“Not now,” Olivia said. “Actually, I just wondered if you had any black candles.”
“Having a black mass, are we?” he said. Olivia wasn’t sure how to respond, but he reached up on a shelf and brought down a box that had just what she hoped for. The candles looked they would burn for at least an hour and there were a dozen of them.
Brimstone was easier. When Olivia looked it up in the dictionary, she found that it was the same as sulfur, and Alex was able to get some from the school’s chem lab. He also promised to bring back a frog’s eye the next time his family went to their country house.
That left nettle leaves. Olivia was pretty sure that Tilda must have some around, but Julius followed Olivia everywhere in the house, making it difficult for her to rummage through the pantry. So one afternoon, she went shopping at a health food store and found a jar of nettle leaves. “Oily hair?” the woman in the store asked, when Olivia paid for it. “Yes,” said Olivia.
The list of required articles also included “three hairs from the rival’s head.” Olivia had to figure out how she might acquire these, but Madison’s party was still more than a week away. Time enough.
Olivia had something else to worry about. Dulcimer was acting weirder every day. She hadn’t only become a great musician, but a terrific athlete as well. In gym, she was now among the first people picked for games, and she even volunteered when the teacher wanted to form a volleyball team to play other schools.
“You’re on a sports team?” Paul said jokingly to her at lunch. He looked over at Olivia. “You haven’t known Dulcimer that long, but in third grade, in gym we were learning to play wiffleball. Nobody could hit a pitched ball, so they put the wiffleball on top of a stand, like a post, at eye level. All you had to do was swing this fat plastic wiffle bat and hit the ball. But Dulcimer...”
“All right,” Dulcimer said. “So I struck out. I couldn’t hit it at all.”
“She couldn’t hit a ball that was just sitting right there,” Paul repeated.
“Well, everybody eventually has to move on,” Dulcimer said coldly. “We’re not in third grade any longer.”
“But how did this happen?” Paul asked. “All of a sudden you’re good at both sports and music too. Is there a pod under your bed at home?”
“My musical ability shouldn’t be such a surprise,” Dulcimer replied. “My parents are both professional musicians.”
“True,” Paul said, “but anybody who knows that always figured you were found on their doorstep.”
Dulcimer stood up. Olivia could see that she was offended. “Well, I have to meet Mrs. Foley before class starts,” Dulcimer said. “She doesn’t think I’m adopted. She’s helping me select music for the school recital.”
“Look, I didn’t mean anything,” Paul said, but Dulcimer was already on her way out.
Paul shook his head. “She should know I’m only kidding. We’ve been friends practically all our lives. Why did she just change all of a sudden?” He looked at Olivia, who bit her lip. She knew the answer but how could she tell him? Not that he’d believe it anyway.
Olivia went back to Eva and explained that the music spell had changed her friend a bit too much.
“Well, these things happen,” Eva said. “Casting a spell is not science. People react differently. You wanted her to be musical, and from what you tell me, that was the way she turned out.”
“But she’s different in other ways,” Olivia said.
“Of course she is. A person isn’t made up of separate parts that you can replace or change like a machine. Add or subtract a quality, the whole person becomes different. Keep that in mind if you ever decide to become a practitioner yourself.”
Olivia tried not to meet Eva’s eyes. She banished from her head the thought of what she was planning.
That was harder to do at home, when Tilda was always around. Olivia finally found that when she concentrated on solving the math problems in her textbook, her aunt would generally move to another room. It was as if Tilda smelled something bad and wanted to get away from it. Olivia thought of asking why, but decided not to push things. It was enough just to keep Tilda from sensing her real thoughts. The funny thing was that Mr. Haber, the math teacher, made the homework voluntary because most of the students hated the subject. Only Olivia and a few geeks even bothered to turn in the assignments.
Monday came, and faithful Alex was waiting at Olivia’s locker when she arrived at school. “Did you... ?” she started to ask.
He held up a jar with some cloudy water in it. Olivia took a quick look and saw that it also contained an eye about as big as a marble. She turned away quickly. “I had to go outside real early in the morning,” Alex said. “Because the grass is wet then, and the frogs like to sit on it. So I took a bow and arrow...”
“Stop,” she begged. “It’s a real frog’s eye, isn’t it? That’s all I need to know.”
“Yeah, I could have brought the rest of it too. Except the body was kind of messed up. Did you ever eat frog’s legs?”
“Ewww. Enough, Alex.” She took the jar gingerly and put it on the top shelf of her locker, where she had stored the other things she’d collected, including the candles. Now she had almost everything she needed to cast the spell—except three strands of Madison’s hair.
Not impossible, Olivia thought. But did she really want to go through with this? Even Madison, horrible as she was... Olivia shook her head, recalling the way Madison had turned her head away when she passed Olivia’s desk with the invitations. Just as if Olivia didn’t exist.
She was still thinking about it at lunch, however. When she and Alex got to the pizza parlor they found Paul sitting by himself. He put on this expression like he was going to tell them something to make them laugh, only Olivia could see it wasn’t going to be funny, not really.
“Where’s Dulcimer?” she asked.
“She and I had a talk this weekend,” he replied. “She called my cell phone, because she didn’t want to tell me in person.”
“Tell you what?”
“That she wasn’t going to ask me to be her date to Madison’s party.”
Olivia sat down. Alex was at the counter ordering pizza, so he couldn’t hear. “Listen, Paul, why would you care? You don’t like Madison.”
“True, that’s what I told myself. But I like Dulcimer,” Paul said. He shrugged and added, “Not a boyfriend/girlfriend kind of like, no. But ever since sixth grade, when the school started having dances that were actually required, she and I always went together. It was kind of a joke on my father, who was happy to learn I was going out with a girl. He thought it meant I wasn’t what he feared I was.”
“But Dulcimer wasn’t...”
“No, she wasn’t interested in girls that way. But she hated all the boys too. Because they’re nearly all rich, they dissed her when they learned she was on scholarship. But listen, are you ready for this?”
Olivia didn’t know if she was ready, but she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be able to stop Paul from telling her.
“Do you know who she decided to ask to the party?” Paul said.
“Um.” Olivia didn’t really know most of the boys, except Alex. Dulcimer couldn’t have asked him.
“She invited Tim Glidewell.”
Olivia tried to remember who he was. “Oh!” she said. “He’s a junior and kind of... the class jock, isn’t he?”
“Well, jock doesn’t cover it,” said Paul. “Excuse the pun. Tim plays golf, tennis, and racquetball, he swims, and as you’ll find out in a couple of months, he’s going to be the star of the basketball team as well. I mean, I’d like to know what his deodorant bill must be like.”
Olivia smiled. If Paul could joke about it, maybe he’d get over it. “Is he a nice guy?” she asked.
“Are you paying attention?” Paul replied. “The Glidewells are just pure testosterone. It was his brother who threw a firecracker in Mr. Haber’s class a couple of years ago. And Tim is even nastier.”
; “I know,” said Olivia. “Muffin told me about that. But then... why would Dulcimer want to invite him to the party?”
Paul hesitated. Olivia could see that this was going to be the painful part. Something he was finding it hard to make a joke about. “Do you know what she told me?” he said quietly, glancing at the counter to make sure Alex wasn’t listening.
“What?” Olivia said.
“She said she wanted to go with a real boy.”
Olivia was stunned. She didn’t know how Dulcimer could say something that mean. She reached across the table and took Paul’s hand. It was such a bold thing for her to do that she blushed, but she got the reaction she was hoping for: he smiled and said, “Really, I felt like Pinocchio. For a second I wished I was a real boy.”
“We’ll take care of it,” she told him. “There isn’t going to be a party.”
“Who says?” Paul asked.
“I do,” Olivia replied. She had made up her mind now.
Gym class. Usually a time when Olivia attempted to make herself invisible. Today, after watching the new Dulcimer display her previously undiscovered talent for volleyball, Olivia made an effort to disappear entirely. She went up to Ms. Barwood, the teacher and said she didn’t feel well. Ms. Barwood barely glanced at her. Like everybody else, she was watching Dulcimer charge the net and spike the ball onto the hapless opposing team. I turned her into that, Olivia thought.
“You really sick? Or is it just the monthlies?” Ms. Barwood said.
It took Olivia a second to realize what she meant, but then nodded. “Yes, that’s it.” She felt her face go red and looked around, wondering if anybody else could hear.
“Go to the school nurse,” Ms. Barwood said. “She can give you Midol. I’m not allowed to. Next time, bring some from home.”
“Yes, Ms. Barwood,” Olivia said, reminding herself not to run as she headed for the locker room.
It was quiet there—so quiet that Olivia started to feel afraid of what she intended to do. If someone walked in and caught her... she’d heard that some countries punished thieves by cutting off their hands. Madison would probably insist on at least that much if she caught Olivia.
They were assigned lockers in gym, but none of them had locks. In this school, where practically everybody was rich, who would steal? Especially when anything you took would immediately be recognized if you used it.
Earlier, Olivia had noted which locker Madison had stored her stuff in, and now carefully lifted the handle. It made only a tiny metallic click, but Olivia felt as if it could be heard all the way to the gym floor. She hesitated, then pulled the door open.
Madison’s purse was resting on the shelf right in front of Olivia. She took a deep breath, tried to think of a possible excuse (“Oh, was this your locker? I’m sorrrry. It must be the monthlies.”) and reached inside.
The first thing she felt was just what she wanted: Madison’s hairbrush. Olivia clawed at it with her fingernails, trying to pull hairs from it. Madison, unfortunately, must be a neat freak: there weren’t that many hairs caught in the brush. Olivia wished she had Alex’s Swiss army knife to pry some out.
Finally, she decided she had collected enough. She looked at the thin golden threads in her palm. I still could back out of this, she thought. Nobody really knows what I’m going to do.
She shook her head firmly, put the brush back, and carefully shut the locker door. There’s just one more thing I need to know, she told herself.
Eva always seemed glad to see Olivia, fortunately. She served tea—this time a brownish-orange type that she said came from Ceylon (“or Sri Lanka, whatever they call it now”). Olivia was no longer afraid to drink it and it made her insides feel like sunshine.
“What happened to your friend?” Eva asked. “Still musical?”
“And athletic,” said Olivia. “And turning her back on her best friend.”
“Ah, that shouldn’t surprise you,” Eva said. “When people get rich, they move away from their old friends, who now only remind them of what it was like to be poor.”
“What if they became poor again?” Olivia asked.
“Thinking of casting another spell?” Eva asked, her eyes twinkling. “Be careful what you wish for. I couldn’t guarantee it would come out the way you hope.”
“I’m beginning to understand that,” Olivia replied. “But I wanted to ask about something else. More like... like a curse.”
The twinkle in Eva’s eyes immediately disappeared. “Dangerous,” she said. “A very dangerous business and I wouldn’t want to help you with that at all.”
Olivia nodded. “But I... well, I hope you won’t mind, but Aunt Tilda told me a little more about the curse you put on the Sheelins.”
Eva tilted her head. “Well, I suppose that’s all my friends talk about, so you might as well hear how foolish I was.”
“You placed a curse that required you to live as long as it lasted?”
Eva spread her hands. “I was young and impulsive. My advice to you is, don’t place any curses until you become experienced enough to know exactly what you’re doing. There are all sorts of things that can go wrong.”
“But what could you have done to make sure the curse would only last... a little while?”
“Simplest thing in the world.” Eva put down her teacup and waved her hands. “When you pronounce the curse, mention the time period you intend.”
“Suppose it was... a week. What would you say?”
“Well, if you’re using Latin, which you really should, then you say aliquat septum dies.”
“Aliquat septum dies,” Olivia repeated. The third word had two syllables, pronounced like dee ez.
“For seven days,” Eva translated. “But you need a lot to place a curse, even a brief one. Besides a proper form of incantation, a curse would require some things that would be difficult for you to obtain. Including an item from the person’s body.”
“Like a hair.”
“Well, some hair would do,” Eva said thoughtfully. “As I think I told you, it would better to have a fingertip, an ear, an eye, some piece of flesh that came off their body. You’d need that if you wanted to curse the whole family, like I did the Sheelins.”
Olivia swallowed hard. She wasn’t sure how to respond.
“But I wouldn’t dare give you the proper form for a curse,” Eva said, shaking her head. “Your aunt would come after me like Red O’Rourke’s wild horse.” She winked. “But we could try a few other things if you liked.”
A wild thought popped into Olivia’s head. “If I knew this boy...” she began.
“Another boy,” said Eva. “What happened to that other one?”
“He’s still my... friend,” Olivia said. “The spell lasted.”
“Weak minded,” Eva said decisively. “But you’d have to release him before you charmed another one. Two at a time would create complications.”
“This other one... I wouldn’t want him for my boyfriend,” said Olivia. “See, the problem is... he doesn’t like girls at all. Not romantically.”
Eva grunted. “I have known some men like that. Women too. You have to judge them the way you would anyone else. Do they mean you good or harm?”
“Oh, he’s good. But could you change him so that he’d be like... other boys?”
Eva poured herself some more tea. “I’ve known some who tried,” she said. She looked around at her bookshelves. “You’d need a good incantation, and even then, I couldn’t guarantee anything. Very tricky thing, sex.”
“But it’s possible.”
“Over my lifetime,” Eva said, “I’ve seen that just about anything is possible.” She wagged her finger at Olivia. “That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.”
Olivia left without trying to cast any more spells with Eva. One thing at a time, she decided. Now that she knew how to limit the time period of a curse, she was all set.
Chapter Thirteen
OLIVIA DECIDED SHE WANTED to cast the spell on Madison at school. It w
ould be more difficult than doing it at Alex’s apartment, but she wanted to invite Paul. It had become important to her to show him what she was doing.
She sat next to him in the last class of the morning and said, “Don’t go to the pizza parlor at lunch.”
“Why not?” he said. “Am I banned from there now?”
“You’ll see,” she said. “Meet me at the janitor’s room.”
“Sweeping floors,” he said. “Sounds like fun.”
When she had told Alex what she was planning, she asked if he could find a place that would be guaranteed to be empty at lunchtime. “Kurt the janitor will let us use his room if I pay him,” Alex said.
“How much?”
“Depends on how long you want to use it,” Alex replied.
“I think we only need about ten minutes,” said Olivia.
“Five dollars will do it,” Alex said. “Don’t worry about it.”
Olivia decided that five dollars meant nothing to Alex, so she let him set things up. After the bell rang, she went to her locker and got the candles, the brimstone, the nettle leaves, and the hairs from Madison’s hairbrush.
She met Alex outside the janitor’s room. “Did you bring the book and the crystal?” she asked him. He took them out of his backpack and showed her. Paul arrived, looking curious.
“I don’t smoke,” he said.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“That’s what kids usually use the janitor’s room for.”
“We’re casting a spell,” she told him, wondering how he’d react.
He smiled and nodded. “I’m so flattered you included me,” he said. Olivia was slightly annoyed, because he clearly thought it was a joke. He’ll see, she thought.
They went inside the room, finding a dusty table that had the remains of the janitor’s lunch on it. There was only one chair, which Olivia sat in. It creaked slightly, but she thought it would hold her. The boys pulled up boxes and sat on them.
Be Careful What You Witch For Page 16
