A Hidden Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 2) (19 page)

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.”

“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.”