Shadow Witch (23 page)

Everyone else quickly followed, and Jamie closed the doorway behind him and looked around. The air felt noticeably different, thick and humid, with a taste of salt on the warm breeze from the nearby ocean. They were in a parking lot framed by a few small stores, the nearest one with a sign out front — The Bean Shop. Fred strode toward it without hesitating and Melanie and Sammi went with her, Sammi holding Fred’s hand and skipping at her side.

“Hey,” Rollie said. “Hold on. Shouldn’t we talk about this first? I mean, what are we going to say to her when we meet her?”

Fred looked over her shoulder and said without breaking stride, “Hello?”

“Come on, dude.” Bryce grabbed him by the arm and nudged him toward the coffee shop. “You act like this is going to hurt.”

Jamie went last as they headed to the small brick building. They filed inside, and it was nearly deserted, except for one girl sitting at a small table in the far corner, holding a large Styrofoam cup of coffee. She had dreadlocks and her eyes were narrowed. Fred walked directly to her and held out her hand. “You must be Nova. I’m Fred.”

Fred quickly introduced the others, and Bryce said, “Let’s get some coffee before we sit down.”

Jamie handed Bryce a ten dollar bill. “Get me my usual. Get Fred some, too.”

“How about me?” Sammi held up some bills. “Can I get something? Mr. Callahan gave me three whole dollars!”

Melanie nodded toward the service counter. “Let’s see what they have for kids.” They went with Bryce and Rollie while Jamie and Fred stayed behind.

“What’s with the squirt?” Nova said without offering them a seat.

Fred lowered her voice. “She’s our little runaway.”

Nova’s eyes became narrower. “You’re joking.”

“Nope. She really is.”

Jamie took the opportunity to look closer at the strange girl. She was slim, with honey-colored skin and delicate features. She wore a tie-dyed T-shirt, faded cutoff jeans, and flip flops. Her brown hair was what really stood out — shoulder-length dreadlocks, with a few bleached nearly white at the ends. She had tiny jingle bells woven into a couple, and little bows and feathers in some others.

“Uh,” Jamie said, “is this the only place you could find to meet with us?”

She gave a small shrug. “I like it here. What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s not very private. We have some...uh, sensitive things to talk about.”

“Sensitive,” she said flatly, her light brown, challenging eyes locked with Jamie’s bright blue ones. “We can talk about them right here.”

“Not these things, we can’t,” Fred said. “Believe me.”

“Why should I?” Nova raised her chin.

Sammi ran over from the counter carrying a tall plastic soda cup with a straw poking out of the cap. “Come on, Nova.” She went around to Nova’s side of the little square table and took her hand. To Jamie’s surprise, Nova let her. “Go with us. It’ll be fun, I promise!” Sammi beamed her biggest smile at Nova, dimples showing and her dark eyebrows raised expectantly.

Jamie almost laughed.
She can’t say no to that
.

Nova closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “Oh...sure. Whatever. I just hope you guys aren’t part of some kind of creepy cult or something.”

Sammi dragged Nova up from her seat and they all filed out the door, cups in hand, and went back behind the building next door.

“Before we do anything,” Melanie said to Nova, “you have to say an oath.”

Nova’s expression turned wary again. “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.” Fred pulled a small white Bible from her purse. “Do you go to church?”

“No.”

“Uh...do you believe in God?”

“Kinda sorta.”

Fred turned to Jamie. “What do you think? Will it work?”

“Let’s try it and see what happens.”

Fred held the Bible close to Nova, but Nova stepped back and said, “I’m not doin’
nothin’
’till you explain why.”

“You have to swear this oath so that you won’t tell other people what we’re going to show you today,” Bryce said. “Melanie and I did it.”

Nova eyed the Bible dubiously, but Sammi grabbed Nova’s arm and placed her hand on the white book. “It’s okay,” Sammi said reassuringly.

“It’s pretty cool, actually,” Rollie said. “Feels good. You’ll see.”

Nova hesitated, then she gave her head a tight shake and the bells in her hair tinkled. “Okay. Just do it.”

She put her palm on the Bible, and Jamie, Fred, and Rollie laid their hands on top of hers. Fred handed Nova a slip of paper. “Read that.”

Nova scanned it and frowned. “Part of it says ‘in the eyes of God and my friends’, but you’re not my friends.”

“Yes we are,” Sammi said, bobbing her head. “You just don’t know it yet.”

Nova opened her mouth as if to reply, but the undeniable certainty on Sammi’s face must have changed Nova’s mind. “Okay. I’ll say it.” She took a short breath and read aloud, “I solemnly swear in the eyes of God and my friends to never tell or reveal to anyone what I am about to see and hear today.”

Jamie felt the familiar tingle in his hand and watched as the golden glow flowed up his arm. He noticed that it flowed up Nova’s, too.
That’s a good sign
.

Nova jerked back and stared at her fingers. “What in the hell was that?”

Sammi’s eyebrows drew down deeply. “You said a bad word.”

“I couldn’t help it.” Nova looked back and forth from Jamie to Fred. “What was it?”

“That was real magic,” Fred said.

“You’re kidding.”

“You don’t have to keep saying that, and no, I’m not.” Fred pointed at Jamie. “He’s a sorcerer and I’m a witch. So is Sammi.”

Rollie raised his hand. “Don’t forget me. I’m a wizard, too, kinda.”

“I forgot. Rollie, too, but not Bryce or Melanie.”

Nova’s eyes narrowed to slits. “No way.”

“It’s true,” Jamie said, “and we know you’re a witch, too. That’s why we’re here.”

“How could you know that? I don’t tell anybody that,
ever
.”

“Sammi heard you talking with your mom. That’s why we think it was important for us to meet you.”

Nova rounded on Sammi and glared at her. “How could you hear me and my mom
?
”

“I’m a Shadow Witch.”

“A what?”

Bryce waved one hand urgently. “Can we talk about this somewhere else? We look suspicious hanging around behind this building.”

“Let’s go to my house.” Jamie said. “Fred, you should twirl your pendant while I make the doorway, just in case.”

“Let me!” Sammi put her hand on her half-moon necklace. Fred nodded and reached into her purse again, pulled out another woven bracelet and handed it to Nova. “Put this on so the spell from the necklace won’t affect you.”

Nova took it, gave it a quick, squinty-eyed look, and slipped it on. “Pretty stylish. What is it, Dollar Store chic?”

“Yep.” Fred nudged Sammi. “Are you going to do that or not?”

Sammi spun her pendant while Jamie quickly traced another glowing doorway on the brick wall behind them and pushed it open.

Nova gaped at it and shook her head. “What...what is
that?
”

“It’s a magic portal to my backyard. Let’s hurry before anybody sees it.”

“But...where...what...uh....”

Everyone walked through the doorway, but Nova held back until Sammi took her hand, smiled reassuringly at her and guided her forward.

Jamie closed the portal as soon as Sammi and Nova stepped onto the grass of his yard. “This is it,” he said. “This is where I live.”

“Rollie lives right across the street and I live two doors down from him,” Fred said.

Nova, still holding Sammi’s hand, gazed about with her eyes and mouth wide. “Where are we?” she said weakly.

“Hendersonville,” Bryce said. “We came to Jamie’s house because nobody can see us back here with the wooden fence and bushes and stuff.” He turned to Jamie. “Why don’t we sit in the gazebo, Jamie?”

“There are only three chairs.”

“I’ll run inside and get your folding chairs. Is anybody home?”

“My mom.”

“I’ll be right back. Don’t start without me.” Bryce handed his cup of coffee to Melanie, jogged up the steps of the deck and went inside.

“We can’t be in Hendersonville, can we?” Nova said. “That’s way on the other side of the state.”

“Got GPS on your phone?” Rollie said.

Nova pulled hers out of her back pocket, tapped the screen and frowned. “Damn.” She glanced up at Rollie and looked back at her phone, her face incredulous.

Sammi wrinkled her nose at Nova. “You said another bad word.”

“I can’t help it! This is so...so...
crazy
. And you guys act like it’s nothing.”

“You get used to it,” Rollie said. “Let’s get out of this hot sun and sit in the gazebo. Then we can tell you everything.”

It was over an hour and a half before there was a lull in the talking. Nova turned in her chair and looked at Sammi, who was happily swinging away on the playset at the back of the yard. “Can she really hear people talking from anywhere?”

“Even other worlds,” Fred said, “as long as they’re in a strong shadow, like this one.” She gestured at the ceiling of the gazebo. “She may be eavesdropping now. Let’s see.” She looked at Sammi and lowered her voice to a near-whisper. “Sammi, are you listening to us?”

“No,” Sammi yelled from the swing.

Nova laughed, the first time Jamie had heard her do that. “Unbelievable,” Nova said.

“That’s her power,” Fred said. “That’s what a Shadow Witch can do.”

“And you’re a Dream Talker.” Nova shook her head slowly. “Amazing.”

“Sammi heard you talking with your mother, so we think you must be important to her, and us, somehow,” Jamie said. “She wouldn’t have heard you otherwise.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“We’re not sure of anything,” Melanie said, sitting in a wooden rocker next to Fred.

“We’re still collecting data and formulating our hypothesis,” Jamie said.

“Collecting data?” Nova turned to Fred and furrowed her brow. “Does he always talk like this?”

Fred reached over and patted Jamie on the thigh. “He’s my geeky boyfriend. I just keep him around ’cause he’s so cute.”

Nova smiled, and Jamie realized that she waspretty when she wasn’t trying to maintain a tough, cynical front.He looked at Rollie, who was watching her closely.
I bet he thinks so, too
.

Everyone turned when they heard the back door open. Rachel walked toward them, carrying a tray with a pitcher and paper cups and a plate loaded with something. “I brought you some lemonade and cookies,” she said when she neared them. “I thought you might want a snack.” She set the tray on the small wooden table next to Jamie and said to Nova, “You must be the new witch everybody’s so excited about. I’m Mrs. Sikes.”

Nova leaned forward and shook Rachel’s hand, then sat back in her chair.

“We’re glad you’re here,” Rachel said. “I should go tell Lisa and Adele. I’m sure they’ll want to meet you, too.”

Nova mumbled thanks and Rachel went back to the house. Nova turned to Fred and said, “Who are Lisa and Adele?”

“Lisa’s my mom and Adele is Rollie’s.”

“So...am I on display or something?”

“Our moms are really close. They share everything.”

“They’re really nice, too,” Sammi yelled from the swing.

Fred looked over her shoulder at her and frowned. “Sammi, stop eavesdropping!”

“Okay,” she said at the top of one swooping arc, her short dark hair flying behind her and her happy face turned to the sky.

Rollie already had a handful of cookies in his lap and half of one in his mouth. Nova gestured at the tray and said, “Lemonade and cookies? Are we in some kind of TV show from the sixties?”

Rollie paused before taking the last bite of the one in his hand, looked at it and shrugged. “We like cookies. Don’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but come on! Lemonade? Don’t you ever drink anything stronger?”

“Our dads drink beer,” Jamie said, “and our moms drink wine.”

Bryce held up one hand. “I drink a glass of wine when I have dinner with my family sometimes.”

“Oh, wow,” Nova said dryly. “You are a party animal.”

“We have plenty of enough excitement around here without drinking,” Melanie said. “Killing psycho sorcerers, rescuing Fred from witches, and getting rid of demons and stuff.”

Nova scratched her temple with a fingertip and twisted her mouth sideways. “I guess you do have more excitement than the average teenager.” She turned to Rollie and wrinkled her brow. “Did you really let that demon chase you to that doorway?”

Rollie nodded with another cookie at his mouth and took a bite.

“You are either the bravest or the craziest person I’ve ever met.”

Rollie shrugged again. “Somebody had to do it.”

Nova eyed Jamie and his friends for a long moment, then said, “So, are you guys like the Avengers or something? Saving the world from magical dangers?”

“We’re the Crew,” Jamie said.

“We can’t be beat,” Fred added, then her friends joined in, “
everybody smell out feet!
”

Nova scrunched up her face like she smelled something bad. “That is
so
dorky.”

“It was the best we could come up with at the time,” Jamie said. “We were only eight years old.”

“But that’s enough about us.” Fred shook her red curls behind her shoulders with a toss of her head. “Tell us more about you. What is your power like?”

Nova rubbed her cheek with the fingertips of one hand while she regarded Fred. “I can tell what people are feeling, like if they’re mad or jealous or something, and I can tell if they’re lying.”

“Oh!” Fred snapped her fingers. “What is that? You’re a...a Reader!” She grinned. “That’s what you are. Momma Sue told me about witches like you. You read people’s emotions.”

“Who’s Momma Sue?”

“She’s a voodoo queen who lives near New Orleans. She’s going to want to meet you for sure.”

“A voodoo queen?” Nova’s eyes became suspicious again.

“She’s giving me and Sammi witching lessons. She and another witch named Mrs. Malley are, together. They want me to bring them any new witches that I find. I took Sammi there last week, and we’re going again next Sunday. You should come.”

“Uh...I’ll get back to you on that.”