The Masquerading Magician by Gigi Pandian

watching the night-blooming jasmine come to life.”
    â€œYou know,” I said, “you never revealed your secret for getting it to bloom off-season.”
    â€œYou want to know all my secrets?”
    â€œA little mystery is a good thing, but you could at least tell me how your grandfather’s birthday party was.”
    â€œDidn’t I? I told you he appreciated having his far-flung family gather around him one last time.”
    â€œBut what about you ? How was the visit for you?”
    â€œVisiting China. It was … Let’s just say it’s relaxing to be home, Zoe.” He took a step toward me, then abruptly jerked back. “What the—? Is that a battery-operated antique?”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    â€œYour sack. It made a noise.”
    â€œThere might be something else in the bag. Something with, er, batteries, like you said. I’d better get this bag inside. You can take the food into the kitchen.” I sighed. “I’ll meet you there in a minute.” I let Max into the house before stepping back outside to retrieve Dorian.
    â€œSet me in front of the hearth,” the sack whispered as I heaved it up the porch steps.
    â€œI’m taking you to the basement,” I whispered back.
    â€œI wish to stay upstairs,” he whined.
    I closed the rickety front door behind us. “That’s not a good idea, Dorian.”
    â€œI do not trust that man in my kitchen.”
    â€œDid you say something?” Max called from the kitchen, poking his head into the living room through the swinging door.
    â€œJust the creaking floors.” I waited until Max disappeared back into the kitchen, then lifted Dorian’s stone form from the bag and set him in front of the fireplace. It was a spot he liked, because even in his stone form he could see everything. I didn’t feel good about leaving him in stone form for too long, but I couldn’t have an argument with Max there.
    When I stepped into the kitchen, the farmer’s market vegetables were stacked on the kitchen countertop and Max was holding a mason jar containing one of my latest transformations—a sun-
infused healing lemon balm tea I was drinking daily to stave off the effects of helping to cure Dorian.
    â€œIt’s a solar infusion,” I said.
    He raised an eyebrow.
    â€œSteeping dried herbs in the sun, rather than the kitchen, to unleash their healing powers,” I explained. Alchemy draws upon all the forces of nature, the planets being some of the strongest forces. Alchemists generally consult planetary alignments before they begin any transformative processes. The more complex the operation, or the greater the desired impact, the more important that alignment becomes. Each planet also has an associated metal, such as lead for Saturn, quicksilver for Mercury, silver for the moon, and gold for the Sun.
    â€œI know what a solar infusion is. My grandmother did something similar when I was a kid. You’d get along great with my extended family. It’s never made sense to me why it’s worth all the effort. Especially moon infusions she’d steep under a full moon, thinking it was possible to harness the moon’s power.”
    â€œMax. You make your own tea. You have one of the most unique gardens I’ve ever seen. And not two minutes ago we talked about night-blooming plants!” If my hair wasn’t so weak from the backward alchemy quick fix I’d been performing, I would have tugged at my hair in frustration.
    â€œThat’s different.”
    â€œIs it?”
    In Max, I saw someone who’d once believed in all the possibilities of the world, but who couldn’t break free from what he’d become. I hadn’t realized it so clearly until that very moment. Max was walking on a tightrope, caught between two worlds: his childhood, with his herbalist grandmother who was an apothecary, and his adult life, working as a