Making Magic: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure series (The Witches of Pressler Street Book 2)

by Martha Carr

  “She doesn’t get out much, does she?” Chuck started the engine.

  “Not like this…” Nickie strapped her seatbelt on and glanced at Emily. “John’s pretty cool.”

  “Yep.” Emily smiled out the window as they left the bar parking lot and headed for I-35 back to Austin.

  “That’s it?” Chuck laughed and looked up at the rearview mirror. “Just yep?”

  “I agree?” Emily spread her arms. “There wasn’t a question.”

  Chuck glanced at Nickie and stuck his thumb over his shoulder. “Master of evasion back there.”

  Nickie smirked and shook her head. “Where’d you meet him?”

  “Meadowlark.”

  “You work together, huh?” Chuck tilted his head. “Doesn’t that make things kinda…sticky?”

  “Sticky?” Nickie shot him in incredulous glance.

  “You know, if things don’t work out.”

  “There’s not even anything to work out, Chuck.” Emily dropped her head against the seat.

  “Definitely looked like something…”

  “Okay, remind me which one came first, man. You dating Nickie or you becoming her manager?”

  Nickie laughed. “You guys are ridiculous.”

  “Just friendly banter, babe.” Chuck made a face at Emily through the rearview mirror, and she shot one back. “And Emily gets a point for that one.”

  Nickie turned around to wink at her younger sister, and Emily shot her a sarcastic thumbs up before turning to stare out the window. Yeah, there’s something there. Or she’d be talking a lot more than this.

  Chuck pulled up in front of their giant, Victorian-style house on Pressler Street a little after 2:00 a.m. He shifted into park, sighed, and turned around to look at Nickie’s sisters in the back seat. “Is this what having kids is gonna look like?”

  Nickie laughed. “I didn’t know we were having kids, Chuck.”

  His head whipped toward her, and he blinked. “That’s not what I…I’m not…”

  “Oh, my god. Relax.” Grinning, she looked at Emily and Laura passed out in the backseat, leaning against their prospective doors. “This is what having two passed-out sisters looks like.”

  “You want any help?”

  “Nope. Emily can pull it together.”

  “Okay…” He popped the trunk, then leaned toward her over the center console. “Come here.”

  Nickie grabbed his face and kissed him, which made her wish she could end the night like this instead of helping at least one drunk sister up two different flights of stairs.

  “Great show tonight,” he whispered. “You’re always amazing. Tonight was even better.”

  “Thank you.” She bit her lip, smiled, and opened the passenger-side door. “Drive safe, okay?”

  “I always do.”

  After she’d shut the door, Nickie stepped around the car to get to the backseat. Emily woke up the minute she lost her makeshift headrest. She grunted, jerking straight up and blinking wide eyes. “Already?”

  “Yep. I need your help with our rational, responsible, always level-headed sister.” Nickie nodded toward Laura.

  “Yeesh.” Emily groaned and slapped the back of the driver’s seat. “Thanks for the ride, Chuck.”

  “Thanks for not pukin’ in my car, Em.”

  “I didn’t drink that much.” She rolled her eyes and leaned over to unbuckle Laura’s seatbelt, then she pulled herself out of the car as Nickie dropped her Strat’s guitar strap over her head. The trunk closed with a thunk, and together they worked to wake Laura up enough to put most of her weight on her own feet.

  “‘Night, babe.” Nickie blew Chuck a kiss through the window.

  “‘Night.” His taillights had almost disappeared by the time they got Laura up the first set up cement steps up the hill toward the house.

  “I’m fine,” Laura muttered, unprompted.

  “Yeah, we know.” Emily grunted. “Could you maybe not pull my hair, though?”

  They got through the front door and paused at the huge staircase at the end of the foyer. “I don’t know if we can make it up there,” Nickie said.

  “Oh…and she’s got those stupid wards around her room.” Emily rolled her eyes. “I’m not even gonna try to mess with those.”

  Laura lurched forward out of their grasp, bumping against Nickie’s guitar over her shoulder and almost whacking her in the face with its neck. “Hey, careful…”

  “You know what’s stupid?” Their older sister whipped a finger at the floor. “Those stairs. I hate them.” Spinning on the toes of her hiking boots, she wobbled toward the living room and plummeted face-first onto the couch.

  The dog door off the mudroom in the back opened and closed with a click. Speed trotted into the living room, his tongue drooping out of his mouth. “Hey, buddy.” Emily crouched to greet him. The chubby bulldog ignored her and leapt up onto the couch to curl between Laura’s legs and the back cushion. “He doesn’t sleep with her.”

  “Guess they’re both walkin’ on the wild side tonight,” Nickie said.

  “Not sure I’m into that kinda betrayal.” Emily folded her arms. “That dog’s been…”

  Nickie knew her sister was still talking, but all the words blended into one low drone. She blinked, trying to push through the intense pressure building in her temple. Please not again. Not now. A rushing filled her ears, and the increasing thump of her own heartbeat morphed into the loud, fast pounding of the Gorafrex’s ancient drumming. A bright, flashing pain flared behind her eyes, and she hardly felt the cold wood of the staircase banister beneath her fingers. Then, just like that, the drumming stopped and the pain receded. Nickie realized she’d been holding her breath.

  “Hey.” Emily grabbed her shoulder. “Why won’t you answer me?”

  “What?”

  “You just went totally white. I thought you were gonna fall over.” Frowning, Emily leaned forward to meet her sister’s gaze. “Headache again?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is it the drums?”

  Until I start hearing them and they don’t stop, I don’t need to worry her or Laura for no reason. “No. No drums. I dunno. Maybe the show took more outta me than I thought.”

  “Yeah, maybe. You should take something.”

  “I have aspirin in my room. I’m just gonna go to bed, okay?” Nickie gave her sister a tired smile and lifted her guitar strap over her head before handing over the Strat. “Can you set this on the chair or something?”

  “Yeah.” Emily took the guitar into the living room and hurried back. “Can I do anything to help?”

  “No. I’ll feel better in the morning.”

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yep.” Nickie started up the stairs, keeping her hand on the banister. “‘Night, Em.”

  Emily followed behind her. “Don’t make it weird. I’m comin’ up too.”

  Once she’d closed her bedroom door, Nickie pulled her keys out of her back pocket and fingered the coin-sized keyring. Her sisters had the exact same thing on their keys; the only difference was the magically engraved thumbprint in the center of each coin, specific to each one of them.

  She slipped her boots off and didn’t bother with her short, long-sleeved dress. She rolled onto her bed and closed her eyes. “Just in case,” she whispered, closing her fingers over the thumbprint coin, knowing it allowed her access to the one place she knew was safe. “If the drums come back, I’ll just go sleep in the Clubhouse.”

  11

  Nickie and Emily sat at the kitchen table, both on their second cups of coffee, when Laura tromped through the mudroom at the back of the house and into the kitchen. “What time is it?”

  “Hey. Good morning.” Nickie raised her mug with a tired smirk. “How’s your head?”

  “I asked what time—”

  Emily turned to glance at the clock over the stove. “Almost nine-thirty.”

  Laura blinked. “And neither one of you thought it was a good idea to wake me up
at a reasonable hour?”

  “Laura, you passed out on the couch at two o’clock this morning,” Nickie said, putting her cup down. “This is a reasonable hour.”

  “I haven’t gotten anything ready, and I haven’t told you guys the plan, and we’re supposed to be going to the Thinkery today to grab that stupid—” With a grunt of frustration, Laura whirled from the kitchen and rushed into the dining room, her footsteps thundering above her sisters’ heads as she stormed upstairs.

  Emily snorted. “She’s already made a plan.”

  “Of course she has. She texted you about the Thinkery, right?”

  “And told me one of those energy cores is under the children’s museum? Oh, yeah. Definitely got that text.”

  A door slammed, and Laura’s footsteps stomped back down. She took more time returning to the kitchen, then she entered and stopped in front of them. “Sorry.”

  “Totally cool,” Nickie said.

  “Happens to the best of us.” Emily nodded and sipped at her coffee. “Whatcha got there?”

  Laura glanced down at her arms. “It’s a book.”

  “No…”

  Nickie shot her younger sister a glance. “How ‘bout you put the book down, grab some coffee, and explain this plan of yours.”

  “It’s not my plan.” Laura hesitantly set the book on the table, keeping her hand atop it, and glanced at them. “I mean, yes, I came up with it. With a little bit of help. But we’re all going together, so that makes it our plan. Got it?”

  “Okay, sure.” Nickie shrugged.

  “Maybe get that coffee, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Laura peered at the huge book, slowly withdrew her fingers, and nodded. “Yeah, coffee.” She took off across the kitchen toward the coffeepot.

  Emily leaned over the table and tried to read the title on the front of the leather-bound book upside down, but the words were too faded. Where did this thing come from?

  Nickie bumped her foot against Emily’s under the table. “You wanna get yelled at again for stealing her thunder?”

  “What?”

  “She has a plan, Em. Just let her do her thing.”

  “Have you seen this before?”

  “That book,” Laura called from the other side of the kitchen, stirring sugar and cream into her coffee, “came from a Swedish historian in the eighteenth century.”

  “Okay. But you didn’t get it in Sweden.” Emily glanced over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

  Laura took her first sip and let out a grateful sigh. “No. I didn’t get it from Sweden. I got it from—”

  “Carl Hopkins,” Emily and Nickie said at the same time.

  “Yeah, yeah.” The youngest Hadstrom witch turned back around in her chair. “You get everything from Carl.”

  “You guys just know everything, don’t you?”

  Emily stared at her coffee. She doesn’t say that unless she’s about to prove that we don’t…

  Laura sat at the table and took another sip. “Actually, this was a present.”

  “A present?” Nickie frowned at the book.

  “Roger gave it to me.”

  Laura’s sisters shared a groan. “That guy would’ve ripped out his heart and given it to you,” Emily said.

  Nickie snorted. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d already tried it. More than once.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Laura put her coffee aside and pulled the huge book toward her. “Roger’s an archaeologist and a colleague.”

  Emily pursed her lips. “So, he just said, ‘Here, Laura. I was about to toss this piece-of-junk book I don’t need anymore, but you can have it if you want’?”

  “That’s not how most people give gifts, Em.”

  “Didn’t he take a university job somewhere else?” Nickie frowned at the book.

  Emily leaned over the table. “Because you kept rejecting him?”

  “Okay, fine.” Laura blinked. A blush rose in her cheeks. “He was in love with me, and this book was one of his most valuable finds of Peabrain magic in Europe and, yes, he took another job because I didn’t want to go out with him. Ever. He was really…short.”

  Emily barked out a laugh. “You shortist! That’s why you wouldn’t give the guy one date?”

  “No, that’s not why. There were other reasons…”

  “But you kept the book.” Nickie held her older sister’s gaze, her lips pressed tightly together in confusion. She folded her arms in mock judgement.

  “Of course I kept it. Do you know how rare it is to find anything like this strictly devoted to Peabrain magic? I mean, even beyond the fact that since before the Middle Ages, they’ve forgotten who they are and what they can do.”

  “Yeah, they’re probably the reason for the Middle Ages—wait.” Emily squinted at the book beneath her sister’s hand and pointed at it. “That’s a Peabrain spellbook?”

  Laura shrugged. “More or less.”

  “And now you’re gonna tell us we have to use it to get into the museum’s basement, or wherever that energy core is. Right?”

  “Yes, Em. That’s exactly what I was about to do.” Shaking her head, Laura opened the hardbound cover of the four-hundred-year-old spellbook, which creaked at the movement. “I hope it’s as satisfying for you to guess everything as it would’ve been for me to tell you about it.”

  “Sorry to burst your bubble.” Emily snorted. “Get it? Bubble. ‘Cause that’s a book of…” When she looked up at Nickie to share the joke with the one sister who actually appreciated her sense of humor more often than not, Nickie just eyed her sideways and shook her head. Then she closed her eyes, and a tiny smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. She thinks it’s funny. Guess my timing’s just off. Emily cleared her throat and looked at Laura. “Sorry. For real. I won’t keep trying to guess.” Not out loud.

  Laura’s gaze flicked toward her youngest sister, then down to the spellbook’s brittle, yellowing pages. “Thank you.” She sifted through it, then tilted her head and took a deep breath. “I’ve only looked through this thing a few times. Never really had the opportunity to really study it. Or the need to, actually.”

  Again, Emily tried to read the words on the page upside down, but the handwriting scrawled in large, flowery loops, just made her dizzy. I bet this is how she talks to her students, too.

  “I stopped by the university yesterday to grab this, and to see if anyone there had an idea for how to get into the Thinkery without being seen; plus, hopefully figure out the best way to dismantle that core without damaging the building or anyone in it.” Laura’s frown darkened as she skimmed the pages.

  “Why would it damage the building?” Emily asked.

  “Well…” Laura frowned, nodding at herself or the book or both. “The escape pod around that prison is pretty much supporting the infrastructure of Austin at this point. Maybe more.”

  “Yeah. Underground.”

  “Where do you think earthquakes happen, Em? Or volcanoes. Tsunamis. Sinkholes are a thing too.”

  Emily shrugged. “Is it really that much of a supporting structure?”

  “I don’t know. I’m trying to avoid us having to find out.”

  Nickie and Emily exchanged glances, and Nickie shrugged.

  “I also think it’s best to use as little of our magic as we can,” Laura added. “You know, so the Gorafrex doesn’t, I don’t know, smell what we’re up to or something.”

  Nickie snorted. “So Peabrain magic is the best way to go?”

  “Maybe. If we have to. Winston’s idea seemed pretty sound.”

  Nickie turned her head to the side and rubbed at the back of her neck. “You didn’t tell him what’s going on, did you?”

  “Come on, Nickie. I know how to be careful. I only gave him a vague summary.”

  Emily raised her hand. “Who’s Winston?” I’m the last one to know everything.

  Nickie glanced at her. “An elf.”

  “Who happens to be an archaeology professor,” Laura added.

 
“Oh, the elf who was your professor before you started working there, right?”

  “Yeah, Em. Most of them were my professors before I started working there.” Laura swallowed, took another sip of coffee, and finally found what she was looking for. “Okay, here it is. We’re gonna use a transport bubble to get…under the children’s museum.”

  “No way.” Emily grinned. “That’s one of the coolest things they can do.”

  “It’s not just Peabrains. Witches can handle a transport bubble too.” Laura’s lips turned up in a small, satisfied smile. “I just haven’t ever really tried to do this before, so we need a little bit of practice first.”

  “For real? We’re gonna do this right now?”

  “Yep.” Laura smoothed down the pages of the book and stood. “As soon as we get it perfect, we’re gonna go give that energy core a good smashing.” Nickie and Emily burst into laughter. “What’s so funny?”

  “A good smashing?” Nickie grinned. “When did you start talking like that?”

  Laura rolled her eyes. “That’s what Rutilda kept saying.”

  “Yeah, I think I woulda liked her.” Emily stood, and Nickie followed. “So how do we do this?”

  “Okay. There’s the spell word to summon the bubble. Then we all step inside it and think about the exact place we wanna go.”

  “Sounds easy enough.” Nickie nodded.

  “Well, just to be on the safe side, we should practice.”

  “Of course.” Emily nodded. “Scientific process and all that.”

  Laura shot her a perturbed glance, then walked around the table to join them. “Let’s start with something simple. Like the back yard.”

  Emily gestured toward the mudroom. “But we could just walk right out the door—”

  Nickie jabbed her little sister in the ribs.

  Emily chuckled. “Okay, sorry. I’m done. Are we talking about the middle of the back yard or, like, right outside the door?”

  Closing her eyes, Laura sighed. “Let’s just say outside the door. Ready?” Her sisters nodded. “Okay. Conmeatus.” She lifted her hand away from her thigh, and the silver ring on her thumb flashed.

  A pearly, opalescent bubble formed, growing larger and larger on her ring until it disconnected and kept growing. Laura stepped inside, then beckoned her sisters to follow. Nickie stepped through the shimmering wallt, then Emily, and right before her second foot left the kitchen floor to enter the bubble, Speed zipped around the corner, leapt into the shimmering sphere with them, and then they all disappeared.