Page 78 of Summer L.A.W.

“Don’t you start,” she muttered, setting her pen aside. “I’ve already survived one near-explosion this week, and it had nothing to do with my love life.”

The greenhouse door creaked open before she could elaborate. A familiar voice that sounded smooth, rested, and irritatingly chipper announced, “Peace offering.”

Sebastian stepped in sporting two coffees in a cardboard tray and a grin that should’ve come with a warning label. His sleeves were rolled up, his collar open, and his dark blond hair still damp from the shower. Magda’s first coherent thought was that he had no right to tempt her like that. Her second was that she hadn’t brushed her hair yet.

“You’re early,” she said, accepting the cup he held out.

“Or you’re late,” he countered. “Figured I’d get ahead of your next potion before it gets ahead of us.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is that scientist humor?”

“Only if you laugh.”

She did—once—and it sounded sarcastic, even to her own ears. Wally thumped his tail, delighted.

Sebastian set his tablet on the worktable, its screen glowing with scrolling data. “I thought you’d want to see this. The sensors recorded electromagnetic fluctuations during the last test.”

“Fluctuations?” she repeated, leaning in despite herself.

He zoomed in on a neat little wave pattern. “See here? Perfect alignment with our emotional peaks. Every spike corresponds to… well, when things got interesting.”

She squinted. “Hmmm… that is interesting.”

He hesitated, lips twitching. “Right before the greenhouse exploded with glitter.”

Magda groaned. “Wait! You’re saying feelings are measurable?”

“Under the right conditions.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute when you blaspheme.”

That earned her a surprised blink and then a slow, dawning smile. A smile that did terrible, wonderful things to her heartbeat. For a long second, neither of them spoke. The only sounds were the hum of the lamps and Wally’s soft, self-satisfied chuff.

Finally, Magda cleared her throat. “So, what’s the takeaway, Professor?”

“That we might’ve proven a link between emotion and organic resonance,” he said. “And that we should probably run one last controlled experiment before reporting to Chad and the League.”

“Right. Controlled.”

They both knew how that had gone last time.

Still, she found herself nodding. “Fine. One more. But no touching, no flirting, and absolutely no spontaneous glitter phenomena.”

Sebastian’s grin widened. “I’ll try to restrain the universe.”

“Good. Because if it happens again, you’re cleaning the ceiling.”

He glanced up at the faint shimmer still clinging to the rafters. “Fair enough.”

“Just kidding. I can do that with a wave of my wand.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow, impressed. The sunlight caught his hair like gold threads as he settled back onto his stool. Magda took a sip of coffee, pretending the warmth spreading through her chest was caffeine and not something far more dangerous.

“One last experiment,” she told him.

He nodded. “And after that?”

“I guess that depends on the result.” Yeah, that sounded cool… maybe.