Chapter 17 #2
Magda closed her eyes for one second, counting to three. “Okay,” she said. “We both lean back slowly. No sudden movements.”
They leaned. The potion stretched. And did not break.
“All right,” Magda said, shifting her stance while the potion stretched like caramel stuck to one’s teeth. “We’re going to lean back again. Slow. Controlled.”
“We’ve been leaning for ten minutes,” Sebastian said. “The only change is that my arm is asleep and we’ve attracted a fruit fly.”
“That is not a fruit fly,” Magda corrected, staring at the tiny glowing bug hovering near the potion threads. “It’s a spirit of stickiness.”
Sebastian blinked. “A what?”
Wally hopped closer, fascinated. The bug landed on one of the potion strands—and promptly got stuck. It buzzed in slow circles, trying to free itself.
“See?” Magda said. “If it were an ordinary fly, it would’ve gotten away.”
“I’d say precisely the opposite,” Sebastian groused. “Your potion is behaving like a high-viscosity polymer with progressive bonding properties.”
“Tomato, tomahto,” she said, tugging experimentally.
The potion clung harder.
Wally tried to help by grabbing the strand with his tiny hands. The potion adhered to him immediately, and when he panicked and hopped backward, all three of them jerked forward like puppets on one string.
“Wally—stop—stop… STOP!” Magda shouted.
Too late. Wally yanked again, harder this time, and all three of them toppled to the floor.
Magda collided fully with Sebastian, their lips almost touching. The impact rattled the shelves behind them. Two jars toppled, shattered, and released a puff of sparkly pink dust that smelled like cinnamon oatmeal.
“Oh great,” Magda groaned. “Love enhancer powder. Wally, why?”
Wally chirped, unhelpfully.
“Don’t breathe it in,” Sebastian said, holding his breath as the glitter settled.
“I’m a witch who works with airborne ingredients,” Magda replied. “If anything was lethal, I’d be dead years ago.”
The powder swirled, caught a draft, and drifted toward the greenhouse door, which slid open.
Chad peeked in. “Dinner—oh. Oh no. Absolutely not. I’m not dealing with that again.” He backed out so fast his shoes squeaked.
“Coward!” Magda yelled after him.
“I am not explaining this to Bas in my weekly report,” Chad’s voice called from down the hall. “You’re on your own!”
A moment later, Joell reappeared with Sahara behind her.
“What now?” Joell asked, taking in the tableau. Peaking over the bench, she saw two adults glued in the missionary position, a wallaby tangled in magic taffy, and potion threads webbed across half the greenhouse like avant-garde performance art.
Sahara stepped forward, squinted, and said, “Oh. This is an Adhesion-3 type reaction. Rare. Usually only appears when someone mixes binding herbs with emotionally charged—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Magda begged.
Joell cracked her knuckles. “All right. I’m going to pull you free.”
“No—!” Sebastian started.
Joell grabbed Magda’s arm and was promptly stuck.
“Oh come on!” she shouted, tugging violently. The potion stretched, glittered, and clung harder, now binding her hand to Magda’s elbow.
Sahara tried to unstick Joell by pulling her waist from behind. She became stuck.
“Why did you touch me?” Joell demanded.
“You said you were going to pull!” Sahara said through clenched teeth. “I thought by putting clothing between us I wouldn’t stick to you.”
“No, now you’re just stuck to my clothes. Do not rip my silk blouse."
“This is why scientists take notes,” Sebastian muttered.
“This is why witches don’t let academics into the lab unsupervised,” Sahara shot back.
“Everyone,” Magda said, inhaling deeply, “Stop talking. We’re going to coordinate this.”
“Finally,” Sebastian sighed.
“Joell and Sahara lean right,” Magda instructed. “Sebastian, you roll left. Wally—please don’t do anything that involves hopping.”
Everyone leaned.
The potion stretched.
Then Wally grabbed the shelving unit behind them.
Metal groaned. Pots rattled. A row of ceramic planters slid forward like synchronized divers.
“Oh no,” Joell whispered. “Oh hell no.”
One planter toppled. Then another. Then all of them.
By the time the cascade settled, the entire group was half-stuck to each other, half-stuck to the shelving, and one unfortunate pothos vine was draped over Sebastian’s shoulder like a leafy scarf.
“This is fine,” Magda said brightly. “We can fix this.”
Sahara deadpanned, “We need a solvent, not optimism.”
“And where do we get a solvent?” Sebastian asked.
Magda winced.
“Magda,” Joell said. “Why did you make that face?”
“Because the only thing strong enough to dissolve this mixture is in the kitchen,” she admitted.
They all turned their heads painfully slowly toward the connecting door. “Is anyone else here?” Magda asked.
“Anyone other than Chad,” Sebastian said. “He saw what was happening and ran off.”
“Nope,” Joell said. “Brianna just left for the train station to visit her relatives in Massachusetts; Crystal is off cavorting with her ex-Navy SEAL; Victoria is returning her familiar to Montreal via helicopter; Lioness is in her art studio; Rayna is in Brooklyn with her hot major…”
Sahara sighed and then said what they were all thinking. “And we’re screwed.”
Magda groaned. “We are absolutely not getting through that doorway without taking half the greenhouse with us.”
The front door creaked. Someone called out, “Anybody home?”
“Yes! We’re in the conservatory!” Magda yelled.
“Help!” everyone else called out.
Wally hopped toward Rayna’s voice, and the two witches who were still partially upright lurched forward in unison.
“Wally!” Magda screeched. “Stop hopping—!”
But he hopped, dragging everyone with him.
The greenhouse door slammed open, and Rayna rushed in. She took in the scene and froze in place. Then she burst out laughing.