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

by Debora Geary

Copyright 2011 Debora Geary

Fireweed Publishing

Smashwords Edition

It wasn’t the first time in her life Elorie had
wished for magic of her own, and it likely wouldn’t be the
last.

“Sean James O’Reilly, you’ll be walking the
plank, matey.” The illusion spell that had just turned her into a
pirate came complete with growly voice and glinting teeth, so all
she accomplished was sending Sean and his two classmates into
hysterics.

She couldn’t really blame him—witch history
lessons tended to be a little long-winded. Gran had dealt with
plenty of witchling pranks in her years of teaching, but she’d also
had enough power to magically counteract the more embarrassing
stunts.

Elorie was not so blessed, but there was more
than one way to handle a ten-year-old boy. She walked over to the
bookshelf in the corner of her living room and pulled out the
thickest volume of witch history she could find.
The Trials and
Tribulations of Edward C. Millgibbons, Hedgewitch, on his Journeys
about the Countryside.
That seemed like a suitable weapon.

She set the tome down on her coffee table,
pulled out a piece of paper, and began to write in large letters.
HOMEWORK. Then she looked at the book, looked at Sean, and let
loose an evil pirate laugh.

Sean looked at the book in horror. “You can’t
give us homework, Aunt Elorie. It’s summer!”

His twin brother, Kevin, looked at the book with
interest. That figured. He was probably out of stuff to read again.
She’d slip him the book on the sly later, after it had done its job
in encouraging Sean to rethink his spell. Elorie put on her best
pirate scowl and tapped the paper with her hook. Nice touch, the
hook—very realistic. Sean’s spells were improving nicely.

Six-year-old Lizzie was no dummy. “You better
turn her back into a regular person, Sean. Momma says girls don’t
get mad—we get even.”

Out of the mouths of babes, Elorie thought.

Sean was beginning to look concerned. “There
might be a little problem with that.”

Uh, oh.

Kevin shook his head. “You don’t know how to
reverse it, do you?” He punched his brother in the shoulder.
“Idiot. I’ll go find the spell workbook.”

Lizzie hopped down from the couch. “That will
take too long. I’ll go get Granny Moira.” Lizzie was at least one
generation and a couple of cousins removed from being Moira’s
actual granddaughter, but in the Nova Scotia witching community,
those were minor details.

Moira was matriarch and witch historian. And
while she had a not-so-secret soft spot for witch pranksters, her
tolerance for poor magical judgment was a lot smaller. Sean was
right to look concerned.

Elorie went to put a kettle on the stove. Gran
would want some tea. She also took a moment to look in the mirror.
It wasn’t every day you had a grizzly beard and an eye patch. She
grinned at her reflection and headed back to the living room just
in time to see Lizzie bound in the door, Gran following more
sedately behind her.

Elorie kissed Gran’s cheek. “Thanks for
coming.”

Moira giggled like a small girl. “Is that you,
Elorie dear? I assume young Sean is responsible. Lizzie said he’s
having a wee problem reversing the spell.”

“Aye, matey,” Elorie growled, and then added
more quietly, “and sweating about it now.”

“A bit late for that.” Moira headed into the
living room.

Sean was sitting on the couch beside Kevin and
looking very subdued. “Hi, Gran. I think I need help. I didn’t mean
to turn Aunt Elorie into a pirate.”

That earned him dubious stares from everyone in
the room. “Well, I didn’t mean for her to get
stuck
that
way. I just wanted to do it for a minute, but I must have goofed
somewhere.”

Moira looked at him sternly. “What’s the first
rule of magic, Sean O’Reilly?”

“Do no harm.” Sean hung his head and missed the
twinkle in Moira’s eyes.

“And what do you think life would be like for
Elorie if she were a pirate forever?”

Sean looked forlorn. “Well, it would be hard to
make her jewelry with a hook for a hand, and Uncle Aaron might not
want to live with a pirate.”

Elorie thought Sean underestimated her husband’s
fondness for the absurd. She also hoped Gran was about done
torturing the poor boy—the eye patch was getting itchy.

Moira sat down beside Sean. “So, tell me how you
set the spell, and we’ll see about how you might undo it.”

“Can’t you just fix it, Granny Moira?” asked
Lizzie.

Moira looked very serious. “No, my dear, I
can’t. Sean here is quite talented at spellcasting, and I’m not
strong enough to reverse his spell.” She laid a hand on Sean’s
shoulder. “With power comes responsibility to use your magic wisely
and with good judgment.”

Kevin, who had been scribbling furiously in a
notebook, looked up. “I think I know what he needs to do.”

Both Moira and Elorie nodded with approval—it
was good for witches to develop a strong sense of communal
responsibility. Kevin laid his book on the coffee table. He’d drawn
some sort of complicated flow chart. Elorie’s eyes crossed just
looking at it.

Kevin and Sean started talking and gesturing in
some sort of incomprehensible twin-speak. Lizzie sat in Moira’s lap
and played with her antique pendant. Finally Sean looked up. “Okay,
I think I know what I need to do now, but we’re gonna need a
circle.”

Moira rubbed his head. “Indeed. It often takes
more power to undo a spell than to cast it in the first place. Best
you be remembering that. Shall I be joining your circle, then?”

“Yes, please.” Sean’s face shone with pleasure,
and Elorie felt the same in her heart. It was a rare thing for Gran
to join a training circle these days. They all tried to pretend she
wasn’t getting old.

Their circle assembled with the ease of long
practice, and called to the elements. They pushed power to Sean and
held it steady for him to start casting the reversing spell.
Everyday magic at work.

Elorie watched from outside the circle, feeling
the usual small ache of exclusion. The sense of accomplishment was
newer. She’d almost entirely taken over Gran’s role coordinating
witchling training in their little corner of the world. The next
generation was coming along very nicely, and she could be proud of
her part in making it happen. It had taken a while to find her
purpose and make peace with it, but she’d found her way to
belong.

As she watched, Sean’s fingers began to flutter,
and she knew his spell reached readiness. A slight shimmer in front
of her eyes, and she assumed from Lizzie’s grin that her pirate
self had been replaced by plain old Elorie.

The kettle in the kitchen started to whistle.
“Sean and Kevin, go make Gran some tea. Lizzie, you can get cookies
out of the tin for everyone.”

The witchlings scampered off, and Moira winked
at Elorie. “That’s a nice bit of spellcasting by our Sean, and some
lovely circle work as well.”

Elorie grinned. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

~ ~ ~

Moira smiled as she walked back into her
cottage. Elorie was a wonderful witchling trainer. Others in the
community could handle the training of specific magics, but Elorie
was the glue that held it all together. It was a true shame her
granddaughter had no power—she would have handled it well, with
respect and a solid sense of tradition. Too many modern witches
forgot their roots.

Aye, and old witches resisted using modern tools
as well. Moira laughed gently at herself. She sat down in front of
her laptop and made the now-familiar clicks that would take her to
Witches’ Chat. Young Sean’s antics had delayed her a few moments,
and Nell and Sophie were likely already waiting.

“
I seek the ones who share my gifts,

To talk, to learn.

This portal will my power discern,

And let me in, as one of three.

As I will, so mote it be
.”

Sophie:
Aunt Moira,
welcome!

Moira:
Hello to you, Sophie,
and Nell as well. I’m sorry I’m a wee bit late—we had a spell that
needed reversing.

Nell:
Uh, oh…

Moira:
Just witchling pranks.
Young Sean cast a pirate illusion on Elorie. It was quite good,
actually—she looked and sounded quite ferocious.

Sophie:
He’s got plenty of
talent.

Moira:
Indeed he does, and we
haven’t anyone who can keep pace with him for long. I have an idea
to propose to you, Nell.

Nell:
I’m all ears.

Moira:
How would you feel
about bringing some of your young ones on a little trip this
summer? I’m thinking we could have a bit of a summer gathering and
do some intensive witchling training. Sean could use some lessons
from a talented spellcaster—you’d be perfect for that job.

Nell:
Sure, give me the
troublemakers :-)… Nathan has a pretty busy summer, but I could
definitely bring the girls and Aervyn. Let me figure out when we
might be able to make the trip.

Moira:
That would be lovely.
It’s an open invitation—anyone who would like to join you is
welcome, including you, Sophie. Elorie’s thinking about starting a
website to sell her jewelry; I know she’d love to borrow a bit of
your expertise.

Sophie:
She’s welcome to
create her own site, but I’d be delighted to sell her work on mine.
There’s certainly magic in all that sea glass she collects, and it
would be a nice expansion of my current wares.

Moira:
It would be a joy to
see my girls working together again.

Sophie:
One step at a time,
Aunt Moira.

Moira:
Just tucking a little
seed into the dirt, my dear. There’s much love between the two of
you yet, but I know it’s complicated.

Sophie:
Consider it
planted.

Nell:
Speaking of your site,
Sophie, I was thinking of a couple of enhancements to our fetching
spell for Witches’ Chat.

Sophie:
I thought it was
working quite nicely. We’ve had some delightful witches join us in
chat lately.

Nell:
We have, but they’ve
all been actively practicing witches. I was remembering back to
when we pulled Lauren in, how she wasn’t aware she had power.

Moira:
She’s been a wonderful
addition to the witching community.

Nell:
Exactly. I was thinking
that maybe we want to find more like her.

Sophie:
You’re a brave woman.
Supposing we wanted to, how would we do that?

Nell:
I looked at the power
signatures of the witches we’ve been chatting with lately and
compared them to Lauren’s early readings. Hers were strong, but
much less disciplined.

Sophie:
That would make
sense—she’d had no training.

Nell:
Right, and I think we
can use that. I can tweak the spell to seek those with
less-disciplined power traces. We’ll either find witches with less
training, or those who aren’t aware of their gifts.

Moira:
That was a little
rocky last time around, Nell. It’s all turned out for the best, but
I think we were fortunate Lauren didn’t slam the door in our
faces.

Sophie:
I agree, but it’s
tempting—we know there’s a need for it. We’d definitely want to
have someone on tap to go evaluate them, like Jamie did for Lauren.
There’s a lot more to helping an untrained witch than simply
finding her, and we didn’t have much of a plan last time.

Nell:
The girls and I are
working on a virtual scan so we could assess someone remotely, but
we haven’t finished it yet. And Jamie isn’t free to travel this
time—Nat’s been dealing with morning sickness, and I don’t think
he’d want to leave her.