this if we can’t do it right?”
“You got a better idea?”
“Yeah. Let's go to Vic’s and get ice cream.”
“We spent all our money on this stuff.” She nudged the basket with her toe. “We might as well go ahead with it. It won't take very long, and then we can go over to your house and swim.”
He sighed. “Anything to drink in there?” He squatted down and emptied the contents of the basket onto the sidewalk.
“Careful, there’s glass in there. Hey, don’t drink that!” She grabbed a bottle out of his hand. “That’s yucky.”
“What is it?”
“Frog’s water.”
“Like frog pee? Ewww.”
“Here.” She handed Tom a bottle of lemonade.
He drank before passing it back to her. After she’d taken a few gulps, she flipped through the notes and sorted through the ingredients for the spell. “Lucky my mom and your dad are really into each other,” she said. “I could never have gotten into her spell book if she was paying attention.”
“You’re sure she won’t notice?” Tom sometimes doubted that Elena was for real, but another slice of his mind was scared of her, plenty scared. Elena was very tall and very dark. She tended to wear swirly, exotic clothes, a golden topaz bigger than any other jewelry he’d ever seen, and always smelled funny. Not bad funny but weird, like a strange spice or food. In short, she was waaayyy different from all the other white-bread, starch-stiff moms in their Land Park neighborhood. Different and scary.
“Nah,” Gina said. “As long as we don’t get back too late, we’re totally cool. It’s not like I haven’t fooled around with her stuff before, anyhow.”
“You’ve never gone into her Book of Shadows and tried to cast a spell before, though,” he said. “But what difference does it make, anyway? It's probably all baloney.”
“Yeah, right. Like your dad wasn’t freaked out when Elena predicted his traffic accident.”
“Dad said that was coincidence.”
“Elena says there’s no such thing as coincidence. Hey, this stuff is getting hot out here. I’m not sure that’s good.”
“Well, maybe we should try some other time.” Still intimidated by Elena, he’d rather deflect Gina than risk a confrontation with her scary mom.
“No way. Now or never.”
Tom would have preferred never, but he helped Gina to chalk a large circle with a five-pointed star within it onto the sidewalk in front of the doorway before setting out the spell’s ingredients.
Frog’s water, ground butterfly wings, chameleon scales, spotted hen’s eggs… “Hey, what is all this stuff?” he asked.
“These are substances from the bodies of animals which change a lot, ya see? The frogs come from tadpoles. Butterflies used to be caterpillars, and chickens come from eggs. If we’re going to try to change stone into flesh, we need to use other things that changed a lot. Ya know what I mean?”
“I guess.” The last item was black powder in a zip-lock bag. “This looks like it came from a barbecue.”
“As if. Elena ain’t the hibachi type. This is from her cauldron. She burns herbs in it and stuff. She says she sees visions in the smoke.”
He looked up at the doorway. The knights’ carved figures seemed to shimmer in the summer heat. A wisp of cloud briefly obscured the sun, and his skin chilled.
“Let’s do it to it.” Gina stood straight and tall in the center of the star, facing the doorway.
She chanted, “Spirit of Change! Hear my plea!” She sprinkled frog’s water over the first point of the circle, then over the feet of the knight on the right side of the doorway.
“Spirit of Motion! Heed me now!” She tossed chameleon scales on the second point of the circle and on the same knight.
“Spirit of Heat! Infuse this stone!” She took the charred bits out of the zip-lock and scattered them.
“Spirit of Light! Guide my purpose!” The butterfly wings.
“Spirit of Life! Come to me, now!” The spotted eggs, which had cost a dollar
“You got a better idea?”
“Yeah. Let's go to Vic’s and get ice cream.”
“We spent all our money on this stuff.” She nudged the basket with her toe. “We might as well go ahead with it. It won't take very long, and then we can go over to your house and swim.”
He sighed. “Anything to drink in there?” He squatted down and emptied the contents of the basket onto the sidewalk.
“Careful, there’s glass in there. Hey, don’t drink that!” She grabbed a bottle out of his hand. “That’s yucky.”
“What is it?”
“Frog’s water.”
“Like frog pee? Ewww.”
“Here.” She handed Tom a bottle of lemonade.
He drank before passing it back to her. After she’d taken a few gulps, she flipped through the notes and sorted through the ingredients for the spell. “Lucky my mom and your dad are really into each other,” she said. “I could never have gotten into her spell book if she was paying attention.”
“You’re sure she won’t notice?” Tom sometimes doubted that Elena was for real, but another slice of his mind was scared of her, plenty scared. Elena was very tall and very dark. She tended to wear swirly, exotic clothes, a golden topaz bigger than any other jewelry he’d ever seen, and always smelled funny. Not bad funny but weird, like a strange spice or food. In short, she was waaayyy different from all the other white-bread, starch-stiff moms in their Land Park neighborhood. Different and scary.
“Nah,” Gina said. “As long as we don’t get back too late, we’re totally cool. It’s not like I haven’t fooled around with her stuff before, anyhow.”
“You’ve never gone into her Book of Shadows and tried to cast a spell before, though,” he said. “But what difference does it make, anyway? It's probably all baloney.”
“Yeah, right. Like your dad wasn’t freaked out when Elena predicted his traffic accident.”
“Dad said that was coincidence.”
“Elena says there’s no such thing as coincidence. Hey, this stuff is getting hot out here. I’m not sure that’s good.”
“Well, maybe we should try some other time.” Still intimidated by Elena, he’d rather deflect Gina than risk a confrontation with her scary mom.
“No way. Now or never.”
Tom would have preferred never, but he helped Gina to chalk a large circle with a five-pointed star within it onto the sidewalk in front of the doorway before setting out the spell’s ingredients.
Frog’s water, ground butterfly wings, chameleon scales, spotted hen’s eggs… “Hey, what is all this stuff?” he asked.
“These are substances from the bodies of animals which change a lot, ya see? The frogs come from tadpoles. Butterflies used to be caterpillars, and chickens come from eggs. If we’re going to try to change stone into flesh, we need to use other things that changed a lot. Ya know what I mean?”
“I guess.” The last item was black powder in a zip-lock bag. “This looks like it came from a barbecue.”
“As if. Elena ain’t the hibachi type. This is from her cauldron. She burns herbs in it and stuff. She says she sees visions in the smoke.”
He looked up at the doorway. The knights’ carved figures seemed to shimmer in the summer heat. A wisp of cloud briefly obscured the sun, and his skin chilled.
“Let’s do it to it.” Gina stood straight and tall in the center of the star, facing the doorway.
She chanted, “Spirit of Change! Hear my plea!” She sprinkled frog’s water over the first point of the circle, then over the feet of the knight on the right side of the doorway.
“Spirit of Motion! Heed me now!” She tossed chameleon scales on the second point of the circle and on the same knight.
“Spirit of Heat! Infuse this stone!” She took the charred bits out of the zip-lock and scattered them.
“Spirit of Light! Guide my purpose!” The butterfly wings.
“Spirit of Life! Come to me, now!” The spotted eggs, which had cost a dollar
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