A Hidden Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 2) (5 page)

Uncle Marcus
played video games? He was
good
at video games?

“Yes, quite good, in fact.” Marcus raised an
eyebrow. “But let’s get back to what Nell’s little scan said about
you, shall we?”

Gran’s voice was gentle. “What you picked up
from Kevin’s mind isn’t entirely accurate. We haven’t scanned
Elorie, but Nell would like to. She and her girls built the scan to
give better readings than the fetching spell.”

Moira looked down for a moment, and then met
Elorie’s eyes. “You don’t know this, my beloved girl, but I scan
you myself quite regularly. I’ve always hoped you would come into
the powers to match your witch’s heart.”

Elorie reached out to ease the sadness and
guilt. “I know that—it always makes your eyes sad when you test
me.” She took a deep breath, trying to ease the turbulence in her
stomach. “I’m not a witch. I don’t know what’s wrong with Nell’s
spells, but I can’t believe they could see something you
can’t.”

“I’m not as sure of that anymore, child. I
missed Kevin’s mind powers. Perhaps I missed something in you as
well.”

The slick in Elorie’s gut was almost
overwhelming. “What are you saying?”

Gran took her hands. “Let Nell test you, sweet
girl.”

Elorie would have raged at anyone else who
asked. As it was, she struggled to contain the anguished fury of
the thirteen-year-old girl who had begged and pleaded with the
universe for a shred of power and been denied.

Marcus reached for a cookie. “Alternatively, I’d
be happy to do the honors.”

Over her dead body. She wasn’t a child anymore.
If she had to be tested, she could at least choose how. Trying to
tamp down her roiling emotions, she looked straight at Gran.
“Arrange the test. And when I fail, I want this to be the last. No
more scans, and no more sad eyes. I am what I am, and it needs to
be enough.”

~ ~ ~

Nell slid her chair over to let Ginia fit in
beside her. “Remember, kiddo—this is probably going to be hard for
Elorie.”

“Because Aunt Moira doesn’t think she’s a
witch?”

Murky waters. “Well, none of us really knows the
answer to that question right now. We have two ways of knowing that
are giving us different answers, and that’s a bit tricky.”

“Our code’s right, Mama.”

The trouble was, Nell agreed with her middle
triplet. “One step at a time. Let’s see what the scan says, and
then we’ll have more data to work from. Go ahead and spell us into
video chat.”

Nell had commandeered Jamie and spent all day
working with the three girls, refining and testing the scanning
code. In addition to mind and elemental powers, it now took a
reading on healing and spellcasting talents. They could distinguish
between active, trained power and untrained potential, and even get
a decent estimate of magical strength.

It was a sweet piece of coding, and they’d
tested it on practically every witch in California who owned a
computer mouse.

Mia and Shay were at Jamie’s place, working to
integrate the scans into Enchanter’s Realm. Ginia, who had the
deepest attachment to Moira, had asked to stay for Elorie’s
test.

Nell hoped that wasn’t a really bad idea.

Ginia bounced on the chair beside her. “Hi, Aunt
Moira!”

“Hello, sweetling. And hello to you as well,
Nell.”

Nell could see Elorie’s face. Her eyes were full
of sadness and dread.

Her empathetic witchling could see it, too.
“Don’t be scared, Elorie. The scan is really easy, and we worked
hard all day to make it a lot better.”

A face Nell recognized, but couldn’t name, came
onto the screen.

“This is my nephew Marcus,” said Moira. “I think
you’ve met him a time or two, Nell, but it’s been a while.”

Marcus spoke in a kind of arrogant growl.
“She’ll know me better as Gandalf.”

Ginia gasped and stomped her foot.
“
Oooohh!
You locked me in a high tower yesterday and gave
the key to the evil sorcerer’s apprentice!”

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “
You’re
Warrior
Girl?”

Nell thought he should look a little more
impressed. Ginia, having just displaced Sophie, was now the
number-four-ranked player in the witch-only levels of Realm, and
hot on Gandalf’s heels. Her girl had some mad gaming skills.

“Don’t worry, Mama,” Ginia whispered behind her
hand. “He’s toast—he just doesn’t know it yet.
Nobody
locks
me in a tower and gets away with it.”

Marcus held up his mouse. “Okay, Warrior
Girl—run this scan of yours on me. I want to see how it works.”

Nell leaned forward and hit a few keys. “I’ve
sent a screen-share so you can see the readouts we get.” She nodded
at Ginia to start the test.

The trio of heads on the Nova Scotia end all
squinted at the screen. Marcus read aloud. “Mind powers at moderate
to strong levels. That’s right.”

Elorie pointed at the screen. “Strong air
elementals, weak in water and earth.”

Marcus snorted. “Someone needs to double-check
their code. Air and water are correct, but I don’t have earth
power.”

Ginia glared. “You do so, Gandalf.”

Nell elbowed her witchling. “This is real life,
daughter mine, not the game. No trash talking—show some
manners.”

Moira chortled. “You might keep that in mind
yourself, Marcus.”

Still mutinous, Ginia eyed her archnemesis
through the screen. “Have Aunt Moira test you, then. I bet you do
so have earth power.”

The tone of her delivery earned another elbow,
but Nell couldn’t fault the idea. Marcus raised his eyebrow again.
“That’s not necessary. I’m a trained witch; I can pull any power
sources available to me.”

Ginia crossed her arms. “So pull earth power,
then.”

He gave an arrogant shrug and reached
off-screen, coming back with a closed flower bud in his hand. Nell
smiled. Moira always had flowers nearby. Marcus closed his eyes for
a moment, and then focused on the bud.

Ginia was the only one not the least bit
surprised when the flower very slowly bloomed. Moira gave a
delighted laugh. “I guess you can teach an old witch some new
tricks.”

Marcus studied the flower a moment longer.
“That’s some nice coding you’ve done, Nell.”

Nell grinned. “Wasn’t me. Warrior Girl and her
two sidekicks did almost all the work.”

Marcus scowled. “There are three of you?”

“Yep,” Ginia said. “But if you wanna take on all
three of us, you have to leave the witch-only levels. Fight us
code-to-code. My sisters aren’t witches.”

He almost cracked a smile. “I think I’ll stay
where I have magic on my side, little fighter. I have no doubt the
three of you could take me down coding with one hand behind your
backs.”

It took a moment for Nell, caught up in the
banter between her daughter and Marcus, to notice Elorie’s white
face.

Oh, shit. They had more important things to do
than schedule a Realm take-down. Time to end the agony of waiting.
“Okay, Elorie, you’re up next. Grab the mouse, and let’s see what
we’ve got.”

Elorie sat frozen. Marcus shoved the mouse in
her hand with an impatient arrogance that had Nell gritting her
teeth.

Ginia ran the test, and the numbers popped up on
both screens.

Moira was the first to speak. “I don’t
understand this.”

Nell shook her head. “I don’t either. It says
Elorie has significant power potential, source unknown.”

“Speak English,” Marcus growled.

Ginia stepped into the breach. “It means she’s a
witch, and probably a strong one, but we don’t know what kind. It’s
not any of the types the test can read.”

“So, what can’t your primitive test read?”

Nell growled. No one insulted her kiddos.

“Chill, Mama. He’s just a grumpy old man who
wishes he could code half as good as me.” Ginia ticked off on her
fingers. “It can do elemental, mind, and healing. So that leaves
precog and animal magics.”

Moira shook her head. “Those talents always
develop very young and very hard. We’d hardly have missed Elorie
communing with the spirits or flying with the seagulls.”

Marcus crossed his arms. “Use of those power
sources still leaves traces we should be able to detect. I’ve
scanned Elorie myself. There are no traces.”

“The code hasn’t been wrong yet,” Ginia said
firmly. “And it says Elorie’s a witch.”

Moira’s helpless shrug was a perfect reflection
of how Nell felt. How could you prove the existence of power only a
computer could see?

Marcus was still in arrogant-king-to-peasant
mode. “Are you saying my testing is wrong, little girl?”

Ginia laid her hands on the table in full
Warrior Girl form. “Maybe Elorie is an extra-special kind of witch
we’ve never seen before.”

“Maybe your nine-year-old imagination is
overriding your logic.”

“Maybe your imagination got drowned in a moat
and eaten by crocodiles.”

Steam was going to come out of her daughter’s
head any minute, and Nell wasn’t in any mood to stop her. Hell, she
was a hairsbreadth away from stepping up and holding her cloak.
Pompous old witch.

“Enough.” Elorie started to speak, eyes
anguished. Then the screen went blank. Ginia dove under the desk to
troubleshoot. When she didn’t surface quickly, Nell went down to
help. Ten minutes later, she called Moira’s landline.

No one had any idea what had happened, but
Moira’s computer was entirely cooked.

Elorie sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing
her tired hands. After a full day of jewelry making, she
appreciated both the break and the sublime smells emanating from
the stovetop—the unmistakable scent of basil, melting butter, and
something else she couldn’t identify.

“That smells incredible, sweetie.”

Her husband turned around and grinned, his “I
Cook for Sex” apron splattered in unidentified green stuff. Aaron
was an amazing cook, but not a neat one. “Pesto meatballs and
risotto. It’ll be just another couple of minutes.”

Pesto explained the green goo on the apron.
“Whatever you’re trying to soften me up for, it’s working.”

“You’re just a lucky bystander. I’m making pesto
omelets for breakfast tomorrow, so I blended a fresh batch this
afternoon. I figured I could use some of it to liven up our
dinner.”

“Gran’s totally jealous of your basil patch.
Even with magic, she can’t match it.”

Aaron grinned. “We non-witches have our
skills.”

And he was a constant, solid reminder of that.
Elorie got up from the table and laid her head against his back.
“I’ll miss your cooking while I’m gone. I wish you could come with
me.”

He turned around and popped a meatball in her
mouth. “So do I, but the guests get grumpy when there’s no one here
to feed them.”

While technically they were co-owners of the Sea
Trance Bed & Breakfast Inn, Elorie knew she could slip away for
a week and hardly cause a ripple in the smooth functioning of the
inn.

Aaron, unfortunately, was fairly indispensible,
especially since their most experienced staff person was currently
out on maternity leave. They’d managed to sneak away the night
before to celebrate their anniversary, but a whole week was
unthinkable.

He carried two plates to the table and Elorie
followed, drooling. As they sat down, he reached for one of her
hands and started gently massaging. “Are you all ready for the
show?”

Elorie nodded as she spooned in risotto. She’d
been feverishly preparing inventory for the San Francisco Art Fair
for over two months, ever since her totally unexpected selection as
an emerging artist. Her mentor insisted she would need at least ten
thousand dollars of wares to sell, double that if her sea glass was
popular.

It was mind-boggling to imagine selling that
much in a weekend, but Elorie believed in her art. She had almost
four hundred pieces ready to take with her to California, and her
exhausted hands were evidence of just how hard she had worked.

“I need to go back out tonight and pack up for
the plane, but everything is ready to go.”

Aaron smiled and switched to rubbing her other
hand. “I’ll come out and help you with that. Your booth setup
should arrive in California tomorrow, and Nell’s going to pick you
up at the airport.”

Elorie tried to find the energy to protest. “She
doesn’t need to do that. I can catch a cab.”

“And when was the last time we let a guest take
a cab?”

He had a point. “It will be nice to see everyone
again. I made sea-glass pendants for the girls, since they were so
enamored with mine when I visited in March.”

“They’re pretty magical for young girls. I’ve
seen it here, too. Lizzie would happily have a different necklace
for every day of the week.”

Aaron held out his last meatball. All of hers
had magically disappeared. Maybe her super-secret hidden witch
talent only worked on meatballs.

He tugged her hair, as if following her jumbled
thoughts. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to remind you about all that.”
She’d spent a decent chunk of their night away in tears.

“It wasn’t you, it was the meatballs.” Her
husband, long used to her conversational tangents, waited patiently
for her to start making sense. Rather than explain the meatballs,
she just told him what he really wanted to know.

“I’ve already wasted far too much of my life
hoping to turn into a witch. I’ve held on to that dream for so
long, what happened with the computer scan was bound to affect me
some. But I have a good life, and a really important opportunity
coming up, and I don’t plan to blow it by worrying about stealth
magical powers.”

He just smiled. Aaron was always good for a
sanity check, and when your world was full of witches and spells,
that was a very good thing.

Getting away for their anniversary had helped.
Her adult life had always had two important gravitational pulls.
Her work for and with the witching community was one, and her life
with Aaron and her sea glass was the other. A little time away had
helped her find steady footing again, on entirely non-magical
ground.