Page 57 of No Charm Done

“Jerusha,” Kelly said. “What a . . . surprise.”

“Is it? You Melroses always try to fix everything on your own. I’m just here making sure you don’t cause more trouble.”

Scarlett’s head snapped up from her phone, defensive instinct kicking in. “Excuse me? We solve Oak Haven’s problems.”

“You also cause most of them, dear.”

Nate snorted, trying to cover it with a cough. Jasper studied his letter with sudden, intense interest. Even Delilah pressed her lips together, clearly fighting a smile.

“That’s not—” Scarlett started.

“Never mind,” Jerusha interrupted. “I’m here to provide an outside perspective. Whether you want it or not.”

“Well, madam,” Elias said gallantly, “I for one am delighted to have your wisdom.”

“Don’t encourage her,” warned Scarlett.

Dayo returned with a tray of drinks, distributing them with the efficiency of long practice. Luna wrapped her hands around her pint glass and took a long, grateful sip. Beside her, Elias did the same, and their eyes met over the rims of their glasses.

Scarlett set her phone down with a decisive click. “Okay, we’re fortified and supervised. Let’s talk about destroying Ashton Vex.” She settled back in her seat, and Luna recognized the change in her sister’s posture, the shift from scattered energy to laser focus. “Here’s the thing you need to understand: the tech world runs on hype. You’re not selling a product, you’re selling a story. The story of how you’re going to change the world and make everyone rich in the process.”

“So you start with a pitch deck—basically a PowerPoint presentation that makes your idea at least sound revolutionary. Then you do a seed round, where you convince a few investors to invest. Next, you do a Series A, where you convince more investors to give you more money, except now you have to show some actual traction. Users, revenue, growth metrics . . . anything to prove you’re not completely full of it.”

“But presumably many are full of it?” Elias said.

“Oh yeah. I mean, there are plenty of legitimate companies that start this way. But there are also spectacular failures. Companies that were basically smoke and mirrors, burning through investor money. But that’s what they’re all after: a start-up so revolutionary its value soars over one billion. They call it a unicorn.”

“Sounds not entirely dissimilar to my old line of work,” Elias said slowly. “Find the angle, sell the dream, get the mark invested before they can think too hard about it.”

“That’s definitely part of it,” Scarlett agreed. “Of course, sometimes the dream comes true. Sometimes the janky prototype becomes a real product.”

“And sometimes,” Delilah added, “it doesn’t. Sometimes start-ups just keep raising money and raising money until the whole thing collapses.”

“Which is exactly what we want to happen to Vex,” Kelly said. “We need CastR to become one of those spectacular failures. The kind people write articles about for years.”

Scarlett leaned forward. “So here’s what I’m thinking. We help him. We inflate CastR’s valuation and generate massive hype. Make everyone believe this is going to be bigger than Facebook, bigger than Google, the next paradigm shift in human existence.”

“And then?” Nate asked.

“We make sure the product fails at the worst possible time. We interfere, so every spell he demonstrates goes sideways. Picture Vex at showing off CastR, all eyes on him, and nothing works. Whatever he does, we counter.”

Luna could see it. She could see the whole beautiful disaster unfolding. “He’d be ruined.”

“Completely. And CastR becomes the punchline of tech industry jokes for years.”

Kelly nodded slowly. “It’s a good plan. But there’s a significant problem.”

“What problem?” Scarlett asked.

“We’re assuming we can sabotage every spell Vex puts in that app. But we don’t know what spells he’s planning. We’ll be playing catch-up constantly, trying to counter magic we’ve never seen before.” Kelly’s fingers drummed on the table. “We’d need help. Other witches. A whole team dedicated to counterspelling whatever Vex comes up with.”

“And magicians,” Luna said, then immediately regretted it when everyone turned to stare at her. “Myrna said we needed to work together. Witches and magicians. That was the whole point.”

Scarlett’s expression darkened. “Those three idiots from the inn heard Vex’s pitch for approximately thirty seconds and immediately converted to his cause. How is it going to be any different with other magicians?”

“Because not all magicians are desperate for legitimacy,” Kelly said. “Some of them might actually care about the consequences. Or—” she glanced at Elias “—they might have other reasons to want to see Vex fail.”

“Spite is an excellent motivator,” Elias offered. “Never underestimate the power of professional jealousy.”