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With a shaky hand Cecily took a glass tumbler from the bar and held it over the sink. She was scared now, and she told herself that it was stupid to be scared of pain. Did she want to be like Theo, whining and crying before he got a shot at the pediatrician’s?
But it wasn’t the prospect of pain that frightened her. It was the reality of performing this spell—by far the most powerful Cecily had ever attempted on her own. She had no idea what would happen if she got it wrong, but she strongly suspected it wouldn’t be good.
Enough, she told herself sternly. Turning her face to protect her eyes, Cecily threw the glass into the sink. It shattered with a crash, and she felt a sharp jab against her palm. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to actually slice her skin open.
Cecily added a few small shards of glass to the mix, then held the open spray bottle beneath her trembling hand and a few drops of her blood fell inside. With each drop the smoke puffed again, darkening into deeper blue, then into purple, and finally almost into black. That looked more like it.
Showtime.
She strode onto the deck, hoping she looked confident. Kathleen and Scott sat alone in the hot tub, and Kathleen had hooked her legs over his, as though she were about to sit in his lap. When Cecily stepped out, Kathleen looked over with a scowl. “Uh, don’t you need to play with your baby brother or something?”
“Soon,” Cecily said. “Not now.”
Scott grinned and gestured toward the spray bottle. “What’s that?”
A gust of cool wind tossed Cecily’s hair and made her shiver. “Your freedom.”
Kathleen’s eyes opened wide. She knew. It was now or never.
Whispering the incantation, Cecily yanked off the top of the spray bottle and dumped the contents into the hot tub.
The currents caught it, creating a spiral of blue-black that widened every second. Instead of diluting within the water the elixir darkened the contents of the hot tub until it looked as if Scott and Kathleen were sitting in ink. Thick smoke began bubbling at the surface and tumbling over the sides. The air turned sulfuric, and Cecily felt as if she could hardly breathe.
“What the—” Scott tried to push himself out of the Jacuzzi, but he didn’t make it, because that was when everything exploded.
Not for real, with bits of tub and deck and Kathleen spraying everywhere. But it felt like an explosion anyway. A shock wave smashed outward, shaking them all and thundering like a sonic boom. Little arcs of static electricity vaulted through the air. Kathleen started screaming, and Cecily didn’t blame her.
Then it was over. Scott slumped down in the tub as if unconscious, but Cecily jumped forward to catch his head. “Scott?” Her voice shook. “Scott, are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He sat upright, blinking slowly. His expression looked dazed. “What was that?”
“You don’t need to know!” Kathleen clambered out of the hot tub. Her whole body shook, and some of her hair literally stood on end from the energy in the air. “Scott, come on.”
Cecily said, “He’s not going anywhere with you.”
“Who are you to say? Scott, come with me!” Kathleen held a hand out to him, but he didn’t budge.
His expression still looked dazed. No, Cecily thought the correct word was “vacant.” Like there was nobody home. Had she hurt him?
Then the Jacuzzi jets came on, and Scott grinned a lazy, stupid sort of smile that Cecily had never seen before. “Dude, hot tubs crack me up. You know why?”
Cecily cocked her head. “Uh, no?”
He said, “Because when the jets make the bubbles, it’s like somebody farted.”
“Are you sure you feel okay?” Cecily said. “Because you—you don’t sound like yourself.”
Scott laughed the kind of laugh that sounded like a donkey’s bray. “Guess what? I’m farting right now! And you can’t tell!”
Cecily stumbled away from the hot tub, backing toward the other side of the deck. Something was wrong with him; he wasn’t at all the kind of person he’d been before. Had she done something wrong when she broke the enchantment? Had she hurt Scott?
Kathleen wiped angry tears from her cheeks. “You ruined him!”
The truth hit Cecily. “You didn’t just make him like you. The enchantment altered his personality too, so he’d be the perfect guy for you.” Or for me, she thought, remembering how Scott had seemed so ideal when he was with her—and how his personality had seemed to change the moment Kathleen walked into the room. Why hadn’t she seen it before? The real Scott was this guy: slack-jawed, stupid, and completely unconcerned with anything around him. He wasn’t even paying any attention to their conversation.
“If you had the guts to borrow your mom’s Book of Shadows, you’d know how to do real magic too,” Kathleen jeered. She advanced upon Cecily, who pressed her back against the deck railing. What other evil spells could Kathleen have learned? What else might she be willing to do? Cecily wanted to think she could defend herself, but more than that she wanted to run for help. Yet Kathleen stood between her and any escape. “Scott was perfect, and he can be perfect again, because you’re about to get out of my way.”
“No, she isn’t,” Mrs. Pruitt said sternly. She stood in the doorway of the deck, with all the mothers standing just behind her. Their faces were grave. “Kathleen, come talk with me.”
