Believe: The Complete Channie Series (4 page)

“Oh.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You want some advice, lil sis?”

Channie nodded.

“Don’t argue or interrupt, no matter what they say. Just let ‘em get it out of their systems. All you can do is pretend to repent, beg their forgiveness and hope they don’t beat you.”

Channie rolled her eyes. “Thanks a lot. That makes me feel so much better.”

Abby smiled and said, “You’re welcome,” without the least bit of sarcasm.

Momma
and Daddy were in the parlor, sitting together on the sofa, holding hands in a rare display of unity.

Daddy said, “We got something to tell you, baby girl, and we want you to stay calm.”

His words were ominous enough, but when Momma and Daddy both raised their shields, Channie’s heart leapt into her throat.

“Your momma and me—”

“Momma and I.”

Daddy usually laughed when Channie reflexively corrected his grammar—it was sort of a running joke between them—but this time he just sighed. “Your momma and I...we decided...oh, hell, there ain’t no easy way to do this.”

Momma snorted through her nose and took charge. “We’re changing your name.”

“What?” Channie’s mouth popped open. Folks took up to a year deciding on a baby’s name to be sure they found one that matched the child’s personality. Once given, a name wasn’t changed. Not even when it caused severe problems like...say...a gambling addiction that forced you to uproot your entire family and move them halfway across the country to keep ‘em from being murdered.

“You heard me. We’re changing your power name. Enchantment’s magic is too seductive.”

“You want to change my name on account of them boys in the park? That ain’t fair.” When she got upset, Channie had a tendency to forget her schooling and regress to her native dialect. “Ever single one of them Empties come up to me and started talking. I didn’t do a dang thing to encourage ‘em.”

Channie’s heart thundered against her ribs. Enchantment’s magic surged and poured out of her, but with Momma and Daddy already shielded all it did was drain Channie’s energy.

“Look, all I did was talk to a couple of boys. Abby's the one that went and got herself knocked up. If you want to change someone’s power name, change hers. It ain’t fair to punish me for something she did!”

Daddy nodded towards the stairs, where Abby sat shoveling the last of Momma’s homemade cottage cheese into her mouth—straight out of the crock. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “We made the mistake of naming your sister Abundance, and look what happened to her.”

“She got fat?”

“Why do you think she had triplets?”

Channie shrugged. “Maybe the boys’ daddy has a multiplier power name of some sort.”

The only thing Abby ever said about her babies’ daddy was that he was magically disabled, but no one in their right mind believed Savvy, Courage, and Zeal were sired by an empty. Those boys were already too powerful to be Halfies. They couldn’t cast spells yet, but the way they instinctively tapped into their power names proved they were gifted.

Daddy shook his head. “It was Abby's magic that took what should’a been one baby and made three. That’s why them boys are identical.”

“I still don’t see what that has to do with—”

Daddy slammed the side of his fist into the threadbare armrest of the sofa, sending a puff of dust into the air. “We are living smack dab in the middle of nothing but magically disabled, immoral parasites.”

It wasn’t at all unusual for Daddy to get riled up when he started talking about the carnal nature of teen-aged boys. But Channie knew she was losing the argument when the vein on his forehead began to pulse and his voice climbed in pitch as well as volume.

“Every young man back home had to raise his shield around you if he didn’t want to fall under your spell. Empty boys don’t have the ability to shield themselves from your magic. Hell, they don’t even believe in magic. They ain’t gonna worry about what sort of curse I’ll slap on ‘em if they don’t keep their nasty hands to themselves!”

Daddy closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose. He reached for Channie’s hands and pulled her closer, until her knees bumped his shins. The old sofa groaned as he shifted his weight from one hip to the other. “You don’t have complete control over Enchantment’s power and we can’t afford to wait until you do. I know it’s not your fault and it’s not fair, but if we don’t change your name, you’ll draw those sex-crazed empties to you like flies to honey.”

Channie couldn’t help feeling a bit of pleasure as she remembered how she’d charmed that entire crowd of boys. She bit the inside of her cheeks in an effort to keep from smiling, but that didn’t fool Daddy. Not one bit. He tightened his grip on Channie’s hands, squeezing the blood out of her fingers.

“That is not a good thing! I don’t want you to attract their attention. I don’t want you to enchant them. And I sure as hell don’t want you to wind up like your sister!”

Channie jerked her hands free. “My power name is not going to get me pregnant!”

Sometime during the argument, Abby had gotten up off the stairs. She leaned against the arched opening that divided the entryway from the parlor with the crock of cottage cheese cradled in one arm like a baby. “Channie’s right. Her power name ain’t the problem...”

Abby wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but Channie was desperate. She’d take all the help she could get.

“Y’all should try to find a way to fatten her up. I ain’t had so much as one fella try to pinch my fannie since I put on so much weight.”

Channie glared at Abby, then shifted her gaze to Daddy. He stared right back at her—calm, focused and unblinking—like a bobcat stalking a robin. Channie trembled, but refused to break eye-contact. “I have a brain. I’m not going to let some pretty-boy sweet-talk his way into my pants!”

Abby scraped the bottom of the ceramic crock with her spoon, setting Channie’s teeth on edge. “Oh, believe me, ‘lil sis. They don’t do it by talking. It’s their hands you need to watch out for. Well, that and their—”

Abby's mouth slammed shut, her face turned purple and her eyes looked like they were about to pop clean out of her head. Momma’s no-speak spell wouldn’t last long, but it might be Channie’s only opportunity to get out of this mess. She took advantage of the distraction and edged closer to the front door.

“Hold it right there, missy.” Daddy patted Momma’s knee then spoke as if Channie were no longer in the room. “That girl’s too smart for her own good. If we’re not careful, she’ll twist our good intentions into something else entirely. Her new name has to be specific so it’ll work exactly the way we want it to. We need to think of something better than Purity.”

Purity? That’s what they’d planned to name her? Purity? Losing Enchantment was bad enough, but if they saddled her with a name like Purity and sent her off to public school with a bunch of Empties that didn’t understand the purpose of a power name, they might as well just put a bullet through her brain right now and end her misery.  

Momma patted the bun at the back of her neck. “If you have any better ideas, let’s hear ‘em.”

“Well...how about Ugly. Or Repulsive?”

Momma brushed Daddy’s hand off her knee. “Do you want her to be an outcast?”

“Better an outcast than an unwed mother.”

“We agreed on Purity. There’s no better name to keep her chaste.”

Daddy leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “What about Chastity?”

Channie cringed, waiting for Momma to curse Daddy for cracking a dirty joke.

But she just nodded her head and smiled. “Perfect.”

“What? No! You can’t name me Chastity—not when our last name is Belks!”

Daddy
stood up and wrapped his arms around Channie. “We know this is hard for you, baby girl. But you’ll thank us someday when you’re happily married to a powerful mage.”

With no warning at all, Daddy trapped Channie inside his circle of power. Tears spilled out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “Please, Daddy. I’ll be good. I promise. I won’t flirt with boys no more. I won’t even talk to ‘em. Just...please...don’t do this. Don't change my name.”

Momma added her energy to the spell, put her hands on Channie’s shoulders and began to chant...

“Child of power, child of light,

We now assert a parent’s right.

The name of power once bestowed,

We now revoke ‘till you’re betrothed.”

Adding the power of words to a spell’s energy was serious business, especially words that rhymed. It was ancient magic usually reserved for bindings like marriages, treaties between clans, death pledges and...namings. An intense buzz assaulted Channie’s ears as power sparked and crackled all around her. This was no ordinary magic.

The stench of burnt onions filled Channie’s nose and throat. Momma and Daddy weren’t just changing her name—they were
cursing
her.

Channie squeezed her eyes shut and whispered, “My name is Enchantment. My name is Enchantment.” She didn’t know what good it would do against the dark magic Momma and Daddy were wielding—especially since she couldn’t think of an appropriate word that rhymed with Enchantment to empower the counter-spell—but she had to try.

Channie sobbed as Chastity’s raw, ugly power forced its way into her soul—digging, tearing and ripping apart everything that resisted. It shoved what remained of Enchantment’s magic out of Channie’s power-well and took control.

Beneath the grief and the pain, a new emotion emerged. Channie had been upset before, annoyed, hurt, irritated...even angry—but she’d never felt rage. Not until this moment. Her blood boiled and scorched her veins as it purged the illusions of happiness from her mind. All her life Channie had been drifting...floating in a dream of quiet contentment...sedated and seduced by Enchantment’s gentle magic. But she was awake now. With each beat of her pounding heart, she became more enraged, more determined and more aware of her own free will.

A part of Enchantment’s power survived and fled into Channie’s heart-of-hearts where even she couldn’t find it.

The ancient magic released Channie the moment Momma stopped chanting. Her fury dissipated, leaving her drained and weak. Chastity was now centered behind her navel in her power-well, quiet, dormant and waiting.

Without the distraction of rage, the pain of Enchantment’s loss overwhelmed Channie, leaving her bereft...as if someone she dearly loved had just died.