by Geof Johnson
As they stood out front of the school and waved goodbye to Aiven, the last to leave that day, Rachel said, “Jamie, I think it’s time to look for a another teacher. I can only help out here for another five or six weeks before I have to go back to work at my regular school. And your grandmother and your aunt could use the help. They’re retired, after all.”
“I don’t mind the work,” Evelyn said, “but I’m not a real teacher. We need someone who knows what they’re doing.”
“I think so, too,” Aunt Connie said.
“It would be great if we could find someone locally. They would know the kids and the customs, and we wouldn’t have to worry about making magic doorways for them every day.”
Jamie scratched one ear and said, “How do we go about finding somebody like that?”
“I’ll talk to Mrs. Tully in the morning,” Evelyn said. “She’s bringing Aiven on her way to the market. She might know where to start.”
“This is a good time to be breaking in new people, too,” Aunt Connie said, “while we’re still working the kinks out of our system. Nobody’s ever started a school like this one before, and the sooner we hire somebody, the sooner we can get our act together before classes start in September.”
Jamie rested his hands loosely on his hips and smiled. “But it seems like it’s going to work, doesn’t it? Kids are already coming, and word’s getting around.” He nodded. “I was afraid it would be a flop, and this building would sit here empty, day after day.”
“It will work, Jamie,” Rachel said, “despite the town council’s meddling.”
Jamie frowned and turned to Sammi. “Have you overheard them plotting anything, lately?”
Sammi shook her head. “But that doesn’t mean they’re not. They could be talking in the light and I wouldn’t be able to hear them.”
“I spoke with Milly’s parents about it today when they came to pick her up,” Evelyn said. “They don’t think the council will try. They said only a fool would defy a sorcerer.”
“Maybe.” Jamie nodded. “Or someone who thinks they’re sneaky enough to get away with it.”
* * *
Sammi lay awake in her bed long after Mrs. Callahan had finished reading to her. Before she’d left, Mrs. Callahan had asked Sammi what she wanted for her birthday, and Sammi blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “A Barbie! A brand new one!”
Mrs. Callahan smiled and said “We’ll see. Anything else?”
“No, Just that. I want one more than anything in the whole world.”
Sammi had never gotten a new Barbie doll, not for her birthday, not for Christmas, not for anything. Mrs. Gundy had gotten Sammi one from the thrift store once, an old one with no clothes, with the promise of making an outfit for it when she had time, but somehow had never gotten around to it. Sammi was embarrassed by it and had hidden it in the bottom of her closet so that Libby wouldn’t see it when she came over. Not that she ever did much, since she was afraid of Mr. Gundy.
Libby had three Barbies, including one of the Barbie Fashionistas, with the long pink dress and matching heels, so glamorous and beautiful, so...everything. Sammi had lain in bed many nights wishing for one of those glittering dolls.
Now she was curled on her side, staring at her nightlight, having second thoughts.
The children at the Rivershire School had hardly any toys at all, except homemade ones, and it didn’t seem to bother them. Leora had one that she called a pocket doll, a tiny figure barely bigger than her hand, which her mother had sewn for her out of scrap fabric and yarn. Leora brought it to school every day, and had dedicated a special pocket for it in her new blue backpack. She’d proudly shown it to Sammi on the playground the first day she’d come. Sammi almost laughed at it — it wasn’t Barbie, after all. It wasn’t made of plastic, with gorgeous, colorful clothes and matching shoes, it was only made of old cloth, with stitches for its eyes and red smiley lips.
But Sammi somehow stifled her laugh when she saw the look on Leora’s face, how much she loved that little fabric doll. “Oh...it’s nice,” Sammi struggled to say, hoping she sounded convincing. “I, uh, wish I had one just like it.” Leora seemed to believe her.
Now Sammi felt guilty for wanting the stupid Barbie. She didn’t have anybody to share it with, anyway. There was no way she could take it to the Rivershire School, no way. The girls there could never have anything like it, and Sammi would feel like she was one of those kids at her old school, kids who had everything, new clothes and new toys, some even with cell phones, who made it a point to show them off to everybody, just to make the other kids jealous.
Sammi rolled onto her back and stared at the dark ceiling. Those kids at the Rivershire School are my friends. I don’t want to make them feel bad. She decided that she was going to get up early again the next morning, before Mrs. Callahan went to work, and tell her that she’d changed her mind about her birthday present.
Chapter 12
The next morning, when Evelyn, Rachel, and Sammi followed Jamie through the magic doorway, they found Mrs. Tully waiting for them, sitting in the carriage with Aiven in front of the school.
“Good morning, Mrs. Tully,” Evelyn said as she unlocked the door. “Are you on your way to the market?”
“I’ve a few things to buy.” Mrs. Tully smiled at Aiven as he hopped down from the seat, waved goodbye, and went inside with Sammi and Rachel, his lunch sack in one hand. Mrs. Tully waited until the door closed behind them before taking a deep breath and saying, “I have another errand to run, first. I am going to the courthouse to put up an official notice of my intention to adopt Aiven.”
“Wonderful!” Evelyn felt a smile spread across her face. “It’s about time.”
“Yes, it is. I have been too busy to do it, but I do not want to put it off any longer.”
“I’m sure you won’t regret it.” Evelyn nodded firmly. “While I’ve got you here, I need to ask you about something. Do you know how we could go about finding another teacher for the school? One from around here?”
“I can ask at the market this morning, if you’d like. Some of the servants from the big houses may be there, and they can spread the word.” She shrugged. “If there is a tutor on their household staff, they may know of someone.”
“Thank you. That would be helpful. We’re not in a big hurry, but we need to find somebody before school officially starts. We’ve had quite a few families stop by lately.”
“I heard about the television that Jamie brought. It is all Aiven seems to talk about.”
Evelyn sighed. “I hope that these people will bring their children to school for reasons besides the magic box.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Wallace, they will. The families around here want their children to have the same advantages that the rich ones do. And now they can have the most important one, a good education.”
She clucked at Sugar and started to pull away, but Evelyn called to her, “Are you still coming to Sammi and Rollie’s birthday party on Saturday?”
“Of course,” she said over her shoulder. “Aiven would never forgive me if I didn’t.”
* * *
Fred pressed the remote and the big television in her basement flicked off. “That was it. That was our show in Asheville for the Young American Talent Search.”
“Wow,” Nova said, sitting between Fred and Melanie on the couch. “That was incredible. You can dance, Fred. I mean really, really move it.”
“They’re all great, don’t you think?” Melanie asked.
“Sure, but Jamie’s magic act was kinda...um, ordinary. Didn’t look like he was doing anything special.”
“I think he was holding back that night so I could win,” Fred said. “Though he won’t admit it.”
“I dunno.” Nova shook her head and the tiny bells in her dreadlocks tinkled brightly. “I’ve never seen anybody tap dance like that before. How long have you been doing that?”
“Since I was little. Jamie and Rollie have been doing their acts a l
ong time, too.”
“Rollie.” Nova chuckled and nodded. “Funny guy. He made that dummy seem like it was really talking, like it was alive. Did he use magic to do that?”
“That was just good old-fashioned ventriloquism,” Fred said. “He doesn’t like to do much magic, really, ’cause his parents are uncomfortable with it.”
“Oh yeah, the Friend of the Devil and all that. You told me.” Nova chewed one corner of her lip and wrinkled her nose. “Does that mean they’re going to think I’m the Wicked Witch of the West or something?”
“They’ve sorta gotten used to the idea that we have magic, but they’d prefer that Rollie didn’t do any. So he only uses his super speed, pretty much.”
Nova nodded and laughed softly through her nose. “But really, that boy is funny! He didn’t seem like that when I met him on Sunday.”
“I think he was a little nervous.”
“Why?”
“Well...he just was.”
“Weren’t you?” Melanie asked.
“Yeah.” Nova shrugged. “It was awkward as hell. You guys show up out of the blue and start telling me about all this wild magic and demons and stuff, and how Sammi already knew me and overheard me talkin’ with my mom and everything.” She threw one hand in the air. “’Course I was nervous. Who wouldn’t be?”
“Sammi wasn’t.”
“Sammi.” Nova inhaled slowly through her nose. “Poor kid. Must be tough being an orphan, and not even seven years old yet.” Nova nodded again. “That’s really cool of your folks to become foster parents for her, Fred. That girl needs a break, and this seems like a pretty good place for her.”
“My parents had their first class last night, and it was three hours long. They both came home looking really tired, especially since they had to work all day before they went. It’s going to be a tough two weeks for them, I think.”
“Your parents seem cool, especially your mom. I bet you get along really well with her.”
Melanie burst out laughing, bending over at the waist with one hand covering her mouth.
“What’s so funny?”
“Fred?” Melanie said. “Get along with her mom?” Then she laughed again.
Nova turned to Fred. “You don’t?”
“We fight all the time.” Fred pursed her lips and wrinkled her brow. “Except lately we haven’t. Maybe a couple of times when Sammi first got here, but....” She paused and rubbed her cheek with one hand. “Sammi gets upset when I fuss with my mom.” Fred sighed. “So I’ve been keeping a lid on it.”
“There’s something about that kid,” Nova said.
“We think so,” Melanie added. “And there’s something about you, too.” Melanie nodded firmly. “Sammi is convinced that we’re all going to be great friends.”
“Yeah?” Nova narrowed her eyes. “Well, I don’t make friends all that easy.” Nova pushed her mouth to one side and stared wordlessly at the blank television for what seemed like an eternity.
Melanie caught Fred’s eye and gave her a look that said this is awkward. Fred answered with a tiny shrug.
Melanie finally touched Nova on the arm and said, “So, um, do you have any talent? I don’t.”
“Melanie’s the smart one around here,” Fred said quickly, hoping to restart the conversation. “She was valedictorian at our school.”
Nova stretched her face in an exaggerated manner so that her eyes nearly bugged out, and she wagged her head. “Well la—di—da! Valedictorian. Aren’t you special? And I thought you were just Miss Blondie Cheerleader and all that.”
Melanie’s face turned red. “I needed good grades so that I could get enough scholarship money for college. And I only became a cheerleader because I thought it would help me make friends.”
“You? Need to make friends? You’re kidding me.”
“It’s hard to make friends when you’re the smartest kid in school,” Fred said, “and a cheerleader on top of that. We all thought she was snob.” Fred tilted her head toward Melanie. “We were wrong.”
Melanie gave Fred a grateful smile, then nudged Nova’s shoulder. “You never told us what your talent is, if you have one.”
Nova took a while to answer, as if she were debating whether or not to tell them. Finally she said, “I write a little. Short stories and stuff. More poetry than anything.”
“Poetry?” Melanie’s eyebrows shot up. “I’d love to read some.”
“Unh unh.”
“Why not?”
“It’s...kinda personal. And it’s a little dark, too.”
“What, like suicidal dark?”
“No, not that bad, just...dark.”
“Did you ever publish any, or post any online?” Nova didn’t answer, and Melanie nudged her again. “You did, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“You’re lying. I can tell.”
“Hey, I’m the one with that power.”
“I bet we can search online and find some of your stuff,” Melanie said.
Nova held out both hands, palms facing away from her. “Hold on. Before you do that, let me go through some of my stuff and pick something out for you, something less Emily Dickinson-ish.”
Melanie sat back and pulled up one corner of her lip. “Oh, my. That’s dark.”
“You familiar with Dickinson?”
“Of course, but...oh well. At least you have a talent. I think I’m the only one around here who doesn’t.”
“Bryce doesn’t, either,” Fred said. “Maybe that’s why you two get along so well.”
The room became painfully quiet again, until Nova suddenly turned to face Fred. “That video we just saw was from the Young American Talent Search? I watched the finals on TV. You were good enough to win, I think.”
“Huh?” Fred blinked, surprised by Nova’s abrupt change of topic. “Thanks, uh...there wasn’t much chance of me winning, since I was chained to a bed in Louisiana. Rita and Cassandra saw a recording of that performance I just showed you, and that’s how they found out about me. They came here and kidnapped me.”
“Hunh? There’s nothing on that video that suggests that you’re a witch.”
“No, but they did a scrying, and it somehow pointed them to that show. They got the scrying spell from Momma Sue.”
Nova crossed her arms and frowned at her knees. “Do you really think I should go meet that voodoo queen? I mean, it’s going to be really weird, isn’t it? I don’t know if I want to go.”
“You don’t have to be scared of her or Mrs. Malley. She’ll probably be there, too. It’s fascinating to visit them. Sammi’s already been, and she loved it. I learn a lot when I go there, and you would, too, if you went. You don’t know how to do any spells yet, do you?”
Nova pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins. “Never had anybody to teach me. My mom tried to show me how to do the Tarot cards and stuff, but that seems so...I dunno...bogus.”
“Momma Sue is the real deal,” Fred said. “She knows more about witchin’ than anybody, except for maybe Mrs. Malley. Put the two of them together, and you have a veritable encyclopedia of witch knowledge.”
“So why does she teach you?”
“She and Mrs. Malley think it’s important to train young witches right, otherwise they might try some spells they really shouldn’t be doing, and people could get hurt. Plus, Momma Sue wants to instill the right ethics of witchcraft in us.”
Nova scrunched up her nose as if something smelled funny. “Ethics? Witchin’ has ethics?”
“Well, sure. Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley say that a witch’s role is to help people, not hurt them.”
“What about those two witches who kidnapped you? Don’t sound too helpful to me.”
“No, they misused the voodoo doll that Momma Sue gave them, and she was hot to punish them.But Jamie banished them to that other world, first.”
“Was Momma Sue going to kill them?”
“No, but she can do things to you that are a lot worse than death.
She can put a world of hurt on a witch that crosses her.”
“Now I know I don’t want to go see her.”
Fred patted Nova’s knee. “Relax. Momma Sue won’t hurt you. Neither will Mrs. Malley. You’re one of the good guys.”
“How do you know that? I could be the wickedest witch ever, for all you know.”
“No, you’re not,” Melanie said. “Sammi would know.” Melanie gave Nova’s other knee a reassuring pat. “And I’m sure you’ll like both of those ladies. I met them at the school-building party in Rivershire, and I had met Mrs. Malley before, during spring break.” She nodded once. “When we were staying on Eddan’s world and Jamie fixed her eyes. Bryce figured out that she had cataracts, and Jamie used his magic to clear them up.”
Nova turned to look at Melanie, then she stared straight ahead again and fingered one earlobe. “Another world...I still find that hard to believe. Is that for real, with aliens and stuff, or are you just pulling my leg?”
“It’s definitely a different world, but there aren’t any aliens, just people like us.”
“I know, you told me they’re from Ireland and Scotland or whatever, but...pssh.” She gave her head a tight shake. “That’s pretty wild, when you think about it.”
“You can get a quick look at it today, if you want. Maybe when Jamie makes a doorway for Sammi and the others to come home, we can go for a little tour.”
“But it doesn’t look all that different,” Melanie said. “Except that they dress really old-fashioned and ride horses and carriages and stuff. They don’t have any modern things like electricity and cars or whatever.”
Nova nodded slowly. “That sounds kinda nice, actually.”
“It is,” Fred said. “We’ll take you there really soon, if you want. But first you need to go see Momma Sue.”
