Just Add Magic (19 page)

“There was a famous scientist who said ‘to every action—”

“There is an equal and opposite reaction,” Hannah interrupted. “That's Sir Isaac Newton.”

“Si.”

Hannah took the tea ball out of her mug and carefully swung it over to mine. She blew on her steaming liquid and took a sip. “Mmmm,” she said.

“By the way, how did your good deeds work to reverse your bad luck?” Señora Perez asked.

“Mine did,” Darbie said. “But, for the record, it sucked, pardon my French.”

“If it was easy, it wouldn't have restored balance in nature.”

Hannah completed the Señora's thought. “It wouldn't have
had an equal reaction.” She sipped her tea again. The reference to Newton seemed to have piqued Hannah's interest.

Señora Perez smiled at Hannah. “And what about you,
niña
? Did you do something good to stop the flying insects from stinging you?”

“I did something, but I don't think I'm finished. No more stings. But the mosquitoes have been eating me.” She showed Señora Perez her arm.

Darbie and I glanced at each other because Hannah had been strange about keeping her good thing private. We used to share everything. We each had our own hot mug to stare into now that the tea ball had been dunked into everyone's water.

“What was your next clue that we had the Book?” I could practically see the invisible wall of tension between Hannah and us melt like a Swirley in a convection oven.

“I was quite positive when Kelly asked for vanilla bean from
Isla de Cedros.
Very few people know about the herbs from
Cedros
. The few people who come in here asking about Cedronian spices found information on the Internet computer.”

Darbie tilted her head and narrowed her stare at Señora Perez. She pursed her lips and made a tough, serious face. “With the herbs from
Cedros
, people can make potions?”

“
Si
. People could.”

Darbie said, “You could and you did. You wrote it down in
the Secret Recipe Book.” She would have made an excellent special guest star on a TV crime show.

“
Niñas
, let me tell you about the Book. It is a story that starts a long time ago. I came to the United States when I was about your age. We brought many spices from
Isla de Cedros
. My parents were farmers—they used the Cedronian herbs to bring good luck to their crop.”

Hannah asked, “Did they grow the special herbs at their farm in Delaware?”

I wanted to smash into Hannah and give her a big bear hug because, finally, she believed this was all real. I smiled broadly. Darbie couldn't take her eyes off Hannah. It was like she couldn't believe that Hannah was finally with us on our quest for the truth.

Darbie leaned over and squeezed Hannah's cheeks between her hands until Hannah's lips were all smooshed together. “Welcome back,” Darbie said. “I missed ya.” She released Hannah's face and put her fist up for a bump. Hannah bumped it.

Señora Perez looked confused by this behavior.

“Sorry,” Darbie said. “Tell us the rest of the story.”

“You cannot grow the special herbs in Delaware because you need a shaman,” she said.

“Yeah,” Darbie said. “There's a shortage of them around here.”

Señora Perez nodded and continued her story. “It was a
very hot summer. I was twelve years old. I hadn't been in the U.S. very long, so I didn't have many friends. Usually, I worked at our farm stand. When I wasn't working, I went to the library. That's where I met two friends. One girl worked there filing books away. Another girl was a summer student studying chemistry. She wanted to be a doctor.

“One day they invited me to the pool. I was so happy to have friends. I told the girls about cooking. They didn't know much about cooking and wanted to learn. So they came over to my house and watched me make dinner for my family. They were amazed. For the next several weeks we cooked. I told them about the herbs from the
Isla de Cedros.
Immediately they wanted to experiment with the spices, which we did all summer. We kept a record of our recipes and the strange results. Some of the strange things were good and some not good.

“Then we noticed something happening to us. It was the Law of Returns. Whoever added the Cedronian spice to a recipe got bad luck. It took us many weeks to figure out the good deeds that would restore balance in the universe.

“One day we made a recipe to hex a boy we did not like. Each of us added some of the Cedronian spice so that the Return would be equally divided. The next day he was missing. I cannot tell you how we felt. It was terrible. We didn't mean to really hurt him.

“We did lots of good deeds to bring him back, but they
were not enough. So we sacrificed something we loved. We stopped cooking. And a week later, he found his way home, but he could not see. We agreed that we must do a very difficult deed to create balance.

“We vowed not to make any more recipes. We pasted the pages of the Book into an old encyclopedia and put it away. School started a few days later. The science girl immersed herself in her studies. The library girl became involved in many school clubs and activities. Slowly, I made other friends. We three saw one another less each week. And slowly the boy regained a bit more of his eyesight. Eventually, when we three friends rarely saw one another, his eyesight came back completely.

“In our last conversation we decided the only way to put things right was for us to part as friends. And that is what we did.”

“What about the Book?” Hannah asked.

“You see, the Book is what brought the three of us together for a wonderful summer, and it was also the Book that broke us apart.”

“That's so sad,” Darbie said with tears in her eyes.

The room was quiet for a moment and we searched each other's faces, thinking about how we had nearly lost each other because of the Book—just like those girls did all those years ago. Then I saw through the small window above the sink that the sun had set and droplets of rain had begun to fall.

“What I don't understand,” I said, “is that if you sell the Cedronian spices here, anyone can make potions.”

“It is possible. Someone can buy my shade-grown ginseng and make a love potion if that is the intention in their heart when they're cooking. They may do it and not even realize it. They may be getting returns and not realize it. They may be undoing their returns with good deeds and not even know they are doing it.”

“But people can also make hexes—the mean kind,” I said.

“One herb can have many uses. I am certain that the spices I sell have more uses than I am aware of. I only know the ones that the girls and I used in our experiments. The sea salt from
Cedros
that I told you about earlier is a wonderful healer if it is boiled in water, but if it is baked on a ginger root . . . well, I'll just say it can be bad.”

Hannah said, “Then maybe you shouldn't sell them.”

“To do so would upset balance.”

This comment caused another silence. I wondered if people were walking around Wilmington not realizing that they were under the power of some potion. And every time thunder cracked, did it mean someone was mixing a Cedronian herb into a recipe?

I asked, “So, how did the Book end up in my attic?”

“That is another mystery, I suppose.” Señora Perez smiled.

I look at her with questioning eyes.

“
Chica
, you will have to figure that out on your own. On another day.”

T
he gang's all here
, as my dad says. But he wouldn't notice that Hannah wasn't there.

I did.

It was worse than I ever could have imagined. The entire neighborhood seemed to have come out to see the Barneys' new Japanese maple tree that Rusamano Landscaping had just planted. In front of Charlotte Barney's house stood Darbie; Frankie; Tony; Misty; Bud; Mrs. Silvers; Joanne; my dog, Rosey; and the Evil Maiden herself, Charlotte Barney.

When they saw me, they laughed.

And why wouldn't they?
I asked myself.

There I was, wearing a frizzy, curly rainbow wig, a big red squishy nose, polka-dot pants, and a striped shirt, raking
Charlotte Barney's yard in front of my friends and neighbors.

It might've been the worst day of my life—until I saw who was coming down the street carrying a huge Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bag. I didn't believe my eyes, but I could name that tune in two notes:
Freak Show
.

It was Hannah. She walked slowly so that she didn't trip over the flippers on her feet. She also wore a poodle skirt, Superman cape, cowgirl bandana, and sideways baseball cap.

She set the bag down on the sidewalk by the audience, picked up a rake, and came over to me.

“Abercrombie?” I asked, pointing at her outfit.

She nodded and raked. Charlotte and Misty died with laughter. I asked her, “Are you doing a good deed?”

“I decided the other day at practice, when Charlotte told me I should ditch you and Darbie as friends. She said you guys were holding me back from being totally cool and popular. I told her that I was trying to give her another chance to be a friend. But you were right, Kelly, she's just mean,” Hannah said. “This?” She waved to her ridiculous outfit. “This is just an ordinary day hanging out with my BFF.”

When I looked up to transfer my leaf pile into a trash bag, I saw Tony holding a bag open for me. He had picked a tiara and lacy pink tutu from Hannah's bag. He helped me direct my leaves into the trash bag, flashing a mega-white smile meant only for me to see.

I smiled back.

Frankie was behind him. He was raking in a tall, striped
Cat-in-the-Hat
hat and bowtie. Darbie rummaged through the shopping bag in a way that reminded me of the day we cleaned out my attic. She found a black biker jacket and tap shoes. Bud slipped on a pair of fairy wings. He gave a flowery visor to Joanne.

They all got up to help me rake, except for Mrs. Silvers, who wasn't in any shape for yard work. But she did put on a colorful beanie hat with a propeller.

Even my mom came out of the house with a lampshade on her head, and Dad wore a paper bag with holes cut out for his eyes and mouth.

Suddenly, I realized we were all having fun.

Not Charlotte. She was still on the sidewalk with her arms crossed over her chest. When I first looked at her face, I thought she was angry. On a second look, I realized she was just sad.

Sam drove up in a new Sam's iScream On-the-Go truck and gave us all free Swirleys-To-Go. He said, “Looks like everyone is having a good time.”

I said, “Just another day in Crazytown.”

Here are a few recipes from the Book—and from Kelly, too!

R
OCKET
L
AUNCHING
R
AINBOW
S
UPER
S
WIRLEY

When you can't make up your mind, enjoy
this three-layered concoction.

Layer 1: Strawberry ice cream blended with colorful Skittles.

Layer 2: Banana ice cream with ribbons of golden caramel.

Layer 3: Bright green pistachio ice cream
peppered with Nerds candies.

Top with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles.

B
OWL
M
E
O
VER
C
HOCOLATE
B
ROWNIE
S
UPER
S
WIRLEY

Only for those able to handle the richest
possible combination of chocolate.

Chocolate fudge ice cream blended with chunks of brownie,
nibblets of semi-sweet chocolate morsels, hot fudge sauce, and
chunks of homemade Amish fudge. Snickers optional.

Swirl to perfection and top with a brick of rich brownie.

B
LACK AND
W
HITE
S
UPER
S
WIRLEY

Combines dark chocolate with creamy light vanilla.

Vanilla bean ice cream

Classic chocolate ice cream

Chocolate syrup

Blend until neither can be identified from the other.
Top with hot fudge.

G
OLDEN
B
UTTERCUP
C
AKES

2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ cups sugar

2½ tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

¾ cup butter or margarine (1½ sticks), softened

¾ cup whole milk

1½ tsp pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2½-inch muffin pan
with cupcake holders.

2. Mix dry ingredients until combined. Add wet ingredients
and beat just until blended and creamy.

3. Spoon batter into cups. Bake 20–25 minutes

P
ERFECT
B
UTTERCREAM
F
ROSTING

1 pkg confectioners' sugar (16 oz)

½ cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened

1½ tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp cream

With hand mixer, beat sugar, softened butter, vanilla,
and cream until blended. Increase speed until frosting is light and fluffy.

L
OVE
B
UG
J
UICE

(For l'amor)

4 cups cranberry juice

Fistful of maraschino cherries, mashed

2 slices kiwi fruit

1 diced apple

Dash of shade-grown Mexican ginseng

Mix all ingredients in a pitcher with lots of ice
and sprinkle generously with ginseng.

K
EEPS
'E
M
Q
UIET
C
OBBLER