Page 63 of Summer L.A.W.

Before he finished his sentence, the mist hit. His eyes went wide. “I once submitted a student’s paper as a conference talk.”

Joell gasped. “Chad!”

He grimaced. “It fit the theme! Gaaa! I can’t stop talking!”

Sebastian looked alarmed. “Fascinating. Gas inhalation appears to trigger compulsive disclosure.”

“Translation?” Magda asked.

“It works.”

Then his own throat tightened. He tried to focus on the data, but the words spilled out anyway. “Magda’s smile disrupts my cognitive function.”

The silence that followed was absolute. Even the chandelier flickered uncertainly.

Magda blinked. “That’s… odd.”

“And sweet,” Brianna said.

Lioness leaned back, grinning. “Ooh, the scientist’s got a crush.”

Sahara added without looking up, “In Egypt, that’s called fieldwork.”

Chad cocked his head. “What did you two do?”

“Just a tiny honesty spell. It’s so people who are getting to know each other don’t hide anything important.”

Rayna fanned herself. “I’m just glad honesty’s not contagious. Does anyone else feel warm?”

Chad groaned into his clipboard. “I’m filing this under ‘Magical Occupational Hazards.’”

Wally hopped onto the table, eyes bright, and squeaked so loudly the candles trembled. A few stray sparks shot from his fur, sprinkling glitter over the breadbasket.

Sebastian rubbed his forehead. “I should’ve brought safety goggles.”

“You should’ve brought a sense of humor,” Magda teased.

He met her gaze again, red-faced but smiling now. “Working on it.”

Laughter broke over the table like a wave—unfiltered, unrestrained, cathartic. The glittering mist hung above them, soft as dawn light. Magda felt it stir something deep and sweet inside her, the realization that maybe truth was its own kind of magic.

As the last sparkles faded, Sahara murmured, “Well. That was enlightening.”

Lioness twirled her glowing napkin art. “And entertaining. Ten out of ten, would inhale again.”

Joell raised her cider. “To accidental honesty.”

Magda lifted her glass, meeting Sebastian’s eyes. “And to experiments worth repeating.”

His forehead wrinkled. “Preferably under controlled conditions.”

“Or over dinner,” she countered.

“Dinner’s a variable I can live with.”

Wally chose that moment to hop onto Sebastian’s lap, drop a glittery bread roll into his hand, and chirp what sounded suspiciously like “You’re welcome.”

Magda laughed, feeling lighter than she had in months. Maybe she hadn’t perfected love in a bottle, but she’d brewed something just as wonderful.