CHAPTER 10: IN WHICH THINGS ARE FIGURED OUT
Mya watched Leo spread putty along the window frame, carefully patting it down so it could stick and anchor the glass in place. If she was being very honest with herself, which she wished she wasn’t, she really had to admit that he was a major piece of eye candy. To add coals to Newcastle, he’d taken his shirt off so as not to mess it up.
‘Too bad he’s such a jerk’ she thought. Not that he’d been that today; in fact, he was being suspiciously nice to her, and she didn’t know why. It was making her more nervous than if he was his usual snotty self. Still, nervous or not, she couldn’t help lurking around the corner to peep at him as he worked. The punch line was taking too long, if this new Leo was some sort of elaborate practical joke.
Shaking herself, she resolutely turned away and marched off to the attic where the grimoires were kept. She had come across a spell to assist the growth of sunflowers in the absence of sunlight when flipping through it some time back and had been meaning to go back and have a proper look. This seemed like the perfect time – perhaps it would keep her mind off the boy in her backroom who alternately confused, excited, and scared her to death.
The secret to selection of the best sunflower seeds lies in their colour. To the naked eye, there seems no difference between one seed and another but seen under the light of a full moon through the purple mist of a boiling elixir of Echinacea Pururea and Honeywort, the difference is apparent. When the full moon has reached its zenith, the difference in colour of powerful sunflower seeds and the weak ones shows a different hue between them. Plant the next-“Hey”, a deep voice interrupted her reading from the doorway. She jumped about a foot, and the grimoire flew across the room and almost fell in the hearth. Luckily the fire was out. She put a shaking hand over her chest because her heart rate seemed to have doubled and screamed at him, “Don’t do that!”“Do what”, he asked in a rather mild tone, all things considered...
“Sneak up on me like that. God! You almost gave me a heart attack” she exclaimed, still quite disconcerted by his abrupt appearance.
“Sorry,” he said, not sounding, or looking, sorry at all, “I just wanted to tell you that the window is fixed.”
“Oh. Well, thank you.” She said, her voice trailing away uncertainly...’now what?’ he didn’t say anything, just stood there looking at her, making her extremely uncomfortable.
“Erm, well you can go now”, she told him – hoping to break the stare.
“What are you doing?” he asked her, shifting his gaze to the grimoire and ignoring her statement.
“Who me? Err nothing, just...reading” she replied a bit flustered. He walked over to the grimoire and picked it up; studying the page it was open at. She made a V with her hands and snapped them closed and the grimoire snapped shut in his hands, making him drop it in startlement and turn around to stare at her in surprise.“Sorry. For witches only.” She told him with a shrug and a half- smile.
“I...see” he murmured, staring at her with speculation in his eyes. She did not like the look one bit; it did not seem like it was a good look for her. He broke eye contact and looked around him. There was a lot to see. She guessed that the contents of her attic were not standard for many homes. There was the huge cauldron that sat in the hearth, waiting. One entire wall was a bookshelf holding hundreds of books, from family records to grimoires to stories of magic, mystery, and monsters. They were the culmination of centuries of collection from antecedents spanning from Abramelin the Mage in the 15th century right down to her grandmother Matia. From the ceiling hung various herbs that were most efficacious when dried; the window in the roof providing enough light for the plants. And on the opposing wall were drawers containing all types of herbs from fresh flowers kept in containers of water, to dried herbals kept in pouches to leaves, twigs, and mineral elements such as copper, manganese, and zinc. There were also the occasional animal parts such as bat wings, crocodile teeth and the long bones of big cats. In the corner was a miniature fridge where perishables such as the entrails and livers of toads were kept. The feathers of various animals resided in a glass cabinet, from the black feathers of a rooster and crow to the completely white pelt of a snowy owl. It was a strange room to be sure, not really designed to excite empathy in the average breast. She watched him as he looked around the room, waiting for revulsion, or fear or disgust. What she saw instead was curiosity, maybe even fascination. He moved over to the drawer with the bones and touched the crocodile teeth.“Did you get these from my uncle?”
“No... Those are crocodile teeth, not alligator; they came from the West Indies.”
“What do you use them for?” he asked
“Oh, this and that” she replied vaguely.
“Another witch’s only secret is it?” he asked, with a slight twinkle in his eye.
“Well, to be quite honest, I’m not sure what they’re used for” she said rather sheepishly, “I haven’t practised for long enough to know what even half these things are used for.”
“Hence the reading?” he asked
“Well, that and I really wanted to know how to grow sunflowers” she said with another side smile.
“So why not use a horticulture book? Why a grimoire?” he asked
“Well, ‘curious George’,” she said with a smile,” it’s because I’m growing it for magical purposes and I need them to grow to a particular size and yield a certain amount of oil.”He hooked the stool that usually stood near the hearth and plunked onto it, “What do you do with the particular size and yield of sunflower oil?” he asked, settling in for what looked like a long natter.“It’s an ingredient in many salves and creams”, she said while heading out the door, “Coffee?” she asked him on her way out.
“Sure!” he called, not following her. She turned back and peered round the door at him. He was still sitting on the stool, looking around.“We could maybe go have it downstairs?” she said, eyebrows raised. He looked round at her startled, “Oh. Yeah sure. Whatever you say” he said, standing up to follow her.