A Hidden Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 2)

by Debora Geary

  Marcus grunted. “There are plenty of hands to help. Lauren with the mind-witch lessons, and Mike would be an excellent choice to teach Sean the finer points of his earth magics.”

  “Aye. It would be good if the ground rumbled a little less around here.” Sean’s earth talents were not of the gentler sort that worked with plants and growing things, but rather the hard magics of rock and land.

  Nell grinned. “Aervyn has some skill in that direction as well, but I’m not sure you want to put him and Sean in the same training group.”

  Sometimes it was handy to be the wise elder witch. “It will be good for Mike to earn his breakfast. I’m sure he can handle two small boys.” And if not, she’d always had a soft spot for witchling mischief, particularly if she wasn’t in charge of cleanup afterward.

  ~ ~ ~

  Elorie looked around at her fellow students and leaned toward Moira. “I feel a little old for this class, Gran.”

  Moira chortled. “How do you think I feel, especially with sweet Ginia about to be our teacher?”

  Lauren, Marcus, and Ginia had their heads together in one corner of the room; Kevin and Aervyn were tucked in another corner with a bowl of blueberries. Elorie felt a bit useless. Organizing training had been her job just a week ago.

  Sophie sat quietly in the corner, reading one of Gran’s herbals. For some reason Elorie didn’t want to explore, her presence grated. “Why is Sophie here? I thought her Net power was only the spellcoding kind.”

  “She’s never been a threat to who you are, granddaughter mine.” Gran’s eyes were quiet and sad. “Do you truly not know why she’s here?”

  Elorie squirmed. She felt like she was ten years old again, caught napping in witch history class. And she was disappointing Gran—that much was obvious. She just wasn’t sure why.

  Their three teachers turned around, interrupting her puzzlement. Marcus called the two boys over. “Lets see if we can figure out what to do with this Net power of yours, shall we?”

  So like Uncle Marcus. No preliminaries, just straight to the point. Not that she really minded today. Everything in her yearned to finally do magic.

  Lauren smiled, as if she had read Elorie’s thoughts. With her gizmo off, it was entirely possible. Nothing like four mind witches in the room to decimate your privacy.

  Well, hopefully action would keep their brains focused on something other than her leaky thoughts. Elorie roused herself and caught Ginia’s eye. “Show me what you did yesterday, blending spells together. I want to try that.”

  Moira spoke just as Ginia nodded yes. “Slow down, my sweet girls. We need a plan.” She held up a hand before the protests could begin. “I felt this Net power, and I’d like nothing better to play with it. But we must learn with caution.”

  She paused and looked around the room with great seriousness. “We are the first, the pioneers. Magic can be dangerous, and we play with unknown magic here. Care and caution will keep us safe.”

  Elorie had spoken variations of that last sentence a hundred times in her life. And now, with memories of the rush of power strong in her mind, she finally understood why very few witchlings ever paid attention.

  Moira leaned over and spoke quietly. “I know it calls you, child, but you must learn control first.”

  “I know. I had no idea it could feel this way, though.”

  “Neither did I.” Wonder crossed Gran’s face. “It’s more power than I’ve ever known. Such magic, waiting for us…”

  “Then let’s get started, shall we?” Marcus nodded at Ginia. “Let’s have you do your joining trick. Aervyn and I will give you two simple spells to work with.”

  He looked at the rest of the group. “Lauren will mindcast what Ginia does so you can all see. Once you think you’ve understood, let Lauren know.”

  Elorie frowned. She was no mindspeaker.

  Marcus rolled his eyes. Trust me, niece—she won’t miss anything you’re thinking.

  She and Uncle Marcus were going to have a conversation about privacy. Soon.

  Until then, she’d better start paying attention. Ginia was already pulling Net power. Much like the day before, Elorie watched from the mind-window Lauren provided as dancing power streams formed into intricate spell shapes, and then melded. Some of it had made sense, but she wanted to watch one more time.

  One more time didn’t happen, however. Lauren dropped them out of mindlink, and Kevin nodded solemnly. “I can do it, I think.”

  Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t want to see it again?”

  Kevin met his gaze straight on. “Yes. I want to try.” Elorie mentally cheered at his self-confidence. Generally Sean was the twin rushing headlong into magic, with Kevin trailing quietly behind.

  Aervyn and Marcus began their spellwork again, and this time Elorie watched with her eyes. Marcus created a globe of dancing color on his palm, and Aervyn whipped up a very small whirlwind. Kevin focused, a look of deep concentration on his face.

  The globe disappeared for a moment, and color briefly danced around the room. Then all signs of magic vanished. Elorie’s breath caught.

  Kevin never wavered. “Again, please.”

  One more time, Marcus and Aervyn created their spells and Kevin focused. One more time, the globe wavered. Everyone in the room held their breath.

  And then light blew around the room, a shimmering stream of dancing color.

  The fierce pride in Kevin’s eyes nearly brought Elorie to tears.

  Then it was Moira’s turn, and she repeated the trick with quiet confidence and not the slightest wobble, childlike joy on her face. Kevin looked at her in awe. “Wow, Gran, that was great.”

  Moira ruffled his head. “I’ve been practicing spellwork for seventy years, darling boy. Now I know why.”

  Jeebers. Her turn next, and she had a grand total of about two minutes of spellwork practice.

  Globe of light waiting on his palm, Marcus raised an eyebrow. It was time.

  Elorie closed her eyes—and realized she had a big problem. By the time she’d opened her eyes, it was clear every mind witch in the room knew as well.

  “That’s rather an issue,” Marcus said.

  “What is?” Ginia asked.

  Lauren explained. “Unlike the rest of you, Elorie doesn’t have elemental power, so she can’t see the power streams or shapes for the two spells.”

  Terrific. She wasn’t a useless witch now, just a defective one.

  Aervyn looked puzzled. “What’s a ‘defective’ witch? Can you solve mysteries?”

  Ginia giggled. “That’s a detective, goofy boy.”

  Lauren shot Elorie a warning look, but she’d already gotten the message loud and clear. No pity parties while the witchlings were listening. Good grief, she wasn’t usually this much of a wimp.

  She cleared her throat. “So how do we fix this? I could see the power streams when you were patching me in, Lauren—can you do that for me again?”

  “Nope.” Lauren shook her head and winked. “Welcome to the exclusive and sometimes inconvenient club of witches with no elemental powers. You could see them before because Marcus and I were working together, and he can visualize the elemental energies. I can’t.”

  Elorie tried really, really hard to block the next thought that came to her mind. What on earth had she done in her life to deserve having to partner with Uncle Marcus if she wanted to do any magic?

  Given Marcus’s snort, she hadn’t blocked hard enough. “You’ll notice I haven’t yet volunteered.”

  “You’re not the only witch on this coast,” Moira said crisply.

  Kevin rode to the rescue, all valiant four-and-a-half feet of him. “I can do it. I can help you see, Elorie.”

  Marcus looked skeptical. “You’ve had mind powers for all of a week, my boy, and they’re not that strong. Broadcasting takes a steady hand. If you falter, Elorie’s spell could easily go awry.”

  Kevin gave him a pointed look. “Then you’d better cast a training circle. Gran
will be mad if we scorch her furniture.”

  Elorie bit back a giggle, and then shoved any doubts out of her mind. If Kevin was willing to try, she would do everything she could to make it work. The alternative didn’t bear considering.

  Marcus and Aervyn readied their spells. She looked at Kevin and felt his mindlink click into place. It wasn’t as fast or as steady as Lauren’s, but she could see the spellshapes.

  She paused for a moment and reviewed the steps Ginia had gone through, then laid her hand on the mouse and reached for power, just as she’d been practicing. Energy stormed through her, and it took every ounce of will she had not to reach out and grab the waiting spells. Slowly, girl. You’ve waited your whole life to do this. Get it right.

  Attempting to copy Ginia’s delicate control, she gently wrapped power around the two spells, gliding them closer together. Even she could tell her power was far more wobbly than anyone else’s, but she pressed on—it took practice to be a better witch. Once the spells were fairly close together, she looked for the points where they needed to connect. When she’d watched Ginia, the spellshapes had pulsed light at those points, but they weren’t doing it now.

  As she stared at the shapes in consternation, Elorie could feel her power tugging. Not demanding, this time, but asking permission. It had an odd similarity to the tug she sometimes felt sitting in her studio, when a collection of sea glass and silver wire seemed to know what it needed to be. She had long practice trusting that tug; it produced some of her best work.

  Very slowly, she let a finger of power go toward Aervyn’s spell. Little fireworks of Net power slid into his spellshape. She sent another very small flow toward Marcus’s spell. As Net power melded into the second spell, she could suddenly see—see them as they were, and as they were meant to be. Now they were her spells, and she knew what to do with them.

  With sure hands, she moved the streams of spellpower around, weaving and turning them until they were perfectly aligned. It was exactly like fitting together silver wire and sea glass. So many ways they could go together, but only one way calling to her.

  And then everything was ready. Tendrils of Net power reached out from both spells, seeking connection. She breathed deeply, and just as Ginia had done, released the tight hold on her power.

  The spells shimmered for a moment, then melded. Power danced and whirled in the beauty of magic completed. Elorie could feel Kevin’s delight—and an instant later, his panic and a resounding thunk as his mindlink vanished.

  She opened her eyes to a sea of shock and grabbed Kevin as he swayed in his seat. “What happened?”

  Aervyn pointed at the ceiling, eyes big. Elorie gazed in disbelief at the large, scorched circle over her head. “I did that?”

  Marcus nodded. “Indeed you did. You and that sidekick of yours broke my circle. I’ll cast a stronger one next time.” He looked at Kevin. “Not bad. Don’t drop her at the end next time, but you did quite well. That was some serious power she kicked at you.”

  Horror crawled through Elorie’s gut. She’d pushed magic at Kevin? He was just a child.

  He’s an able witch, came Lauren’s gentle reply. And your partner. That was very nice work you did together. She winked at Kevin. “Later today I’ll show you some extra-special mind-witch protection for when you’re working with Elorie. We didn’t know she was going to have magic quite that strong.”

  Ginia waved her mouse. “First you have to teach me how you did that. That was awesome cool.” She looked up. “Maybe we should go outside, though.”

  Elorie looked at the ceiling again, still distraught at what she’d managed to do with her first act of real magic. She’d preached “do no harm” often enough she ought to have been able to remember it. She turned at a hand on her shoulder, and Gran’s delighted chortle. “You’re not the first person to leave scorch marks in my house, child, and I doubt you’ll be the last.”

  Then Gran’s voice wavered, and she laid a hand on Elorie’s cheek. “My sweet girl. Your first magic. I’ve waited so long for this.”

  She reached her other hand toward Sophie, still sitting quietly in the corner, herbal in her hand and joy on her face. “And so has she.”

  Chapter 13

  “Ah, and isn’t it nice to chat in person for once,” Moira said, setting out a plate of finger foods Aaron had delivered. He was such a thoughtful young man.

  Sophie pointed at the ceiling. “If you go have dinner with Elorie tonight, we’ll take care of that. Mike’s gone to fetch some paint from Lizzie’s house.”

  “Thank you, dear. There was a time I could have fixed it myself, but I’m a wee bit past that age now.”

  “There are plenty of hands here to take care of things like that for you. Use them.” The stern look on Sophie’s face was one Moira had seen many times in her own mirror. It worked very well on witchlings, but she hadn’t been one of those for a very long time.

  “And use them I do, but I’m not an invalid yet, either. In fact, I believe Kevin is off having himself a little post-training nap, and Elorie was threatening to join him.” And the old witch was still standing. Well, sitting, but that was a far sight from napping.

  Nell grinned and reached for one of Aaron’s tasty nibbles. “Full of energy, are you? Aervyn’s climbing apple trees, if you’d like to go join him.”

  “I feel like I could. Handling that much power has left me positively zinging.” Moira patted Sophie’s hand. “I wish you’d been able to experience it, too. Perhaps then you and Mike would move a wee bit faster on making me some grandbabies.” Oh, she was feeling feisty today.

  Sophie choked on her cake, laughing. “You have plenty of those already, and Mike doesn’t need any help in that department.” Her eyes softened. “And today was not my day to do magic.”

  Aye, thought Moira. Sophie had been there as sister, not as witch, even if Elorie didn’t fully realize it yet.

  Lauren was looking at Moira in fascination. “You still get that kind of buzz from working magic?” Then she clapped a hand over her mouth, as her cheeks flamed red. “Oops, sorry. That came out totally wrong.”

  “Aye.” Moira leaned forward, feeling entirely mischievous. “There’s a saying in Ireland, that it’s the luckiest of men who is married to an old witch.”

  Sophie giggled. “You’re totally making that up.”

  “I’m not at all. And the more power you touch, the more true it is.” She looked over at Lauren again. “Did no one tell you, lass? If you haven’t found yourself a man to share your bed, you might consider it. He’ll likely think himself very fortunate. Of course, it’s always best when you share love as well.”

  Now Lauren’s cheeks were the color of fresh-picked strawberries. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”

  “Sorry.” Nell chuckled. “Someone should have warned you that the ladylike and polite Moira you chat with online is not quite what you get at her kitchen table.”

  “Now you tell me.”

  Moira laid her hand on Lauren’s red cheek. “There’s ice cream in the freezer, dear. That will help cool you off.”

  Ah, it was like being a young witch again. Three wonderful women in her kitchen, full of laughter and magic, and the next generation playing out back.

  Nell grinned as Lauren got up from the table. “If you bring two spoons, I’ll change the subject for you.”

  “Deal,” said Lauren, rummaging in the drawers.

  Nell looked over at Moira. “So, back to the official purpose for this meeting. Besides Net power, what kind of training do we need to be doing with the witchlings?”

  “We should confirm with Elorie—she handles most of the training for our young ones now. I do know that we’d like to test our Sean as spellcaster for a full circle. With all of you, we easily have the numbers to do that.”

  Nell nodded. “I’d be happy to do a little prep work with him, if you like.”

  “That would be lovely. Perhaps you might impress upon him the importance of discipline
in a full circle. He’s a wee bit full of himself yet.”

  Nell rolled her eyes. “I’m not green enough to agree to the impossible. I’ll do what I can, but that’s a lesson that comes with time, as you know all too well. Do you have a channeler in mind for him?”

  “We’re hoping his twin might have some channeling talent. Lauren, perhaps you could do a bit of work with Kevin and evaluate his potential. We’ve not many channelers here, and a young one to train would be very good news.”

  Lauren set down four spoons and a pint of ice cream. “I think we already know that much. Elorie didn’t scorch your ceiling alone—Kevin gave her a pretty big assist.”

  Oh, my. She hadn’t seen anything of the sort, but then again, she’d been swept up in the momentous occasion of her granddaughter’s first magic.

  Nell nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I thought that, too. Blending spells with Net power is a little like spellcasting. When Ginia does it, she pulls power directly from those who cast the initial spells, but Kevin handled that for Elorie.”

  “Exactly,” Lauren said. “He also helped hold everything steady as she organized the power streams. It was quite a nice piece of work, and very similar to channeling for a traditional circle.”

  Now, wasn’t that interesting. “Well, then. It sounds like this would be a very good week for a gathering. Sunday’s a full moon, so that would be auspicious timing. Three circles, I think—we’ve lots of witches that could use the extra training. We’ll make sure Sean and Kevin get their chances.”

  “What’s a gathering?” Lauren asked.

  Sophie grinned. “Prepare for an invasion, Nova Scotia-style. I’ll go have the witchlings start spreading the word.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Put me down, Aervyn Walker!”

  Sophie spun around at Lizzie’s furious words and spied her young charge floating four feet up in the air. “What’s going on, kiddos?”

  “He started it!” Lizzie was an only child and getting a crash course in having a younger munchkin around. It wasn’t all going smoothly.

  Aervyn, well used to holding his own as the youngest of five, just tried to look as innocent as possible. Since he was soaking wet and Lizzie was their best water witch, Sophie was pretty sure he wasn’t the only guilty party.