The Queen of Witches

by Brandi Elledge

  “You mean Talon?”

  “Yeah, who else? Ironically, the angel has a better face than Face, but since I’ve already dubbed him that, I can’t change it now. It would be just too confusing for everybody.”

  I wanted to ask her who everybody was, but I decided it wasn’t worth it. “So Talon asked me if I was ready to leave with him, and I told him the truth. I’m conflicted. I don’t want to leave my home.”

  “Honestly, though, would you have said yes if the angel hadn’t propositioned you, too? Admit it. The angel had some sway on you staying here.”

  “He just gave me another option is all.” I tried to sound all nonchalant, but I wasn’t fooling her. “All I have to do is help him find this key, which really, I would help him with anyways, if what he said about it getting in the wrong hands is true.”

  “You need to step outside of your comfort zone. Get drunk off of a bottle with a worm in it. Send me home and put on something that shows a little leg.”

  I threw a couch pillow at her. “Just stop.” I pointed a finger at her. “You know if what Jamison said is true and I am a powerful witch, once I learn how to uncloak these badass powers, I could abracadabra some facial hair on you.”

  “I think I could pull off facial hair. Me and my goatee would open up my traveling circus and become famous, and then I would have very little time on my hands to listen to all your woes.”

  “You are exhausting. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to come.”

  Tandi threw her hands up. “Hello, darling, that is exactly what I’ve been preaching. You don’t need me here. I am a mood killer. You need to light a couple of candles and put on some ‘drop it like it’s hot’ music.” I thought she saw my eye starting to twitch because she changed the subject. “Well, since we have an hour before he shows up, why don’t you help me practice my lines?”

  I walked to the kitchen and started pulling out ingredients for a cheese plate. That girl jumped subjects so fast, my head spun. “What lines?”

  She huffed. “Remember, I'm taking theater this semester? Well, I tried out for the musical The Little Mermaid, and I got the part of Scuttle.”

  I stopped rolling the meat. “I'm sorry, what?”

  She got up from the couch and sauntered in, putting her hands on her curvy hips. “I know. I so thought I was an Ariel. But whatever.”

  “Tandi, you can’t sing.”

  She grabbed her chest. “Maybe I can, and you’re just tone deaf.”

  “Um, no I’m pretty sure you can’t sing. Like at all. That’s probably why they cast you as the bird. I mean, even the crab has more lines, right?”

  “Girl, we’re about to have a come-to-Jesus meeting.” She flipped her hair behind her. “If you’re not going to help me with my lines, why don't you tell me what the plan is for you to find this key? You know who I would start interrogating?”

  A pounding pain started behind my eyes, and I felt a headache coming on, but against my better judgment, I said, “Who?”

  Tandi’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. “The preacher’s son. Who is also the assistant pastor.”

  “Donnie? He’s like the sweetest guy ever. Why in the world would he have the key?”

  “Because what better cover up than being a man of God? I mean, look at your face right now. You’re registering total disbelief. And besides that, last month I called him to ask if the Garden Club could have their bingo night in the Church’s fellowship hall, and get this, he said no!”

  Putting my own acting skills to bat, I feigned shock. “No way. You’re telling me that Donnie didn't want gambling done in the church?”

  “Listen here, smart ass, everyone in this town knows that Jackie is a lying, cheating harlot who’s clearly breaking a couple of commandments, but she still gets to teach bible study, so tell me what is it going to hurt to let a bunch of old farts play bingo?” Tandi went to the refrigerator and grabbed out the pickle jar. She unscrewed the top and stabbed a pickle—one that she pointed at me with each word. “I'm telling you, preaching for that man is nothing but a red herring.”

  “Come Sunday, I am not questioning the preacher or his son.”

  “Okay, fine, Charlie. But if I were you that's exactly where I would start. Either that or Mike, down at the mechanic’s, because what he charges for changing oil should be against the law.”

  Halfway listening to her, I set the cheese tray on the counter and washed my hands. “Well, I have a plan that doesn’t involve going to each member of the town and interrogating them. All I need is a map.”

  Tandi made a “come hither” motion with her hands. “All right, explain.”

  “You know, ever since I called you last night, you’ve really handled all of this rather well.”

  She stabbed another pickle. “Well, I’ve always known you had some crazy superhuman powers, but thanks to my Marvel knowledge, I just assumed you were going to start shooting laser beams from your eyes or have blades come out from the back of your hands.”

  “Sorry to disappoint.” I put my hands on my hips. “Let’s wait until Jamison gets here and then I’ll explain my plan.”

  “Fine. We’ll just practice my lines.”

  I grumbled, but I still followed her into the living room. She sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to her, pulling out a white stack of papers and handing them over to me. She tied back her blond hair and did some kind of funny neck exercises, coupled with what I could only imagine to be vocal exercises.

  Flipping through the pages she handed me, I sat there waiting patiently while she sounded like a dying donkey. When the braying stopped, I asked, “Why are there words in red ink next to all of your lines?”

  “Duh, Scuttle doesn't have a ton of lines, so I just gave him some additional ones.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “Did Cleopatra use her sex appeal as a weapon? The Queen of the Nile knew how to get things done, and she never asked for permission.” Tandi’s pretty face scrunched up. “Well, come to think of it, she might not be the best example. After all, she did marry a couple of her siblings, and there’s no proof she wasn’t a product of inbreeding herself, but the girl did know how to wear some eyeliner.”

  I laughed. Cleopatra couldn’t hold a candle to my friend. Only Tandi could take a small part in a play and turn it into a starring role.

  “You know I could ‘persuade’ you to not rehearse your lines.”

  She clapped her hands. “Oh, I like. I like it a lot. You think you can do the same thing to me as you did with Brandon. By the way, it’s hilarious how he’s almost scared of you.”

  Maybe to her but that night totally freaked me out in more ways than one. “I was kidding, Tandi. I’m not going to use my powers on you. What if I screw up?”

  She jumped up and ran to the kitchen, only to come back with a large tub of coffee ice cream. “Ugh, I really hate this kind but desperate times and all that. I’m going to eat this on your white couch. There’s a possibility I might drop some and when Jamison comes over, he’ll either think you’re a messy housekeeper, or you crapped on the couch.”

  I shook my head as she popped the lid and dug a spoonful out. I pointed a finger at her. “Do not eat that bite!”

  She not only ate that bite but the next. “Seriously? Put your back into it; this is killing my diet.”

  Tandi had never been on a diet in her life. I concentrated as hard as I could, commanding her to put the ice cream back in the fridge. I finally gave up when she was halfway through the tub. Eventually, she put the ice cream back by her own free will. I was completely stumped as to why it didn’t work on her. I filed the mystery under “things to ask Jamison.” Maybe what happened with Brandon was an isolated incident.

  Chapter Eight

  Tandi was back on the couch, saying, “Red leather, yellow leather” over and over until I wanted to rip my ears off. My nerves were already bad, and my stomach was doing this little rollercoaster thing every time I thought about Jamison’s conversati
on last night. He spoke the truth. This I knew.

  When the doorbell rang, Tandi screeched from the sofa, “I got it.”

  A minute later, Jamison strolled into the kitchen, looking breathtaking with his faded jeans hanging low on his hips and his signature black T-shirt pulled tight across his chest. How different Talon was with his hair product and name-brand clothes. I sighed. Why was I comparing the two on an appearance level? I chose to stay here and train because it was the best thing for me, not because my trainer was magnificent to look at. Tandi was laughing at something Jamison said. I shook my head in dismay at how easily Tandi had taken a liking to Jamison. Usually, Tandi wasn't so trusting of strangers.

  Jamison’s eyes did a slow perusal over my body. When his gaze met mine, he said, “You look stunning tonight.”

  I willed myself not to blush at his cocky smile; I realized my will was crap. Tandi sashayed into the kitchen after him, more like a regal queen than a sidekick. “Hey,” then I immediately cringed. That was the best that I could do?

  One side of his mouth tilted up. Great. He could probably sense my discomfort. “I thought maybe you could show me how you found that little boy. We could start there, and then before I leave tonight, I would like to talk about the powers you’ve exhibited so far. Then hopefully tomorrow, you’ll be able to reenact everything you’ve already done.”

  I didn’t have a lot of confidence that I would be able to demonstrate anything but I nodded anyway.

  “I picked up a new phone today.” He pulled out a new iPhone and swiped the screen a couple of times. “I had my brother send me a picture of the key that he has. Would you like to see it?”

  “Yes, that might help.” He handed me the phone, and I studied the picture. The key wasn’t what I imagined at all. It was the size and shape of a tennis ball but black. There was nothing about it that looked like an actual key. “This is it?”

  “Yes. The key actually can separate into two halves, but it has to be together to open up a portal.” He laid his phone down on the counter. “Now, tell me how you found this little boy.”

  I sat down on one of the barstools. Tandi gave me an encouraging nod as I gathered my thoughts. “I’ve noticed, especially here of late, that the stronger my emotions are, the more chance I have of something weird happening.”

  “Like the fog, ice, and fire?”

  “Yeah, and don’t forget persuasion. I persuaded Brandon to forget about me. My emotions were running all over the place the night Colby went missing.

  “Tell me about that night.”

  “My worry amplified when it started getting dark outside. Colby is afraid of the dark and by this point, he had been missing for more than twelve hours. The whole town had broken off into small groups. I kept saying to myself ‘I’m going to find him.’ The next thing I know, I was telling our small group I wanted to go west instead of east. No one argued… maybe I unknowingly persuaded them, but they followed me as we crossed a small creek bed and an hour later, we found Colby. He was scared but okay.”

  Tandi added, “It was like she knew exactly where he was. Like there was an imaginary string tying her to Colby. She followed the string and never once wavered off the path.”

  “The adults in the group were amazed; some even said that one day, I would be a great mom with the intuition that I had. Others said that it made sense that Colby was there because no one else had checked that far west. But I knew that it had something to do with me being different.”

  He looked satisfied with my story. His long fingers drummed the countertop. “You have no emotional ties to this key, so I’m not expecting you to find it, but I would like for you to try.”

  “Before I try, can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course.”

  “The woman that you're close with, Ariana, why wouldn’t she just tell you who has the key?”

  He spun his phone around on the counter. “That’s a good question. I think it’s because there were a couple of things she wanted me to accomplish while I was here. If I came just for the key, then the other things that she wants to happen might not.”

  It must be great being a psychic. “Other things? Like what?”

  “I’m not completely sure yet.”

  Hm. Either he did know, or he just didn’t want to share. “All right, I’m going to picture the key and tell myself that I really want to find it.” And I truly did. If this key could open up portals to beings that were evil, then I needed to make sure it didn’t fall in the wrong hands. I had the image in my mind and repeated my desire to find it. I waited for that magnetic pull I felt with Colby but nothing happened. I didn’t even want to move off the barstool, much less out of the kitchen to search for it. After another five minutes of trying, I knew it wasn’t working.

  My eyes opened and focused on Jamison. “I’m sorry. I really did want to help you.”

  He gave me a smile. “I honestly didn’t think it would be this easy. We will find it when the time is right.”

  Tandi was rubbing her frown line. “Well, darlin’, maybe we should find you an operating manual. There has to be some kind of book you could refer to or something?”

  Jamison laughed. “I’ll be her manual. She will get the hang of all of this before you know it.”

  Tandi beamed at the both of us like she was picturing our wedding day. “Well, kids, I hate to break up Scooby-Doo and the gang, but I need to study for my physics test.”

  My brows furrowed. “Since when are you studying physics?”

  She grabbed up her jacket and bag, all while avoiding eye contact with me, which was normally what she did when she was lying. “Well, it was a last-minute decision, you know, like a late add-on. But the truth is, you can never have too much knowledge when it comes to, you know, matter and energy and stuff.” At my blank look, she said, “All right, well, I gotta go. See y’all later.”

  After she left, I said, “Well, that was awkward.”

  “Not for me. Even though I’m sorry your buffer left, I personally wouldn’t mind some alone time with you.” And he just called me out. “How about we talk about those flaws, as you like to call them?”

  He grabbed my hand and led me to the couch. We sat, semi-facing one another.

  “The night that you produced the fog, what happened?”

  I picked at my cardigan as I recalled that night. “It was the night I had broken up with Brandon.” What I didn’t say was the reason why. Brandon was pressuring me to do things that I didn’t want to do. “I decided to spend the night with Tandi. I had a dream that I had disappeared to somewhere that held no misery, hardships, or heartache. I awoke to her shaking me in a room full of fog.”

  “What about the ice?”

  “The day after my eighteenth birthday, I went to visit my parents’ grave. I was an emotional wreck. Tandi came over with a box of tissues and a coffee. When she handed me the coffee, I somehow turned it to ice. When I created the fire, I was looking through a family photo album.”

  “Then you persuaded your ex to leave you alone.”

  I nodded. “Oh, but earlier tonight, I tried to persuade Tandi, and it didn’t work, and I really tried. I don’t understand.”

  “Well, either you didn’t mean what you were asking her to do, or Tandi has a little supernatural in her. If that’s the case, it’s so diluted that I can’t sense it, but anything is possible. Do you think you can try and create fog, right now? That’s a pretty safe element. One that won’t burn the whole house down.”

  “Ha! Well, honestly, I don’t think I could create anything right now. My emotions aren’t running rampant.”

  “You will have to learn how to call on your powers without using emotions, but we can start that way if we have to. This is what we’re going to do. I’m going to kiss you.”

  My eyes betrayed me as they fell to his lips. “What? Why?”

  “Just to get your emotions going, of course.” He raked his teeth over his bottom lip. “I’m not kissing you because when you wal
k in the room, that’s all I think about.”

  My breath hitched at his words. He leaned in slowly, giving me all the time in the world to tell him no. But apparently, I had forgotten how to speak English. He tilted my chin up, and then he kissed me. It was just a brush of lips at first and then the kiss turned into something different. It was sweet with an underlining sense of urgency that I’d never felt before. It was as if this was my first real kiss.

  My hair lifted from the back of my neck, and my shirt billowed in the wind. Wait. What wind? Jamison pulled back from me as we both watched the chandelier above us swinging.

  “Interesting. You’ve created wind.” He ran a thumb over my bottom lip. “It sounds to me like the fog was from your need to hide, ice was coming from a place of grievance, fire was your anger, and the wind…” His eyes danced with wicked delight. “Well, that was from passion.”

  “Passion? You think a lot about yourself.” I blushed when he arched an eyebrow. “Okay, maybe I did enjoy the kiss.” Maybe was the understatement of the year. “But what teenager wouldn’t like kissing an attractive male?”

  “Attraction. Passion. Call it what you want, but it still made this,” he said as he pointed to the dying wind. “Most witches can call on one element. You can call up four elements, plus you have the ability to persuade, and who knows what other tricks you might have up your sleeve? First, we need to figure out how to control the elements, and then we will work on calling them up without relying on your emotions.”

  The second kiss completely took me off guard. His hand reached out and snagged me behind the neck quicker than I could process. His lips were on mine again. There was no denying the sensations I felt head to toe were hot, relentless passion. Everything in my being wanted him to never stop.

  The crystals on the chandelier clinked together. I felt his lips smile against mine. I pulled back enough to see his blue eyes swirling into a beautiful honey color, showing me a beast lying just beneath the surface. I should have been afraid, but I found myself more enthralled.