A Hidden Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 2) (29 page)

Elorie watched love and utter discomfort tangle
on Lauren’s face. “But don’t crystal balls show the future? That’s
not one of my talents.”

“It’s a tool, my dear. Nothing more. It will
only speak to a witch of uncommon empathy and good judgment.” Moira
raised an eyebrow at Marcus. “None before you have passed that
test.”

Aervyn grabbed Lauren’s arm. “Take it out and
ask it a question. That’s how it works. Don’t worry. It’s only a
little hocus-pocus.”

Lauren’s face turned crimson as laughter swept
through her audience. “I guess I figured crystal balls were a myth,
just like cauldrons and pointy hats.”

Fortunately she didn’t look up and see all the
glances exchanged at her comment. Elorie could count at least a
dozen faces in attendance who’d polished Gran’s cauldron as a
result of some misdeed or another.

Lauren reached gingerly into the box and lifted
out the clear glass ball. And then nearly dropped it as it started
to glow.

Moira beamed with pleasure. “For a century now,
it’s been waiting for the right hands. Great Gran said it was a
beautiful thing to see lit, and indeed it is.”

Lauren looked completely gobsmacked. Nell
snickered and leaned toward Sophie. “Modern witch, meet really
old-fashioned magic.”

As she watched the crystal ball with wonder and
a smidgeon of jealousy, Elorie tried to put herself in Lauren’s
shoes. Oh, to hold such a piece of history in her hands and see it
light up. “Is she really so uncomfortable with the old ways?”

Sophie smiled. “I suspect she feels like a very
traditional witch I know, the first time she got handed an
iPhone.”

It took Elorie a moment to make the connection.
“Did I really look as terrified as she does?”

“Oh, yeah.” Nell nodded. “Like someone had
handed you a small bomb.”

Elorie tucked that little revelation away to
think about later.

Aervyn was doing his bouncing thing again. “Ask
it a question, Lauren!”

Lauren looked at Moira. “What do I ask?”

“That’s why the crystal ball chooses those with
empathy and good judgment, my dear. You have the wisdom to know the
right questions to ask.”

Lauren closed her eyes for a moment, and then
stared at the ball very seriously. Dozens of eyes watched intently,
but nothing happened. Elorie heard several sighs of disappointment,
but Gran just watched with a gentle smile.

Then Lauren’s eyes filled with tears, and she
spoke very softly to Moira. Moments later, she closed her eyes, and
Elorie felt the nudge of mind connection.

Tears ran unheeded as they all shared what
Lauren had seen in the crystal ball. Gran, sitting in her garden
rocker, with a babe in her arms and two more asleep in the basket
at her feet.

Elorie felt the lifting of a weight she hadn’t
known she carried. Gran will rock our babies. Bless you,
Lauren.

Sophie let out a trembling breath. “I guess
we’re coming to visit next year.”

Lauren gently laid the crystal ball back in the
box. This time she touched it with reverence.

Then she grinned at Elorie. “Your turn.”

Elorie looked down at the small box in her
hands.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the lid. The
birthing stone. Oh, Gran. Clutching the stone, she crossed to
Gran’s waiting arms and buried her head in the shoulder that had
always brought comfort.

“It’s your turn now, sweetling. May it help your
little ones into the world as it has generations of babes since
time unremembered.”

Elorie gripped the moonstone tightly. “Sophie
will need it first.”

Gran stroked her head. “I don’t think so, child.
Twins come a little earlier than most.”

Two babies. Jeebers. As reality suddenly hit,
Elorie melted to the porch floor. How on earth was she going to
manage that?

She watched in a daze as more gifts were handed
out. Lauren delighted in the earrings Ginia had worked on for
several painstaking hours. Gran giggled over the bright pink shirt
that said “World’s Best Grandma.” And everyone sang along when
Aervyn bespelled the flowers into a round of Happy Birthday.

Then Ginia handed Elorie another small box. From
the sudden quiet attention around her, this one was important.

Elorie wasn’t sure her emotions could take any
more. Gran patted her hand. “Go ahead, dearest girl. This is the
best gift of all.”

One more time, she opened a box. And frowned. It
was her new heart pendant.
That’s
what had been niggling at
her all day—the missing weight of it. She touched a hand to her
neck, and Aervyn giggled. “I ported it this morning. Mama says it’s
okay to be a witchling thief if there’s a really good reason.”

Elorie began to understand why someone might
look suspiciously at the contents of a box. “And what else did you
do to it, sweet boy?”

“Wasn’t just me.” Aervyn had somehow found
another brownie. “Lotsa people helped. We needed almost a whole
circle. Shrinking stuff is hard.”

The heart looked the same size as the last time
she’d seen it. She looked around in confusion. All her witchlings
looked very proud. Something was definitely up.

Ginia stood up. “Let me put it on for you.”

Elorie held up her hair as Ginia attached the
clasp, and then stepped back, eyes bright. “Now turn on Net
power.”

Elorie reached into her pocket for her iPhone,
and discovered it was missing as well. Aervyn giggled again. Add
“pickpocket” to his list of magical skills.

Ginia shook her head. “You don’t need your
phone. We put it inside your necklace, along with a couple of other
cool spells.”

Aervyn still danced in excitement. “Yup, we got
the idea from—” He stopped speaking abruptly as Ginia’s hand
clamped over his mouth.

Nell jumped into the sudden silence. “Jamie says
it’s heresy to shrink something as cool as an iPhone, but you
should basically have a permanent Internet connection around your
neck now.”

Elorie struggled to imagine an iPhone inside her
sea glass. Then Nell’s words sank in. A permanent Internet
connection? Her eyes widened as hope and fear both hit. She faced
the fear first. “Will it harm the babies?”

Nell shook her head. “Nope. Ginia embedded a
couple of spells while she was tinkering in that glass heart of
yours. You have one of Moira’s best protection spells in there, and
a sweet little spell to visualize elemental power. You should be
able to see power flows now, even if Kevin’s not around.”

Elorie nodded, trying to take it all in. Her
babies would be safe, and she wore a microscopic computer around
her neck. Or something like that. If what Nell said was true, the
details didn’t matter.

Closing her eyes, Elorie reached for Net power.
Her heart soared as her magic replied. It was hers to call,
whenever she needed it.

Just like every other witch.

She clutched her pendant and looked at the faces
around her. These wonderful, marvelous people had figured out a way
to take down the last barrier between her heart and her magic.

They’d set her free. There was no greater
love.

~ ~ ~

Sophie leaned back against the comforting rocks
of Moira’s hot pool and sighed. Bliss. She’d been waiting for this
all day.

Moonlight shone on the garden, sending the mists
dancing. It was a night for magic. Or perhaps for something a
little different. She snuggled closer to Mike.

He tucked her into the curve of his arm and laid
his free hand on her belly. Sophie smiled. “Our Seedling’s fine.
Nothing’s changed since you checked ten minutes ago.”

Mike chuckled quietly. “I’m not really checking.
Just feeling, I guess. It’s a miracle every time.”

Sophie resisted the urge to drop into light
healing trance with him. They needed to talk. Two people with a
baby on the way couldn’t live thousands of miles apart. And though
her heart ached at the idea of leaving her Colorado haven, she
would if that was the right next step.

Mike laid a finger on her lips. “Shh. I know we
have plans to make, but I have something for you first.”

She smiled as he reached for a nearby flower
stem. Blue hyacinth. A profusion of small buds with a big
message—flower-speak for constancy and steady love. It had always
amused her that such a delicate flower represented the sturdiest of
emotions. A gentle reminder that the man she loved had a steadfast
heart.

Accepting his gift, she held the flower gently
in her hands and reached for a gentle trickle of earth power. She
cuddled into his shoulder as the petals unfurled.

She had just a moment to wonder at the racing of
his heart, and then the flash of light in the petals caught her
breath. “Oh. Oh, Mike.”

Gently she reached in and pulled out a simple
and stunning ring, diamond gleaming in the moonlight.

Mike slid it gently onto her finger. “Marry me,
Sophie.”

She tried to find words.

His hands gently cupped her face. “Seedlings
need roots, and solid ground to stand on, and so do we. Make that
together with me. I love you.”

Sophie beamed at him. Roots and foundations
weren’t the stuff of most marriage proposals, but from one earth
witch to another, they were everything.

She covered her hands with his. “Yes.” It was
the only word she could get out. And the only one that was
necessary.

Elorie slumped into the porch swing and took a
deep breath. The silence was almost deafening. Aaron had just left
with all their guests who needed a ride to the airport. Lizzie’s
father had taken the local witchlings out on his trawler for the
day.

Gran was tucked into her garden, dealing with
the profusion of flowers Mike’s marriage proposal had left behind.
Elorie grinned. Sophie’s magic didn’t run amuck for very many
reasons. Gran had walked into her garden in the early morning and
squealed loud enough for half of Nova Scotia to hear.

It was a joy that would help ease the partings
somewhat.

Elorie swung gently. In a few minutes, she might
get the energy to wander over to her studio, or have a visit with
Gran. For the moment, swinging was about all the energy she could
muster.

“Don’t get too lazy there, niece.” Marcus
stepped out of the door of the inn, a cup of tea in his hand. “I’ve
a spellcoding lesson planned.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Even witches get the
occasional day off.”

“Not when their trainer is leaving in a few
days. The faster you learn, the sooner I’ll be able to go.”

That was a mildly motivating thought. “Can we at
least wait until after lunch? I was about to head to my studio.” It
was only a slight stretching of the truth.

Marcus shook his head. “Jamie will be joining
us, and he’s online, waiting. Come inside. I already have our
laptops set up.”

Elorie touched her heart pendant and sighed.
Even its jazzy new abilities couldn’t save her entirely from the
curse of the laptop. Fighting off what she knew was a fairly
irrational attack of laptop hatred, she hauled herself up from the
swing and followed Marcus back inside.

She’d go sea-glass hunting later. That was the
most effective reward she could think of to keep her bottom in a
chair long enough to get through whatever Uncle Marcus had
planned.

When she saw the Realm logo up on both
computers, she mentally added chocolate to her self-bribe—an entire
bar of the really good stuff.

She sat down in front of her screen and
discovered it was only half Realm. The other half was Jamie’s face
on video chat, and that was a welcome sight, even under the
circumstances.

“Good morning, Jamie. How’s Nat doing?”

He grinned. “Still sleeping. Growing babies must
be hard work. Congratulations, by the way—I hear there’s a baby
outbreak happening in Nova Scotia.”

Elorie laughed. “I think Sophie’s may have been
conceived in Colorado, but Gran is happy to take credit. She claims
her garden is full of fertility this year.”

Suddenly Marcus’s face popped up on her screen
below Jamie’s. It was eerie to have him both across the table and
on her computer. “When you’re done with baby talk, perhaps we can
move on to our lesson for the day.”

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Be nice, Marcus, or I’ll
tell Warrior Girl about your sleeper spell outside her secret
garden.”

Elorie had no idea what that meant, but it was
very effective in improving Uncle Marcus’s manners. Perhaps this
Realm game had some benefits after all. “So, what is it we’re doing
today?”

“We’re going to try to stretch what you did on
the beach,” Marcus said.

Elorie’s eyebrows lifted. “Got an umbrella?”

“Not quite that literally,” Jamie said. “Marcus
said you were able to push magic to Lauren at a distance. We’re
going to see if you can push magic to me while I’m in Realm. We
know you can pull it out, so in theory, this should work.”

“Okay, but I need something to push.”

Marcus grinned—not a pretty sight. “That would
be the spellcoding part of the lesson, my dear. Why don’t you give
that protection spell another try?”

Sigh. For a moment, it had actually sounded like
they were going to have fun. Elorie put fingers to keys and started
to painstakingly craft the lines of code that would create the
beginnings of a spell.

Jamie watched in disbelief. “You’ve been making
her code from scratch? Marcus, that’s evil.”

Elorie froze. “There’s another way to do
this?”

Marcus glared in disapproval. “There are
shortcuts, but I believe there’s good value in learning to properly
code a spell from the ground up.”

Jamie winked at Elorie. “Well, since your method
has her ready to dump half the ocean on your head, let’s give my
method a try, shall we?”

A couple of icons on Elorie’s screen started to
flash. “See those? They’ll get you to some menus that let you pick
up some precoded spell chunks. Stick enough of those together in
the right order, and you can build a pretty decent spell.”