“Yes. The way you were looking at me on the quad. Sacrifice talk, however, well-timed.” Ryan’s eyes widened in mock fear. “Crazy eyes.”
Rolling my eyes, I turned my attention back down to stirring the boiling contents on Gertie’s stove. It didn’t take long for Ryan to understand that I was, for the first time, taking his suggestion.
“See, I have good ideas,” he said. “Next, you’ll be taking up my advice on doing what makes you happy.”
For the first time, immediately, an answer sprang to mind that I stopped from saying outright.
I already am.
“Aren’t you two just so adorable?” said Vadika. “What’s going on in here?”
Both of us turned toward her teasing voice.
“I was just telling Lu that she’s brilliant.”
“Well, we all already knew that. Unfortunately that means that we are forced into hard labor on my one Friday evening off, but so be it. I’m officially done with my report, so I’m now officially free and all yours for the next few hours.”
Ryan and I shook our heads at her.
“Are you setting me on canning or packing duty?” She tied one of the brightest aprons from the wall around her waist. “I’m ready to help get a nontraditional Samhain celebration off the ground!”
Ryan chuckled as he pulled away from the stove, heading toward the boxes. We set aside blank labels for Vadika’s perfect, almost-robotic handwriting. I had the lists already written in my old book of shadows that fifteen-year-old me had promised to not let anyone see.
Yet here I was, with Vadika commenting on my poor, looping handwriting and Ryan reading out the words for each ingredient we added to glass vials, mason jars, and canisters. Lotions would harden overnight. Spells and scented sachets were labeled with intention-coded ribbons.
Gertie got in on the small factory of spells that was taking place, adding her own brand of knowledge. She showed Ryan how to properly crush herbs before sitting down next to Vadika. With swift, smooth motions, she curled each knotted ribbon with an old pair of sewing sheers.
“What are you doing?” I watched as she adjusted the now twisty, curvy bows I’d tied.
She looked softly at each one she traded off, as if wrapping a birthday gift.
“Uh, Lu, your one pan is bubbling again,” Ryan called from behind me.
Vadika giggled, ignoring the panic in his voice as much as I did. She set another label on the finished side of the table.
“A little extra flare can’t hurt, can it?” asked Gertie.
I smiled at the very pleased woman, turning over my shoulder to watch as Ryan aggressively stirred, trying to figure out which knob was off on Gertie’s old and slightly senile stove.
“Guess not.”
For the next few hours, the kitchen felt alive from all of us rushing around from one station to another. I only ever did one spell at a time. It was neater that way. To work slow magic, like patience, never was my strongest quality. But this sort of work felt somewhere in between. Careful yet chaotic. Peaceful and organic, yet loud and full of life.
Music floated in from the living room by the time the heat from the stove dissipated. The sound echoed off the turning record Gertie had put on, humming the melodious chorus of Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin.
* * *
I added the final label,numb fingers knotting the tiny tag of paper around one of Gertie’s curly ribbons. There.Perfect.I leaned my forehead against the mounds of my hands. I shut my eyes.
Just for a moment.
“Done?” Gertie stood over me.
The kitchen was darker than it had been a moment ago when I shut my eyes for a second. It looked like it was maybe a few more than just one. I took a deep breath and rubbed the nagging reminder of sleep from the corners of my eyes.
“For now.”
“Always for now.” Gertie smiled knowingly.
