By Maya Sharma Sriram

If her face was her fortune, then her eyes were the diamonds. Samiera knew that. She also knew that their beauty were enhanced by the blue-black eye liner she was outlining them with. She put the tube down and studied her face. She slicked some pale gloss over her perfectly painted coral lips. She tossed her hair and watched the waves settle softly back on her shoulders.

She tugged her white blouse down, revealing another inch of her cleavage. She pulled her small black skirt a little more up her waist, letting another inch of shimmering thigh show.

Then she reached for the tiny heart shaped crystal bottle. She hesitated and then pulled open the stopper.  She sniffed—the liquid had a woodsy smell. So that is what patchouli, nutmeg, clove oil and more smelt like, when brewed together. She hoped this DESIRE potion worked. She couldn't imagine herself being attracted to someone who smelt like damp wood. 

You lack faith, Sammy.  That is your problem.

She could hear her grandma's soft placid voice.  Well, this time she was going to keep faith alright.

 She dabbed a few drops on the base of her throat, her nape and on all the places women assumed were most effective to dab perfume on to attract men.

She picked up her bag and left the room.

The green grass snake in her glass aquarium was watching her unblinkingly. She tapped the glass wall. "All's fair etc' she said, wiggled her fingers at the still form and left.

He never missed a Friday. He came today too, around seven. Samiera was watching the door for him and so rushed to the cash counter the minute he pushed the door of the café open.

"Hi."  She let her eyes sparkle a minute longer than necessary and showed her perfect white teeth a second more than she needed to. "Your order?"

"Hi," he smiled, friendly, and informal, but his amber flecked brown eyes remained aloof. "I'll have your Mocha Frappaccino."

She nodded, smiled some more and went off to fill his order.

"Please let this potion work," she muttered as she made his drink. She adjusted her dress, smoothed her hair and carried off his tray.

What she saw at the table stopped her mid sashay.  He was sitting, if you could call it that, with another woman. It was hard to tell which was closer:  their faces or their bodies. What their hands were doing to each other stopped just short of becoming something that could get them arrested.

She clenched her teeth to stop her scream. She stomped noisily up to the table. They looked up. She put his tray on the table.

"Thanks," he said, not even having the courtesy to be embarrassed.

"Could we also have a Cappuccino please?"

"Orders at the counter," she replied and strode off.

The evening got worse after that.  The couple got cosier and cosier. Samiera could feel her cheek grow warm; her eyes sparkle with suppressed temper.

To makes things worse, she was increasingly becoming the object of wandering hands and improper suggestions.  One grabbed her arms when she placed the tray on his table, another tried to look down her blouse. The third wanted to know what she was doing that night.

She was first puzzled. Then she grew close to tears.  Her 'DESIRE Potion'. It was working alright; maybe too effectively. Only not with the right man.

She needed to go home and wash if all off before she got raped. She almost ran into the office at the back.

"Boss, not feeling well. Can I leave early?"

Jack studied her flushed face with concern.

"Sure."

She nodded gratefully, collected her bag and left. She was walking up to the bus stop when a street dog sidled up to her. She ignored the beast and quickened her steps. The animal gave a soft sound and sniffed around her legs.   She swallowed her panic. Not animals too!

She walked slowly, trying not to let her fear show. A motor sounded behind her.

Taxi. She exhaled in relief and flagged it. Thankfully it stopped. She jumped into it and slammed the door behind her.

She walked into her house a few while later, her face red, eyes weepy and gait a little unsteady.  She was sure her snake gave her a reproachful, I-told-you-so look.

"Yeah, yeah. I know" she told the reptile. "We have to live with the consequences of our actions. Believe me; nobody knows it better than I.  That is what I am doing, as you well know."

Samiera called in sick the next morning, taking the rest of the week off.

Samiera decided she was going to do the noble thing and forget him. No tricks or tempting this time.

The first day she shopped. The second day she spent at the library and then the spa.

The third day she meditated. She darkened the room, pulled out her lavender scented candles and tried to calm her mind. When she finally blew out the candle and threw the curtains open, she was sure that the snake looked at her in approval.

"Don't say a word," she told the silent animal.

The next day was Thursday. But Samiera was seized by the familiar itch again.  May she should just do it.

No.

Why not?

Because you have no right to play with other people’s lives

But love is always good.

You can't use this power to make people fall love with you. Not for selfish reasons remember.

I don't care.

She climbed on a chair and brought down a box from the loft. She dusted the lid and flipped the locks open. The box had just one large, bound book in it. She lifted the book carefully out of the box. The book-cover was thick, made of leather and was crumbling at the corners. She gently unwound the thread that bound the book. She opened the book and began to turn the pages. The pages were thin, and wafer – crisp. They crackled. Her fingers flipped to the page she wanted, almost as if by instinct.

The page contained her great grand mother's love potion written in her great grandmother's feminine hand. She knew the ingredients by heart. But each time she was surprised by how ordinary they were. She always expected a wing of bat or an eye of newt or some such thing.

She placed all the things she needed on the table. Then she pulled out her crystal mixing jar. She cleansed it. She measure out all the ingredients into the jar. Orange juice, spring water, nutmeg, Rose water, mint leaves……

She picked up her stirrer, muttering her chant.

Spirits of Love, hear my call

In love with me, make him fall,

As I will, So mote it be.

Her snake seemed to look at her with an accusing look. She turned her back on the glass case and began to chant loudly, stirring vigorously all the while.

The next day when she left for work, she packed her bag carefully, making sure that her flask could not break or its contents spill.

The snake seemed to watch her movements with sad eyes.

"I don't want to hear anything from you," she hissed at the snake and left.

He came in exactly at seven, arm in arm, with that woman.

"I'll have an iced tea."

"And I, one cold coffee."

She nodded, keeping her face bland and friendly.

She placed their drinks on a tray. She pulled out the flask from her bag. She looked cautiously around.  It was Friday after all, the noisiest, busiest day of the week. Nobody would have the time to watch her.  She quickly poured out the contents of the flask into his tea. She just as deftly slipped the flask back into her bag.  She stirred his drink well.  She paced their drink on the counter, calling out to them. He nodded and came up to pick up his tray.

Samiera spent the evening watching the couple out of the corner of her eyes. She tensed when he first sipped his tea. But he swallowed with no change of expression. As she watched, they talked and flirted but both kept drinking from their glasses at regular intervals...

“Smile and laugh all you want,” she thought, looking at the woman.  "Tonight is your last day with him. Tomorrow he will be mine."

She watched them till he finished his drink and then gave a satisfied smile.

She left work that night with a sense of anticipation.

The next day was Saturday, her day off. But she was up and ready early. She was going in to café, anyway. He was sure to come looking for her there.

She hummed to herself as she made breakfast. That the first time she saw the toad. It was hopping up and down the kitchen window sill, as if trying to get her attention.

She yelped in shock, spilling hot milk all over herself and the stove. By the time she had cleaned up the mess, the toad was gone.

It must have been my imagination, she told herself.

Or your guilty conscience.

Shut up.

She picked up her bag. She rapped at the glass of the case.

“Will have a surprise for you today.”

The animal just stared at her solemnly.

“Oh, go away.”

She walked away and opened the front door.

And gasped.

The toad was there, sitting on her morning paper.

She looked at the toad. The animal looked back out of amber flecked brown eyes.

Oh no!  Not again.

Keep the anger and jealousy out of the spells, Sammy or they will never work.

You were right, grandma.

Samiera stepped aside. The toad hopped in. She picked up the toad. She walked up to the glass case. She stooped until she was eye level to the snake.

"Okay. You win.”

She sighed deeply, feeling perhaps her first twinge of regret.

"I am sorry," she told the toad. "But this has to be done. There is no other way."

She slid open the top of the case and dropped the toad beside the snake. She then turned her back on the glass-case and left the house. When she returned that night, there would be no toad and a tell tale bulge in the snake. She shook her head.

There was nothing else to do, she supposed. She had better search through her grandma's recipes to see if she had a charm to turn a snake back into a man…..

About the Author:  Maya Sharma Sriram

Maya Sharma Sriram is a full time writer based in Mumbai, India. She writes fiction and poetry; both have appeared in many magazines and journals. She is currently working on her first novel.