These Lying Eyes

by Allen, Amanda A.

  * * *

  Someone in her family had to be the one doing this. But there were so many of them.

  Nasty Grandma. Far too many Aunts and Uncles. Mina liked some more than others, but most of them were parents to cousins that saw and played with sprites when they’d all played together. Those aunts and uncles were parents to witches—witches just like her. Like Peter.

  Mina pushed Ams out the door and made a list of each family member. It was long, but the people on it were the only witches Mina knew, outside of Grace and Penny.

  “One of them is hurting Sarah.” Mina thrust her pen into the pad, and ink bled out in a circle.

  “Yes. I think so.” Zizi let an ocean breeze from the open patio doors catch her wings and glide her in a circle. Her wings snapped shut, and the sprite landed on Mina’s shoulder a comforting hand running along her collarbone.

  Mina looked at the paper. She dropped her pen to the side, ripped it off the pad, folded it carefully. Someone hadn’t only ignored Mina—they’d done something to Sarah.

  Mina’s Sarah—

  “Could be a stranger.” Hitch said, but he didn’t believe it.

  Neither did Mina.

  “Sarah could have angered some other Hidden Witch. We don’t know what she’z been up to.” Poppy said without conviction.

  That was true, but there was also her Grandmother’s cabin. Sure, Sarah might have bothered someone outside of their family. But her Grandmother’s things had been rifled. Mina had been attacked by animals that were acting wrong.

  A stranger didn’t fit; a stranger wouldn’t know to search Grandmother’s cabin. Those things she’d found were just Books of Shadows and witchcraft equipment. Things practicing witches already had access too. It wasn’t reasonable for anyone outside of their family to want an athame from them when Mina could order one online. Supposedly old athames were valuable but not that valuable.

  Someone, however, was messing with Mina’s family.

  Hitch retrieved his sword from the sheath he kept on the shelves. It was about four inches long. When he wore it, the blade extended above his head and nestled along his spine. He pulled a stone from a pocket and with careful, precise movements, he sharpened the blade.

  His movements echoed her feelings—fury fueled with the idea of someone planning, daring to hurt her sisters, even Erik. A DUI was not a joke.

  But she reminded herself, they weren’t defenseless. She had Grace, Penny, Hitch, Poppy, Zizi, and Max.

  “Achillez tendon.” He spoke with a rare carefulness, growling low, until he seemed wolfish. “The eyez. The baze of the spine.”

  He demonstrated as he listed, showing just how he’d disable someone attempting them harm.

  “The noze into the brain,” Poppy continued. “The tendonz at the back of the knee. The windpipe.”

  “And anything that slows them down enough to keep my family safe.” Mina finished, picturing Ams spinning in the sunlight, Aly and Annie curled into a ball watching My Little Pony, Jase and Erik insulting each other while they played video games, Kate twining her fingers with her boyfriend, and—most of all—ghostly Sarah in the woods.

  Chapter 19

  Mina escaped the house over the trellis, climbing down the old fashioned way in the light of the morning. In moments, she’d pulled her Vespa out and followed the twisting roads of Ocean Haven. Using back roads, it took 45 minutes to find her way up to one of the overlooks of Haystack Rock near Cannon Beach. She closed her eyes and let the rare winter sun turn her lids red. Her hair, freed from the helmet, tossed in the wind. Mina let the encroaching sunlight and rush of air absorb her attention.

  As Mina leaned against the edge of the barrier designed to keep idiots from falling off cliffs, Poppy lay in the warm depths of the hood of Mina’s sheerling-lined sweatshirt. Hitch sat on her shoulder staring, with Mina, towards the gray water, while Zizi glided around their heads playing in the strong ocean winds.

  “Where is your family?” Mina didn’t want to feel the guilt curl around her heart, but it was only hitting her that she knew so little of the sprite’s lives outside of herself.

  Hitch placed a careful hand on Mina’s jaw saying, “You are our family.”

  “Not your only family.” Mina pushed the base of her hand along her brow. “Poppy has a Grandmother.”

  “It’z okay, Meenz.” Hitch said.

  “It really isn’t,” she whispered. A seagull cawed on the wind, others answered, and Mina twisted around to slide to the ground.

  “Our families live in Cascadia.” Zizi said. “In one of the sprite villages.”

  “Do you have brothers and sisters?” Mina loved them like she loved Sarah and Ams; she should already know the answer to this question.

  Zeez nodded.

  “Tell me about them.”

  “Christina is my sister’s name, and she is older than me.” Zizi said. “She travels from human city to human city with her mate and child, showing little Clairezabelle the world while she is little. Christina, Brazden, Clairezabelle, and her stuffed monkey going from place to place.”

  “I have a younger sister. Her name is Emily. I call her Luly. She has butterfly wings that are yellow and blue, hair of a deeper blue, and she sings like Disney Princesses. She breaks into song at the oddest moments, making up new songs for every day.”

  “Can I meet them?”

  Zizi laughed. “They have wanted to meet you for the longest time, but we could not because you did not know what you were, and I thought it might make things harder on you.”

  “I’ve got two brothers.” Hitch said. “They’re both jerkz, kinda like yourz. Poppy’z an only child. Her parentz died when she waz little, so her grandma raised her. Grandma Florenza who you met already who alwayz smellz good, likez to paint, and thinkz more spritez should have big people adventurez.”

  “Our life is not unusual.” Zizi said, “Most sprites have an adventure before settling into a regular life. Some visit other havens, some live in the wilder parts of our haven, some explore the human world. That is what we chose. We stayed with you rather than weave through the human world because you were fun, and then you were our friend, and then you were our family.”

  “But I didn’t even know you had family.”

  “We didn’t talk about it did we?” Hitch flicked Mina’s thumb with disgust.

  Poppy climbed up the hood until Hitch took her hand and pulled her close to him.

  “And then there’s how you and Poppy are a thing now. Which, by the way, gross.”

  “Shut it,” Hitch growled. He nuzzled the side of Poppy’s face. “We’re a thing. My parentz don’t know, but Grandmother Florenza knew right away.”

  “That’s weird,” Mina said, and Zizi nodded.

  “Creepy, really,” Zeez said. “And super weird.”

  The light reflecting off the ocean seemed to bend towards them as they spoke. They revisited doctoring her siblings that morning with potions. It was simple really. A drop of three different potions, one on the top of their head, one on each hand, and the third on their eyelids. The sprites did it while Mina waited. Whoever was messing with her family…they frightened Mina enough to be over careful by potioning Erik and the triplets rather than just Sarah.

  “Well?” Zizi asked.

  Hitch cocked his head at Mina, still hovering a few feet from her face. Mina stared at them. Even though she was exhausted, she felt this rush of ridiculous energy from the relief of her siblings being safe and her being free to escape the house and delve into the magical world.

  What to do with this free time? Pizza? Books? Just not getting caught up into her Dad’s web was all Mina wanted. She wanted to have a weekend day and then learn more magic that night.

  Zizi led the way to their favorite part of Cannon Beach where they grabbed a couple slices of pizza and a dark chocolate cocoa. Mina’s phone vibrated; it was her mom, so she ignored it to cross the street to Bruce’s Candy Kitchen. She grabbed her favorite chewy, cherry Scottie dogs. Hitch�
��s influence added the macadamia nuts covered by milk chocolate and caramel, blackberry taffy, and a pile of hard candy. Mina added some of the chocolate covered caramel and nuts—treats for Max for not being who her dad insinuated.

  They left with their candy and wound their way through Cannon Beach where it was so much more unlikely to run into family. They went into bookstores, played with hats, and finally, walked under the shadow of Haystack Rock, toes frozen by the cold, cold water.

  * * *

  Mina picked up Max with only enough time to give him the candy and rush him to Penny and Grace’s cottage. They were led to a conservatory with Grace’s flock of mini-dragons and a huge wood table that held two cauldrons, and two chemistry sets, complete with test tubes, glass vials, and great glass bowls.

  In moments, each held foamy spicy drinks and had loaded plates set before them.

  “You must feed your magic,” Grace said as they ate. “It requires a lot of calories to light things on fire with your mind and infuse the earth with magic.”

  While they ate, she lectured, but once the food was put away, it was clear she’d been holding back on them. Mina scribbled notes with aching wrists, not letting the dragon sitting on her shoulder or the one curled against the back of her neck distract her. Their purring hum filled the air. The slightly burned smell from them shooting bursts of flames added to the sense of wonder. Especially as the sisters flooded Mina and Max with information, familiars were real, telepathic communication was a possibility, flying was on the table. All with enough focus and determination.

  Grace finally lit a circle of candles. They sat around the circle with a crimson book and a navy book sitting at the center of the pentagram inside the circle. Penny hummed low in her throat. The sprites added their voices, then Max, Grace, and Mina. Three cats joined the circle, and their purring reverberated. Once the flock of teacup dragons added their own rumbling purrs, the sounds crawled up and down Mina’s back, lifting the hair off of the back of her neck.

  Suddenly the candles flared higher. Grace laughed, and the sound of it echoed in the room. Minutes passed with the song energizing Mina. The feel of Max’s hand quivering in her own made her realize that they were all feeling it. There was…an energy coming directly from her center feeding into the rumbling of power that flowed between them. Mina closed her eyes and followed the pulsing mass back inside her torso.

  There.

  There, deep in her chest near where her heart beat, was a flame that transformed into a star then a beam of light. There, Mina thought, is my magic.

  Mina lost control of it when Max jumped next to her. She opened her eyes to see him sitting with his mouth hanging open staring into the candles. His hand was in hers, and his grip tightened on her fingers. They loosened, and she could feel his fingers shake slightly. The candle in front of him quivered, and Mina grinned. She’d seen it. She’d touched her magic, it warmed her. She bet Max had done the same.

  Penny glowed in a green light. Grace’s hair swayed to the rhythm of the humming.

  “You’re not done yet, Mina.” Penny’s voice echoed as if she were on the other side of a canyon.

  But Mina’d found her magic; it had set her on fire.

  “You have two Magics,” Poppy reminded Mina from her shoulder. Mina twisted just enough to see Hitch held Poppy between his legs, a small black dragon curled behind them, and they leaned against it. Zizi was on Mina’s other shoulder, she had a dragon on either side of her.

  There had been a griffin and a phoenix last night. Each had chosen her. Where would Air be? Mina closed her eyes and sought within herself.

  Air… Air… Air.

  Mina searched her lungs. She breathed in and out, but nothing seemed different, not like when she’d found Fire. She felt through her veins as Grace had described, and Mina caught a glimmer of something. Grace hummed louder. The tone changed; Mina felt her hair rise from a wind that blew up her spine.

  Air was always around her, she breathed it in, but it caressed and fed her like the ocean fed a sea sponge. Mina focused. And a new kind of muscle flexed, it hurt, but she pulled in Air Magic—through her skin. She exercised the new muscle again and again, as if she were flapping wings, and a rush of magic filled them, filled the room, wrapped around their bodies and made the candlelight sway.

  “Oh good work. You’ve done it.” Grace’s laugh ended her hum, and the music faded away. “You did it. Can you find it again?”

  Mina closed her eyes. Air rushed in, but she couldn’t touch it. She reached for it, and it rushed away.

  Fire, maybe? And she imagined her core where the spark lived. It reached towards her and wrapped her in warmth. It loosened the tight muscles, so she basked in the glow. Mina opened her eyes; her head spun, and she grabbed her skull, holding it in place.

  Max said, “I can find my magic. It’s almost easy now that I know its there, it’s like I can’t not find it.”

  Mina shook her head. “It’s not like that for me. Not at all.”

  “It won’t be the same. It never is for any witch.” Penny rose, and Mina and Max followed.

  As the afternoon wore on, Grace worked them hard. Each break Mina received was a chance for the librarian to make Max sweat. Back and forth, Grace sat in front of each of them. She hauled, coached, forced their magic out until their lesson ended with Mina pulling fire from a lighter onto her fingers, and Max spinning stones across the table. If Mina’s face matched Max’s, Christmas morning just made a baby with her best birthday ever.

  * * *

  Grace handed Mina a crimson book and Max a navy one; they were the books from the center of the pentagram.

  “When we did the spell to help you pull your magic out at the beginning of the lesson, we also bonded you with your Book of Shadows. A Book of Shadows is a witch’s journal. It’s the log of her magic; an avenue for recording your experiences with your magic, so you can help yourself find what works for you. Not every witch, not every magic is the same. Because of this, it is important to log the ways your magic responds to spells, and the differences you make to those spells, so they work properly for you. As magic is an art, you will practice each spell until you find a variation that works for you consistently.

  But your Books of Shadows are more than that. They will take on the flavor of your magic, the flavor of you. Our mother kept all her favorite recipes in the book; she documented her personal life. As you use your Book of Shadows, your bond will deepen. Eventually, it’ll almost be like it has its own mind. They will be a sort of friend to you. I made them for you specifically and then cleansed them to remove any trace of myself from the books. Now, they are yours.”

  Mina held her hand over the book. Each corner was edged with a silver protector. The pages looked hand made. There were a dozen ribbons coming from the book, and each was stitched with a symbol in silver thread. Mina hugged the book close.

  “I added the Harry Potter books to mine. The Chronicles of Narnia. Alice in Wonderland. Ella Enchanted. The Time Traveler’s Wife. The complete Georgette Heyer collection. I always have them with me. Penny and I added our mother’s Book of Shadows. We added all of our family recipes.” Grace held out her small royal blue book. Its ribbons were silver, and it was maybe three by five inches and an inch thick. Mina recognized it as the book Grace always had with her.

  “That’s a small book for even one of the early Harry Potter’s.” Max rubbed his hand across his navy book; already he seemed protective of it.

  “It’s magic. We’re witches,” Penny’s laugh was dry, and maybe a little mocking. She set her own Book of Shadows onto the table. It was black, silver edged with an etching of an oak tree on it and the scent of fresh grass coming from it. Everything about it bespoke Penny.

  As Mina ran and re-ran her fingers over her book, Grace lectured on the use of a Book of Shadows. Mina’s book had silver accents similar to Penny’s, but her ribbons were a rainbow of blues. Inside the front cover a picture of Mina was burned. It looked like a drawing, but th
e most lifelike one she’d ever seen. Except her hair wasn’t its usual mess; her lips weren’t cracked, and her eyes seemed wiser than she knew they were.

  The journaling process, Grace said, was magic by itself. It would force them to examine what they were doing and help them brainstorm new ways to reach for their magic and use their abilities for a particular spell.

  Grace lifted another bag and pulled out of it stacks for Mina and Max.

  “I don’t use text books.” Grace set the books in front of Mina and Max, “My gifts allow us to bypass some of the steps of traditional learning. So, instead I will add directly to your Books of Shadows any potions we might do or spells for you to practice. What I’ll be teaching you is…foundational magic.”

  “What are these then?” Max pointed to the stacks of books in front of him and Mina.

  “Well I know how Mina reads. And it doesn’t hurt to see what the lives of witches are like. So, you don’t have to do any of this reading. If you want to, however, I gave you a book on the animals in Cascadia, our Haven. There’s a biography of Malachi Smythe. He was an interesting fellow and quite a powerful witch. There is a memoir of Fern Daniels. She was young during the sixties and seventies. Mina always made me think of her.”

  Grace ran her fingers over the books. “Just some things, so you can get an idea of how witches generally live.”

  “And there is a book on the different kinds of magic,” Penny said dryly. “That’s the one we actually want you to read, since it will color what we teach you as you progress. And I included a book called Lives of Witches. It, unlike Grace’s choices, is not full of exciting stories and fun times. It’s a reference book. For those who’ve never been in a Haven or lived among witches before.”

  “Are there a lot of people like us?” Mina looked at Max and then back at the others.

  “Enough for there to be a book,” Penny said.

  “We want you to focus on this first.” Grace placed her hand on their Books of Shadows. She said a foreign word, and a puff of smoke left her mouth. She then flipped open Max’s book. There were several paragraphs and diagrams. The boy in the diagrams looked an awful lot like Max.