t done anything after all? Or maybe she had messed with her own stuffto cover her sabotage?
