Page 58 of Witch You Would
“A cryptid?” I asked.
“That. You tell him what he has to do, and he does it, but no one ever sees it happen.”
We ate dessert as we plotted ways to trap Just Manny into showing himself. I suggested a cardboard box propped up by a stickwith a Cuban sandwich underneath. Penelope thought slipping a magic tracker into a box of stuff for him would be easier andsneakier. We worked our way up to trip wires and mirrors and people doing their best Isaac impersonations pretending JustManny was in trouble. Little Manny, hilariously, nailed his facial expressions.
The later it got, the harder it was to see myself talking to Penelope about anything private. Maybe that was for the best.Leave it alone until we knew whether we’d be continuing in the competition. We needed to focus on our strats instead of gettingdistracted.
Penelope stood up and stretched. “It’s getting late. We should go.”
We?
She tugged my arm. “Come on, we need to adjust our plan for tomorrow.”
“Totally.” I brushed cake crumbs off my shirt. Classy.
“Don’t stay up too late ‘adjusting your plan,’ you two,” Little Manny said, waggling his eyebrows.
“No jodas,” Big Manny said, shoving Little Manny halfway off his chair. “What do you care what they do in private?”
“As long as they don’t do it with a hot mic. Get it? Hot mic?”
I groaned. Penelope turned bright red. We headed for the elevator, and I was glad I’d reapplied deodorant before I came upfor dinner; the heat was bad enough, but now I was sweating bricks.
“Should we... go to one of our rooms?” Penelope asked. She didn’t sound like she wanted to, but I didn’t know whether itwas because of what Little Manny had said, or because she was nervous about being alone in a place with a bed. Not that wewere going to jump each other’s bones, but it would be standing there. Menacingly.
We definitely couldn’t go to my room. I couldn’t remember whether I’d stashed my mustache stuff.
“How about the business center?” I asked.
“Yeah, okay.”
The elevator came and we stepped inside. The doors closed, and I almost had to hold my breath because her smell filled thesmall space. Rosemary, mint, and something else... her deodorant? Jasmine, rose, a hint of vanilla. It was like being backin the gardens, which was not a thing I needed on my mind right now.
Did she really want to talk about our spell, or other stuff?
A year later, the doors opened and we stepped into the lobby. Alina waved at us from behind the front desk as she chatted on the phone. We walked past her, down the hall. Even though the hotelwas small, it had a gym with a spa, an arcade-slash-playroom, a library-slash-lounge with books we could borrow, a small movie theater with free popcorn and a soda machine, and a business center with a private casting room that doubled as a small sound booth. Super fancy.
The business center lights came on when we opened the door. Pale green walls, one with five clocks showing different timezones. Desks that matched Alina’s, same Key West vibe. Ergonomic leather spinny chairs. Every desk had a computer with monitor,keyboard, and mouse, and a tray with paper and pens and pencils, all covered in the hotel logo. In the corner, an open doorled to the casting booth, a soundproofed pentagonal mini-room with a tiny shelf inside. The outside was covered in distressedwood, trying to make it match everything else.
Penelope took one chair; I took another. She grabbed stuff to write with, so I did, too. I wasn’t sure whether to be relievedor disappointed that she really did want to work on the spell.
“We have to be super careful tomorrow,” she said. “More than usual.”
I nodded, spinning the pencil between my fingers. “Maybe today was a supplier issue, but maybe not. After what happened withQuentin...”
“We have to be paranoid. No leaving the spell alone. Watch anyone who comes near it.”
“Anyone?”
Penelope hesitated. “Maybe not the judges? Or the crew. I don’t know why they would want to cause trouble.”
I tapped the pencil eraser on the paper. “Could be someone paid them off. Money can make people do bad shit.”
“Still, it’s most likely one of the contestants.”
“You’re thinking Felicia.”
“Definitely.” Penelope put her pencil down and leaned forward. “Amy said she was near Quentin and Tanner’s station when thelights went out. And she’s the one who gave us the wrong reagent.”
