Red Witch: Book Two of the Wizard Born Series (3 page)

“Something to remember the occasion. A gag gift, maybe.”

Jamie’s face lit up. “I know.” He leaned close to Evelyn and whispered something in her ear.

She laughed and said, “Perfect. You can get it made at that shop downtown.”

* * *

Fred and Jamie watched as Evelyn shepherded Aunt Connie and Uncle Ray toward them through the magic doorway onto the expansive rocky ledge.

“They look stunned,” Fred said.

Jamie glanced over at his cousin Gina and her husband Cory, who stood near the edge of the cliff, holding hands and looking at the moonlit valley below. “They seem to be doing okay.”

Larry stood near the doorway, gesturing broadly at Jamie’s aunt and uncle. “Come on, Connie and Ray, it’s great! If I can handle it, anybody can.”

Connie looked up. “Three moons?”

“They were all full last week,” Evelyn said from behind them. “It was pretty amazing.”

“This is a real place?”

“It’s real. It’s another world.”

“Unh,” was all Ray managed to say, his narrow face a mask of shock.

Gina turned to look at Jamie. “So it’s true, then. This is another planet, and you’re really a magician.”

“Sorcerer.” Jamie gave his head a tight shake. “I’m a sorcerer.”

“Wow.” Cory nodded. “If that’s true, then it’s the coolest thing ever!”

“We’re having burgers again,” Carl said, tending the grill beside the table as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “Hope that’s okay.”

Rachel unpacked food with Lisa at the picnic table and the long folding table next to it. She counted chairs and said, “We’re still one short. Jamie, could you get us a folding chair, please?”

Jamie started outlining another doorway and Carl said, “What are you doing?”

“Making a doorway to the garage.”

“Don’t be lazy, Jamie,” Evelyn said, pointing at the other open doorway a couple of dozen yards away. “March yourself in there and get one.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said without hesitation, jogging toward the open portal.

* * *

Rachel looked at her uncle.
I feel sorry for him. This is hard to accept
. Ray had listened in stunned silence to the story of Jamie’s magic. She reached across the picnic table and squeezed Ray’s hand. “It’s okay,” she said. “Try to think of it as being something really special.” Ray looked at her but only blinked.

“Special?” Larry said. “Real magic? How about ‘amazing’, or ‘fantastic’, or ‘unbelievable’, or —”

Lisa poked his shoulder, “We get the idea.”

Connie shook her head. “But…all this time? He’s been like that since he was born?”

Evelyn nodded and glanced at Jamie, who was engrossed in conversation with his cousin, Gina, and her husband, Cory. “We always knew he was special, but not
that
special.”

Connie frowned. “I feel bad for him that he had to kill that other sorcerer. I know that must’ve been hard for him…he’s such a good boy.” She looked down the table at Fred, who was leaning on Jamie’s shoulder. “But I’m so happy that they’re in love now. They seem perfect together.” She turned back to Lisa. “Your daughter is so lovely. Is Fred still tap dancing?”

“She’s teaching a beginner’s class on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. It’s her first job.”

“Fred’s finally getting paid to boss people around,” Rachel said.

“Is she still trying to boss Jamie around?” Connie said.

“Don’t think so. He’s not complaining about it.”

Lisa gave a short laugh. “And she hasn’t kicked him in years.”

Just then, Jamie and Fred jumped up from their seats and ran toward the cliff’s edge, holding hands. Then they floated up toward the moons as music began to play.

Ray covered his eyes with his hands and whimpered.

Lisa chuckled as she watched her daughter put her arms around Jamie and twirl, hundreds of feet in the air. “They’re dancing in the sky — that’s what Fred calls it. It’s really something, what those two have together.” She put both hands to her cheeks and shook her head slightly. “To think that most people have to search for years before they find their soul mate, but they’ve —”

“Soul mate?” Larry raised his eyebrows.

Lisa gave him a sharp look. “Yeah,
soul mate
. The One. The Perfect Match. Call it whatever you want, but it’s still —”

Larry put his hand on her arm. “Okay, okay, they’re in love, I know. Fred only tells me about ten times a day.”

Lisa’s gaze turned back to Jamie and Fred. “It’s not just a puppy love, either. I think it’s the real thing.”

“Oh no,” Carl groaned. “Here we go again. Just like with the prom. You’re already planning their wedding, aren’t you?”

“Carl, don’t be so unromantic!” Rachel said.

Carl shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“From where I’m sitting, I’d have to agree with Lisa,” Connie said.

“Thanks, Aunt Connie,” Rachel said, shooting a hard look at Carl. “They have a special romance. I think we can all agree on that.”

Maybe the most special ever
, she though wistfully.

* * *

“I don’t think Ray’s having a good time,” Rachel whispered to her mother.

“I know,” Evelyn whispered back. She leaned across the table and patted her brother-in-law’s hand. “Ray, this is all my fault. I thought it would be fun to do this for your birthday, but I didn’t realize it would be so…difficult for you. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow. What say I take you to lunch? How about that?”

“Evelyn,” Ray said, his mouth firm, “I’m not I child. I can handle it.” He wiped his face with one hand and looked at the distant moonlit mountains for a moment. “It’s just a lot to process right now.” Then he looked back at Evelyn. “But I
will
let you take me to lunch.”

“Good.” Evelyn managed a smile. “Let’s do your presents now.”

They had to coax Jamie and Fred out of the sky so they could have birthday cake and give Ray his gifts. Jamie saved his for last. He handed the blue paper-wrapped gift to his uncle and said, “I talked with Gramma about this. I thought it would remind you of tonight. I had to get it custom-made.”

“What is it?” Ray said as he tore the wrapping from the rectangular box. Then his eyes narrowed and his lips pressed together.

“Let’s see it, Ray,” Evelyn said.

Ray held it up and showed it to everyone. It was a white T-shirt with lettering on it that said, “I went to an uninhabited world and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!”

The whole family laughed, and Connie kissed her husband on the cheek.

* * *

Two witches — one tall, with bleached blonde hair and too much makeup, the other short and pudgy — with dyed red hair and a dress that was too short for her stubby, stockinged legs, stood together at the open door to the chapel at Smythe and Sons funeral parlor, thanking the other mourners as they left.

The last one, a heavy, bearded man, offered his tattooed hand. More tattoos decorated his upper arms, left bare by his sleeveless black shirt. A chain was attached to a belt loop and a wallet in his back pocket. His black motorcycle boots were scuffed.

“Rita, Cassandra, I’m real sorry about Isabelle,” he said, his voice a guttural rasp. Rita, the shorter witch, took his hand in hers. Her nails were painted black, and she wore black lace gloves with the fingers exposed. He nodded. “If you need anything, you just let me know.”

“Thanks, Dan,” Rita said. “It was good of you to come.”

They watched him walk out, and Cassandra, the tall witch, held up the black and red porcelain urn she had cradled in her arms. “What do you want to do with this?”

Rita took it from her, looked around to see if anyone was watching, and took the top off. Then she poured the powdery contents into a large potted plant that stood nearby. Cassandra looked at Rita with one eye squinted and one side of her mouth pulled up.

“What?” Rita said. “She always loved nature.”

“Rita, that’s a plastic plant.”

Rita reached over and rubbed one of the long leaves between her thumb and forefinger. “It is, isn’t it? Well, it’s more natural, now.” She chuckled.

Cassandra frowned, which couldn’t have been easy with the quantity of makeup she had plastered on her face. “You’re sick, you know that?”

“I know. I’m thirsty, too.” She patted Cassandra on the shoulder. “Feel like getting a drink?”

Cassandra grinned. “Thought you’d never ask. I could use a cigarette, too. Can’t believe we’re not allowed to smoke in here.”

They walked out to their rusty old car, and Rita held up the empty urn. “What do you want to do with this?”

“Take it home and put potpourri in it.”

They both snorted laughter as they climbed into the car.

Chapter 3

“Rachel, do you need more coffee?” Lisa said as they sat on her concrete patio, the sun slipping below the poplar and pine trees that lined the edge of the back yard and the air already cooling from the late September heat.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Something I’ve been wanting to ask.” Lisa took a sip from her cup and got a thoughtful look. “That doorway to that three moon planet? Can Jamie make doorways to other places?”

“He can make them just about anywhere on Earth. Two weeks ago, he made one to Waikiki Beach. Oh my gosh, it was
so
great!” She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly.

“He just…opened up a portal, and you stepped right onto the sand?”

“He made the doorway on a nearby building so no one would notice.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. I guess it would look weird to pop out of nowhere.”

“Right. But nobody thinks twice about people stepping out of a door from a building.”

“Well, that explains why you were so sunburned at church the next day.” She put her hand on Rachel’s arm. “Do you think he’d make one for me and Larry? I’d love to go to Hawaii.”

“Oh, sure. Don’t forget about the time difference, though. It’s five or six hours, I think.” Her eyes widened. “Maybe we could go next Saturday!” She shook one hand excitedly. “Yes! Your family and my family…dinner on the beach!”

“Could we? Oh, but wouldn’t that be late?”

“No, it’ll be dinner for us, but lunch in Hawaii. There’s an outdoor café right by the shore. It’s got thatched umbrellas and an outdoor bar and a fellow playing steel drums and —”

“Say no more, Sugar. I’m there.” Lisa wiggled her shoulders and smiled sinfully. “Tell me, can Jamie make doorways to other
worlds
besides the one he took us to?”

“Quite a few, I think. Not all of them have breathable atmospheres, though, I hear.”

“How about the world where the old sorcerer came from?”

“Eddan? Jamie can make one there, I think, but he’s afraid to. He doesn’t want to run the risk of drawing the attention of any other sorcerers.”

“I can see why. I guess one crazy wizard showing up in your family room is enough.”

“Hah!” Rachel put her hand to her face. “You have
no
idea.”

There was a long silent moment while they both sipped from their cups. Lisa sighed. “I sure wish Adele and Garrett could go to Waikiki with us. I hate it that they’re getting left out.”

“But there is no possible way we can tell them. None. Garrett would freak out.”

“We’re going to have to think of other ways to stay close to them. Adele is too good of a friend.”

Rachel held up one finger and said brightly, “Nail party. At the spa. Just the three moms.”

Lisa nodded. “Nail party it is.”

* * *

Jamie pulled on his sunglasses to block the glare of the morning sun as Fred and Rollie clicked their seatbelts.

“We’re good,” Rollie said from the back seat. “Let’s roll, Baby.”

Jamie backed the car out of his driveway and said, “Hey, Gramma wants to know if you guys want to do another show.”

“Give me the details. What? When? Where?”

Jamie put the car in drive, and they headed down the road toward school. “It’s next month, the third Saturday, at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville. It’s for the Young American Talent Search.”

“That’s on TV,” Fred said, checking her makeup in the mirror on the sun visor.

“I don’t know if this one will be, since it’s the first round. Second round is in Atlanta. Finals are in New York, and those are definitely on TV.”

Rollie frowned. “New York? Who’s gonna pay for our air fare?”

Jamie looked in his rearview mirror at Rollie. “I don’t know, but the grand prize is fifty thousand bucks. Second prize is twenty-five.”

Rollie gave a low whistle. “That’d go a long way toward paying for college, wouldn’t it?”

Fred turned in her seat so that she could face Rollie. “If you’d get your grades up a little higher, you might be eligible for some kind of academic scholarship. That’s what I’m shooting for.”

“Yeah, well you’re a lot closer than I am to getting that.”

“If you didn’t spend so much time practicing basketball, you’d make better grades.”

Jamie smirked. “You’re assuming he’d study if he wasn’t shooting baskets.”

Rollie lowered his eyebrows. “Hey, I’ve been studying harder, for your information. I studied with Tanisha all afternoon on Sunday.”

“I bet you studied. Studied, Tanisha, I’m sure. Studied her legs, studied her lips, studied her —”

“Stop!” Fred said. “At least he’s trying.”

Rollie rolled his window half-way down and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. “If my GPA slips even a little bit, my mom’s gonna make me quit basketball. Might ground me from dating, too.”

“We’ll help you study, Rollie.” Fred nudged Jamie. “About this talent show.”

“Yeah, sorry. It’s in about three or four weeks, so I thought we’d enter. We could
own
it, don’t you think?”

Fred nodded. “We’ve done a ton of shows, that’s for sure. We’re almost pros.” She patted her chest with one hand. “I’ll do it.”

“I’m in,” Rollie added. “For fifty grand, heck yeah.”

“I’m not going to try to win,” Jamie said. “I don’t need the money for college, but I think it would be a cool show to do.”

“Cooler than the doin’ old folks’ homes,” Rollie said.

Fred put her makeup back in her purse and arched an eyebrow. “Maybe the best show yet.”