Page 78 of Potion Sickness

He makes some laps anyway.

“I thought Damien was going to get better,” Gabe says. “I didn’t think I’d actually have to do this. I can’t⁠—”

Pru comes out from the house and before she says a word, Annabel takes a wrapped sandwich out of her satchel and sets it at the empty place on the patio table next to her.

“What did I miss?” Pru says.

“Not much,” Gabe says.

“Gabriel’s lack of enthusiasm is threatening to sink my production,” Englebert says.

“Why me?” Gabe sinks his head into his hands. “Isn’t there anyone else in this town you could have asked?”

“No,” says Pru. “Not really.”

“Well,” Englebert says, rising to his feet. “There does exist, within this company, an individual who knows every word of the text. In order. Who requires no book. Who has performed the role, in full, opposite this very Lady Macbeth, to the satisfaction of the director. This individual is, moreover, available this evening.”

“No,” I say.

“We’ve been over this, Englebert,” Pru says. “Half that house tonight is from out of town. They don’t know magic exists. As much as we’d all love for you to put on a costume and play the part, there’s no way you are going on that stage.”

Englebert sits down, tail over his feet, and for a moment the only sounds are Pru chewing and Maude, who is sitting at my feet and, for some reason, purring.

“Then we are where we were,” Englebert says. “A Macbeth who cannot be comfortably watched, and a Macbeth who cannot be comfortably seen.”

“A shame Tiffany was assigned understudy for the wrong role. She’d thrive as Macbeth. She loves backstabbing,” Hannah says.

The mention of Tiffany snags on something in my brain.

“Wait a minute,” I say. “Do any of you know anything about illusion magic?”

“A bit,” Annabel says.

“Tiffany’s family magic is all about illusion. Could that help us somehow?”

“I don’t think you can glamour someone into being a good actor.”

“But can you glamour a good actor into being someone?”

Everyone turns to me, clearly unsure where I’m going with this thought.

“Tiffany told me all about how people come to the salon for more than just a haircut. She’s able to add a little… extra. How does it work?”

“Well, for things like that, it’s just simple spellwork,” Annabel says. “It’s easy to glamour away some wrinkles or make someone’s skin shimmer or whatever. They just need to come in every few weeks for touchups.”

“What about bigger things? Like, whole transformations? Remember when Tiffany’s mom made the mayor look like the Easter bunny at the egg hunt when we were kids?”

“That’s a little more complicated,” Annabel says. “It requires more skill, first of all. Usually you’d have to maintain a sight line of whoever you’re glamouring, and it typically needs to be anchored in an object of some sort. A piece of jewelry, a coin. An Easter egg, maybe. Something the person being glamoured has on them the whole time.”

“Hm. And does the person being glamoured…” I say, thinking. “Does the person being glamoured have to be a person?”

Englebert hops to his feet. Suddenly, it dawns on everyone what I’m getting at.

“You want Tiffany to glamour Englebert into a human,” Pru says.

Englebert’s ears come forward and stay there.

“Not just any human,” I say. “We should have Tiffany glamour Englebert into looking like Damien. He’s the one in the program. In the blog. In the tabloid. He’s why most of these people bought tickets.”