A Witching Well of Magic

by Constance Barker

  It wasn’t far from what Bailey herself had thought about the whole thing. “I will be,” she said. “And... thank you. I realize I haven’t said it. Not since all this began... but thank you for giving me this. Your guidance, and wisdom, and teaching me... thank you for the magic. I was worried about it, at first, but tonight... I think I started to understand how important it is to me.”

  “My sweet child,” Chloe said, drawing Bailey into another, longer hug.

  “You know I have one more person to tell,” Bailey said into Chloe’s shoulder. “I will anyway, honestly. But, I’d really just like you to tell me it’s okay.”

  “Your father,” Chloe said. She let Bailey go. “I know. Of course you should. And I believe we can trust Ryan. Wendy...” she hesitated.

  Bailey felt something from her. Some knot of longing. “What about her?” Bailey asked.

  For a long moment Chloe looked at Bailey, and then smiled. “She would have been proud, is all. If she was here to see you growing into your potential like this. I wish she was here to see it.”

  Bailey’s eyes burned. The old ache gaped inside her, just for a moment; just to remind her it was still there. “Me too. And I feel so guilty about it sometimes, because she was so good to me but... I kind of wish my mother—my birth mother, I mean—was here, too.”

  “Oh, child,” Chloe said. Her voice was tight. She gave a single sniff. “Well, I’m certain she would be very, very proud of you as well.”

  They stayed there, listening to the waves, for a long time. Eventually, though, they left the cliff side. From the street, Bailey could see the lights of the tour office still on. She let Chloe go, assured her she would get home safely, and then made her way to the office.

  It wasn’t even locked. Bailey slipped inside, but knocked to announce herself. “Aiden?”

  She saw his face when he leaned from his desk to look through the window. He wore half-moon spectacles, very much like her father’s, that looked, Bailey thought, perhaps more appropriately ‘wizardly’ than anything she’d seen him wear to date. He met her at the doorway. “Stones all safe?”

  “All safe,” she confirmed.

  “That’s good, then. Crisis averted.”

  “Yes,” Bailey said. “Crisis averted.”

  A short silence.

  Bailey bit her lip, and smiled a little. “Is it weird that I had a really—”

  Aiden spoke at the same time, though. “You are a remarkable practitioner,” he said, and kept going when Bailey stopped. “And a stunning woman, Bailey. And other than the migraines and the near-destruction of the local magical Eco-system, I had a delightful time with you. But I think that we should... keep our relationship professional.”

  Bailey’s stomach dropped just a little bit. “Oh,” she said quietly. “Well... yes. Okay. I agree.”

  “We—by which I mean, witches and wizards—well there is some history there. Traditions and rules and... I think it would be best for both of us if we...” he looked into her eyes, and it was clear he didn’t believe any of it. But he pressed on. “We should go slowly. Be careful. That’s all.”

  Bailey let her face go still, long enough for something inside to reset to neutral. She took a deep breath and then smiled at him. “I think you’re absolutely right. Thank you for a wonderful evening all the same, Aiden. Even with the migraine and the near destruction of the magical Eco-system.” She shrugged, and then winked at him. “The magic was really nice.”

  “It really was,” he said. “Good night, Bailey. Sweet dreams.”

  “You, too.” She did kiss him on the cheek, though. And she left him with that.

  A short time later, she was home. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how exhausted she was. Or how hungry she was. She smelled food, even though it was well past eleven. That was her father, though. He hardly ever kept a regular schedule unless she was there to remind him.

  She grinned when she came into the kitchen and saw him making grilled cheese sandwiches.

  Ryan looked up when she moved a chair to catch his attention. “Ah, Red! Just in time, as always. Hungry?”

  “Famished,” she said.

  He made her a sandwich. As he brought it to her, he sighed. “I never got the hang of making them them way your mother did. She picked up this recipe in a little town out east. Hole in the wall diner where they do it with three cheeses. Virginia, I think. Southerners know good food.”

  “I remember,” Bailey said. “But you make a mean grilled cheese too, Dad.”

  “I appreciate you saying so,” he chuckled. “So, how was your day?”

  Bailey stared at her sandwich, one half-moon bite gone from it. This must have been how Avery felt when he came out to his parents. Her heart ached with the worry of what he might say. But, she’d made her decision.

  “Well,” she said slowly, carefully. “It was actually kind of exciting. Dad, there’s something I need to tell you, and I’m not sure how you’re going to take it. So, let me talk it all out, and try to keep an open mind.”

  Ryan set his sandwich half down, and turned to face her in his chair. “You can tell me anything, Red. You know I’ll love you no matter what.”

  Right. Well, that was a good start, then.

  Bailey braced herself. “Well, Dad... to start with... Magic is real.”

  To her surprise, Ryan took it in stride. And they talked, non-stop, until the sun came up the next morning.

  Epilogue

  Aiden reclined at his desk, a glass of good bourbon in one hand, a Dictaphone in the other. It was old, he’d been using it for years. He wanted to celebrate. Crisis averted. He had changed the future, right?

  Except...

  He hit the play button again.

  His own voice, from almost seven years earlier, gravely with interrupted sleep and slurred from exhaustion, related a scene to him, the details of which had been, at the time, fading quickly, just like they always did.

  “A stone... or maybe a shell, I can’t recall... I was with a girl. Red hair... red hair and... damn it, I don’t remember. She was with me, though. We were together, I loved her. Strange feeling, a memory of love I haven’t had... there were caves. Seven, or eight, it kept changing. I was older. I had a student, I think... can’t remember what he looked like. But the important part I think is that there was a hole. A hole in the world. I can’t be certain, but I think it led to Faerie. A spell was broken, and let them back in. Just like before. Just like in Creswell. Only this time, I think I can stop it.”

  Aiden stopped the recording. The next several were less clear, and had happened over the course of several weeks.

  Crisis averted? Maybe. Maybe not quite. Bailey had to be the girl. And he certainly was fond of her, but... not quite in love. So, something else was going to happen. Maybe, he reasoned, if he changed that variable, the others would change as well?

  That was the problem with dreaming the future. You either saw it too late, or once you saw it you ran out of choices. He finished his bourbon, and stared at the old analog recorder. He’d had seven years to get here. Had he changed enough?

  He sighed, and was about to lock up for the night and slog his way home when there was a knock at the door. Bailey? No, surely not. Then again... the future did often seem written in stone.

  Aiden went to the front doors and unlocked them—Bailey must have locked them by habit—but it wasn’t her that had knocked.

  It was her friend, Avery. He was bundled up in a thick wool coat.

  “Oh, Avery. Ah... is something the matter?”

  The young man pushed his glasses up on his nose. “No, no. Not exactly. I had a feeling you’d be here. I get those a lot. Um... can I come in?”

  Aiden let him in, curious about what he had to say, but eager to pack it in for the night. “What’s this about?”

  Avery pulled his hands out of his pockets, and then after a moment put them back in, and finally settled on clasping them behind his back. He looked nervous; white as a sheet. Oh, dea
r. He’d given the boy the wrong idea, perhaps, before. That couldn’t be it, could it?

  But Avery surprised him entirely, and as he spoke, Aiden’s stomach sank. “Aiden, sir, or... Mr. Rivers, I’m not sure how I should call you... the thing is... I get these instincts. Strong ones. They’re right, almost all the time. I was right about you, in fact. And ever since I saw you doing magic in the cave I’ve had this feeling that...” he trailed off for a moment, and steadied his nerves. But Aiden knew what he was going to say next.

  “I think that I’m supposed to learn magic from you, Mr. Rivers. I’d very much like to be your student.”

  Aiden almost groaned, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. It seemed that the future was, mostly likely, inescapable after all.

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