Yeah.
We’ve heard this works but—help, help, I’m being eaten, I thought sourly.
There was a list of ten ingredients and then the complex instructions, as usual. I didn’t have time to attempt to “solve” the recipe and see which ingredients were needed and which weren’t.
Hastily I scribbled them all on a sheet of torn-out notebook paper. Three of them were grocery items we didn’t have at home: eggplant, oysters, apples. One of the ingredients was goat’s blood. I sighed. Why didn’t the witch just keep a goshdarn goat, if it was going to be this important? I scanned the complex directions and saw immediately that the required amount of goat’s blood was one ounce and the number of apples was two. But I was going to have to decipher the rest of the spell to see how much of the other items I needed.
So I’d go to Celestial Foods and get the grocery items, plus the stuff off the list Sarmine had left out for me. After a moment’s thought I added pears and maple syrup to the list, for the self-defense spell. The bell rang and I scrambled up.
“Camellia? Up here a moment.”
Hells.
Well, I wasn’t going to break down for Rourke. If he was still mad from yesterday, he was still mad.
But Rourke, oddly enough, was smiling. I suppose he liked delivering bad news.
“I talked to your aunt last night,” he said. “She was kind enough to stop by.”
“Crap, you saw her?” Rourke frowned. “Er. Sorry. I mean, I figured you would’ve gone home. How late do you stay here?” I didn’t say, Don’t you have a life? but I was thinking it, along with, WITCH HERE WITCH HERE OMG OMG.
His eyebrows merged quizzically. “Football practice? I’m the assistant coach.”
Pride absolutely suffocated his voice, so I managed, “Of course! I knew that. We’ve got a great team, really great.”
“Your aunt watched the entire practice. She was really enthusiastic. Kept asking me all sorts of questions about the school’s history.”
“Mmm,” I said.
“Look. The point is we’ll try this once more tonight. Your aunt pled your case, and against all odds, your tutor pled your case,” said Rourke. “Your aunt said you had been busy of late helping her out on a project. She is quite charming, you know. Why haven’t we seen her around here more often?”
“She’s been in Nepal. She’s not that charming once you get to know her. She’s busy trying to overthrow the government. She’s shy. She’s frightened. She’s frightening.”
Visible Undershirt actually laughed. “I see where you get your sense of humor,” he said. “Well, tell your aunt I look forward to seeing her tomorrow.”
“Righto. And why will you be doing that?” If Visible Undershirt had asked Sarmine out on a date, I’d never live it down. He must be really lonely to even think of it. And where would he take her? I guarantee you there was no restaurant in town that served both two-liters of root beer and roc eggs on toast points. I could only think of one thing worse than the two of them dating, and that was …
“She was interested in being a school parent for the Halloween Dance,” he said. “I sent her over to Miss Crane to sign up. I expect she’ll be delightful company.”
Crap.
Crap.
Crap.
“I expect,” I said.
*
I am normally very organized, but events this week had gotten a little out of hand. I made a list in English class while everyone else read out loud from the play.
? Solve Ye Olde Demon-Loosening Spell (MOST IMPORTANT)
? Get demon-loosening ingredients and self-defense ingredients
? Retake algebra test
? Figure out how the demon is planning to steal “the hopes and dreams of five”
? Figure out why Devon is hanging out with Reese and her blue bra
In a bleak moment I thought that no matter how many of those things I managed successfully, it didn’t matter, because the witch was going to show up at the dance on Friday and make whatever social life I had left a living hell. After my classmates found out I lived with somebody who chanted nonsense words and wore a fanny pack full of spices and, oh yeah, hexed people every time they looked at her wrong, my life would be shot. It would be worse than ten girls teasing me one day about a boy and forgetting about it the next. The humiliation would never end.
And now I was going to try a spell, which I’d sworn I’d never do.
As you can see, I was a little overwhelmed at this point. I’d gone my whole life managing to handle everything the witch threw at me. Fulfill crazy-ass demands for eel and unicorn hairs and puréed Chinese gooseberries. Juggle home life and school life and keep the two completely separate, one never intruding on the other.
I guess this time I was just in over my head.
But still, I knew deep down that taking a step toward evil witchdom was worth the risk to save Devon. And not just because I liked him, either.
Because it was right.