Page 52 of Brews and Banishments
Grandma Lotta leaned back in her seat as she reminisced, her eyes staring at the countless flowers that grew in the garden. “I turned them down for a while, but the Elders just kept coming.”
“What aproblemto have!” Tessa teased.
“Finally, they stopped to ask why I kept turning them down,” Grandma Lotta continued. “‘Don’t you know the kind of power you can have?’ they said. ‘Don’t you understand the opportunities you’re turning down?’” She shook her head. “Those Elders thought I was the best spell-maker in all ofWillowbrook, perhaps on this entire side of the country. Perhaps I was, perhaps I wasn’t.”
Daisy huffed. “We all know that you were, Grandma.”
She waved her hand through the air absentmindedly. “The work I did in my youth is beside the point,” she said. “They wanted me right then and there, when I was already engaged in the biggest project a witch could ever be blessed with.” Grandma Lotta leaned forward, her eyes holding onto Daisy in particular. “Family.”
Daisy thought of Gary for a moment, but quickly brushed it aside.
“So, when they came back another time, they said ‘Come with us, Lotta. Give power another shot, Lotta. Aren’t you afraid, Lotta, of each day being the same as it once was, the same boring routine over and over again?’”
Grandma Lotta’s face brightened. “I told them, ‘Tomorrow is a new day, and there isn’t a single thing more powerful than raising my family.”
Daisy watched her grandmother wistfully, the familiar phrase echoing in the back of her mind. She was so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t even noticed the tear already slipping down her cheek.
“My dear Daisy,” Grandma Lotta breathed. “What’s got you so wound up?”
Daisy could hardly keep up the act with her grandmother watching her in that way. The walls she had prepared to hold up during the visit quickly crumbled to the floor around her feet.
“I have been plagued, Grandma,” Daisy began, “by a spell I can’t seem to figure out. I, the one who is supposed to be an expert at crafting spells and brews and tonics, can’t figure out the one that happens to rest on my shoulders.” She shook her head with a defeated expression. “How does that make me a brilliant witch?”
Grandma Lotta’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me about this spell.”
“It arrived at Fields’ Herbalsin the form of a potion,” Daisy explained. “I was hardly paying enough attention and dropped it all over me. The next thing I knew, every time I dared to say ‘I wish’, whatever I said next would come true. Every single thing, Grandma. ”
Grandma Lotta glanced around as she fidgeted in her seat. “L-Like what?”
“Like Rebecca Mitchell, the -”
“The girl who ruined your Prom dress?”
Daisy pointed at her. “That’s exactly right! I wished for her to have her fancy Chanel suit ruined and it happened -” she snapped her fingers “- just like that! And people just kept getting hurt. I did some good things too, but we all know that doing good doesn’t outweigh the bad. Needless to say, this has been hanging over my shoulders for about a week now, and I don’t know how much more I can take. One minute I’m fretting over what the Witch Council will think, and the next Tess and I are trying to track down the culprit.”
“To no avail, by the way,” Tessa quickly added, the cherry pie remnants smeared across her lips.
Daisy breathed a sigh. Somehow, expelling everything that burdened her made her feel free from the stress, for the time being. She was sure it would return the moment they left, but talking about it to a powerful witch like her grandmother was reassuring, in a way. As she turned to meet her grandmother’s gaze, eager to hear what an expert like herself had to say, Daisy frowned.
“Grandma,” Daisy asked, reaching to place her hand over her knee, “you look entirely lost. What’s wrong?”
Grandma Lotta’s face grew flushed, her hands nervously messing with the hem of her shirt. “Well, I -” She paused toclear her throat. “How embarrassing this all is, Daisy. Just…how embarrassing!”
“I-I don’t understand. What’s embarrassing?”
The older witch hesitated for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. “It is terribly tiresome to see someone as bright and talented as you, Daisy, not be dealt the hand of cards they deserve,” Grandma Lotta began in a very cryptic fashion. “While I believe the things we are forced to face are meant to forge us into stronger people, I couldn’t help but think that…well, thatyou,Daisy, were burdened far more than what was necessary.”
“That’s kind, grandmother, but -”
Grandma Lotta raised her hand. “It seems, however, that I might not be the very capable witch I once was.”
Daisy blinked. “What are you trying to say?”
“Icrafted that potion, Daisy, in an effort to see you be given the things you want, the things I wholeheartedly believe you deserve,” Grandma Lotta finally said. “Not that my intention was to haveeverythingyou wished for to come true, but you…” She waved her hand in the air, the embarrassment still prominent in her face. “You get the point.”
“Grandma,” Daisy whispered, her eyes wide. “I-If that really was you, why couldn’t Tess and I see that it was you who made the spell? We did a revelation ceremony, but -”
Fully embarrassed with herself, Grandma Lotta rose from her seat, still wildly waving her hands in the air, as if it would expel the conversation. “A silly old habit from my youth!” she exclaimed.
