The Wizard Returns: Book Three of the Wizard Born Series (2 page)

Bryce frowned. “I have to hide mine. I can’t let my parents know about it.” Then he grunted a laugh. “And my dad wouldn’t be too happy about it. Might put him out of business.”

“I thought he was a heart specialist,” Jamie said.

Fred elbowed Jamie. “Tanisha’s coming back. We need to change the subject.”

Tanisha slid into the booth and said, “Melanie, I was just talking to one of the waitresses a minute ago. She said they’re always looking for new servers. Do you still want a job?”

“I can’t get one right now, because my parents won’t let me. They want me to keep my grades up. I’m still in the running for valedictorian, and that will help me get more scholarship money.” She looked across the room at a waitress carrying drinks to a table. “But as soon as cheerleading is over, I will.”

“Then we can get free pizza?” Rollie flashed a hopeful smile. Fred glared at him and his smile vanished. “Guess not.”

* * *

Rachel Sikes looked around her crowded family room and did a quick head count of everyone present.
Okay, there’s me, Carl, Jamie, Lisa, Larry, Fred, Bryce, and Melanie
. “Is everybody here now?”

“Is Gramma coming?” Jamie asked.

“She’s volunteering today at the food bank with Grannie Darla.”

“Are we going to tell Grannie Darla and Granddaddy Pete tonight about the magic?”

“I think it’s time we did.” Carl pulled out his cell. “Is everybody ready? I’m going to text John Paul.”

“Is he meeting us there?”

Carl nodded while he tapped his phone. Then he looked up and said, “Okay, Jamie. Make the doorway.”

“Everybody grab a box or a bag,” Fred said.

Jamie went to the middle of the room and made the now-familiar outlines of a glowing doorway. He pushed it open, then stepped aside and gestured at it. “Who wants to be first?”

“I’ll go,” Carl said. He picked up an empty cardboard box from the floor and walked into the open portal, followed by Jamie and the others.

Rachel waited until last to go with Lisa. They stepped through to find themselves in a weedy yard before a squat wooden house with a small porch. Sitting on the front steps was John Paul Lambeau, the police officer who helped rescue Fred from the two witches.

“Welcome to Thibodaux,” John Paul said as he rose to greet them. His serious face was tanned and his eyes were dark brown. He was not as broad in the shoulders as Carl, but he was wiry and tough-looking. He wore his blue uniform, his gun belted at his waist. His police car was parked off to the side in the high grass beside the witches’ old Ford LTD. He and Carl shook hands and grinned.

“Glad you could make it, John Paul,” Carl said. “You remember Lisa and Larry, don’t you?”

John Paul shook their hands. “Of course. That was a nice dinner you fixed for me last week, Mrs. Callahan.”

“Please, for the umpteenth time, call me Lisa. You should have dinner with us again, soon.”

“I will. Sure beats bachelor cooking. Just get Jamie to make a doorway for me, and I’ll be there.”

Carl introduced Bryce and Melanie while Larry stood with his hands on his hips and scrutinized the shabby house. “So this is it?” Larry said. “Not much to look at, is it?”

Fred narrowed one eye. “This is the first time I’ve seen it in the daylight. I don’t think Rita and Cassandra were too interested in making the cover of
Southern Living
.”

Carl started up the steps. “Let’s go inside. Is it still locked?”

“Yes,” John Paul said. “I tried it when I got here.”

“What’s going to happen to this place now that no one’s living in it?”

“I did some checking. The house is in Isabella’s name. She was the witch that got killed, remember? It’s paid for, so it’ll just sit here until the property taxes get too far in arrears. Then the county will auction it off. Could take years, though, knowing how things work around here. This is Louisiana, after all.”

Jamie walked up the steps to the front door. “I wonder if Rita’s wards are still in place. Fred, can she feel them on the other world? Will she know we’re here, trying to get in?”

“Good question. I really don’t know. Doesn’t matter, though.”

“We should do an experiment sometime. You could make a ward at your house, and I could make a doorway and —”

“Jamie, skip the science lesson and unlock the door!”

“Hmph.” Jamie shrugged. He touched the lock and it clicked, then he turned the knob and opened it. He walked inside and everyone followed, carrying their boxes or bags.

Rachel stepped into the dark front room and wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. What’s that smell?”

“Cigarettes and beer, and probably kitchen garbage that never got taken out,” John Paul said. “Smells like that bar they used to go to, the Rusty Screw.” He flicked the wall switch and the lamp by the door came on. “Power hasn’t been turned off yet.”

Rachel surveyed the room. It had red-painted walls and dark, heavy furniture, the largest of which was a black vinyl couch, spotted with cigarette burns. The shelves were covered with books, knickknacks, and stubby candles. Every surface seemed to be cluttered with junk. “I guess they weren’t neat freaks, were they?”

Melanie picked up an empty Jack Daniels bottle from the coffee table. “They weren’t Martha Stewart wannabes, either.”

“I want to see where they held you prisoner, Fred.” Lisa’s face was tight and her eyes were flinty.

“It’s back here.” Fred led them down the hall to an open doorway. They all filed in and examined the sparsely furnished room that served as Fred’s prison cell for two terrible weeks during December. The walls were bare, and the only furniture was an old iron-framed bed, a dresser, a washstand, and a bedside table. A single window was near one corner, and on the floor was a dented white chamber pot.

“Is that the pot you hit the guy in the head with?” Bryce asked.

Fred nodded. “As hard as I could.”

Melanie scowled. “You should’ve hit him some more.”

“I was too busy getting him off of me before I suffocated. He was as big as a whale.”

Rachel eyed the chain on the floor that was fastened to the bedpost. “Fred, is that what they put on your leg? It’s awful!”

Fred nodded again, her face grim.

Larry picked it up and his eyes grew hard. “It’s a good thing I didn’t come with you to rescue her, Carl. I don’t know what I would’ve done. I might’ve killed them.”

“No you wouldn’t. If anybody would’ve, it would’ve been Fred.”

“We still can,” Fred said. “Jamie, why don’t you make a doorway to that world where you banished them and —”

“Some other time, Fred,” Carl said forcefully. “Right now, we need to get the books and stuff and head back home.”

Fred stood with her arms crossed, her jaw tight. “Okay.” She sniffed, and Rachel thought she saw a tear in the corner of Fred’s eye. Fred turned away and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. “But don’t expect me to forgive them anytime soon. It’s hard to forget about being chained up, tortured and starved for two weeks.”

“We don’t want you to forgive them,” Carl said. “Let’s just get what we came for and get out of this dump.”

“What are we looking for, Fred?” Bryce said, holding an empty black plastic garbage bag.

“All of the books and anything that looks like an herb or might be usable in a potion or powder. Those will probably be in little bags or jars.”

“How will we know if it’s a spell book?” Melanie said.

“It’s the only kind of books they had. I don’t think they were much into novels.” Fred frowned. “Fashion magazines, maybe, but not much else.”

They split up into the different rooms. Rachel and Lisa went into one of the witches’ bedrooms. Lisa’s face was pinched as they eyed the mess. “Ugh! I wish we’d brought rubber gloves.”

Clothes were strewn everywhere: over the bed, a chair, the two dressers, and in deep piles on the floor like snow drifts. Lisa gingerly picked up a black leather bra from a heap near her foot, holding it as if it were toxic.

“I think hazmat suits would be more appropriate,” Rachel said. She put her hands on her hips and sighed deeply. “Well, let’s get this over with.” She lifted a pile of clothes from the nearest dresser and searched for anything useful.

Lisa opened the drawer of the nightstand. “Nothing but an empty cigarette pack and a lighter and...eww! A condom.” She looked at Rachel and made a face of pure disgust. “A used one.”

“We may find worse in here before we’re done.” Rachel toed a pile of blouses and underwear, reluctant to touch it with her hands after Lisa’s discovery.

“How about this?” Lisa held up a plastic zip-topped bag with a small amount of a dark green substance lining the bottom.

“That looks like pot.” Rachel called, “Carl?”

He stepped into the room and Lisa showed him the bag. He opened it, took one sniff and said, “That’s pot. I’ll flush it.”

Rachel and Lisa stared at each other as he left the room. Lisa shook her head and said, “I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Rachel set her jaw and began pulling open drawers from one of the dressers. “Let’s hurry and get out of here.”

Bryce was the last to step back through the magic doorway back into Rachel’s family room, his arms laden with heavy, leather-bound books.

Jamie counted heads, and apparently satisfied, gestured at the portal and it winked out.

“That was
disgusting
,” Melanie said, flapping her hands and grimacing. “Fred, you were held prisoner by the worst lowlifes ever!”

“How many spell books did we get?” Fred asked.

“Seventeen, I think,” Bryce answered, setting his load on the floor.

“Larry,” Lisa said, “where are we going to keep them?”

Fred answered for him, “I thought we could keep a couple on the coffee table with the travel books. They’d make good conversation starters.”

Carl laughed and Larry said, “We’re going to hide them somewhere in the basement, of course.” He turned to Fred and shook one finger at her. “No one outside of our little group is to know about these. No one! Do you understand?”

“Of course, Dad.” Fred rolled her eyes. “I’m not stupid, you know. Besides, the oath should apply here.”

“I’ll get a couple of footlockers with padlocks. That should do the trick.”

“How about the herbs and stuff?” Melanie held up a small green jar, half-filled with dark powder.

“We can keep those in the kitchen,” Fred said. “That’s the best place to make potions and stuff.”

Melanie pulled out another jar from the box at her feet and read the label. “Dried salamander tongue? Do you really want to keep that in your pantry?”

“I’ve heard that’s good in chili,” Jamie said with a straight face.

Lisa gave Jamie a narrow-eyed look. “We’ll keep that stuff in the basement, too.” Then she glared at Fred. “You are not to make anything without adult supervision, young lady. No spells, potions or powders. Do I make myself clear?”

“How about amulets?”

Lisa bared her teeth at Fred and shook both fists. “Nothing! No magic without me or Larry around.”

“Mom, what difference would that make? You have no idea what I’m doing, so you don’t know if I’m doing something dangerous or not.”

Lisa closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. “Fred...just do as I say, okay? We only want you to be safe.”

“And the rest of us to be safe, too,” Larry said.

Fred and Larry exchanged glares for a long, tense moment. Finally, Rachel said, “I agree with them, Fred. That way you can still do your magic, but your parents won’t worry about you so much.”

Fred glanced at Rachel, gave her head a tight shake and said, “Fine. Whatever.”

“Okay,” Rachel said. “Carl and Jamie, we need to go home and finish cleaning up before Granddaddy Pete’s party.”

“Are you going someplace special?” Melanie asked.

“I thought we’d go back to Waikiki,” Jamie said.

“Waikiki?” Her lower lip poked out. “I’m jealous.”

“I’m sorry you can’t go with us, but we’re trying to keep it small tonight. Dad thinks Granddaddy will take the news about the magic better if we don’t overwhelm him with a crowd.”

Melanie’s lip pushed out farther, and Jamie added, “We can go some other time. Maybe we can double date. You, Bryce, Fred, and me.”

“I’m all for that,” Bryce said and clapped Jamie on the shoulder. “Still going running with me tomorrow?”

Jamie rolled his head and groaned. “Oh man, I’m so out of shape.”

“Have you been running this week?”

“Just once. It’s hard when I’m working afternoons at the vet.”

“You’d
better
be running. Track practice starts soon.”

Chapter 2

Carl led his gray-haired father and mother from the front door to the family room, where everyone waited.

Jamie jumped up from the couch and greeted them warmly. “Hey Granddaddy Pete and Grannie Darla.”

Carl’s mother-in-law Evelyn was there, along with her twin sister Connie and Connie’s husband, Ray.

“I see the Callahans are here,” Pete said with a nod toward Larry and Lisa, sitting at the table. Fred stood past them in the kitchen doorway, chatting with Rachel, who had one hand on the refrigerator door handle.

“We’re going someplace special tonight, Dad,” Carl said. “I don’t think you’ve been there before.”

Jamie held up a Bible. “But first, you have to swear an oath.”

“To go out to dinner?” Pete’s brow furrowed. “Are you pulling my leg?” Then he grinned. “Oh, I get it. It’s a practical joke. A birthday joke, like edible underwear.”

“Nope.” Jamie set the Bible on the coffee table. “You really have to swear an oath. Both of you do, Grannie Darla, ’cause we’re going to show you something special, and you can’t tell anybody about it.”

Ray sat up on the edge of the couch. “I’ll be right there with you, Pete, in case you have as hard a time with it as I did.” A grin split his narrow face. “But dang, once you get used to it, it’s beyond amazing.”

Pete, his mouth partly open, looked at Ray suspiciously, then turned to Carl. “Okay, son, the joke’s gone far enough.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not a joke.” Carl pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and unfolded it. “This is the oath Rachel and I had to say when Jamie showed this special thing to us, back in September.”