Page 64 of Witch You Would
“That can’t hold both transformations, though.”
“So we brew two potions simultaneously, one per transformation.”
It could work. Maybe.
“Okay,” I said. “What do we need?”
Penelope took a deep breath, grabbed another pencil, and started writing.
We’d been serious and focused before, but we doubled up now. I had planned a couple of jokes and tricks for some of the tinygaps in the schedule; fuck that, there wasn’t time.
I did have to make a bathroom trip to deal with my mustache. The adhesive was supposed to last all day, but it seemed likethe edges might have been loosening. Maybe it was just paranoia; maybe I was sweating more than usual. Regardless, I lockedthe door, cleaned up the mustache sides with an astringent, and added more adhesive, just to be safe.
When I got back, Penelope had rigged everything and was chanting over one of the cauldrons as she dropped in reagents. I startedon the other cauldron, refusing to check the time. This would take as long as it took.
Penelope finished her potion first. A gentle puff of magic steamed from it, scented with cinnamon and flowers. It was hardto see the color against the metal background; Penelope ladled a tiny bit into a borosilicate glass container to check it.
Green! Lush, vibrant green. It had worked. Or at least, this was as close to confirmation as we would get until the finalcasting.
Mine followed about twenty minutes later. Closer to yellow-green because of how we’d split the enchantments, and it smelledmore like fresh-cut grass, but it seemed right.
Three hours, twenty-two minutes left.
Now we had to put everything together. The base needed to be soaked in the potions sequentially, and a binding spell cast to combine the separate elements. Then we had to repeat the process with the catalysts Penelope had woven from the same materials as the base.
When Syd yelled, “Ten minutes remaining!” we were in the middle of the last sealing spell. Unlike the first round, we’d becutting this extremely close.
At the “One minute left!” mark, I considered another run up and down the aisle, waving my arms like a hysterical puppet. Iwas too tired. And I had a feeling if I asked Penelope about our secret handshake, she’d bite my head off, so I leaned againstthe table and counted down from sixty. I was going too fast, apparently, because I finished before Syd called time.
They hustled us to our separate greenrooms instead of going straight to judging. We’d been here for a little over eleven hours.None of us felt like socializing; we sat separately and ate like machines. I wondered if Penelope was doing the same.
A half hour later, we were back on the soundstage. Syd and the judges looked disturbingly fresh; maybe their trailers hadrejuvenation spells. Hair and makeup did touch-ups, and Liam checked our mics. Isaac yelled at everyone, Tori quietly translatingfor him. Penelope and I stood at our station, not speaking to each other.
We got our assigned order numbers, and this time we were first. If we did a bad job, then everything else would look greatby comparison.
“Our contestants have been through a grueling two days of casting,” Syd said. “Now they’re ready to present their spectacularparty decorations or centerpieces, each of which must go through at least two transformations.”
Penelope touched the front pocket of her apron, then put her hand back down. A nervous gesture? Worried that our rushed potions wouldn’t work, probably. Me too.
“First to present tonight will be our yellow team, Penelope and Leandro!”
Syd’s voice snapped me back to reality. Showtime.
Our spell was small enough that Penelope could carry it alone to the display table. Moment of truth. We stepped back and facedour fates, her on one side, me on the other.
“Tell us about your spell,” Fabienne said.
Penelope fake smiled as she gestured at our wreath. “We call it ‘Miami Metamorphosis.’ Our visit to Tropical Oasis BotanicGardens, and Everly Bale’s sculptures, inspired us to make a centerpiece that transforms from what you see here to a littlepiece of a tropical paradise.”
“That sounds lovely,” Doris said. “Why don’t you show us how it works?”
Penelope took one of the catalysts from the side of the table. “We wanted to make the spell repeatable, so we put togetherthese propagation balls to trigger the initial transformation. No command word—it just has to be placed inside the circle.”She dropped the ball into the wreath and stepped away.
About five seconds later, glowing green tendrils sprouted from the catalyst and wound their way into the circle of woven vines and stems and stalks. They grew and twined together in a bulb shape, similar to the sculpture in the butterfly house, but more organic, all shades of green and brown that luminesced faintly and sent off glittery sparks. Roots stretched down as well, hanging over the edge of the table like a curtain. As the spell progressed, it grewlarger until it hit its peak, about five feet tall and four feet in diameter at its widest point.
“Now, the first transformation,” Penelope said.
I held my breath. If we’d messed up our potions, nothing would happen.
