spell i · field copy also filed in the codex petal-kept memory a rose petal that remembers so your head doesn't have to.
components one rose petal you kissed · a strand of your own hair · three seconds of held breath
incantation "hold soft, hold slow, hold what the world tried to throw"
effect the petal keeps a single moment for you when your own head is too crowded. crush it later between two fingers and the memory blooms back in full colour, sound and warmth. one petal, one memory. marceline will bat at it if she smells the feeling on you.
warning never store a memory you are not ready to feel again. the petal does not soften edges, it sharpens them.
— currently kept: the second-date bridge, the exact light of it. i check on the petal more than i'll admit.
spell ii · domestic working the kettle-always-warm charm why the kettle at the cottage at root is always somehow warm.
components a kettle that has heard your name said kindly · one cup of tea gone cold and forgiven · the sound of the blue door closing behind someone you wanted to stay
incantation "warm for the walk, warm for the wait, warm for whoever comes home late"
effect the kettle stays somehow warm. not hot. warm — the temperature of being expected. cast once and it holds for as long as the house keeps being a home. seth thinks it's the stove. the stove thinks it's seth. neither of them is right.
warning the charm anchors to the home, not the kettle. you can move the kettle anywhere. move the reason for the kettle and it goes cold in an hour.
— cast so long ago i honestly forget doing it. that's the mark of a good one.
spell iii · greater ward the ward that lowers for one a full graveyard ward with one gap shaped like one person.
components iron dust filed from the gate of pretty things · your own pulse, counted to nine · the memory of deciding, not the memory of being convinced
incantation "keep them out, keep them out, keep the one i'm sure about"
effect the kingdom's whole ward stays up — the iron still filters fake sadness from real, the roses still watch — but there is one gap in it, exactly one person wide. it knows him by his walk before it knows him by his face. he has never once noticed passing through it, which is correct. wards should feel like nothing to the ones they were rewritten for.
warning the ward decides slowly and cannot be rushed. mine took the whole length of a bridge to make up its mind. let it take the bridge.
— there is exactly one gap. there will not be a second. this is not a warning, it's a fact.
spell iv · sky working the one-minute-longer sunset a borrowed minute for a broadcast that runs over.
components a bent umbrella rib (good luck — do not straighten it) · the little hush right before 8:14 · one held breath aimed west
incantation "linger low, linger gold, one more minute for the story told"
effect the sunset holds its last color exactly one minute longer, in case the broadcast runs long. cast quietly from the grass below the observatory. seven hundred and sixty-six broadcasts and he has never noticed the extra minute. he just says the sky is being generous. the sky says nothing. the sky and i have an arrangement.
warning the minute is borrowed from midnight, so midnight arrives one minute short. spend the borrowed minute looking at something. it knows when it was wasted.
— he'd say it doesn't need magic. yeah. the sky is doing the thing again. it does the thing better with help.
spell v · feline hex slow-blink translation hex one hour of understanding exactly what the cat means.
components eye contact with a cat who chose you (borrowed cats void the hex) · eleven patient minutes · nothing else. she will know if you brought treats. treats are a bribe. see spell x.
incantation "blink slow, blink true, tell me what she tells you"
effect for one hour, slow blinks translate. mostly they mean "the night watch is covered." sometimes "you may remain." once — one time, near the good mouse stone — "the mouse is not forgotten." her bell hums softly the whole hour, like it's translating too.
warning the hex runs both ways. for the same hour she can read your blinks. she has known things about you for years now. she has been very polite about it.
— co-regent, pending nap. the paperwork on the throne is real and i will not be discussing it.
spell vi · the soft one the no-ward sleep falling asleep near someone with every ward down.
components someone whose breathing you have already memorized without meaning to · a room the ward already trusts · both hands empty, nothing gripped
incantation "down guard, down gate, i can sleep, the roses wait"
effect you fall asleep next to a person with every single ward down, and you wake up fine. that's it. that's the whole effect. it took me longer to learn this one than every other spell in this book combined.
warning this spell only casts itself. it cannot be forced, faked, hurried, or performed to be nice. if it won't cast, the answer is "not yet," and not yet is a real answer. the roses will wait. they're good at it.
— casts every night at the cottage at root now. i keep the incantation written down anyway. some things you keep the words for out of respect.
spell vii · structural the carved-rung anchor what you carve into the ninth rung becomes load-bearing.
components a pocketknife kept sharper than it needs to be · a ladder somebody climbs every single night · two initials and a plus sign
incantation "cut it small, cut it deep, some things aren't for saying, they're for keep"
effect whatever is carved into the ninth rung of a sixteen-rung ladder becomes structurally load-bearing. the ladder cannot break while the carving holds. the climber's foot finds that rung without looking, every night, seven-hundred-some climbs and counting.
warning the carving becomes load-bearing in the other sense too. neither the rung nor the feeling can be sanded out afterward. carve accordingly. i did.
— m + s. i'm not saying which of us held the knife. the ladder isn't saying either.
spell viii · calendar charm blue-door tuesday charm paint the door every tuesday whether it needs it or not.
components blue paint, any honest blue · a brush that has seen weather · a tuesday · someone worth painting a door for
incantation "coat on coat, week on week, keep the color, keep the streak"
effect a door repainted every tuesday, whether it needs it or not, keeps the whole house looking forward to things. the hinges stop complaining. the kettle stays warmer (see spell ii — they stack). the door is now roughly one hundred coats deep and opens like it's glad about it.
warning nothing bad happens if you skip a tuesday. that is the trap. the charm isn't in the paint, it's in the not-skipping. he taught me this one without knowing he was teaching it.
— some people keep a streak in the sky, some keep one on a door. same spell. different brushes.
spell ix · long-distance working the quote-carrier candle repeat a true thing and a candle lights in a cottage far away.
components something a friend once said that turned out to be true · your own voice, out loud, no mumbling · any amount of distance — the spell does not care about miles
incantation "say it once, out loud, and see if it's still true"
effect repeat a true thing she said, anywhere, and a candle lights itself in marginalia cottage between the two hills. she feels it as a warmth between the shoulder blades. her shelves grow an inch. i quote her constantly, which means her cottage is the best-lit building in ooo, which she has never once complained about.
warning only works on things that are actually true. misquotes light nothing. exaggerations light nothing. the candle is not being picky, the candle is being an oracle.
— "a crush is just a rumor your nervous system is spreading about someone." — that one alone is probably three candles.
spell x · not mine — transcribed the figure-eight audit marceline's own working. i just hold the pen.
components one newcomer, unaware they are being audited · one small black cat with a humming bell · eleven patient minutes (again with the eleven — cats invented the number)
incantation "eight and eight and eight again, the shape will tell me who and when"
effect she walks a figure-eight around anyone new. one completed eight: tolerated. two: approved. a slow blink after the second: family, decision final, no appeal process exists. skyla got the blink on her very first eight, which the record shows has happened exactly once.
warning the audit cannot be bribed. offering a treat mid-audit voids the current eight and the count starts over. several visitors have been stuck at zero for years. they know who they are.
— she filed this spell herself. i came downstairs and the page was just… done. the night watch is covered.
spell xi · witnessed, never cast the rosarium bloom every rose opened pink at once. i refuse to file it as coincidence.
components unknown. a bridge, possibly. a second date, definitely. one person deciding to cross and one person deciding to let him.
incantation none recorded. the terraces did it themselves. i have never cut a rose in the weeping rosarium and apparently the roses keep accounts.
effect the night he crossed the second-date bridge, every rose in the rosarium opened pink at the same moment — all the terraces, all at once, like the garden had been holding its breath longer than i had. it is entered in this grimoire as a spell because the only other filing category is "coincidence," and i refuse.
warning unrepeatable. singular. some spells only fire once because they only need to. do not stand in the rosarium waiting for an encore. bring him tea instead. see spell ii.
— the western terraces did something similar the day skyla forded the ribbon. turned, all of them, like sunflowers. the garden has taste.
spell xii · blank on purpose the unwritten one the last page of a grimoire is traditionally left empty.
components this book · both of us · time, which we have
incantation not written yet.
effect the last spell in a proper grimoire is left blank for the working the witch hasn't needed yet. it isn't a missing page. it's a kept one. the book stays open-ended on purpose, the way the kettle stays warm on purpose.
warning none. some pages you keep empty the way you keep a chair by the fire — not because no one sits there, but because someone will.
— whatever ends up here, it'll be small. the big spells always are.