Page 54 of No Charm Done

The effect was immediate and utterly absurd. One moment, Elias was standing in a town hall full of worried witches. Next, he was surrounded by costumed mascots.

Conrad’s cardigan puffed, shimmered and suddenly he was dressed as an enormous bumblebee, complete with fuzzy antennae. Kelly Melrose morphed into a lion with an impeccable mane. Jerusha had transformed into a gigantic slice of pizza. Priti, roaring, was a dinosaur. A T. rex, if Elias wasn’t mistaken. Scarlett had become a hot dog in a bun, while Delilah was some kind of superhero with a cape. Luna had become a panda. “Oh my God,” came her muffled voice from inside the fur.

Elias looked down and found himself wearing the padded body of a baseball player from a defunct league.

For three seconds, the whole situation was almost funny. Ridiculous, absurd, the kind of teenage prank that⁠—

Then the feeling hit.

It came from nowhere, a pulse of primal dread. Pure animal terror that skidded across Elias’s mind like ice breaking off a glacier. The panda was going to kill him.

He knew it wasn’t true, and yet no matter how much his conscious brain screamed Luna, it’s just Luna, the rest of his being screeched THREAT! She was about to strike, and he needed to strike first.

Across the hall, the pizza lunged at the bumblebee, and the dinosaur squared off against the hot dog. The superhero and the lion circled each other, snarling.

Everyone in the room was seconds away from violence.

Elias’s rational mind cried out that this was wrong, that he didn’t want to hurt Luna, that none of this made sense. But the instinct was overwhelming, drowning out reason. The panda moved, and every nerve screamed ATTACK.

Then, as suddenly as it all began, everything stopped.

The costumes vanished. The terror drained away, leaving only a queasy silence and a lot of people staring at each other with raised hands and half-formed spells. Elias’s arm was still lifted toward Luna in what might have become—what? A punch? A grab? He didn’t know.

Luna’s face was pale, her eyes wide. “I was going to—” she whispered. “You were right there, and I was going to⁠—”

“I know.” His voice came out rough. “Me too.”

Around them, others had similar realizations. Everyone was frozen, staring at each other with dawning horror. Kelly’s arm was lifted, frozen mid-hex toward her own daughter. Aphra was trembling, tears tracking down her face as she stared at Priti. The silence stretched, terrible and complete.

Then Kelly spoke, her voice shaking. “Does everyone understand now? What just happened—that wasn’t a cute party trick. That was attempted mass murder, prevented only by luck and the spell’s short duration.”

“I’m sorry,” Violet said, very small. “You were all going on and on about this stupid CastR thing. So I hacked myself an invite to the beta, just to see what it was all about. I didn’t know it would . . . I mean, I just . . . I wanted to see if it worked.”

“You did us all a favor, Violet.” Delilah’s voice was gentle. “You couldn’t have known what that spell would do, and that’s the whole problem. Soon, untold numbers of people will download that app and cast spells they don’t understand.”

Elias watched realization spread through the crowd. If a bored teenager could turn a town meeting into a near massacre, what would happen if millions of people had access to the same power?

“We’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” someone said.

“No.” Kelly straightened her shoulders, and Elias saw the steel in her that must have kept Oak Haven safe for decades. “We have an option. Mr. Shaw’s plan. We let Ashton Vex build his empire—assist him, even. And then we burn him to the ground.”

“It’s risky—” Priti started.

“Everything’s risky now,” Scarlett interrupted. “But I for one am not waiting around to see how bad it gets.”

“Mr. Shaw’s plan,” Kelly continued, “gives us a chance to control the narrative. To make sure CastR fails publicly and completely, in a way that discredits the entire concept.”

Elias felt Luna’s hand find his. He squeezed, and she squeezed back.

Conrad cleared his throat. “All in favor of Mr. Shaw’s proposal?”

The vote wasn’t unanimous, but it was clear. Hands rose around the room—some eager, some reluctant, all shaken by what they’d just experienced.

“Motion carried,” Conrad said. “I propose we all go get some rest. Tomorrow, let’s discuss how we can best assist Mr. Shaw over there.”

The hall exhaled as one. Witches hugged, apologized, muttered “what was I thinking?”. The transcription machine was still at it, the paper now reading I QUIT I QUIT I QUIT in neat mechanical despair.

Louise Demain glided across the room, moving through the crowd like smoke. Everyone unconsciously stepped aside to let her pass. She stopped directly in front of Elias.