"...Should we not be talking about this right now?" he wonders. "'Cause I mean, I'm sure my dad is gonna go on other trips this year..."

"I'm not even planning to attack my disinterest in supervising self-mutilation. I just need to be able to hold still and not tell you 'stop'."

"Okay," he says, but he sounds unconvinced.

"What do you mean?"

"Wouldn't that apply if I do accomplish what I have in mind, too?" Bella asks.

"If you make yourself not hate it the way I don't hate it, you'll be fine," he says. "I don't think you'll do that."

"I'm not even sure if - wait. What am I even thinking? I have fucking magic powers. I have Elias's stash. It worked for cryptanalysis, hell, that only took squares, maybe it works for masochism. It's at least worth a try, and then," she laughs, "I don't even have to wait overnight."

"The cryptanalysis lasted a minute, maybe a minute and a half? That should be enough time, shouldn't it? Smash foot, create hex, heal foot with pentagons if I can't stand it. Hand off the hex and you have magic powers."

"It could easily take more than a minute and a half to get you to hex-level pain by smashing your foot with a hammer," he says. "Especially if we stop to test that it works at all first, which you know, we probably should."

"Well, what's faster? And don't say 'blowtorch'," Bella says. "And yes, of course, squares are cheap, I'll try a dry run. I could definitely tell when I did and did not have cryptanalysis powers."

"Squares can wish up small things," he says. "Can a square wish up a jar of lye? You wouldn't need a lot, that shit burns like a motherfucker."

"Like a hex-sized one?" Bella asks. "I can try that too, when not driving."

"Yeah, that's the idea."

"Mkay." She sighs. "I could probably make it a permanent hack with a pentagon - but - I don't know if those are reversible. It doesn't say in the book. And I don't really want to keep the... predilection... forever."

"...Why not? I mean, you know, it would kinda come in handy."

"Yes, it would. But I haven't fully thought it through, it would probably have other effects, and I take alterations to my brain very seriously."

"Yeah, I guess," he says.

"Also," she says, "I'm not sure if it counts as a skill. If I worked really hard for some months or years and then got good vocal training I could speak fluent Spanish without much accent. Same thing if I studied and practiced the piano or got serious about being really good at cooking. If I wished on a pentagon I could do the same thing. I'm simply not clear on how one could, sans magic, turn into you - which means it could be a hex problem, to do it permanently - which means this doesn't solve the current problem and will be nearly redundant after the current problem is handled."

"...Getting used to pain and liking it aren't the same," he offers. "First one sounds like more your kind of deal."

"It's not the pain," she says. "I could move my leg around after it was broken. It's the fear."

"You can get used to that, too."