Red Witch: Book Two of the Wizard Born Series (26 page)

“No.” Fred smiled whimsically. “Just one.”

Cassandra closed the window and set the tub on the floor. “Must be special, then.”

Fred nodded and squeezed her mouth tight.

Cassandra sat on the bed next to Fred. “Tell me about him! Is he cute?”

“Very.”

“What color is his hair?”

“Blond. It’s really curly.”

“Do you rub your fingers through it?”

“Every chance I get.”

“Eyes?”

“Blue.”

“
Blue
blue, or kinda blue?” Fred gave her a confused look and Cassandra continued, “Blue, like you can’t tell unless you get up close, or blue that you can see from across the room?”

“The latter.”

“Huh?”

“The second one.”
God, she’s dumb
.

“Oh. What’s he do?”

“He’s a —” She almost said
sorcerer
, but stopped herself. “He’s a cross country runner.”

“Oh, so he’s an athlete. Must have a good body, huh?”

Fred smiled and blushed.

“I knew it.” Cassandra’s eyes widened. “How long have you been in love?”

“Since before we were born.”

“Are you serious?” Fred nodded and Cassandra said, “Because of your magic, right?”

“No, because our mom’s touched bellies when they were pregnant and something happened.”
His magic passed into me, but I’d better not let her know he’s got power
. Fred knew that Jamie was her best chance of escaping, and she needed to keep his real nature a secret.
Hope I haven’t already said too much
.

“Your magic marked him.” Cassandra nodded. “He’s a lucky guy.” She put her hand on Fred’s arm. “Maybe you’ll get to see him again.”

“When?”

“Soon as you do the blood bond. Then we can take this chain off, and he can come here.”

“What makes you think I won’t run away?”

“Honey, once you so the blood bond, you won’t feel like it.”

That’s what you think
.

“You don’t believe me, I know, but I’m serious. You do the blood bond with me and Rita, and we become closer than sisters. Forever. This is where you’ll want to be. You won’t be able to bear to be apart from us for long.”

“Why not just make me do it?”

“You gotta do it willingly or it won’t work.”

Fred narrowed her eyes.
Good. Then I’m not doing the blood bond. No way
. She fingered her wet tangled hair and said, “I don’t have a brush.”

“I think one of Izzy’s old ones is in the bathroom.” She strode toward the open door and returned a few seconds later with a black hair brush, which she handed to Fred.

Fred eyed it suspiciously, picking old hairs from the bristles.
Gross. A used brush.
“Are you sure she didn’t have head lice?”

Cassandra laughed. “It’s safe. Izzy was a clean person, and we don’t have any bugs here. Not a one. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen any. Do you use an exterminator?”

“No, it’s
magic
. Izzy charmed the whole house, top to bottom, and no bugs or critters can cross her ward lines. We don’t have ants or roaches or termites or anything. We can even leave the window open in the summer and mosquitos won’t come in, which is something, ’cause we live near the lake and there’s lots of ’em.”

“A lake?” Fred said innocently. “Which one?”

“It’s lake B —” She stopped and narrowed her eyes. “You don’t need to know that.” There was an awkward pause before Cassandra cleared her throat and stood, picking up the empty doughnut box and the wet towel. “Well, I gotta go do some stuff now. I’ll be back later, and we’ll try some magic. I’ll bring a couple of Izzy’s dresses for you to try on, too.”

“Cassandra, do you have a TV or radio or something I could use? I get pretty bored in here.”

Cassandra fingered her earlobe. “Well…I think we have an old CD boom box out in the garage that some workmen left here a while back. It’s got paint splattered on it and the radio’s busted, but I think the CD player still works. I’ll bring it later. You can borrow Izzy’s old CDs ’cause we don’t use ’em, but they’re mostly classical and a few Cajun ones.”

“Okay. Anything.” Fred watched her go.
Music would be good. That’ll help pass the time.

And magic. I finally get to do some magic. I can’t wait to tell Jamie!
Then she felt a lump rise in her throat when she realized she couldn’t.

* * *

Jamie plodded numbly down the hall to his fourth period class and Bryce and Melanie caught up with him, one at each of his shoulders. Their faces wore determined looks as they walked with him.

Bryce spoke first. “We want to help. We already talked to the NCBI, but we want to do more.”

“We want to search for Fred, too,” Melanie said. “What can we do?”

They stopped and Jamie regarded his two friends. “Well…” He rubbed the side of his face. “If Fred’s not back by tomorrow morning, we’re gonna put up fliers with her picture on it.”

“Where are you putting them?” Bryce said.

“Well put them everywhere!” Melanie said, squeezing her hands to her chest and bouncing as she spoke. “Every telephone pole in town! I can bring help. I bet I can get most of the cheerleaders to come.”

Bryce nodded. “I’ll let the cross country team know. I’m sure they’ll wanna come, too.”

Melanie squeezed Jamie’s arm. “I’ll spread the word. You’ll have more volunteers than you’ll know what to do with.”

Bryce patted Jamie’s shoulder. “We’ll blanket this town in fliers.”

“A couple of geeks in my Calculus class offered to check chat rooms and blogs and stuff,” Melanie said, “in case anybody’s mentioned Fred online somewhere.”

“Huh.” Jamie furrowed his brow. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

“I’ll brainstorm with some of my friends tonight,” Bryce said. “We might think of some other ways we can search.”

“We’re gonna get Fred back.” Melanie’s eyes were earnest. “You’ll see.”

“So when do we do the fliers?” Bryce said.

Jamie took a deep breath and said, “Tomorrow’s Friday, and it’s only a half day of school. We’re meeting at the police station parking lot right after lunch. My dad will tell us what to do then.”

“We’ll be there.”

Chapter 25

Fred sat on the edge of the bed, pressing the forward button and skipping through the CD’s tracks on the battered boom box she’d placed on the bedside table
. So this is Cajun music. Kinda raw sounding.
She eyed the stack of dusty classical CDs next to her
. Well, it’s better than nothing.
She paused when she reached a raucous, driving song, tapping her foot to the beat.
That’s not so bad
.

She turned when she heard the bedroom door creak open. Rita backed in carrying one end of a dark wooden coffee table. Cassandra followed, carrying the other. “Ready to try some magic?” Rita said as they set their load down beside the bed. “I’ll be back in a sec.” She walked to the open door.

“What’s that for?” Fred said.

“We gotta have something to work on,” Cassandra said, crossing her legs and settling herself on the floor on the far side of the low table. She patted it and said, “Sit down here with us. Sorry we don’t have a card table, but we’re used to working on this little thing.” She rubbed her finger across the top and made a face. “You can tell by all the stains.”

Rita returned carrying a medium-sized cardboard box; a roll of paper towels poked out of the top. “This is all the stuff we’ll use today.” She put it on the floor next to Cassandra and said, “Fred, you’re gonna try to make healing powder ’cause it’s not too hard. There are some other easy ones we could try, too, but we have to do those on during a full moon, and that’s not for a while.”

“I always wondered about that.” Fred sat on the floor and folded her legs underneath her. “You always hear about the full moon being important, but why is it?”

“’Cause it has to be full, that’s why.” Cassandra nodded.

“But
why?
”

Cassandra snapped her gum and looked at Rita, who only shrugged. Cassandra said, “I never thought to ask.”

Fred pursed her lips. “I bet it has something to do with the gravitational pull.” Both women blinked at her vacantly. “You know, the moon’s gravity is strongest at full moon and new moon?”
They don’t know what I’m talking about.
“Have you ever tried a spell during the new moon that’s supposed to be done during full moon?”

Cassandra arched an eyebrow. “Why would we do that?”

“To see if it works, of course.” She looked from Cassandra to Rita and got the same uncomprehending look. “That way you could do the spells twice as often.”

“Ohhhhh,” Rita said. “I get it.”

Cassandra looked at Fred proudly. “You are so smart.” She elbowed Rita and gestured toward Fred. “See? Didn’t I tell you? She’s a
good
one, Rita.”

Fred had to fight the impulse to roll her eyes.
God help me. I’m being held prisoner by airheads.
Fred took a deep breath and rubbed her hands together. “All right, how does this work?”

Rita began pulling clear plastic bags filled with dried leaves and a couple of jars from the box and set them on the table. She also pulled out a leather bound book and handed it to Fred. “Look where the book mark is. There’s a spell there called the Integro Spell. Read it over while we set everything up.”

Fred opened the book and scanned the page. Some of the ingredients looked familiar but a couple gave her pause. She read aloud. “Bat’s eye? Salamander tongue? Where do you
get
this stuff?”

“We grow a lot of our herbs, but stuff like that we can get in —” Rita stopped and gave her head a tight shake. “Big Dan makes a run up there…to this town… about every ten days or so and picks up what we need. He also takes some of our potions and things and sells ’em to a little shop for us.”

Why won’t she say the name of the town?
“Is that how you make you money? You don’t seem to have jobs.”

Rita gave a little shrug. “We’re witches. That’s our job. Some people are lawyers, and some scrub toilets for a living. We do magic.”

Cassandra slapped Rita on the arm, grinning. “It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.” Then they both guffawed as she’d said something riotously funny. Fred ground her teeth and tried to keep the irritation from showing on her face.
Rita might stick the pin in that doll again if I make her mad
. She stole a quick glance at Rita’s dress pocket, looking for the tell-tale-bulge where the doll might be.

Cassandra pulled a mortar and pestle from the cardboard box and handed them to Fred, and then she put a white ceramic bowl next to the bags and jars. “Now,” Cassandra said, “this is my kind of magic, so I’ll lead you through it.” She held up one long-nailed finger and shook it gently. “Before we start, I need you to get in the right frame of mind.”

Cassandra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Do this. You gotta clear your mind and relax.”

That sounds like Jamie.
Fred remembered him often saying that about his magic.

The tall blonde continued, “Anybody can mix this stuff together, but only a true witch can make it work.”

Rita nodded. “You’re gonna activate the ingredients with your power.”

Cassandra shot Rita a sharp glance. “Who’s doin’ this lesson, me or you?”

Rita frowned. “Just tryin’ to help.”

Cassandra looked back at Fred and popped her gum sharply. “Anyway, you’re gonna clear your mind and kinda push yourself,” —she gestured with both hands at her body — “you’re inner self, into the process.”

“What?’ Fred said.

“It’s hard to explain, but that’s what you do.” She handed her a bag with “Dried Acorn” scrawled on it in black marker. “Start off by smelling this.”

Fred took the bag, opened it, and held it cautiously to her face.

“Now take a deep breath through your nose,” Cassandra said, “but try not to think about anything. Just pull the aroma down in your lungs.”

Fred did as she was told, and an image of a mighty oak tree filled her mind as the bitter smell of acorns tickled the insides of her nostrils. She pulled the bag away from her face and said, “Okay, now what?”

“Put your hand in there and get a feel of it, too.”

Fred closed her eyes, stuck her fingers inside the bag and rubbed some its contents in between her fingers. Again, the tree came to mind, unbidden.
Cool,
she thought.
I can feel it. Really feel it
. She looked at Cassandra and put the bag down as Rita handed her a broken-off piece of a plant. “That looks like aloe,” Fred said.

“It is.” Cassandra nodded. “Just smell it and feel it.”

Fred did, and continued the process with every item from the box.

“I think you’re ready to try it.” Cassandra pointed to the book. “Now, read the recipe again and put the first ingredient in the mortar and grind it.

“Anemone flower,” Fred said, looking at the book. “Where’s that?”

Cassandra handed her the bag and Fred read again, “Four good pinches.” She measured out the amount with her fingers, looked at Cassandra and said, “Like that?” Cassandra nodded and Fred dropped it in the mortar.

“Gonna take her two weeks to make it at this rate,” Rita said.

“It’s her first time,” Cassandra said. “Give her a break.” Fred dropped in the other three pinches and Cassandra handed Fred the pestle. “Now grind it up real good, but put your mind in it while you do it. Don’t be thinking about your boyfriend or nothin’ while you’re doin’ it.”

“Or you nails, like Cassandra,” Rita said.

Cassandra gave Rita a dirty look but turned back to watch Fred as she ground the dried flowers. Fred concentrated as she pressed the dark green ceramic pestle into the bowl of the mortar, feeling every motion, inhaling the fragrance released from the little bits of petals.

“You’re doing good, Fred.” Cassandra smiled reassuringly. “Dump that in the white bowl there and read the recipe again.”

Fred did and said, “A half teaspoon of juniper leaves.”

Cassandra handed Fred one of the small jars and a set of plastic measuring spoons. Fred held up the spoons and grinned. “No licking the batter until it’s done!”