Be Careful What You Witch For

by Hoobler, Thomas

  “John Smith,” everyone automatically replied, thinking that at last they knew an answer.

  “Wrong!” he shouted back. “John Smith has gone back to England in disgrace and I have arrived in Jamestown, bringing these.” He opened his palm to reveal some tiny seeds. “These are the seeds of the devil. They will make the Virginia colony rich and one day kill millions of Americans. What are they?”

  “Why did you change your hair?” Olivia whispered to Dulcimer.

  “I just felt like it,” Dulcimer whispered back. “How come you didn’t dye yours?”

  “Um, my aunt is pretty rigid and vetoed the idea,” Olivia replied. Liar, she called herself. “But... you removed your piercings too?”

  Dulcimer looked away for a second, then leaned closer and said, “I decided that if you wanted to be the class weirdo, I wasn’t going to compete.”

  Olivia wasn’t quite sure how to take that. Then it occurred to her: this must have something to do with the spell. Could that be?

  “Uh, can I ask you one other thing?” Olivia said, but right then Mr. Feldstein spotted them talking. “Ladies!” he said. “What would you do if you were kidnapped and forced to marry a man you didn’t know and convert to his religion?”

  He was looking straight at Dulcimer and Olivia. Olivia felt herself blush, but Dulcimer came up with an answer: “Is he hot?”

  “Evidently Pocahontas thought so...” Mr. Feldstein continued. Olivia started to daydream about what she would do if Alex kidnapped her.

  Dulcimer went to lunch with them at the pizza parlor, as usual, but she didn’t want to answer their questions. “I just felt like it, okay?” she kept saying. “Maybe I just decided to grow up.”

  Paul decided to make a joke of it. “That’s no fun,” he said. “Didn’t we agree we could always grow up, but then we’d have to be dull and stupid?”

  “When did we first say that?” Dulcimer shot back. “In fourth grade? Well, I’m not rich like you are. I want to make something of myself. Something real.”

  Paul seemed hurt by that, but he kept smiling and didn’t reply. Olivia felt guilty. Their friendship is breaking up, she thought, and it’s my fault. Maybe she could ask Eva to adjust the spell a little.

  The one thing Olivia was most curious about, of course, was whether Dulcimer could now play music. She got her answer that afternoon on the way to Mrs. Foley’s class. Dulcimer was carrying a violin case.

  “You couldn’t have learned to play the violin overnight,” Olivia said.

  “My parents paid for me to have lessons in everything since I was four,” Dulcimer responded. “I know how to play. I just totally suck at any instrument there is.”

  “But the violin is about the hardest, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know, something came over me and I just decided to bring it today. Let Foley make fun of me, I don’t care.”

  But Mrs. Foley was more shocked than anything else when Dulcimer took her seat with the students who had brought their instruments. Then a suspicious look crept over her face. Olivia could see she thought Dulcimer was about to put on a terrible performance, just to make fun of the class—and the teacher.

  “I didn’t know you played the violin, Miss Weiss,” said Mrs. Foley.

  “I just woke up this morning and felt like it,” Dulcimer replied.

  “I see.” Mrs. Foley seemed even more certain now that this would be a joke. Anyway, she distributed sheet music to all the students with string instruments. They put the sheets on stands and looked at one another. Olivia could see that the other students were thinking this was a difficult piece. But Dulcimer appeared very calm.

  Mrs. Foley took her own violin and played a note that the others took up on their instruments. When everybody had gotten in tune, Mrs. Foley raised her bow like a conductor and nodded.

  The group started off together, but pretty soon some fell behind. They just weren’t good enough for this particular piece, and stopped playing. Madison was the best in the class, though, and she kept playing until she began to listen to Dulcimer, who was sitting right next to her. Olivia could see an odd look come over Madison’s face, because it was pretty clear that Dulcimer had suddenly become a wonderful musician.

  Olivia’s heart began to beat faster. She knew why Dulcimer was playing like this, and it made her feel excited, because she had caused it. Or helped to, anyway. Madison had no clue as to what was going on, however, and it drove her crazy. She kept glancing over as if she were wondering whether Dulcimer had a violin that was really a dock for an iPod. Finally Madison lost her place in the music and had to stop. Dulcimer kept right on going all by herself and the room filled with the sounds of her playing. Suddenly Olivia understood why people enjoyed classical music, which she herself had never really liked. Dulcimer was bringing out all the emotions in it so that it was almost as good as the Jonas Brothers. Or maybe The Pogues.

  Mrs. Foley had stopped keeping time with her bow and was now just staring at Dulcimer. As the piece came to a conclusion, everybody in the class spontaneously applauded. Dulcimer smiled and looked around kind of shyly. Even Madison was clapping her hands.

  “Well,” Mrs. Foley said, sounding as short of breath as if she’d just run a mile. “Hidden talents.”

  The next period, they had a study hall because the science teacher had gone to a conference. Olivia noticed that Madison was going from desk to desk, handing people envelopes. “What’s going on?” Olivia asked Paul, who was seated next to her.

  “Madison likes to start the school year with a party,” he told her. “She’s giving out invitations.”

  “Does everybody get one?”

  “Of course not. That’s the whole point.”

  Paul gave a little gesture, and Olivia saw that people were looking over the tops of their books, eagerly watching who got invitations, and who didn’t. Muffin and people like her thought this was a big deal.

  There was a little murmur when Madison stopped in front of Dulcimer’s desk and held up one of the envelopes, hesitating as if she couldn’t decide. Dulcimer tried hard to look as if she didn’t notice her, but Olivia saw a new look on Dulcimer’s face: she really wanted the invitation.

  And she got it. Some of the girls actually gasped when Madison offered the invitation to Dulcimer, who reached for it quickly and smiled. It was kind of a sickly, false smile, Olivia thought. She was already hating herself for ever having tried to help Dulcimer play music.

  “Don’t the boys get any invitations?” she asked Paul.

  “The girls are supposed to ask the boys of their choice,” he told her. “I guess Dulcimer will ask me. We’ve had kind of a pact about these things ever since the first time anybody had a boy/girl party in sixth grade.”

  Madison reached the front row of seats, where Olivia was sitting. Olivia wondered, just for a second, if she would receive an invitation. Are you kidding? she told herself. She recalled what Paul had said earlier: if Madison knew who Olivia’s parents really were...

  Olivia shook her head, feeling like a fly had crawled up her nose. I’m not going to stand up and shout “Bedelia Yearwood is my mother! Give me an invitation,” she told herself.

  Sure enough, Madison walked right past Olivia without a glance. I’m glad, Olivia told herself. Glad, glad, glad.

  But she had to blink a few times to keep the tears back.

  When school let out, Olivia was still upset over not getting an invitation to Madison’s party. Other girls were standing around outside discussing what they were going to wear to the party and who they might invite. So when Alex came up and said, “Um... did you think about coming over to my house today?” she agreed. Somebody wants to be my friend, she thought. I’m not a complete outcast. Even if he is under my spell.

  “Will you call my aunt?” she asked.

  “I already did,” he told her. “And by the way, I hope you don’t mind, but I told her she ought to allow you to dye your hair if you want.”

  Oh no. “What did she s
ay to that?”

  “She said it was totally up to you. Really, I think your aunt is kinda cool.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  When they reached Alex’s apartment building, the doorman seemed a little more polite than the last time. Going up in the elevator, Olivia commented, “I guess he doesn’t hate me as much.”

  “Who?” Alex said. He hadn’t noticed. “Oh, yeah,” he said when Olivia explained. “Yolanda told him you’re a good influence on me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, because you’re polite and all. You should see how Madison treats the staff in her building.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “It’s all right. They get paid to take that from the residents.”

  Olivia laughed.

  “What’s funny?” Alex asked.

  “At home, the staff treats me rudely,” she said.

  “Maybe they’re different in Iowa,” said Alex. “You should just have your parents fire them.”

  It works the other way around, thought Olivia. My parents fired me.

  Yolanda really did seem glad to see Olivia again. “I have Rocky Road,” she said.

  “Bring it on,” Olivia told her.

  “Wait. Did any packages come for me?” Alex asked.

  “Oh, yes. I put it in your comics room,” Yolanda said.

  It wasn’t a very big package. Alex took out his Swiss army knife and cut the tape that sealed it. Olivia peeked inside and her heart leaped when she saw what seemed to be a crystal ball like Eva’s.

  But as Alex lifted it from the wrappings, it turned out to be only half a crystal ball—just as if it had been sliced down the middle.

  Alex set it down and took a piece of paper from the box. “Instructions,” he said. Olivia looked over his shoulder and read, “Occult Practitioners’ Supply House. Place Decodesphere on message to be translated. Light candles. Do not use in artificial light. Incantation: Reddo.”

  “I don’t understand how this works,” Alex said.

  “I do,” Olivia told him. “Do you have any black candles?”

  Well, they didn’t, of course. And when Olivia saw the look on Yolanda’s face when Alex asked for them, she realized that the maid understood what their purpose was. Olivia might not be so welcome the next time she came over. When Alex told Yolanda to go out and get some, she pressed her lips together and refused.

  Alex was bewildered. “Really, she usually does whatever I ask her to,” he told Olivia. “Why does it have to be black candles, anyway? The instructions just say ‘candles.’“

  Olivia remembered Eva saying, “Make do with what you have,” and shrugged. “What kinds of candles do you have?”

  It turned out that there were a few boxes of old birthday candles in the kitchen. “Take the blue ones,” said Olivia. “That’s the darkest color.”

  Yolanda, after she saw what they were preparing to do, had gone to her own room somewhere else in the apartment and locked the door. “I don’t understand what’s gotten into her,” said Alex. “She never acts like this, really. One time when Madison brought over a bottle of—”

  “I don’t want to hear about it,” said Olivia.

  “Oh, yeah, right,” Alex said.

  “Have you got matches?” Olivia asked. She found some little holders for the candles and set them up in a circle around the table. Then she opened the Dr. Dee book and placed the glass hemisphere on one of the pages with the strange lettering.

  “Okay, I’ll light the candles,” Olivia told Alex. “Turn out the lights.”

  He did and came back to sit next to her. The room was very dark, because the candles didn’t really provide much illumination. “This is so cool,” Alex said. “Like the X-Men calling up Satan.”

  “We’re not going to do that,” Olivia responded quickly. “We’re just going to read a few things.”

  She looked at the instructions again. The incantation was “reddo,” which must mean you were supposed to say that, and then... She was almost trembling, because this was the first time she was going to try anything like this without Eva’s help. Unfortunately, she didn’t have Eva’s phone number.

  Well, here goes. “Reddo,” she said in a shaky voice. The candles flickered and as Olivia looked into the hemisphere, the characters... it was odd. They didn’t really change; it was just that they now made sense.

  Sort of. The page she was looking at was titled “Spell to Bring Wealth.” As she moved the crystal down the page, Olivia saw a list of necessary articles: a green twig from an oak tree, a silver coin, a porcelain bowl, ten drops of urine from a pregnant woman, a fresh honeycomb...

  Her eyes moved down the page and saw the words that the practitioner should recite over the bowl in which the ingredients were combined. Then the bowl would “supplie readie monie whenever needed.” Well, Olivia thought, just like having two parents who are movie stars.

  She turned the page and found a spell to make somebody fall in love with you. Check, she thought, glancing at Alex, but you better be prepared for too much devotion.

  “Can you read it?” Alex asked.

  “Yes,” she replied. “Can’t you?”

  He shook his head, and she realized that it must be because she was the one who said the incantation. At Eva’s, she had repeated the words after Eva said them first. Just as well, she thought. I’ll tell Alex only what I think he needs to know.

  The candles weren’t lasting as long as she hoped, so she flipped through the pages, reading just the titles and skipping the ingredients and incantations. Spell for recovery from a fever... for better hearing... to find lost objects... to prepare for a long journey... to clear a sty from the eye... to relieve a rash...

  None of these seemed particularly interesting, and Olivia turned the pages more impatiently. Then a title caught her eye: For causing a rivall to break out in boyls and cysts. She giggled, wondering what that must look like.

  An image popped into her head, and since nobody was around who could actually read her mind, she let it remain. Madison... with boils and cysts. Probably would spoil the party. Olivia heard herself giggle. That’s so mean, she told herself, and started to read what she would need.

  She was annoyed to find several items on the list of required articles that she had no idea how to obtain, or even what they were: nettle leaves, a frog’s eye, a pinch of brimstone, three hairs from the rival’s head.

  Before Olivia could make out the incantation for the spell, the candles flickered out. All at the same time, leaving her in the dark with Alex.

  Silence, except for the pounding of her heart, which she imagined he could hear. Finally, he said, “Should I turn the lights on now?”

  “I guess,” she said. “Since we haven’t got any more candles.”

  “We have yellow and red ones,” he pointed out.

  “I want to get some larger ones,” she told him. “Black next time.”

  “I’ll tell Yolanda to buy them,” he said as the overhead lights came on.

  “No.” She shook her head emphatically. “Yolanda shouldn’t know what we’re doing any longer.”

  “Did you see anything interesting?” he asked.

  “A few things,” she replied casually. “Nothing fantastic.”

  “I was sort of hoping...” he began, but then hesitated.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Well, if you could find some spell that would give me Wolverine’s superpowers.”

  Of course, she thought. No problem at all. “What superpowers does he have?”

  “He immediately recovers from any wound or disease or poison. Of course, he has extra-powerful senses as well.”

  “Like in the movies?” she asked.

  “Well, that wasn’t real,” he replied.

  “What? The movie?” She figured Alex would have watched the movies about eighteen times.

  He shook his head. “No. See that was just an actor,” he told her, as if explaining that there wasn’t really a Santa Claus. “His name
is Hugh Jackman.”

  She knew that, but couldn’t help pressing further. “But the comic books...”

  “That’s the real Wolverine,” Alex said, smiling because she understood so quickly.

  Oooooooookay, Olivia thought.

  “I’ve been training myself to have the extra-powerful senses,” Alex said, “but the involbility to wounds and diseases is harder.”

  “Excuse me, the what?”

  “You know. The involbility. So nothing can hurt you.”

  It took her a few seconds, but she remembered the right word. “Invulnerability,” she said.

  “Yeah.” He chuckled. “It’s hard to say. Maybe you could find a spell to make that easier too.”

  “Listen, Alex,” she said. “Do you happen to know if you can buy a frog’s eye on eBay?”

  He smiled. “You wouldn’t have to do that,” he said. “We have frogs in the pond at our country house.”

  Olivia shuddered.

  “You want to come up with us this weekend?” he asked.

  “Uhhh, I’ll think about it. My aunt’s pretty strict.”

  “She doesn’t seem too strict to me.”

  “It’s an act,” Olivia said. “Anyway, one more thing, Alex.”

  “What?”

  “Promise me you absolutely will not take this book out of this room again.”

  “Aw, it doesn’t matter. Nobody would steal it.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about. I don’t want you having any more dreams.”

  Chapter Twelve

  FINDING BLACK CANDLES was harder than Olivia expected. There were several stores in Tilda’s neighborhood that sold candles, but none of them carried black ones. Finally, a shopkeeper told her she should try a store on Christopher Street. When Olivia went there, she was almost too shy to go inside. The front window was filled with leather underwear, whips, and chains, and a variety of odd objects whose purpose Olivia couldn’t guess—but which she suspected she wouldn’t want to try out.

  The thin young man behind the counter looked like he would have been a good boyfriend for the old Dulcimer. He too had piercings in so many places that it hurt just to look at him. “Well, you appear to be a fresh young sprite searching for adventure,” he said to her. “Would you like to try on a studded leather bra?”