Shadow Witch (24 page)

“Tell us more about yourself,” Bryce said. “You live with your mom?”

“Just for two more months, and then I’m out of there.” Nova jerked her thumb back over her shoulder. “Can’t wait. That’s why I’m going to Western Carolina. It’s about as far away from her as I can get without having to pay out-of-state tuition.”

“What about your dad?”

“He’s out of the picture. He left when I was a baby. Probably couldn’t put up with my mom anymore.” She gave a tiny shrug. “I don’t remember him at all.”

“You haven’t tried to get in touch with him?” Melanie asked.

Nova shook her head. “My mom won’t ever talk about him, and I don’t know where he is.”

“Momma Sue can find him,” Fred said. “She can do a scrying. You should come with us next Sunday and we can ask her to.”

Nova shook her head again and looked away for a moment, and Jamie realized that they should change the subject. “Is your mom a witch, too?” he asked.

“She thinks she is. She does palm readings and Tarot cards and stuff. That’s how she pays the bills.”

“Is she very powerful?”

“Not really. I think it’s all phony.”

“Can you show us your magic?” Bryce asked. “Can you tell when one of us is lying, maybe?”

Nova pursed her lips while she seemed to think about it, then she said, “Who’s gonna be my guinea pig?”

“How about Rollie?”

“Huh?” Rollie sat up straight in his chair. “Why me?”

“Why not you?” Nova gave him a level-eyed look.

Rollie brushed the crumbs off his shirt with one hand and said, “All right.” He gave her a challenging look of his own. “I’ll play along. Ask away.”

“You should turn around,” Jamie said to Nova. “That way we’ll know you’re not using facial cues.”

Nova spun her chair so that she faced the camellia bushes that lined the tall wooden fence on the other side of the yard. “Somebody ask him something.”

“Rollie,” Fred said, “how many brothers do you have?”

“Two. Both older.”

“He’s lying,” Nova said.

“Right.” Fred nodded. “Rollie, what is your girlfriend’s middle name?”

“That’s not cool.” Rollie frowned deeply. “You know I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Nova said.

“Okay, one more,” Fred said. “What is your favorite sport?”

“Football.”

“He’s lying.” Nova turned her chair to face him. “What
is
your favorite sport?”

“Basketball. I was hoping I could get a scholarship, but I’m too short.”

“Me too,” Nova said. “I played varsity the last two years for my high school team, but I’m only five-four.”

“I’m only five-seven.” Rollie arched one eyebrow. “I got a goal in my driveway across the street. Wanna shoot some baskets?”

Nova raised her leg and pointed at her foot. “I got flip flops on. Give me some warning next time and I’ll bring my shoes.”

“So there’s going to be a next time?” Fred asked.

She didn’t get to answer because they were interrupted by a little girl’s yell. “Nova!” Sammi ran across the yard toward them. She stopped next to Nova and took her hand, and Nova managed a half-smile.

“My birthday party is next weekend!” Sammi said, her eyes wide. “You should come, Nova. Me and Rollie are having ours together, ’cause it’s almost his birthday, too.”

“How old are you going to be?”

“Seven, and Rollie’s gonna be eighteen. You can come, it’ll be okay, I know it will. I’ll make you an invitation and everything. Please?” She grinned at Nova and Jamie knew that she would have a hard time saying no.

“Uh,” Nova said, still holding Sammi’s hand, “where are you having this shindig?”

“Right here,” Jamie said. “We’re going to have a bouncy castle.”

“Oh, wow,” Nova said with a smirk. “A bouncy castle. Aren’t you a little old for that?”

“We’re inviting all of the kids from the school in Rivershire. That’s on Eddan’s world. You really ought to come if you can. How often do you get to party with people from another planet?” It was Jamie’s turn to grin.

“Why not have it at your stone house there, the one you told me so much about? I mean, if that’s where they’re from?”

“It’s safer here,” Fred said and gave Sammi a stern look. “Less chance of little girls falling into the river.”

“Oops.” Sammi’s eyes went wide again and she blushed furiously, then suddenly turned and ran back to the playset without another word.

Chapter 10

“Whu?”
Duane Gundy shook his head with a grunt and tried to get his bearings. He rubbed his eyes with the knuckles of one hand and realized he was sitting behind the wheel of his wife’s Toyota Camry and it was dark outside. Then he saw the flash of sheet lightening on the horizon and heard another burst of static from the scanner on the seat beside him.
That’s probably what woke me up
.

He was parked on the shoulder of the road near Luke and Libby’s house, watching and listening. He was using his wife’s car instead of his because the silver Camry was so generic it was nearly invisible, while his black Trans Am stood out like an undertaker at a baby shower.

He’d been out there every night that week with his scanner, monitoring their phone calls, hoping one of them would say where Sammi had gone, but so far, nothing. Nothing but boring, tedious conversations between Mrs. Carter and her friend, complaining about their husbands or foot ailments or grocery prices or whatever. Their droning had lulled him to sleep and now it was getting late.

He checked his watch:
12:02. Damn
.
It’s gonna be hard getting up in the morning, and tomorrow’s Monday. Maybe I’ll call in sick again
.

He switched off the scanner and stared at it in the dim light for a moment.
If this doesn’t pan out soon, I’m gonna have to try something else
.

* * *

Jamie became aware in Fred’s dream-meadow with his head in her lap, one of his favorite settings that Fred often created with her magic. The grass was comfortable beneath him, the sunlight was gauzy and warm, and colorful butterflies flitted among the many wildflowers.

“Hey,” he said, reaching up with one hand and slipping his fingers into her red curls. It always amazed him how real they felt, how real everything looked. How beautiful Fred looked.

“Hey yourself,” she said, resting her palm gently on his forehead. “So, what did you think?”

“About what?”

“About Nova, of course.”

“Um...I think she’s nice. She wants everybody to think she’s tough and gritty, but I think it’s an act.”

“Me, too. Melanie and I talked about it after dinner, and she feels the same way. A couple of things Nova said make me think she’s kind of a loner at school, because she’s a witch and all. I think it’s hard for her to make friends because she can’t really confide in them. She doesn’t want anyone to know about her magic.”

“Which is probably a good idea.”

“I agree. So she’s built up this defensive front that she uses to protect herself from strangers.”

“She doesn’t seem so tough around Sammi. Did you notice? She seemed to soften up when Sammi was around.”

“Sammi has that effect on everybody, in case you haven’t noticed. She’s won my dad over, finally.” One side of her mouth pulled up in a half-smile. “He read to her tonight. I took their picture.”

“Don’t post it on Facebook or anything.”

“Don’t worry, I know better than that. Her foster father might find it.” She caressed Jamie’s forehead and gazed at him, her emerald eyes soft. “So, do you think Nova fits into the Big Cosmic Scheme, or whatever you’re calling it now?”

He took a long breath before answering. “I’m pretty sure she does, but I’m not sure how. Maybe it’s just for Sammi somehow, or vice-versa...hard to know at this point.”

“That’s a useful power she has, being able to tell when someone is lying.”

“You’ll have to watch what you say around her.”

“Maybe that’s why she doesn’t have a lot of friends.” Fred patted his head a couple of times. “Do you think you could make a doorway for her one day this week? Melanie and I want to get together with her, just the three of us. I think it would be better than having the big crowd we had today. Maybe she won’t be so defensive.”

“Sure. Do you think you can get her to go to Momma Sue’s next Sunday?”

“We’ll see. I’ll send Momma Sue a message on the magic mirror and ask her what she wants me to do.” She dragged one finger sensually along his jaw, then under his lower lip. “Um...we didn’t spend that much time alone together today.” Then she gently pulled his lip down a couple of times. “Can we stop talking now?”

Jamie sat up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Thought you’d never ask.”

* * *

Rachel waited in her family room with Sammi on Monday morning for Jamie to make the doorway to the school in Rivershire. Sammie had on pink shorts and a matching T-shirt that Adele had bought for her, and her new, blue backpack was over her shoulders.

A large, flat cardboard box, now empty, was propped against the nearby wall, and another, smaller box sat beside it.

Sammi held Rachel’s hand and they watched as Jamie plugged a wire into the back of the flat-screen television that sat atop a rolling, metal cart, just like the one Rachel had in her classroom at her regular school. On the second shelf was a black DVD player.

“Are you going to be ready soon?” Rachel asked Jamie. “We need to get there before any of the other kids do. They might think we’re not coming today and turn around and go home.”

“Almost,” he said without looking up. “I figured it was easier to put this together here and just roll it through a magic doorway right into the school.” He finished his task, turned to her and grinned. “This is going to be so cool. Those kids will love this.”

“Don’t you think it’s little bit too much for them right now? They’re still getting used to the ceiling fans and the electric lights.”

“Oh, no, Mrs. Sikes,” Sammi said. “They saw the TV on Thursday when we came here. They’ll be okay with it, I promise.”

Jamie touched a box that sat on the second shelf. “I think this DVD collection will be perfect for them. It’s the history of most of the major inventions, like the telephone and light bulb and stuff.”

“Can we watch cartoons on it?” Sammi asked.

“No,” Rachel said with a frown. “Besides, there’s no cable access there.”

“Well, can’t we watch a movie during a free period or something? We did at my old school sometimes. They let one of us bring in one from home, like
Lion King
. We watched that twice.”

“We’ll see.” Rachel glanced at her watch and turned back to Jamie. “Any day now.”

“Just a sec.”

Sammi tugged on Rachel’s hand and looked up at her. “Isn’t Mrs. Wallace coming?”

“She has a dental appointment this morning.”

“Where’s Mrs. Moore?”

“Aunt Connie only comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She won’t come every day until school starts officially in September, so it’s just you and me, kid. And whoever else shows up from Rivershire today.”

“Will I go to that school in the fall?”

“I hope not. If Lisa and Larry can be your foster parents, you’ll go to the school where I work, but I won’t be your teacher. You’ll be in second grade, and I only teach kindergarten.”

“Oh.” Sammi’s expression turned thoughtful. “Will I still be able to see my friends from Rivershire?”

“We’ll see.”

Jamie gave a satisfied nod and faced them. “I’m done. Let’s go.” He formed a glowing portal and opened it, then waited for Rachel and Sammi to go through before he followed them, pushing the TV cart into the main room of the school on Eddan’s world.

“I’ll turn on the lights!” Sammi raced to the wall and flipped the switch, and the fluorescent fixtures overhead flickered on and the ceiling fans began to turn. Rachel went to unlock the front door, and when she returned, Jamie had stretched an extension cord to the socket on the wall and turned on the television.

“Let’s watch something!” Sammi said, clapping her hands softly. “Can we? At least until the other kids get here.”

Rachel shook her head. “Let’s test it and turn it off, please. You can draw or read until everybody arrives.”

Jamie slipped a DVD into the player and pressed a button on the remote, and the big television flared to life with an image of the menu screen — the invention of the printing press, the steam engine, the telegraph, the cotton gin.

“That’s enough,” Rachel said.

Jamie pressed the remote. “I want to watch a little of the first one to see what it’s like.”

Rachel sighed as the DVD began to play and Sammi stood in front of it, mesmerized by a scene of an actor dressed as Johannes Gutenberg pulling on the wooden handle of an early printing press. Rachel turned when she heard the front door open. “I think somebody’s here, Sammi.”

Sammi also turned, and her face lit up when she saw Leora walk in with her mother. Leora wore her new blue backpack, too, and held her mother’s hand. Leora’s mother stopped at the far side of the room and gaped at the television. “What...what is that? Is that sorcery?”

“No, it’s a television, Ma!” Leora pulled her mother closer. “We saw one at Master Jamie’s house. Remember? I told you about it, I did.”

“Hello,” Jamie said to the stunned-looking woman. “You must be Mrs. Hale. I’m Jamie.”

She blinked and turned to face him. “Master Jamie, the sorcerer.”

“Please call me Jamie. I’m nobody’s master.”

She pointed wordlessly at the television, which showed Gutenberg lifting a piece of freshly printed paper from his press and inspecting it closely.

“It’s not magic, I assure you,” Jamie said. “It’s technology.” Jamie pulled another DVD from the box and showed it to her. “This little disk has all of these images encoded on it, and a laser in this black box —”

“Jamie,” Rachel said, “simpler, please.”

“Uh...this show comes from this disk which that big doohickey can display.”

Mrs. Hale still looked confused, and Sammi said, “You can watch movies on it, too. Mrs. Sikes said we might get to watch one sometime.”

“What is a movie?” Leora asked.

“It’s like a play,” Jamie said, “that you can watch on here.” He patted the side of the television.