Page 95 of Witch You Would
I slept better than I had in weeks.
Breakfast went faster than dinner. I scarfed eggs and toast while Gil made us both coffee to go. He waggled his eyebrows atme as he stuffed a banana in his pocket. I suggestively bit into a sausage, then realized that was not a sexy thing to do. Whatever, he laughed.
Round three, part two. Caffeinated, skin clear, crops watered, we matched in black, white, and orange today. Halloween apronfor me, big flowers and random geometric shapes for him. Seriously, what were people thinking in the ’70s?
First, we had to enchant a metric shit-ton of leather cord and a bowl of beads. The supply room had glass, wood, metal, andceramic options, and we’d gone for the metal ones because they were more durable and would probably hold the enchantment better.
“This is going to work, right?” I asked.
“Law of synecdoche,” Gil said, finishing the last line of a rune. “The spell will stay in the cord even after you cut it.”
“I swear someone in a video said this was how they did it, but maybe my memory is—”
“The principle is good. It’ll be fine. Trust the magic, and the magic will trust you.”
Why did that sound familiar... “Did you just quote Alan Kazam at me?”
Gil grinned. “He knows what’s up. Come on, let’s get this done.”
We joined hands and chanted, letting our intent and energy pulse into the circle at our feet. Wisps of my hair floated aroundmy face, and tingles went up and down my arms, pooling where my fingers were twined in Gil’s. A dim glow filled the runesand other figures, gradually seeping into the center of the diagram, then rising like a heat shimmer. Our chant reached itspeak, and the spooled leather cord sucked in all the magic like a vacuum. The light faded, my hair settled, but we kept holdinghands as we knelt down to examine our work.
“Feels right,” Gil said.
“I think so,” I agreed. “Now, the beads.”
Those needed a different spell, so we stowed the cord, wiped away the chalk lines, and got ready to start a new circle. Wetook a quick lunch break first, Gil threatening me with the banana when I was mid-drink. I almost spewed soda out my nose.
“Malo!” I gasped.
“So you don’t want my banana?” he asked innocently.
I put my drink down and reached for the bag of powdered chalk we used for the thick outer line of our circle. Dipping a fingerin, I swiped some and aimed it menacingly at Gil.
“What are you—” he started to ask.
I drew a line of chalk down his nose. His eyes lit up and he went for the bag, which I tried to keep away from him. We wrestledand he got it away from me, grabbing a pinch and dragging it down the side of my face. Back and forth we went, until we werethrowing puffs of chalk at each other as we circled our station, cracking up.
“Having fun, kids?” Syd asked. “Or is this all part of a spell?”
I don’t know how I looked, but Gil had chalk smeared and splattered all over his black fake-silk shirt, and his mustache wasdusted white like he was trying to make himself look older.
“Very important spell,” Gil said.
I sneezed violently.
“Don’t let me interrupt you,” Syd said, and then they tossed a handful of confetti at both of us.
After I’d cleaned up the mess with a push broom, Gil and I worked on our second circle. This one required more of a mandala-like form, somewhere between Dee’s mystic heptagram and Cosmati mosaics, so the beads could be incorporated into the design. It took forever to draw correctly since we had to use sand, in multiplecolors. By the time it was done, my thighs burned and my lower back ached super bad.
It worked, though. We enchanted the beads, which seemed to take the magic without any trouble. Then it was time for me tostep up. And sit down, thank goodness.
We cut the leather cord into strips, which I laid out in groups, along with five beads each. So many beads. I threaded themonto the leather, then slowly, carefully, wound the multiple cords together to form a single bracelet. Each one had a pairof slipknots so they would be adjustable, with the beads in between.
“Test it?” Gil asked.
I nodded, so nervous I couldn’t talk.
Gil slid the bracelet onto my wrist and tightened it. So far, so good. I held my hand out with my palm down and took a deepbreath. Then I turned my wrist so my palm faced up and said, “Presto!”
