Hexes and Habaneros, page 9
“The only reason it wasn't a Baba Yaga class disaster the last time Alexander ruined my experiment was because I was in a pocket dimension.”
“Hey, I didn't ruin it–”
“Shut up, Alex,” his mom interrupted him.
Alexander dipped his head but glared at me. It's always been this way.
“So you want to borrow the KWA's arena for this?”
“I paid to have it built. They would be thrilled to be the first ones to see my experiment in action.”
“Why did you change your mind?”
“Leave the kids and Veronica Alvarez alone. Let them complete their presentation in peace.”
“Why would I do something to them?” Her gaze flickered when I mentioned Veronica's name.
“Because you still hold a grudge against Veronica for her witness statement against her father.”
“Do you have any idea how much business his arrest cost us? We are still paying penalties to the Council for our dealings with that man.
“Then blame me.” I stood up and touched my chest. “I'm the one who turned him in. Everything that happened after that was because of my choice.”
Her expression froze and even my cousin stared at me with shock. “You were just a kid. There's no way you would know–”
“And you're blaming her? She's younger than me. And I knew exactly what I was doing. I hated the way he scammed mortals and that we were profiting from it.” And the way it stressed his daughter when he forced her to make thirty to forty hexes a night to keep his business going. On top of school and everything else she needed to do. Their whole family used her the same way my family is using me.
“Why would you do that to your family?”
“Why can't you find a way to make money without swindling people?” I shot back.
“Do you have any idea how much money it takes to keep your experiments going? How this choice to chase hexes nearly cost our family all the respect we spent generations building?”
I knew how much it cost. Only a fraction of the profit they made off my patents. Don't get me wrong, it costs quite a bit to keep up with my experiments, but my aunt had built quite a legacy around my successful products.
“Get him out of here. I don't have much time to get ready for the presentation. And if those idiot mercenaries of yours harm the children or Veronica, I'll make sure that reputation you care so much about will be pummeled into dust.”
“Let him help you.”
I reached the mirror before I realized it, holding back the urge to punch the glass. “Didn't he help enough already? Stealing my spellbooks and returning them to me was a great show. What's wrong, cuz? Couldn't figure out the hexes, could you? Don't pretend like you actually care about anything but your own greed.”
Before either could respond, I touched the mirror frame. The surface rippled, distorting my aunt's face, and then I shoved him through it, closing the mirror immediately after. The moment I sensed him pass through, I tossed the mirror in my furnace sigil. The glass exploded when it hit the flames, but the sigil kept everything inside it. It melted and burned. Then, I swept the room with a wind hex, searching for unusual devices or cameras. Finding a few and destroying them on impact, I could finally get back to work.
There was a reason she always called when disaster struck in my lab. The same reason she was standing by the telecom mirror when I called earlier. I had asked for her and she appeared.
They wanted four seasons. I would give them the longest winter they ever faced. One without money or resources. Or hope. I knew from outside sources how much they'd invested in this project. I had no doubt they had some less-than-ethical ideas for this.
“Are we cutting our ties?” Mark Anthony asked.
I wasn't surprised to find him here. “Did you pick up what I asked you to?”
“Yes.” He tapped his paw and a folder appeared beneath it. “Here's everything you need. Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Did you inform the Council and the Baba Yaga?”
“They promise to make an appearance.”
“Excellent. Then we don't have much time.” I turned my focus to the experiment circle. We needed to put on a good show for everyone.
13
Veronica
“Are we ready?” The kids all looked at me with nervous anticipation. One or two with a solid level of fear and another looked like they were going to vomit all over the floor.
“Are you sure they won't be mad at us?”
“It'll be fine,” I said, more confident in my voice than in actuality. To be honest, I wanted to pass out from nervousness, myself. “We'll do great. And I'm going to be right here with you.”
John reached my side. “Are they ready?”
“As ready as they'll ever be, I guess,” I said, as I checked their hexes for the fifty bazillionth time. “Did you finish whatever you needed to do?”
“Barely.”
“You look like you could sleep for a week.”
“I would if I could. Maybe after this is over.” He leaned close enough that I could smell the scents of fire and...was that pine? What was he doing all night?
“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” I didn't know what he planned, but I knew it was going to be bad for at least a few people.
“If you're worried, you could let me crash at your place. I may be homeless after this,” he winked at me as a group of Academy administrators dragged him off to mingle.
“I may not even have a home,” I called after him.
He sent me a devastating smile.
The stage was covered in a one-way silence bubble, so no one could hear us, but we could hear them.
“Why do we have to sit through some kids’ parlor tricks? We want to see the big event,” someone practically shouted from the front row.
Pepper and Jack both freaked out and I put my hands on their shoulders. “It's okay. Just wait.”
“Sir, you're going to have to leave. John Reeves stated that only those interested in hex innovators can stay and watch the performance.”
“What are you doing? Hey, let me go! Do you know who I am?”
“I'm sure you're someone of consequence, sir.”
The guy's shouts faded as he was dragged off. “See. What did I tell you?”
“Yeah, but making them stay doesn't mean they want to see us,” Jack muttered.
“I know, but think of how you're going to wow them with your ability. And, you also get to work with the John Reeves. Who else gets to brag about that?”
They lined up at their stations, everything riding on this one moment.
“You are going to be great.”
Suddenly, Pepper ran toward me, arms outstretched. I braced for the hug before she landed, but she still nearly knocked me on my ass.
“Thank you, Ms. Alvarez,” she said.
I hugged her back, hopefully a lot less awkward than I felt. Spontaneous affection was something I had to get used to. “No problem, honey,” I said, choking on an emotion that was hard to describe.
“Here,” she said as she pulled away. She dropped something in my hand and I looked down.
Clear fingernail polish? I stared at it for a moment and then looked up to find her already back in her spot. “What's this for?”
“It's how I made the hexes immune to water,” she shouted. “Put it on the mark after the ink dries.”
I gripped the precious bottle in my hand. “You're a genius,” I called to her.
She grinned at me. I stared down at the bottle in my hands and shook my head. Something so simple! This would be a game changer for me in the future.
I walked the line in front of each kid. All nine looked at me with equal parts fear and excitement. Even Dobbs accepted my encouragement without a snide comment. As I spoke words of encouragement, I also checked the hexes for each presentation.
Then, I tied each trap to my fingers, leaving my right thumb open. I had created some illusionary hexes to help them show off a bit.
When that was done, I moved to stage left, hiding behind the curtain, waiting for the show to begin.
A cat leapt down from the rafters above, landing gently beside me. His tail wrapped around his legs. “Are you ready to be a superstar?”
“Of course.” He leapt up onto my shoulder, nails digging into my leather jacket. “You look nice in a dress.”
“Thanks. It feels a little too breezy up on stage.” I was wearing a dress I'd stuffed in my bag when I fled my apartment, but that was the extent of my ability to dress up today.
“You'd look better without that garbage jacket,” a snide voice called from behind me.
“You're not authorized to be here, Baker.”
“Are you gonna stop me?”
“Nope,” I said as I focused on the stage.
“You sure you should keep your back to me?”
“You're not a threat.”
He lunged at me and I ignored him, letting the sigil beneath my feet do the work. He struck an invisible wall and the spell he cast rebounded on him.
I glanced back to see my stun artifact still in his hand. I took a hex mark out of my jacket pocket and held it up to John's familiar. “Mark Anthony, will you get that for me? And slap this on him, while you're at it. The show is starting.”
The kids looked at me and I waved back. Thumbs up for everyone. Goddess, why am I as nervous as they are?
Movement drew my attention as Mark Anthony pounced. The familiar landed gently, putting the mark on Baker's forehead. Then, he activated the hex, covering him up from head to toe in my least favorite slime hex, the oxygen breather. Used only as a last resort, or if I wanted to go deep sea diving, it oozed into your many orifices, providing liquid O2 for the lungs and an intensely gross response for the rest of your body.
Mark Anthony knocked the artifact my way and I stopped it with my foot. “That was gross.”
“Yeah. He deserved it,” I said as the curtain rose. “Keep an eye out for more sabotage.”
The lights came up and I was on. I initiated the first illusionary hex. I used Mark Anthony as a model for the illusion. Right now, he was a giant leopard, padding back and forth on the stage. “Today, class, we will be making ice cream with hand tools and no electric appliances. Are you ready?”
“Yes, sir,” the kids shouted, some more enthusiastic than others. He then changed to a black panther.
“Panther looks good on you.”
“Your illusions are top-notch.”
“Thanks.”
A mumbling, panicked sound came from behind us. I glanced back. He was awake but unable to move. I reached down for the artifact and stunned him again.
Maybe I should have prepared something that would trap him better. Or tie him up. Oh well, that's something to consider the next time I'm sabotaged by my old boss to act against my new boss.
And I thought my family drama was bad. Whatever was going on with these two, it was too complicated.
They began their experiments, naming ingredients as they went. When it came to the secret ingredient, each kid had a different one. And all of them were peppers. Peppers and peanut butter were an incredible combination, and one that a certain important administrator had a weakness for. Or so Mark Anthony's case file told me.
“Look, on the other side of the stage!” Mark Anthony hissed and dug his claws into the stage floor. Another idiot wanted to mess up the performance. What was with these people and screwing with kids?
My right thumb twitched the moment the guy on the other side crossed the sigil. “Gotcha.” A slime trap wrapped him up. Pepper looked toward the trapped man and then back at me with wide eyes. I gestured to the stage.
“Now we'll mix the peanut butter, a splash of habanero oil, and habanero powder into a mixing bowl.” The giant cat on stage changed into a lion and stalked back and forth, swishing its tail and shaking its mane in all its fabulous glory.
The crowd oohed and ahhed when it was explained how they used hexes to mix the ingredients. And another hex for refrigerating the mixture.
A hand grabbed my ankle and I stomped down, activating the hex on my boot heel that would numb whatever part of the body it touched.
“You're going to lose,” Baker said, a more pitiful mess than I had intended.
I knelt down within my circle and smiled at him as I slapped a hex mark on his forehead. It absorbed into his skin immediately and he stared at me in absolute silence. His body could barely move, but I didn't expect his voice to stop as well. Maybe I used too much.
“This was never a competition to begin with. I'm not your opponent.”
“And now, we welcome John Reeves to the stage,” Mark Anthony’s deep voice announced. It was a much more theatrical voice than the little high-pitched ball of fury I remember from our childhood.
John took the stage and my gaze locked onto him. He glanced over at me with concern etched on his face, but I grinned and nodded. He smiled back at me and focused on the performance.
“Why don't we speed things up a bit? We don't have much time to wait for ice cream, but I have a solution. It's something I've been working on. I think you're going to love it. What do you say, kids? Want ice cream a little early?”
“Yeah!” They shouted without having to be prompted.
I smirked and stared down at Baker. “See that? He's the one who set all of this up. Not me.”
The panic on his face was worth every moment leading up to this.
“Don't look away. You won't want to miss this.”
With that, I turned back to the presentation and triggered each of the traps beneath the kids' ice cream bowls.
Instantly they were covered in a pale slime shell. But inside, you could see something miraculous.
“Let me show you what happened on a much larger scale. These kids and my partner helped me bring this to you, right now. Imagine a winter wonderland at the snap of your fingers. Or a slow roasting summer by the beach? For kitchen witches, we can do it all: freeze, refrigerate, and even harness the sun to cook our food. Hexes can be used in every tool we use, making them a more affordable solution to...”
I listened to him with a smile on my face. A part of my mind still wondered if he was going to back out of our deal after all. If he'd changed his mind.
“He's showing them the seasons spell. Exactly what he said he would do. What am I supposed to wait for?”
“This part.” My stomach twisted slightly, as old fears clawed my heart. What he was doing would isolate him from his family. Did I want that?
I don't know. If he wanted it, though, this was his only chance to do it.
“And every aspect of this spell is available as an open patent, supplementing the original slime hex created by my partner.”
“I didn't say I was his partner,” I muttered, too happy for words.
“What is he doing? He's going to ruin us.”
“I doubt that. Things might be a little lean for a while though. Maybe you could sell hexes on the street. It usually pays the bills.”
“You made him do this,” he yelled at me.
The crowd clapped and cheered, covering his voice, as the ice cream making process accelerated.
“It was all his idea. His plan from the beginning.”
“You're lying,” he said, his expression slack in surprise.
“You're not worth lying to.”
“My mother will kill him for this.”
I smirked as I watched the cronies of Baba Yaga zone in on a woman I hadn't seen since my father's trial. “I think she'll have more than enough on her plate. Maybe you should consider taking over for a while.”
I glanced down at him and watched his panic turn to surprise. Then greed. Whatever, it wasn't my problem anyway.
“Thank you, very much. And now I'd like to introduce my partner and someone I have respected for a very long time. She's also the creator of all these amazing hexes you've seen used on the tools and equipment. Veronica Alvarez.” He yelled my name and applause rang out.
I shook my head, but Pepper and Jack rushed to my side, dragging me onto the stage. My embarrassment rose and with it a bit of panic. I reached his side and his fingers interlocked with mine. “I expect you'll have an easier time making money now,” he said quietly.
“You didn't have to do this.”
“I did. I want us on the same stage. In our field. In life. Together.” He stared down at me, sincerity beating against me.
“You went through with it, but you didn't have to get her arrested.”
“It wasn't me. It was your father.”
How many shocks would I have to face today? “My dad?”
John nodded. “I visited him yesterday when you passed out in the hospital. I needed to talk to him and tell him the truth about what happened back then.”
“What did he say?” I didn't hate my dad. I missed him. I just hated what he did to people. That's why family is too complicated.
“He told me to let him think about it. I heard from the Baba Yaga herself that he turned on my aunt, naming her as the number one distributor of mortal hexes and–”
“Hey, we're supposed to be celebrating here, why are you two in your own world?” Jack asked.
“Leave them alone, he's confessing his undying love to her,” Pepper broke in, grinning at me.
“That's not what he was–”
“Let's move in together.”
“What?” I asked, shocked at his question.
“We can cast hexes all day long. You can even find a new familiar since your family confiscated yours.”
“I want mine back,” I said.
“Okay. I know a guy who might be willing to help out a bit.”
“Really? I doubt that.”
“I'm serious. Let me spend the rest of our lives making it up to you for betraying your trust and turning your life upside down.”
I sighed. “It wasn't your fault. We were kids who didn't know anything.”
“I knew enough. And I hurt you. And my family is still trying to hurt you.”
“Well, my family ain't a picnic either. And your family is gunning for you, too. There's only one problem with your happily ever after scenario.”
