Page 49 of The Glittering Edge

“It’s plenty,” Alonso says.

“We have to look throughallof these boxes for the spell?” Penny asks, eyes running over them.

“Relax. I’m a witch, remember?” Alonso holds out a hand, and then he flinches. “Shit. Forgot the words.” He pulls a small book out of his robe, opening it to an earmarked page. Penny glimpses the title on the spine:The Magic of the Every-Day.

It’s a spell book. Anactualspell book.

Corey holds out his hand in warning. “Whoa, what are you doing?”

Alonso ignores him as he runs his finger along a page.

It’s strange seeing Alonso like this. Penny’s heard girls whisper about him before, talking about his gray eyes and crooked smile, how if he would bother to give someone a compliment, it would be easy for him to get a date. But as far as Penny can remember, Alonso has never dated anyone. She isn’t even sure if he likes boys or girls or everyone in between. She never used to understand what people meant when they described Alonso as handsome, but as Penny watches him, heat rushes through her. Maybe she gets it now.

And then he glances at her.

It happens too quickly for Penny to look away, and for a moment, they stare at each other. Alonso always has his guard up, but in that moment, his face opens briefly, and there’s something in his eyes that looks almost… tender.

Penny’s face grows hot with embarrassment, and she tears her eyes away from him. Alonso isn’t looking at her in any particular way; Penny is imagining things.

“What’s that?” she asks, nodding at the book.

“You’ll see,” he says, his voice low. Then he recites the spell on the page:

“From mind to hand,

from wish to presence,

light the journey,

light the eyes.”

Nothing happens. Alonso stands there with his eyes open and unfocused, not moving.

“What was that?” Corey says, but Alonso holds out a hand to silence him—and a second later, a corner of the room starts to glow.

It’s softer than the light bulb. Maybe it’s a mirror, reflecting the light of the room. But then the light grows brighter and brighter, until Penny is forced to shield her eyes.

Alonso grins and walks directly to the corner. The light disappears, and Alonso kicks something into the center of the room. It’s a clear plastic storage container.

“Ta-da,” he says.

Corey hesitates, but Penny kneels in front of the box. The lid hasEMILIA’S CDS (DONATE?)written on the top, but it’s full to the brim with musty old books. They have titles likeHerbal Remedies, 1705–1725andReconnecting Your Coven in Five Easy Steps.

“It should be pretty obvious which one it is,” Alonso says, crouching down across from Penny.

“Probably not to me,” Penny says.

Corey kneels, too. “Let’s get this over with.”

They sort through the books, putting them into piles classified asMAYBE,PROBABLY, andNOPE. They even look through a few books, including one that’s full of spells to cause illness (Alonso claims it’s taboo and witches don’t generally do that kind of magic, but Corey tosses it out of his reach). There’s another book calledThe Light, which focuses on magic related to truth, though its definition of “truth” seems loose. There are incantations that destroy glamours and magic to uncover a person’s aura, but there are also spells for very complex truth serums.

“I’ll take that one,” Alonso says, setting it aside. “I’ve been wanting to practice some truth serums.”

Penny tries not to dwell on that thought. Instead, she grabs a book calledTricking the Mirror: The Art of Glamours, which has a relatively clean dust jacket the color of emeralds. Except when she opens it, there’s a completely different title inside.

“The Blackfire Grimoire,” she reads. She removes the dust jacket to reveal a black fabric-bound book.

“Bingo,” Alonso says.

---