Red Witch: Book Two of the Wizard Born Series (18 page)

“You don’t think Sally will get jealous?”

“She can come with us.”

“I guess that would work.” He reached up and caressed her cheek. “I’m glad you’re not mad anymore.”

She gave her head a tight shake and exhaled heavily. “Me, too. It’s just that I’m so in love with you and when you told me you might go away to school, I went crazy. All I could think was that I finally had you and then you’d be gone.” She frowned.

“Fred, don’t worry about it. Nothing can keep us apart.”

“I know.” She leaned close and kissed him lightly on the forehead. “Because we’ve got magic.”

You can say that again
.

Chapter 17

The trees in Jamie’s backyard had lost most of their leaves, and the gray sky threatened rain. Fred hugged herself against the chill November wind.

“Okay,” she said, closing her eyes. “How about now?”

Jamie sat next to her in the gazebo. He leaned forward in his rocking chair and squeezed his eyes shut. “Nope. Not a thing.” He looked at her and shrugged.

“Then let me see if I can tell what you’re thinking instead.” She put both hands on either side of her head and concentrated. “Are you thinking of something?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not getting anything. What were you thinking?”

“The square root of sixteen is four.”

“I’m trying to read your mind and you’re thinking about
math?
You could at least think of something romantic.”

“I knew you’d think that, so I tried to trip you up so you couldn’t guess.”

She sighed and sat back in her rocker. “It’s no use. We can’t communicate telepathically.”

“We can when we’re asleep, because that’s what we’re really doing in our dream visits. We just can’t when we’re awake.”

“That would be so convenient, though. Better than cell phones.”

“Yeah. No data caps.”

“Funny.” She bit one corner of her lower lip. “Did Eddan know anything about witches being telepathic?”

“Hard to say. I’ve been sorting through his memories, but I can’t find anything.”

“Did he know about the dream talking?” He shrugged again and she frowned at him. “Jamie, you’re no help.”

“Hey, it’s not like his memories are indexed or anything. I can’t go into my brain and enter a keyword in a search box and find what I want.”

“He had to know something else about witches. Didn’t you say there were plenty of them around where he lived?”

“Well, he didn’t hang out with any. He didn’t hang out with
anybody
, for that matter. But he definitely didn’t know any intimately. He didn’t date any.”

She grinned. “Like you do.”

“Oh.” He blinked a couple of times. “Have you gotten used to the idea that you’re a witch?”

“I guess.” She gave her head a little shake with her eyes closed. “I’ve been called worse.”

“That’s not nice.”

“You know how high school kids are.”

“Everybody likes you, Fred. At least, everybody I know.”

She looked at him but didn’t reply. She pulled her hand out of her coat pocket and reached for his, his warm and sensitive fingers reassuring as they wove together with hers. “Jamie, if I had a spell book, what kind of magic would be in it?”

“Let’s see….” He looked across the yard, his face thoughtful. “Eddan looked through a few, I think. There would probably be charms and hexes and stuff.”

“But…how would I do them?”

“Mostly with potions and powders. Lots of grinding herbs and dried plants and mixing smelly liquids.”

“Kind of like chemistry class.”

Jamie laughed. “Yeah, it is. Good thing you made an A in it, huh?”

“Will I have to wear safety goggles and an ugly apron?” It was her turn to grin.

Jamie laughed again. “You could have your own lab. A witch’s lab!” His face turned thoughtful again. “You know, it just occurred to me. Witches really do a kind of applied chemistry…and Eddan was sort of a research scientist, only he didn’t call it that. He didn’t know that concept.”

“So is that what we’re gonna do when we grow up?” She let go of his hand and poked him in the ribs? Mr. and Mrs. Magic Scientists?”
Oh! I shouldn’t have said that. That sounds like we’re married…we’ve never talked about that
.

Jamie smiled and shook his head. “If I could make a career out of studying magic, I would…but I don’t think I can. Doubt I can major in it.”

Fred laughed with him. Then he said, “I’m getting cold. Let’s go in and make some hot chocolate.”

“I’ll make it. I need the practice making
potions
.”

* * *

Rachel brushed a lock of light brown hair out of her face and checked the oven temperature.
Three-seventy-five. I can put the chicken in
. She heard the front door close and she turned to the doorway and said, “Jamie, is that you?”

“Yes ma’am.” He appeared in the family room and dropped his backpack and athletic bag on the couch. “When’s dinner? I’m starving.”

“One hour. You’ve got time to shower and do some homework.” She put the casserole dish, layered with chicken breasts, cheese and pasta, in the oven. “You got another call from a coach a while ago. He said he was from East Carolina. Do you want to call him back?”

“Not really.” He exhaled hard between compressed lips. “Suppose I should, though. It would the polite thing to do.”

“You turned down the coach at Fayetteville State, too. Don’t you think you should at least check them out?”

“I do
not
want to go to school in Fayetteville.”

“So what’s wrong with East Carolina then? It’s pretty close to the beach.”

“Bryce doesn’t want to go there. He already talked to their coach.”

She put one hand on her hip. “So your decision on where to go to college is going to be made by Bryce?”

“No. If you want to know the truth, I don’t care if I run college cross country or not. It would be fun if Bryce does and we could keep running together, ’cause he’s my buddy. But otherwise, I’d rather just be a normal student. I don’t need the scholarship that bad, anyway.”

“Just because we got that money from Eddan doesn’t mean you should turn down a free education, young man. We are not rich, by any stretch of the imagination.”

“I didn’t mean —”

“I know what you meant. You’re getting a little too big for your britches lately. You should be grateful that these coaches are offering you the opportunity to come to their schools.” She shook a mixing spoon at him. “A little humility goes a long way.”

Jamie looked at her with a whimsical expression.

“What?”

He chuckled. “Nothing. It’s just that you sounded like Gramma just then.”

She opened her mouth but no words came out for a moment. “Well…good advice is good advice…you should listen….” She closed her mouth hard for another moment. “Just go take a shower!”

Jamie chuckled and went upstairs.

* * *

Fred’s nostrils stung from the acrid vapors rising from the pot on the front burner of the stove. She gave it quick stir and checked the recipe on the counter beside her.
One teaspoon ground Indigo Weed. May substitute bay leaves. Hmm
. She opened the spice cabinet again and searched.
I know I saw some bay leaves in here.
At the very back, hiding behind the marjoram, she found a bottle.

She opened it and frowned.
Huh? They’re not ground. Are they supposed to be?
When she heard the front door open, she snatched a few leaves out and dropped then in the boiling pot.
That’ll have to do.
She grabbed the spell recipe that she’d printed from a website called “Magic Spells from Ordinary Kitchen Ingredients” and held it behind her back as her mother entered the kitchen.

Her mother pinched her nose. “
Peeyou
, what stinks?”

“I’m just doing a little cooking.”

“Cooking what, turpentine sauce?”

“No. Just…something.”
It’s now or never
. “Mom, I want a car.”

“Save your money if you want one. We can’t afford to buy one right now.”

I need to be more assertive
. “You will buy me a car.”

“What?” She cocked her head and scrunched one eye tight.

It’s not working.
“Oh…um…please buy me a car.”

“I told you….” She noticed Fred’s hands behind her back. “What are you hiding?”

“Nothing.” Fred backed away, but her mother caught her.

“Show me.” She grabbed Fred’s arm but Fred held the paper away from her mother as she struggled to grab it. “Give it to me, Fred. I mean it.”

Fred handed her the paper and her mother read, “A modern persuasion spell from ordinary ingredients.” She looked at Fred.” You’re…you’re trying magic! Aren’t you?”

“No…yes.” She squeezed hers eyes shut and said, “I’m sorry. I really wanted to try a spell to see if I could do it, and I thought that getting you to buy me a car was a good way to start.”

Her mother looked at her with her eyes hard, her jaw tight, but then her expression changed and she laughed out loud.

“You’re not mad?”

“Yes, I am, because you’re trying to manipulate me.” She gestured at the pot on the stove. “But it’s just so ridiculous.” She read the list of ingredients. “No wonder it stinks. You could probably peel paint with this recipe.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Fred, Honey….” She put her hand on Fred’s shoulder. “Please don’t do that again. I don’t like being manipulated.” She shook one finger at Fred. “And don’t be trying to make magic potions in this house!”

She didn’t say anything about powders
.

“I mean any kind of magic.”

“Mom! That’s not fair. That’s like telling a bird she can’t fly.”

Her mother gave her head a quick shake. “What?”

“It’s like…well, it’s not fair, that’s what.”

“You
said
that. And I’m your mother. I don’t have to be fair. And you’re not a bird.”

“But aren’t you just a little bit curious about what I can do? You know, like persuasion spells and protection spells or whatever?”

“Not really. If I need any magic done, I’ll get Jamie to do it.”

“That’s…that’s sexist!”

“Fred….” She shook both hands in front of her. “You are
so
stubborn.”

“But all I want to do is —”

“Fred, no magic in this house. None! Do I make myself clear?”

Fred looked at her defiantly for a moment before answering. “Yes ma’am.”

* * *

Rachel tightened her robe and leaned closer to the bathroom mirror.
There’s another gray hair!
She pinched it tightly, curling it around her index finger. Then she gritted her teeth and yanked. “Ow! Ow! Ow!”

“Honey, you okay?” Carl called from the other room, where he was already in bed.

“No.” She looked at herself in the mirror and frowned.
I look like a hag,
she thought miserably. “Carl, do I look old to you?”

“No. You look as pretty as the day we met.”

“No I don’t.”

“Sure you do. You’re the prettiest mom in Hendersonville.”

“Nice try.” She leaned over the sink again and searched for more gray intruders.

“What brought that on?”

“Jamie said I looked old. Well, actually, he said I sounded like my mother.”

“Big difference between sounding and looking. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with sounding like your mom. She can be a little stern sometimes, but she means well.”

“But she’s a
grandmother
, Carl. I’m not ready to be a grandmother yet.”

“Unless you know something I don’t know, I don’t think you’re in danger of being one anytime soon.”

She walked out of the bathroom and leaned against the bedroom doorway. “What do you mean?…Oh! No, Fred’s not pregnant yet, I’m sure.”

“Do you think they’re, um, experimenting?”

“I doubt it. Fred’s the friskier one of the two, but Jamie’s a little bit of a prude, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“He gets that from your mom.”

“Hey, she had a baby when she was still in high school, remember? My half-sister, Sophie?”

“I keep forgetting about that. So you think they’re just making out?”

“Every chance they get.”

“Bet that’s driving Larry crazy.”

“Fred takes Jamie down to their basement to ‘watch TV’, or so she says, but Larry can’t stand it and makes excuses to go down there all the time.”

“They can come over here.”

“That’s what I think, too. I’d rather have them home making out on the couch than parking on a dirt road somewhere. That’s asking for trouble. Too many psychos out there looking to hurt young people.”

“Rachel, think about it. If anybody’s safe on a dark road, it’s Jamie and Fred.” She shook her head and he continued, “If somebody were to mess with them, Jamie could blast them into chunk of charcoal.”

“Or Fred could turn them into a toad.”

“Can she do that?”

“I don’t know, and I hope we never find out.”

Chapter 18

“Fred, you been practicing for the show?” Rollie said as Jamie backed the car out of the driveway on the way to school.

“Lots,” she said, flipping the visor down and inspecting her makeup in the mirror. “About four or five times a week. It’s harder for me ’cause I gotta go to the dance studio. Can’t do like you and practice at home in front of a mirror.”

“The mirror doesn’t get my jokes.”

“Neither do we, sometimes,” Jamie said, grinning in the rearview mirror at his friend.

Rollie ignored him and looked at Fred. “How’s the witchin’ comin’?”

“Yesterday I tried to make a persuasion potion I got off the Internet. Big failure. Made my mom mad, too.”

“Probably just a bad spell,” Jamie said. “I imagine there are a lot of would-be witches putting stupid useless stuff up on web sites.”

“Well, this one was stupid and useless. I tried to get my mom to buy me a car, but she just laughed at me.”

“Soon as you get one that works,” Rollie said, “bring it over to my house and use it on my parents. Every time I ask them for a car, I get the same reaction.”

Fred flipped the visor back up. “I need a
real
spell book. Jamie, can you get me one?”