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Chapter Fifteen- Part 3

“I’m so good at glamours.” Tricia giggled. “I have one on now.”

            Alice stared at her, not seeing any threads of magic running across her clothes or skin.

            “Where? Oh, is that rude of me to ask?”

            “I don’t care.” Tricia tugged at the front of her tank top and slipped her hand in, pulling at something on her chest. When she drew her hand back it trailed a silver thread behind it. Alice stared in astonishment. “Your…..you...”

            “It makes me look like I have more cleavage.”

            “Wow.” Alice was hard pressed to think of a more shallow use for magic, and Azura’s expression said the same, though she didn’t look as shocked.

            “They’re super easy to do.” Tricia clearly didn’t pick up on their expressions.

            “So we would use magic to make dresses look Victorian?” Alice guessed.

            “Exactly.” Azura nodded. “We can put a glamour on a normal dress and it will look to everyone else like you have a completely different dress on.”

            “What will it look like to me?” Alice said curiously.

            “If you look in a mirror you can see what everyone else sees.”

            “That must be strange.”

            “It is at first, but a good glamour can come in very handy occasionally.”

            Alice remembered the wizard at the bar who had turned himself more attractive and frowned.

            “We can practice them in the next few weeks till you have it perfect,” Azura said. “It does take a bit of concentration to maintain at first, until you really have the hang of it.”

            Alice shrugged. She seemed to be able to get most things right away; she was beginning to believe what Azura had said when they’d first met about her being a natural at magic. Glamours seemed simple enough.

           

            The shop did a steady business.  Alice found they sold more potions and elixirs than usual, apparently due to the increase in young women coming in.  Tuesday morning it was just her and Azura working, as Gabriel and Shakra had gone to the park to stretch their legs and get some fresh air, and Azura suggested she start learning to cast a glamour.  Alice agreed enthusiastically, picturing herself changing in different ways.  It would be so cool to have green eyes. She couldn’t help but think about Shira, the Banshee woman she had met when she had first inherited the shop. The woman was the complete opposite of her - messy blonde curls that tumbled from her shoulders, fine alabaster skin and large green eyes.  She was so beautiful. I wouldn’t mind looking like her.

Azura smiled knowingly. “Most Witches have loads of fun playing around with it, and others, like our new friend Tricia, use it all the time to enhance something, or sometimes, cover something up.

            “You mean pimples and stuff?”

            “Not usually anything so small.  It takes some effort to hold a glamour, even if it’s just a small one. It’s easier to just wear cover up for minor skin flaws. Maybe if you had a terrible birth defect, or a missing limb or something, then you might think it worth the effort.”