Page 65 of Witch You Would
The bulb glowed with a brighter inner light and unfurled, uncoiling in a series of offshoots that lengthened and spread upand out. The tendrils turned into a leafy canopy, like a poinciana tree made from overlapping plants, now about ten feet indiameter at the top and three at the trunk. It smelled the way it looked, all green garden goodness. Success!
“Second transformation,” Penelope said.
This was where it might break down again. I stared at the lush green vines and crossed my fingers.
Buds formed on the vines, slowly getting bigger. Then they started to open, not all at once, but in waves and clusters, eachcarrying their signature scent. Pale blue plumbago, creamy white jasmine, orange and yellow marigold, pink and white plumeria,red and orange hibiscus... Some didn’t trigger, but it was still impressive. Hopefully impressive enough for the judges,especially if the reset worked.
They didn’t look impressed. Fabienne smiled her secret smile, Doris her kindly one, and Hugh’s nostrils flared like he wasswallowing a yawn.
“Does this complete your spell?” Syd asked.
“No,” Penelope said. This seemed to surprise the judges, especially Hugh, who woke up a little.
“You can examine it now,” I said. “Before the last part.”
They climbed down from their observation tower and circledthe centerpiece. Doris touched a cluster of jasmine flowers, snapping one off at the stem. It persisted long enough for her to sniff it, then dissolved in a puff of sparkles.
“What happens next?” Hugh asked.
Penelope circled the vine-tree until she found the reset trigger: a light green chrysalis jutting out from a section of thetrunk. “If you remove that,” she said, pointing at it, “the spell will go back to its initial state, and it can be restartedusing another propagation ball.”
Fabienne got to it first and pulled it off. We waited. And waited.
Shit. It wasn’t going to do the thing. Penelope’s smile cracked as she realized it, too.
“I take it this portion isn’t functional?” Hugh asked, his green eyes sharp.
“I guess not,” I said, making myself sound cheerful. “But hey, two transformations, as ordered!”
With a sigh, Penelope got a spray bottle of salt water as the judges returned to their places. She spritzed the tree, startingnear the base, and the whole thing dissolved into a messy fog that sank to the floor, leaving the original wreath and a moistsheen that was almost but not quite a puddle. It gave off a whiff of decay.
“Thank you, casters,” Syd said. “Judges, your thoughts?”
Fabienne said, “It’s a solid premise and execution. Portable greenery isn’t an unprecedented enchantment, but this did makefor quite a pretty centerpiece. If the recursion portion had worked, that would have put it a step above typical single-usemodels.”
Time for Doris. “I thought it was absolutely charming. The growth was a joy to watch, and the flowers looked and smelled exactlyas they should. The dispersal of removed elements was also lovely.”
I gave Hugh my biggest, most Leandro smile. He raised an eyebrow at me as if sensing a challenge.
“As noted, however, this isn’t a particularly novel concept,” Hugh said. “What would have elevated it above the mundane didn’tfunction. Still, you met the terms of the brief, so it wasn’t a total waste.”
“Thank you, judges,” Penelope and I said in unison. How we both managed to sound chill, I have no idea. Staying in character,I guess.
Dylan and Zeke made another masterpiece: a model of a fancy car, almost as big as me, that transformed into a dinosaur andthen into a giant humanoid robot. It looked incredibly realistic, and every part of it was apparently edible, airbrushed chocolateand sugar-spun glass and cake and frosting. If Dylan didn’t get hired by some fancy bakery after all this, maybe even by Zekehimself, there was no justice in the world.
Felicia and Charlotte put together a pumpkin that transformed into a carriage, including mice that turned into horses. Ina swirl of magic, the whole thing morphed into Cinderella herself, fancy dress and glass slippers and all, dancing with herprince. Then an unseen clock chimed midnight, and they turned back into the pumpkin again, mice sticking out of the top. They’dnailed the recursion, timed instead of conditional.
As my abuelo used to say, “Calabaza, calabaza, cada uno pa su casa”—basically, pumpkin, pumpkin, everybody go home. Exceptthe pumpkin wasn’t ours, and we would be the ones going home. I could practically feel Penelope melting next to me.
Me? I imagined having to tell Grandpa Fred that I’d failed him, and the charity. He’d be so damn nice about it.You win some, you lose some, he would say.Everything comes to an end sometime, Bert. We had a good run.
I barely paid attention to Amy and Jaya, shamefully. I was too busy wallowing. That’s why the fire took me by surprise.
A ball of flame burst from the podium where the spells were presented, huge and bright, rippling orange around a blindingyellow core. Sparks shot in various directions, like a firework, hitting the edges of the containment circle etched into thefloor.
I shielded Penelope with my body. People screamed; Amy and Jaya backed away; all the camerapeople moved fast, trying to maintaintheir shots without getting burned. Tori shouted, “Get the extinguisher!” while Dylan tossed a bowl with salt and water atthe fire. It sizzled and shrank, smoking like a chimney, but didn’t go out. Zeke joined him, taking turns.
Little Manny ran up with a giant cart-mounted canister. He yanked the nozzle and hose off, aimed, and let it rip. White foamsprayed out, coating the fireball until it looked more like the bottom of a snowman. It hovered in the air for a few moreheartbeats, then dropped to the podium with a loud thump and rolled to the floor.
