A Hidden Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 2) (28 page)

Mike grinned back. “I won’t. You just make sure
Sophie doesn’t decide to take a moonlit walk on the beach.”

“Ha. I have chocolate ice cream. She’ll never
get past me.” Nell ducked back in the window as Aervyn and Ginia
came bouncing out the back door of the inn.

Aervyn looked very alert for a small boy at
midnight. “I was really sneaky. I didn’t wake up anyone.” His
sister shook her head. Clearly a small boy’s standard for sneaky
wasn’t all that quiet.

Elorie came out next, yawning and holding up a
bag. “I have cookies. We ready to go?”

Three generations of witches sneaking off to the
beach on a top-secret mission. Moira had no idea what they were up
to, but she was absolutely delighted. When Mike had recruited her,
she’d taken a nice, long afternoon nap to be prepared. Who said an
old witch couldn’t be ready for anything?

Mike offered his arm for her to lean on, and she
wasn’t too proud to take it. The walk to the beach seemed a little
longer these days.

When they reached the sand, she kicked off her
shoes. It was a glorious night to be barefoot in the moonlight.
This close, she felt Mike call earth power. “I found the perfect
spot this morning,” he said. “I left a marker so I could find it
again.”

Seven-and-a-half decades of life hadn’t dimmed
her curiosity any. What was the dear boy up to?

They walked a little way down the beach, just
past the traditional place for full circles. Mike stopped and
grinned. “This is it.”

He squatted down in front of Aervyn. “Remember,
this is top secret.”

Aervyn nodded solemnly. “Just until tomorrow,
right? I can do it.”

Ginia grinned. “If he can’t, I think I’ve
figured out Mama’s silencing spell.”

Aervyn looked affronted. Moira nodded in
approval as Mike intervened before his troops turned on each other.
He would make a very good father.

Mike looked at Elorie first. “I asked you to
come as an artist, as a witch who can blend spells, and as Sophie’s
oldest friend.”

Then he turned to Moira. She looked in his eyes
and saw love shining there. “I asked you to come as the keeper of
traditions and the grandmother of Sophie’s heart.” Moira could feel
her eyes misting over. She began to understand what they were
about, standing here under the moon.

Aervyn grabbed Mike’s hand. “Why are Ginia and I
here?”

Mike grinned. “Because I need your firepower,
superdude. We’re going to make Sophie an engagement ring.”

Aervyn frowned. “A what?”

Ginia elbowed him. “It’s a ring you give
somebody when you’re gonna get married.”

“Oh.” Aervyn looked at Mike. “Is that because of
the baby? Uncle Jamie and Nat got married right after their baby
showed up in Nat’s belly.”

Mike laughed. “That’s a good reason, but the
best reason is because I love her.”

Aervyn nodded. “Okay. Does that mean you’re
going to kiss her, too? Kissing’s gross.”

Elorie giggled and leaned over to Moira. “I
think he’s been hanging out with Sean and Kevin a little too
much.”

Moira smiled. She’d seen a lifetime of
ten-year-old boys turn into young men mooning over the very girls
they’d scorned for years.

Mike called his troops back to attention.
“There’s a lot of earth magic needed to make a diamond, and that’s
what the three of us will do,” he said, motioning to the two
children. “Can you feel the big chunk of carbon down below us?”

Aervyn scrunched up his eyes for a moment. “Yup,
but that’s awfully big for a ring, and it’s kinda ugly.”

“That’s cuz it’s not a diamond yet, silly.”
Ginia looked at Mike. “We’re gonna squish it, right?”

Mike nodded. “Aervyn, can you see the picture in
my mind? We’re going to squish that big rock down to this really
tiny shape, and then it will get all sparkly and pretty.”

Moira hadn’t known such magic was possible.
Aervyn closed his eyes for another moment, and then nodded. Clearly
he didn’t have any doubts.

Mike looked next to her granddaughter. “Elorie,
I’m hoping you can visualize a setting for the diamond.” He held
out a thin band of gold. “This was my grandmother’s ring. We’ll
give you the power you need, but if you can shape it into something
pretty, I’d really appreciate it. I’m no artist.”

Elorie’s eyes shone, ready to make a gift for
the sister of her heart.

Ah, the boy was well rooted in tradition. Such a
wonderful partner he would make her darling Sophie. Perhaps she was
simply here to stand in witness.

Mike reached for her hand. “And if you would,
I’d like for you to bless the ring.”

That she could do, and with a heart abounding in
pleasure. “I can do that when you’re done, my dear. I’ve the
blessing spell of my grandmother in my heart—I think that one will
do nicely.”

“I was hoping…” Mike paused as emotion swept his
face. “I was hoping you could cast a blessing as we build the ring.
Elorie could meld it right into the diamond and the gold.”

Moira’s heart wobbled as she realized what he
wanted. The oldest of traditions, and the oldest of blessings,
united by the newest of magics.

She readied an old Irish blessing spell, and
then pulled down a bit of moonlight. It would make Sophie’s diamond
shine just a little brighter.

Marcus could feel giggles tickling his mind
channels. They were rather at odds with the dark and stormy book he
was reading, so he sent a quick probe out to see who the happy
troublemakers were.

It surprised him to discover Aervyn.
Four-year-olds got involved in all manner of silly things, but this
one usually had rock-solid mental barriers. He must be highly
preoccupied to let stray giggles escape.

Curious, Marcus reached out a little further and
discovered why Aervyn’s mind was leaky. The little scoundrel was
eavesdropping. Nell, Sophie, and Elorie were having iced tea in the
garden, and the two youngest witchlings were spying on them.

All things were fair when a witchling wasn’t
minding his mind-witch manners. Picking the easier of his two
targets, he linked quietly with Lizzie’s mind and listened to their
conversation.

“See,” Aervyn said, in a whisper that sounded
very loud to Marcus’s enhanced channels, “they’re the same. And
Mama doesn’t have one, cuz she says I’m all the trouble she
needs.”

“Not exactly the same.” Lizzie was a highly
precise witchling, a trait Marcus normally appreciated—when he knew
what she was talking about. “Sophie’s is bigger.”

Marcus looked at the three women, trying to
puzzle out the mystery. What did Sophie and Elorie have that Nell
didn’t? The only answer he could come up with was bikinis, and he
was pretty sure swimwear fashion wasn’t the cause of idle witchling
conversation.

“Can you look again?” Lizzie said. “I want to
see if the other one has a penis, too.”

Aervyn’s giggles should have been heard in the
next county. “That’s not a penis, silly. It’s a tail. Mama says
babies have tails when they’re really little.”

Babies
? Marcus scowled, book forgotten.
What on earth were they doing? Halfway out of his chair to nab the
troublemakers, the mindlink he shared with Lizzie blazed, and
Aervyn’s incoming link clicked into place.

Hey, Uncle Marcus,
said Aervyn, clearly
unconcerned to find him lurking in Lizzie’s head.
Do you wanna
see the babies too
?

What babies?
There were plenty of babies
to be found in Fisher’s Cove, but none of them appeared to be
hanging out with the trio of women in question.

A very clear picture came down the mindlink.
That’s Sophie’s baby,
Aervyn sent.
Elorie’s babies are
newer, so they still look kinda strange
.

Marcus gawked at the small, alien creature on
his mental screen.
That
was a baby? It looked a lot more
like the shrimp he occasionally pulled in off his boat.
Are they
supposed to look like that
?

More mental giggles from Aervyn as Marcus
belatedly realized that was an eternally stupid question to be
asking a four-year-old.

With small drips of sanity leaking back into his
brain, he also realized Aervyn was doing something most trained
healers would walk over hot coals to be able to do. And as far as
he knew, healing wasn’t on the boy’s very long list of talents.
How are you doing that
?

Mind magic,
Aervyn said.
Lauren can do
it too, once the babies get a little bigger. She can see Nat’s baby
now. Can you see them
?

Marcus didn’t bother to try. He knew when he was
hopelessly outclassed.
Not at all, my boy. I wait until they
show up on the outside to take a look
. That might not be
entirely true, but he surely wasn’t going to peer into a pregnant
woman to find out. He began walking toward the flowerbed that hid
the two schemers. Time for
them
to stop invading everyone’s
privacy as well.

Aervyn grinned as he arrived. “Let’s go tell
Elorie about her babies. They’re kinda ugly, but don’t tell her
that. Mama says that makes girls cry, so I gotta use good manners
and skip that part.”

Marcus was pretty certain that eliminated any
comparisons to shrimp as well. He sighed. “Let’s go fetch Aaron
first, shall we? I imagine he’ll want to know too.”

~ ~ ~

Elorie grinned at Sophie. “You think Gran’s ever
going to put her knitting needles down?”

“Are you kidding?” Sophie leaned over for
another treat. “With three babies on the way, she’s threatening to
teach Lizzie how to knit too. Here, have a brownie. Chocolate’s
good for babies.”

Elorie quirked an eyebrow. “Is that the healer
witch talking, or the pregnant mama?”

“Does it matter?” Nell sat down beside Sophie,
grabbing a brownie on the way. “Although I swear I craved chocolate
more when I was pregnant with the girls than with my boys. Boys
just don’t have the chocolate gene.”

Elorie giggled and pointed at Aervyn, currently
running around the inn’s back yard with a face smeared in
chocolate. She wasn’t convinced.

Nell laughed. “So it’s not a perfect
theory.”

Mike walked out into the yard and snagged
Aervyn, deftly avoiding the chocolate smears. “I need your help,
kiddo. Can you be a witch megaphone?”

“Sure. What’s that?”

“I need you to call everyone back now. It’s time
for presents, and some people went down to the beach and into the
village. Can you mindspeak a call that far?”

PRESENTS! COME BACK FAST!

Elorie clapped her hands to the side of her head
as Aervyn’s very loud mental call rang out. Well, that ought to
bring every able-bodied person in a hundred miles.

Mike, standing at ground zero, pretended to fall
over dead on the ground, grabbing Aervyn on his way down. The
tickles would have been funnier if Aervyn wasn’t still mind
connected with everyone. As a lot of people around Elorie
discovered, covering your ears just wasn’t that helpful when
someone was mind giggling at top volume.

Aervyn!
Lauren’s mind voice was a lot
quieter, but very insistent.
You’re hurting our heads, Super
Boy
.

The giggles shut off abruptly, followed by a
much more quietly broadcast apology.
Sorry. I think I got a
little excited. I’m a’posed to be working on that. But you should
all come, because there’s some really cool presents. Not for me,
cuz it’s not my birthday. But there’s chocolate cake, even if it’s
not your birthday
.

Moira beckoned Aervyn. “You did a lovely job,
sweet boy. Come sit by me. I’ll share my chocolate cake with you.
Ginia, love, would you run inside and get my bag?”

Elorie looked around. Witches had literally come
out of the woodwork. There were almost a hundred people finding
places to sit on the porch, the steps, or a spare patch of
grass.

A hundred faces she knew and loved. She touched
a hand to her belly. These were the people who would know her
children and love them well. In Nova Scotia, villages still raised
children—and in the witching community, they always had.

Aaron’s hand reached down to cover hers.
“Getting used to the idea yet?”

Elorie reached up for a kiss. Used to it? She
was already figuring out how to squeeze two bassinets in her
studio. Not that sleeping babies in Fisher’s Cove ever seemed to
make it to a bassinet. There were lots of arms willing to rock a
baby, and they’d have to get past Gran to do it.

Ginia was back with Moira’s bag, and a hush
settled on the waiting crowd. Gran’s presents were legendary. She
pulled out two boxes, handing the larger one to Lauren, and the
other to Elorie.

You first,
Lauren sent.

Elorie shook her head. She knew what Lauren’s
box contained, and how very special a moment this was for Gran. You
first, my new sister.

Lauren slipped the lid off her box and looked at
the contents in mystified silence. Then she looked up at Moira,
confusion all over her face. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Aye, lass. It’s my great-grandmother’s crystal
ball. She sent it with me to travel across the sea. It’s waited
more than a century for new hands, but it began to glow when you
arrived. It’s meant to be yours now.”

Lauren stared at the box in her lap like it
contained eye of newt or something. “Sophie got here at the same
time I did. Maybe it’s really for her.” She looked at Moira in
consternation. “I’m so sorry—that came out wrong. It’s one of your
family treasures. It should stay in your family.”

Marcus snorted. “Do they teach you new witches
nothing?”

“Hush, nephew. What she doesn’t yet know is our
lacking, not hers.” Moira leaned forward and took Lauren’s hand.
“In every way that matters, child, you are family. I would be
delighted for you to have one of my treasures, and this one chose
you.”