A Hidden Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 2) (27 page)

Beckoned by some silent call, witchlings flooded
up from the beach with Mike and Sophie in tow. Marcus, Moira, and
Nell followed Aaron out of the kitchen, bearing glasses of milk and
lemonade. It was the chocolate cake in Aaron’s hands that had
everyone’s attention, though. Now Elorie knew why the witchlings
had arrived in force. Sean could sense any freshly baked goods in a
three-mile radius.

Lauren walked around from the front of the inn,
a FedEx box in her hands.

“What do you have there, my girl?” Moira
asked.

Lauren smiled. “Freedom.”

Borrowing a knife from Aaron, she opened the box
and pulled out several iPhones. Elorie tried not to scowl at yet
more technology. She was working on changing her attitude. Really
she was.

Lauren met her eyes. “The Net witches amongst
you will be happy to know that you are each now the proud owner of
one of these. Jamie shipped them out, and he’s adjusted them in
some ways he hopes will amplify your power.”

Ginia grabbed the nearest phone, touched the
screen a few times, and closed her eyes. Moments later, she beamed.
“It’s awesome. Uncle Jamie totally amped it.”

Elorie assumed that was a good thing.

Marcus handed her a phone, and then rolled his
eyes when she looked at all the screen options blankly. Her cell
phone was of the no-frills variety. Evidently her first official
witch lesson of the day needed to be how to access the Internet on
an iPhone.

It was mildly embarrassing that Aervyn figured
it out faster than she could. It was mortifying that Gran did.

All that was forgotten when Ginia had them lay
hands on their screens and call up Net power. Elorie felt the rush
blaze through her mind. Her eyes flew open, mirroring the shock she
saw on Gran’s face.

“Oh, my,” Moira said, looking at her phone in
awe. “That was quite something.”

Elorie could see Uncle Marcus and Nell
exchanging glances. She couldn’t blame them. Any sane witch trainer
was innately cautious, and a ramped-up power supply probably wasn’t
the greatest idea with a porch full of half-trained Net
witches.

As one of those witches, however, she reveled in
the power under her fingertips. Okay, maybe this was a piece of
technology she could learn to appreciate. It was small enough to
carry in her pocket.

Lauren touched her hand. “It’s more than that.
Jamie fiddled with the way these phones access the Internet in ways
I don’t understand, but you should be able to use it pretty much
anywhere.”

Ginia grinned. “Totally portable Net power.”

Elorie paused in an agony of hope, wanting to
make very sure she understood. “Even on the beach?”

Ginia nodded, engrossed in her phone.
“Sure.”

It
was
freedom. Elorie stroked the phone
reverently. She would be able to call her power standing where land
and sea met, like witches since time began. It was a gift beyond
measure.

She looked up at Lauren, heart on fire. “This
was your idea?”

Lauren nodded. “Jamie did all the work,
though.”

Elorie reached into her pocket and turned off
Jamie’s other gizmo, the one that kept her head from leaking. She
wanted them to feel how much this meant to her. Mind-witch heads
snapped up as the full force of her gratitude swept across the
porch.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Just—thank
you.”

~ ~ ~

Nell grinned as Aervyn ported himself out of the
way of a sizable wave. Given the wet state of his rolled-up pants,
either he was mostly losing his game of magical chicken with the
ocean, or he wasn’t trying very hard.

The iPhones had been a great idea, but sometimes
it took a mama to add the important details. All witchling phones
were now equipped with waterproofing spells. Marcus had declined
her services, but if he spent much more time giving witch lessons
at the beach, he might live to regret that.

Lauren and Marcus were currently coordinating a
lesson that blended some Net-power experimentation with projected
mindspeaking. They were testing to see how distance impacted Net
power, so pairs of witches had spread up and down the beach. Hence
Nell’s role as lifeguard.

Each training pair had a mind witch who was
receiving instructions and reporting back to Lauren. Sean, for all
his nonchalance, was able to mindspeak over impressive distances.
His twin, paired with Elorie, was clearly stretched to the limits.
Nell was pretty sure Lauren was gently augmenting Kevin so she
could still hear him.

Aervyn could have made them all deaf from half a
mile away, but he was showing surprisingly good manners in not
making that clear to Sean. Her punk witchling had shown some signs
of maturity lately that made her a little wistful. It was good that
he learn to be less innocently overwhelming, but it also meant he
was growing up.

Nell moved down the beach a little closer to
Lauren and Marcus. Her own weak mind-witch powers didn’t extend to
long-distance conversations.
Elorie looks happy
, she sent.
Those phones were a brilliant idea, Lauren
.

More importantly, she’s opening to her power
with far less resistance,
Marcus sent.
We might manage to
make some progress here yet
.

Trust the grumpy old man to think happiness
didn’t matter, Nell thought. She tried to ignore the fact that he
was only a few years older than she was.

They all watched as Elorie tried again to blend
two simple spells, one from Lizzie and one from Sean. They’d spread
further down the beach for this second attempt, and the spell merge
failed.
She hasn’t got Ginia’s range
, Marcus grumbled,
and I can’t figure out why. Ginia can blend spells from the
other end of the beach, but Elorie has to be within a few
feet.

Nell was surprised the issue wasn’t obvious to
Marcus.
Kevin’s her limit—she can’t blend spells if she can’t
see them, and his mind magic isn’t all that strong. He can’t
visualize it well enough for her when they get farther
away
.

Hmm,
Marcus sent.
That’s going to make
him a lot less useful to her
.

Nell gritted her teeth. She’d show him just how
“less useful” Kevin could be. She had a theory about Elorie’s Net
power, and now seemed like an excellent time to put it to the
test.

With careful precision, she sent a message to
Lauren only and asked her to relay it with equal care to the
trainees. When Aervyn burst into hysterical giggles, she was pretty
sure her idea had been shared.

Elorie looked skeptical at first. A moment
later, she looked a little mad and a lot focused.
What’d you
tell her?
Nell asked Lauren.

That Marcus thought she and Kevin were kinda
wimpy together
.

Nell snickered. Lauren was turning into a very
effective trainer.

Marcus was still oblivious. The man couldn’t
read emotions around him unless they knocked him on the head or he
paid full attention, and right now, neither was happening.

Elorie and Kevin headed to the far end of the
beach, closer to where the other witchlings were gathering. Nell
grinned as Aervyn, Lizzie, and Sean all began forming spells as
they walked. It looked like a little more than what she’d asked
for. Clearly they were improvising.

What are they up to now?
Marcus was
getting testy.
We’ve already experimented in close proximity.
They’re just wasting time
.

They’re kids at a beach,
Nell sent.
Let them play a little.
She meant it, but she also needed to
distract him for long enough to let her evil little plan come to
fruition.

We’re ready, Lauren!
Aervyn, as the
strongest mind witch, was clearly on messaging detail. She hoped
he’d remembered to exclude Marcus.

Mama!
Nell nearly laughed at Aervyn’s
indignant protest. He was probably rolling his eyes, too.
If I
told him, it wouldn’t be so funny, would it
?

Lauren stepped back from Marcus and made a big
show of waving her left arm around. Nell snorted. No
self-respecting spellcaster did that kind of hocus-pocus stuff.
Maybe she was just trying to distract Marcus from the fact that her
other hand was in her pocket, on her iPhone.

Then Lauren started rhyming.

“
I ask the Water and the Air

Make a raincloud hover there

Above the head of he who doubts

Moans and grumbles, whines and pouts.

Let him the power of happiness see

As I will, so mote it be
.”

Nell gave up and dropped to the sand, holding
her ribs. Lauren was milking her moment as an elemental witch for
all it was worth. And damn, the girl could rhyme. As she watched in
breathless laughter, a storm cloud of monster proportions formed
over Marcus’s head and let loose a torrential downpour.

Marcus appeared to be raining curses down on all
their heads, but no one could hear him over the thunder.

Moments later, the cloud dissipated, and
Marcus’s clothes instantly dried. Nell rolled her eyes. Aervyn had
a soft spot for the man. Her son was the only fire witch present
with enough power to do a quick-dry spell that fast. Oddly, he
never thought to do it on his own wet clothes.

Marcus glared at Lauren. “I assume you were just
the decoy for that little stunt.” He turned and stormed down the
beach, muttering epithets under his breath. Nell sighed. No point
letting some poor witchling take the blame.

She called after Marcus. “Lauren wasn’t the
decoy. She did the magic.”

He spun around, eyes sparking. “She’s no
elemental witch.”

Nell kept quiet, waiting for him to put it
together. He might be an arrogant ass, but he was a very smart
witch. She saw when it hit him. His anger vanished, replaced by
total fascination. “Elorie sent the spell to Lauren?”

Aervyn popped up at Marcus’s elbow, having
ported his entire tribe of troublemakers back from the far end of
the beach. “She totally did, Uncle Marcus. Did you like the
thunder? That was my idea.”

Sean poked Aervyn. Being a little older than
four, he was wiser in the ways of not owning up to your part in
witch pranks quite so quickly.

Marcus ruffled Aervyn’s head absently and turned
to Nell. “How did you figure it out?”

Sheer genius, Gandalf. My daughter comes by
it honestly.
Nell shrugged. “I took a guess. It seemed
reasonable that if Elorie can download, she could upload, too.”

Elorie looked confused. “Download and upload
what? I just used Net power.”

“Aye, niece,” Marcus said. “But this time you
didn’t pull magic to yourself. You pushed it to someone else.
Someone without those powers.”

Ginia’s eyes got big. “You’re right. That’s so
cool. I wanna try.” She jumped up and motioned to the others.
“Let’s go make another spell for Lauren to catch.”

As a herd of witchlings ran down to the other
end of the beach, Elorie moved away from Marcus. “Just in case
you’re about to get wet again.”

Marcus snorted and waved a hand briefly in the
air. “I don’t think so. Any witchling who tries is going to
discover the meaning of counterspell.”

Nell wondered if Elorie had any idea of the
implications of her newly discovered ability.

Not a clue,
Marcus sent.
She still
thinks this is fun and games on the beach.

And you don’t
?

Nell’s heart cracked when Marcus replied.
With this, I could have saved my brother. I wasn’t strong enough
on my own, and we couldn’t get a circle together in time.

~ ~ ~

Elorie held her breath as Ginia finished
drilling a tiny hole in a piece of green sea glass. She wasn’t at
all sure that equipping a nine-year-old with a power tool was a
good idea, but Ginia had been sweetly insistent.

Her temporary apprentice looked up. “So now I do
the same thing to the other one?” Elorie nodded. Ginia had found a
couple of small bits of green sea glass on the beach, and she
wanted to make them into a birthday gift for Lauren.

Elorie rummaged in her wire collection. She had
some thin copper wire that would go well with the green glass and
Lauren’s gorgeous hair.

Finished with the drilling, Ginia took off her
safety goggles and looked at the wire with interest. “Now
what?”

This was the fun part, if you had any artist’s
calling. “Now you dream a little. You need to ponder the glass and
the wire, and think about how they might look nice together.” She
started pulling some half-done samples off her shelves. “You can
hang the glass from a simple hoop, like this, or wrap the wire
around to make a curly nest for the glass. That would look nice
with the copper.”

Ginia contemplated for a few moments, and then
looked shy. “What did you do for the heart one you’re wearing? It’s
really beautiful.”

That caught Elorie by surprise. She’d expected
Ginia to go for the curls. Her heart pendant had a hammered silver
rim, which looked very simple, but required time and precision.
“That’s tricky to do with copper, and it would take quite a while,
sweetie. I’ll be happy to show you, though, if that’s what you want
to do.”

“Yes, please.” Ginia grinned. “Lauren’s worth
lots of time.”

Elorie messaged Aaron to let her know when
dinner was ready. They would be a while.

She picked several pieces of glass out of her
baskets. Ginia’s idea was a good one, and her inventory was in dire
need of replenishment. She might as well work while Ginia labored.
Her fingers blissed out with the normal routine of it all.

~ ~ ~

Moira giggled as Mike threw a pebble at Nell’s
window. She felt about ten years old again, sneaking around at
midnight.

Nell stuck her head out the window and spoke in
a stage whisper. “They’ll be right down. Don’t lose either of
them.”