Red Witch: Book Two of the Wizard Born Series (22 page)

“What if it’s a stranger’s? That could be weird.”

Fred wrinkled her nose. “Or icky. I hadn’t thought about that.”

“You should try to talk to your mom in a dream, just to see if you can do it.”

“Okay.” She kissed him. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”

“I didn’t mean
now
.”

“I need to try while I can still find her, if that’s possible.” Jamie frowned, and she stroked his cheek. “Don’t worry, my sweet boy. I’ll be back if I can.”

“Thanks, I guess. Does this mean I can go back to my regularly scheduled dream?”

Fred laughed. “As long as there aren’t any other girls in it.”

“I never dream about other girls.”

“Good. Don’t start now.”

The next thing Jamie knew, his alarm clock was ringing.

Chapter 21

Rita slouched in her stool and rubbed her tired eyes as she watched Cassandra make her way back through the crowd at the unfamiliar bar in Hendersonville. “Any luck?”

Cassandra held up six fingers and grinned as she sat next to her.

“DUI packets?”

Cassandra nodded. “Bartender will probably buy one, too. I bought him a shot. We could sell out ’fore we leave.” She pointed across the room. “And that fellow in the light blue shirt is gonna buy a love potion soon as his buddy gets back from the ATM.”

“Is he hittin’ on the girl with the big boobs?”

“Yep, and I guaranteed results.”

Rita smiled. “You’re doing great, Cass. We’ll probably make enough to pay for our hotel room and all of our tab.”

“I think the little old man who checked us in at the hotel thinks we’re gay. I might flirt with him when we get back, just to mess with his mind.”

Rita yawned. “Speaking of which, we need to go soon. I’m whipped.”

“Aw, come on, Rita. The night is young.” Cassandra snapped her fingers and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Yeah? Well I’m feeling old right now. You forget I drove eleven hours straight to get here. I’m dead, and we gotta get up at a decent time tomorrow and go over to the high school. You can’t sleep ’till noon like you’re used to.”

“Phooey, Rita. You’re a party pooper. Let’s stay a little while longer. We need to wait until Romeo over there buys his love potion from us. Besides, it’s Lady’s Night, remember?”

Rita sighed. “All right, one more round. Then I gotta go to bed.”

* * *

Rita stopped the car at the far edge of the parking lot of North Henderson High School. “Don’t forget your hat, Cass.” Rita reached into the back seat and grabbed hers, wide and made of straw, with a red plaid band.

Cassandra held her hat in her hand and looked at it mournfully. “It’s gonna mess up my ’do.” She patted her bleached-blonde beehive.

“You can fix your hair later. Let’s go.” They got out of the car and put their hats on, pulling them down low in front to hide their faces.

Cassandra frowned. “Why do we have to wear them way out here? We’re not even close to the building.”

“Because they might have surveillance cameras in the parking lot. Percy said schools have ’em all over the place now.” Cassandra started to look up and Rita hissed, “Stop! Keep your head down. And get rid of that cigarette.”

Cassandra dropped the smoking butt on the asphalt and grumbled as they made their way to the administration office. When they neared the front door, she said, “You got your pendant?”

Rita opened her hand to reveal the carved jade baby and the thin silver chain that held it. She tucked her head even lower and opened the door. “After you.”

They stepped inside and were nearly swept away by a flood of teenagers rushing past, books and cell phones in hand. Rita and Cassandra bunched close and pushed their way to the office door, where they paused for a moment. “Remember,” Rita whispered, “let me do the talking.” Cassandra nodded and they walked in, Rita lazily twirling the pendant as someone would twirl their keys. There was a waist-high counter running across the front of the room. Two women were behind it; one sat at a desk, typing at a computer, while the other shuffled some paper beside the printer.

The woman by the printer looked over at them and said, “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” Rita said, still twirling the pendant. “We’re from the Southern Talent Agency, and we need Grace Mary Callahan’s address.”

“You mean Fred? What for?”

Fred? Is that her nickname? How odd.
“We have a contract proposal we need to send her, and she’s still not sent us her info.”

“Does this have anything to do with the Talent Search?”

“Of course. We want to get her under contract before anybody else discovers her. She’s very talented.”

“Yes she is.”

The woman turned to the lady behind the desk, who said, “We’re not allowed to give out students’ personal information.”

Rita twirled the pendant faster and it started to glow. “Her parents won’t mind. We’ve already talked to them.”

“It’s against school policy to…um…to…what was I saying?” She blinked several times, quickly.

“That it would be okay in this situation. We’re practically family.”

“Yes.” The woman’s eyes glazed over. “Family.”

“So can you give us her address, please?”

“Yes,” she said blankly. She tapped a few keys on the computer and a moment later, a sheet of paper popped out of the printer.

“Is that it?” Rita pointed, and the other woman picked it up and handed it across the counter. “Thank you,” Rita said. “You’ve been most helpful.”

Rita and Cassandra walked out of the door and hurried across the parking lot. “You were awesome, as usual,” Cassandra said.

“Thanks.” Rita tugged the front of her straw hat even lower. “Now let’s go get us a witch.”

* * *

Fred sat curled against Jamie’s side on the couch in his family room, watching television.

“Fred?” Rachel stepped out of the kitchen, phone in hand. “Your mom called and said you need to come home for dinner.”

Fred put her arm around Jamie’s shoulders and squeezed even closer to him. “But I don’t
wanna!
” she said in a little-girl voice.

Jamie pried himself loose from her grasp and stood, offering his hand to help her up. “I gotta study some more anyway,” he said. “I got my AP Bio final in the morning.”

Fred stood and stretched. “Only three more days of school. I’m
so
ready for winter break.” Jamie held her hand as they walked to the front door. She kissed him lightly and said, “I’ll try to find you tonight.” She patted his face and smiled. “So look for me in your dreams.”

“Always.” He opened the door and looked out. “It’s dark already. Want me to walk you home?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“It’s chilly. Wanna borrow my coat?”

“No. I’ll hurry.”

“But all you’re wearing is that thin dress. I don’t —”

She patted his face again and looked deep into his eyes, her emerald greens locked on his ice blues. “I’m fine. F - I- N- E. Fine.”

She skipped down his front steps and looked over her shoulder, then she waved and he watched her for a moment before closing the door. As she angled across the street, she saw two women, one of them quite tall, with a blonde beehive hairdo, standing on the sidewalk in front of her house. The shorter one held a sheet of paper in one hand.

“Excuse me,” the shorter one said as Fred approached them. “Could you help us, please? I think we’re lost.” She held something else in her other hand, which she twirled casually.

“Are you looking for somebody’s house?” Fred asked.

“Yes, but we may be on the wrong street. Could you look and see?” She turned the paper toward Fred. “It’s hard to read in the streetlight. You have to look close.”

Fred stepped closer to see, but as she did, she felt two strong arms grab her from behind. “Hey!” Fred said, and a hand pressed a strange-smelling cloth over her nose and mouth.

Then everything became dark.

* * *

Jamie set the last dinner plate on the table, and his mother said from the kitchen, “Jamie, Lisa called again and said to tell Fred to go home right now.”

“She went home an hour ago.”

“What?” Rachel stood in the doorway.

“She’s not home?”

Rachel shook her head. “Maybe she went to Rollie’s. Will you call over there?”

“Rollie’s at church.”

“On a Tuesday night?”

“It’s a special service. Maybe Melanie stopped by and they went to the store or something.”

“Will you call Melanie, please?”

“I’ll text her.” He picked up his cell phone from the coffee table and tapped out a message. A couple of minutes later, he got a response. “She’s not with Melanie.”

“Huh?” Rachel stood there with a dish towel in one hand, a puzzled look on her face. “Lisa said Fred left her phone, so they can’t call her. Do you think she went off with another one of her friends?”

“Doubt it.”

“Could you go over there and look through her contacts on her phone? Maybe you can figure out who to call.”

He slammed the front door behind him and hurried through the cold to Fred’s house. He bounded up her steps and knocked on the door. Lisa opened it immediately.

“You’re not Fred,” she said with a look of disappointment.

“Glad you noticed,” he said as she let him in and closed the door. “Mom told me to come over and look through Fred’s phone so I can figure out where she is.”

“It’s on the end table.” Lisa gestured, and Jamie sat on the edge of the couch and picked up Fred’s phone. “This isn’t like her,” she said with an edge of apprehension in her voice.

Jamie scrolled through the contacts and said, “She probably saw somebody and went to the store with ’em.”

“She wouldn’t do that without telling me.”

Jamie called a number on the phone and held it to his ear. Getting no answer, he tried another. Then another. After about ten minutes of calling, he looked up at Lisa and shrugged. “Nobody’s seen her.”

Lisa glanced at her watch. “Well…she’ll turn up. Why don’t you go home and eat and I’ll have Fred call you when she gets back?” Jamie could tell Lisa was trying to show calm for his sake, but her eyes were showing panic.

“Are you sure? Maybe I can —”

“No,” she said a little too quickly, her voice rising in pitch. “You’ve got school tomorrow.”

Jamie walked across the street to his house, but didn’t feel the cold.
Mrs. Callahan’s worried.
He walked up his front steps.
I’m worried.
When he opened the door, his mother called from inside, “Did you find her?”

“Not yet. Her mom sent me home to eat.”

“I’m worried,” Rachel said, standing next to the table.”

“Makes three of us.”

She took a deep breath. “Well, we need to have dinner. Get your father out of the basement, please.”

* * *

Jamie barely tasted his food. He tapped his fork on his half-empty plate,
ding, ding, ding,
and his father reached across the table and grabbed his arm. “Stop. You’re driving me crazy.”

Jamie looked up and said, “Sorry.” He checked his watch again. “Dad, it’s after eight o’clock. Shouldn’t we have heard something by now?”

Carl exchanged glances with Rachel and a telling look passed between them. Carl looked at Jamie. “Maybe she’s doing some secret Christmas shopping.” Jamie could tell from his father’s expression that he was worried, too, but didn’t want Jamie to know it.

“She was going
home
when she left here,” Jamie said. “I’m sure of it. She isn’t shopping. She didn’t have her purse or her coat.”

The phone rang at Rachel’s elbow, and she picked it up from the table. Jamie and Carl watched her intently. After a short conversation, she clicked it off. “She’s still not home. Carl, could you go over there?”

He scooted his chair back and headed for the door, Jamie was at his heels. “Jamie, don’t you have to study?”

“I can’t focus right now. I’ll feel better once we know where Fred is.”

His father stood in the hall and regarded Jamie for a moment. “All right,” Carl said. “Bring your phone and your jacket.”

“Why?”

“In case we have to search the neighborhood.” Jamie’s mouth formed and
oh
, and Carl put his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “It’s just a precaution. Don’t read too much into it.” Jamie knew his father well enough to tell the difference between what his words said and what his eyes said.
Something’s wrong and Dad’s trying to keep me from freaking out.

At Fred’s house, they found Lisa on the front stoop, phone in hand, and Larry backing the car out of the garage. “Anything?” Carl said as they walked up the driveway.

Lisa shook her head, and Larry rolled down his window. Even in the streetlight, Jamie could see that his face was lined with worry. “I’m going to have a look around.” Carl leaned close to Larry’s open window and they whispered something. Jamie ramped up his magic hearing, but too late to hear anything but
don’t panic
.

Carl stood up straight. “Jamie and I will cover the neighborhood closest to the house,” he said to Larry, “since we’re on foot. Try to check the streets farther out, and keep your phone handy. Call Lisa every quarter hour.”

Larry drove away, and Jamie and his father split up, searching in opposite directions. The temperature had dropped and Jamie shoved his hands into his coat pockets with his phone.
Wish I’d worn gloves
, he thought as he hurried away, looking left and right for any sign of Fred. Although it was after eight thirty, the neighborhood glowed, brightly lit by festive Christmas lights that suddenly seemed inappropriate.
This is getting serious. Where is she?

“Fred?” he called repeatedly, peering behind hedges and under parked cars. He looked around trash cans and chain link fences. He walked until his nose turned numb, and tucked his chin deep into his jacket. When his toes grew numb, too, he thought,
This is taking too long
. He leapt into the air and flew off, soaring high above the leafless trees.
I don’t care if anybody sees me
.

The rush of cold air stung his eyes and made the tips of his ears feel like they were burning.
Can’t see!
He wiped his eyes and flew on, around the closest streets, then in ever-widening circles. His phone rang and he paused in mid-air and fumbled it out of his pocket, nearly dropping it. It was Lisa, checking in. “No ma’am,” he told her. “Nothing.”