The Trouble With Spells (11 page)

“When do you start
learning more about your powers?”

“Today, actually,”
I replied. “Babs is going to cover the store for Grandma so she can work with
me this evening at her house.”

“Cool,” he said. “Do
you think she’d mind if I came with you?”

“I don’t see why
she would. You’re part of everything that’s going on.”

“Why don’t you
give her a call real quick just to make sure?”

Now I knew why he
was hiding me in the corner. Cell phones at school were an absolute no-no, even
though nearly every student was hiding one somewhere on their person.

I quickly dialed
the store, and Grandma picked up on the second ring. I proceeded to ask her
about Vance coming over. I’d just finished the call and snapped the phone shut
when Mr. Percival rounded the corner. Vance leaned in to make it look like we
were kissing.

“No making out in
the halls!” Mr. Percival called out loudly while I stealthily slid the phone
into my back pocket.

“Um, sorry, Mr.
Percival,” Vance said, stepping away from me with a grin. He grabbed my hand,
and we headed off together.

I spoke when we
were finally out of earshot.

“She says come on
over. She’d love to have you there.”

“And what about
you? Will it bother you?”

I laughed and
didn’t even bother to respond as we walked up to the door of my first class.

“I’ll see you at
lunch,” I said with a smile.

“It’s a date,” he
responded, gradually releasing my hand as he stepped away.

Chapter 8

Vance met me at
Grandma’s right when I was pulling up on my scooter. He waited for me to park
and get off, before coming over to drape his arm around my shoulders as we
walked up the front steps.

Grandma swung the
door open before we could even knock.

“Hello, kids!” she
called out, stepping to give me a hug, then patting Vance on the back. She
ushered us into the living room.

Soon the three of us
were in the cellar, where she pulled the wooden table out from the wall. She
already had some items sitting on it.

“Have a seat.” She
gestured toward the benches. Vance and I dutifully sat down together, while
Grandma remained standing.

“All right. The first
thing I want to start with is a concentration exercise,” she said, jumping
right into things. “Your magic is already a strong current flowing through you.
You’ll not always use it in a circle of protection but out in the open if need
requires it.

“Since you’ll need
to be able to call upon your powers at any given point in time, I want you to
learn to recognize the energy.

“Just close your
eyes now and clear your mind. I want you to try and think of nothing. Use deep
breaths to help calm you, like we use in the meditation rituals at the store.”

I did as I was
instructed, letting my mind drift peacefully, and soon began to feel deeply
relaxed.

“Very good,”
Grandma’s voice said softly after several minutes had passed. “Now keep your
eyes closed and listen carefully. I’m going to start saying random words, and I
want you to think about them like you normally would, visualizing them mentally.
Do you understand?”

I nodded.

“Tree,” she said.

Instantly, my mind
was flooded with the image of a beautiful oak tree in its full green leaves of
spring. I could see the gnarled twisted branches as the sunlight filtered
through the flittering foliage. I could even smell the tree, and I reached out
to touch it.

“Cat,” Grandma’s
voice cut through to me.

Immediately, I was
nuzzling Jinx as she rubbed herself up under my chin. I could hear her purr and
feel the tickle of her whiskers, and it brought a smile to my face.

“Flower,” her
voice came again, and I was leaning over the most beautiful red rose. It hadn’t
completely opened yet, but it was still round and full with the most delicious
scent coming from it. I reached out to grab it and felt one of its thorns sink
into my finger.

“Ouch!” I said,
and I snapped back to reality. I looked at my finger and could see the blood oozing
to the surface. “How in the world…,” my voice trailed off as I questioned what
I was seeing. I glanced at Grandma and Vance, holding my finger up for them to
see too.

“You were
manifesting,” Grandma said, smiling a look of approval at me.

“Okay. What does
that mean?” I asked.

“It means your
powers are much more advanced than we originally thought. Normally, only you
would experience the things you were seeing.”

“You mean you
could see them too?” I asked, surprised.

“We experienced it
just like you did.” Vance held up his pricked finger.

“Amazing!” I said,
truly meaning it.

“Your finger is
bleeding?” Grandma asked him. “Mine isn’t.” She showed us her hand. “What did
you see exactly?”

“I saw myself
reaching out to grab the rose, and it poked me,” he said. “Didn’t you?”

“No,” she replied,
shaking her head. “I saw hazy images of Portia trying to pick a flower
projected in front of me. I find this very interesting that you experienced it
from her perspective. I knew there was something different between you two.”

She stared at him
for a moment, and I wondered if he would tell her his suspicions about us, but
he didn’t volunteer any information.

“Hmm. I’ll try to
do a little research on this later to see if anyone else has kept a record of
such a reaction. Let’s try another exercise for now though.” Grandma picked a
wooden bowl up off the table. She placed it squarely in the middle. “Portia,
see if you can make this levitate.”

She didn’t give me
any further instructions, so I just concentrated on the feelings I had
previously and tried to direct those emotions toward the bowl while thinking of
the word “up” in my mind.

It took a few
seconds, but I began to distinctly notice the bowl starting to wobble a bit
from side to side. I concentrated harder trying to focus all of my energy into
that dish. Instantly it lifted off the table, floating several inches above it.

“Wonderful!”
Grandma said, clapping her hands. “I can’t believe it!”

“Is that good?” I
asked her, not knowing.

“It’s unheard of
on your first attempt. You’ve got much better control of your emotions than one
normally does.”

She bounded around
the table and gave me a hug, while I smiled at Vance over her shoulder.

“Look at the bowl,
Milly,” Vance said, redirecting her attention. Grandma and I both turned to
look at the bowl, which was still floating in the air.

“Are you still
doing that?” Grandma asked, her eyes widening.

I shrugged. “I
guess so. No one told me to put it down.”

“This is amazing,”
Grandma said, looking at Vance.

“I know,” he
agreed with an appreciative look.

“What’s the big
deal?” I asked, not understanding what was so wonderful.

“You kept the bowl
in the air all this time even with us distracting you. That’s usually the sign
of a very accomplished witch.”

“Oh.” I stared at
the levitating object.

“You can put it
down now, show-off,” Vance said teasingly, with a gentle elbow to my ribs.

I concentrated on
lowering the bowl to the table until it softly touched the hard surface once
again without making a sound.

“I’m going to
suggest something a little unorthodox,” Grandma said, tapping her lips with her
fingers.

“All right.” I was
a little apprehensive, wondering what she had in store for me now.

“I want you to
wander around the house, and yard, or wherever. Try to use your magic for
whatever crosses your mind. Don’t hold yourself back, just do anything you feel
like doing.”

“But what about
the Law of Three?” I asked, worried about upsetting some sort of balance and
being punished for it later.

“As long as you’re
not hurting anyone or anything in a bad way, you’ll be fine. The Law of Three
is there as a guideline. It doesn’t necessarily mean something bad will happen
to you or a consequence will be immediate.”

“Then how come you
got warts after casting against your brother?” I asked, not understanding how
it all worked.

She laughed at me.
“Apparently, you didn’t read the part about my mother being the magic behind
that. She was trying to teach me a lesson, and it’s a lesson for everyone
whether they’re magical or not. You get back what you put out there. So if
you’re doing good works, the chances are you’ll reap good works in return. But
if the things you sow are evil, then that’s what you’ll harvest as well.”

“So it’s basically
a metaphor?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around this pearl of wisdom she
was trying to teach me. “It doesn’t necessarily apply to magic?”

“It is a metaphor,
and it can apply to magic depending on the things you’re doing,” she replied.

“I’m confused,” I
said, my head starting to hurt again.

“I’m saying it’s
not absolute, but you should always try to be aware of what you’re doing.”

“So, better safe
than sorry?” I asked.

“Exactly, but
don’t be afraid to use your magic either.”

“Okay,” I said,
thinking I kind of understood what she meant.

The three of us
headed upstairs and I began my wandering, not really knowing what to do. I
tried to concentrate on the energy flowing through me.

I spotted a glass
vase on the mantle. I focused on it and raised my hand slightly into the air,
flicking it. The vase swept off the mantle and landed with a loud crash onto
the wooden floor, shattering into a million pieces.

Instantly, I felt
sorry for breaking Grandma’s vase. “Oh no,” I cried out, and I leaned over to
pick the broken pieces up wishing I could put it back together. I think I was
just as shocked as everyone else when the vase reassembled itself in front of
me. I carefully reached down, picked it up, and gently placed it on the shelf.

“That was
impressive,” Vance said and my grandma agreed.

“Can you do that?”
I asked both of them.

“Yes,” Vance
replied. “But it took me a few days to master it.”

“Days?” Grandma
chuckled, shaking her head slightly. “It took me months.”

Not willing to
risk damaging the house anymore, I ventured out into the yard and walked over
to her flower beds, where the flowers were showing some signs of wilting with
the cooler fall air approaching.

I slowly ran my
finger over one of the plants, and it immediately began turning greener,
standing up straight as the flower burst back into full bloom. I made my way
down the entire flowerbed until it was completely brought back to life.

“I’ve seen
enough,” Grandma said. “It’s clear she has good control over her powers.”

“But I don’t
really know what I’m doing or how I’m doing it,” I complained.

“Maybe not
consciously,” Vance pointed out. “But you do in here.” He pointed to my head. “That’s
what matters. The rest will follow.”

“You two are the
experts,” I said, slumping into a lawn chair. “Now what?”

“I think you just
need to practice things on your own and see what you can find out about
yourself. Each witch’s magic is different from the next one. Just like people
have different physical features, witches and warlocks all have unique powers
that are individual to them. You’ll need to experiment and find out what yours
are. I’ll continue to tutor you on the different herbs we have and what we can
use them for. They’ll help to supplement your natural magic.” Grandma paused a
second. “I also think I’ll give you a little homework assignment. I want you to
write your own spell for something in your Book of Shadows.”

“But I don’t know
anything about writing spells,” I reminded her.

“Spells are all
individual to the witch or the warlock too. It can be anything you want it to
be. Just think about it carefully and then follow your heart and your
instincts,” she explained. “I just want to see what you’ll come up with.”

“All right,” I
said, both a little nervous and excited.

“You two had
better get going. It’s almost supper time,” Grandma said, looking at her watch.

We followed her
back into the house and through to the front door.

“Thanks for
everything, Grandma.” I gave her a hug.

“It’s my
pleasure.” She squeezed me tightly.

“Thanks for
letting me come too,” Vance added as we stepped out the door.

“Anytime, Vance,”
she replied with a smile.

Grandma stood on
the porch watching us while we both walked out to our bikes.

“Guess I’ll see
you tomorrow,” Vance said, casting a quick glance at Grandma, and I knew he
wanted to kiss me goodbye but having her watching was making him nervous.

I reached up and
gave him a quick peck on the lips, even though she was there, lingering for
just a moment to enjoy the feel of his lips pressing back against mine.

“I’m glad you
came,” I said as the breeze stirred up my hair and blew it across my face.

Vance reached out
tenderly and tucked the wayward strands behind my ear.

“Me too.” He moved
away to get onto his motorcycle.

He waited for me
to get my helmet on and start my scooter. Then he gestured for me to go first. I
was surprised when he followed me home, waving to me as he continued on past
our driveway.

I parked in the
garage and then went into the house. My mom was working again this evening, and
Dad had gone off to another “sales meeting,” whatever that meant.

I popped a bag of
popcorn,
poured it into a bowl, and carried it up to my room.

Jinx was snoozing
happily on the bed when I entered. I tried to be quiet, but she still woke up
and did her lazy cat stretch before coming over to greet me with a soft meow
and a nuzzle.