"Ah, I know, how about this!" Meredith chirped as she eagerly plucked a large, black book from a nearby shelf.
"An encyclopaedia?" Nicola snarked "Do you want us to proofread it or something"
"Actually it's a comprehensive tome of ancient magical incantations translated into your everyday language. Which means that even one of you two fools would be capable of performing just about any spell you desire"
"Nah, not him" Nicola gestured at James jokingly.
"Well, lets see shall we" the older woman responded, calmly passing the book to James
"Um, I don't know if I want to get involved with that kind of thing" James protested as politely as possible.
"Ha! You aren't starting to believe in this rubbish are you?" Nicola guffawed.
"Please James, I insist" Meredith pushed the book firmly into the young mans hands "Since your friend is convinced nothing will happen she won't mind you testing it out on her"
"Yeah, knock yourself out" Nicola consented smugly.
James thumbed anxiously through the book. It was full of wide enough array of alleged spells to do pretty much anything he could conceive of to his friend. To his surprise, he felt a wave of excitement that he might actually be able to. The spells were all just a fee short phrases that looked nonsensical but simple enough to pronounce. He just needed to decide what he wanted to try first.
"Please, choose whatever you wish. There must be something that appeals to you" Meredith smiled, almost kindly now.
"Please go easy on me, oh poweful mage!" Nicola continued to mock as James decided on a spell from...