Page 109 of A Witch in Notting Hill

I leaned my forehead against the door, trying and failing to figure out what to say to make this better.

“You know what, you’re right,” he said suddenly. “This isn’t a conversation for right now. But will you promise me itisa conversation? I can’t have you walk out of this flat and never see you again, Willow. I can’t have you complete this spell and disappear back to LA like this never happened. And I don’t think you can, either.”

He had no idea.

“Itisa conversation,” I conceded, feeling the tingling subside just enough for me to actually get a grip on the doorknob. “Just, please, I have to—”

“Go,” he said. “I’m rooting for you, Willow. I know you can do this.”

That made one of us.

I thanked him and ran down the stairs before I could fall into his arms and beg him to come with me. If the magic was going to work, I needed to be as far from Oliver as possible.

“Vera?” I called as I threw our front door open, looking frantically around the flat and not bothering to close it behind me. “Vera? I’m sorry I was out all night and I’m late now but it’s finally the solstice and—”

“It’s time?”

“It’s time,” I confirmed, balling my hands into fists so she couldn’t see them shaking. I should have known that with those marble eyes of hers, she saw everything.

“Relax, Willow,” she said, jumping off the counter to sit at my feet. “I can’t have you freaking out about this.”

She was right. I put her in this position in the first place, and it was my responsibility to get her out. That meant I didn’t get to panic, didn’t get to freak out. Didn’t get to fail.

It was now or never.

Well, now or next year, but we’d both really like it to be now.

“I’m assuming you were out last night convincing a skeptic?” she asked, raising a delicate brow.

I nodded. “It’s all taken care of.” She deserved to know I was ready to do the spell, but I was far from ready to disclose anything else.

“Why are you saying it like you’re Tony Soprano?”

“Because I don’t want to talk about it,” I said. “If I talk about it, the magic will go to shit. Do you want the magic to go to shit?”

She put a paw over her mouth, and I thanked her.

“So it’s time, then,” I said again, unsure how to begin.

“Indeed it is.”

“Do we just... do it right here in the living room?” I asked, suddenly realizing I had no real idea how the spell was actually going to go.

“You’re the witch,” Vera said. “Does feel like as good a spot as any, though, doesn’t it? If you did it the first time in a trailer, the living room is probably fine.”

“You’re right,” I said, shaking out my shoulders and trying to rack my brain for whatever else I might have been overlooking. “Are you going to be naked when you turn back into a person?” I asked. “Do you want me to, uh, have some clothes ready?”

“They disappeared when I turned into a cat, didn’t they? So I’m hoping they’ll reappear when I turn back? Might be a touch overdressed for the living room, but that never hurt anyone.”

“What if they don’t?”

“Willow, stop stalling. You have to trust yourself,” she said, undoubtedly sensing my mood. She was an excellent mind reader. Or we just spent entirely too much time together inhigh-pressure situations. Hard to say. “This is no different than the first shot of a film or the first few steps onto a red carpet. You’re putting yourself out there, putting your work on display, putting yourself in a situation that youcouldfail, and trusting that you won’t. You need to get into that mindset. This is your art just as much as acting. You have to take the leap.”

“You’re good. You should go into management or something.”

“Willow, I swear—”

“I know, I know,” I said, feeling my shoulders come down from my ears as her words settled in. She always knew exactly how to talk me down.