A Different Witch

Chapter 7



It was hard to acknowledge a mistake—especially one that had been calling to you for almost two years.

Beth walked the slightly dusty lanes of the high school track, appreciating its comforting sameness, loop after loop.

She was used to new experiences feeling wrong, one of the side effects of having a strange brain in the normal world. But when Jamie Sullivan had visited Chicago, she’d touched something very special and very right. A magic more powerful and tangible than anything she’d ever known.

Magic freed.

And nowhere in Berkeley had she found that same rightness.

The pressure of strange people and strange faces—those were just part of being Aspie. But magic here had forceful undercurrents—and she didn’t like it.

And if she was honest, the undercurrents had been there in Jamie’s visit as well. There had been scorn for a decade of work and practice. An arrogance born of superior power. A man sure he knew the right way to do magic.

Nell’s magic lesson had come with those same seeds of scorn and arrogance. A dismissal of different. And it was hard for Beth’s different soul not to take that very personally.

But perhaps they had some right to the arrogance—the magic here was undeniably impressive. Beth’s feet beat the track faster now, trying to work through her brain’s need to consider both sides of the scale. Her heart simply wanted to blame.

They had amazing power. Even now, her fingers itched to touch such magic. But she didn’t fit in this world of the witching elite. As a woman, or as a witch.

“Can I join you on your walk?” Footsteps fell in beside hers.

It was very tempting just to ignore. To tune out the world that kept trying to push in. Beth wrapped her fingers around the pendant at her neck. Ten years ago, she’d made Liri a promise. To have and to hold—and to stay open to the world that made those things possible.

She glanced over at her unwelcome visitor. “I’m going in circles.”

Lauren smiled. “I can see that.”

There didn’t appear to be any judgment. “I find it soothing.”

Lauren nodded slowly. “I can feel that too.”

“You can join me.” Beth started on her next circuit of the track. “But my thoughts aren’t very friendly right now.”

They walked half the loop in silence. Lauren peeled off a sweater, tying the arms around her waist. “Care to share them?”

More steps, side by side. Easy and quiet. No pressure. The gift of a slow conversation. Something inside Beth unclenched just a little. “I was thinking about the arrogance of this place and the people in it.”

Stark words. Unvarnished truth. The Aspie way.

“It can feel that way.”

Beth deeply appreciated the even tone in Lauren’s voice. No mystery, no emotions to decode. “It doesn’t feel that way to you?”

“Occasionally, especially at the beginning.” Lauren smiled. “I married into that arrogance.”

Awkwardness slammed into Beth’s chest. She hadn’t known.

“Jamie is a triplet. His brother Devin is my husband, and his ego is more than capable of over-inflating on occasion.”

“I’m sorry.” The weight on her chest had lightened some, but discomfort still crawled under her skin. “I thought you’d only been here for a year or two.”

“Yes. And Lizard’s been here even less. Witch Central has a strong gravitational pull.” Lauren looked over with wise eyes. “Does that worry you?”

“No.” Beth felt the other side of the scale insisting on its turn. “Well, yes. I won’t be pulled here—Chicago is my home.” She walked, staying an even inch away from the line of white and trying to find words that wouldn’t offend. “But I think maybe it’s part of what makes me too different to be accepted here.”

“I heard it was a rough training session.”

Beth frowned—warm empathy pushed gently from Lauren, oddly easy to understand. “Are you using mind magic?”

“Yes.” Lauren sounded surprised. “I’m not in your head at all. I’m just amplifying my emotions to make them a little easier for you to read.”

Another gift. From an almost-stranger. “Liri does that for me when she can. I know it’s very hard work. Thank you.”

“It would be difficult magic for her,” said Lauren quietly. “She must love you very much.”

She did—so very much. And remembering it steadied Beth. “Maybe it’s not so difficult for you. But I still appreciate it. How did you know it would help me?”

“I work with an amazing woman at a center for children with autism. She uses this amplifying of emotions to help her kids learn to interpret feelings. I volunteer there sometimes with a little boy named Jacob.”

Lauren’s love for a little autistic boy was obvious. “You use mind magic to help him?”

“Some.” Lauren’s grin flashed. “And pillow fights, and a very silly game of All Fall Down.”

“Play therapy can be very helpful for those of us with autistic brains.” Beth struggled for words for what she wanted to say. “You love him. It matters.”

“He loves me. That matters too.”

Beth touched the pendant at her neck. How many times had Liri said those same words over the years, until she’d been well and truly convinced of them? “Autism doesn’t make us love any less. It just makes it harder to show.”

“I know.”

Acceptance. It warmed something in Beth the sun hadn’t been able to reach.

“You would know what it is to feel awkward—like you’ve taken a wrong step, said the wrong thing.” Lauren’s words were careful now.

“Yes.” Every day of her life.

“I just spent an hour with a woman who is very upset with herself because she knows how badly she stepped wrong with you.”

It took Beth a moment to connect the dots. Nell Walker was upset? “She seemed… fine.” Not that her skills at reading “fine” were worth much.

“She has a son.” Lauren’s words took on the wandering intonation of someone about to tell a story. “A very special boy with immense power. The kind that puts him in danger on a daily basis. Something could so easily go wrong.”

It was hard to fathom. The old texts were full of magic and danger, but they’d seemed like only stories. “Is he really so powerful?”

“Yes.” More simple words. “For Nell, I think it’s a bit like being Merlin’s mother.”

Beth tried to imagine such a burden. “That must be very hard.”

“I don’t know that I could do it.” Lauren’s words were softer now. “He’s a very lucky little boy. His mama is a warrior—full of fire and grit and skill.”

“She protects him.” Beth felt her empathy stirring. She understood fighting for what mattered.

“She does.” Lauren’s path down the track meandered with little respect for the white lines. “And one way she does that is to surround him with a strong and close-knit community. She doesn’t intend to be the center of it, but she is anyhow.”

Ah. The point of the story suddenly became clear. “And I don’t fit here.”

“No.” Lauren’s reaction was swift and definite and rocked Beth’s head. “No, I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant at all.” She reached out and pulled both of them to a stop. “Nell is a warrior, Beth. She’s got a heart as big as the planet, but sometimes she has no idea how to do things quietly or slowly, and she can be very direct.”

Beth looked off into the distance, trying to escape the intense messages in the deep brown eyes.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Lauren turned abruptly, walking down the track again. “Jacob doesn’t like me to stare at him either.”

Trying to make her comfortable. A litany of small gifts. “It’s okay.” Beth’s smile came honestly. “You’re going the wrong way.”

Lauren turned around, surprised laughter bubbling out. “Whoops.”

Kindness. And understanding. Beth tried to match them. “Nell sounds like someone I would like to know—under different circumstances.”

“I hope you’ll give us a chance to change the circumstances,” said Lauren quietly. “We have a request of you.”

Wariness grabbed at Beth’s throat. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“You don’t need to decide now.” Lauren held out a piece of paper. “This is Jamie’s home address. If you decide to give us another chance, he’d like to talk with you in the morning.”

Beth studied the paper for a moment, her gut as twisted up as an Irish knot. “Liri is the best person I know at reading someone’s insides and knowing exactly how to speak to them.” She looked up at Lauren, straight into the deep brown eyes. “I think I’ve just met her equal.”

It took Lauren a long time to reply. “I’m not sure whether to apologize or say thank you.”

Beth turned to continue her walk around the track. Alone this time. “I’m not sure either.”

-o0o-

“Oh, no you don’t, small girl.” Jamie reached out with hands and mind and snagged his imp of a daughter right before she pulled his laptop down on her head. “That’ll bang your noggin, cutie.”

“Ban’, ban’, ban’, ban’!” Kenna dropped to her knees and scooted in her characteristic lopsided crawl, in love with her new word.

Jamie shook his head, amused. “You just want to go visit Auntie Lizard again and impress her with your new vocabulary.”

They had a list of playmates, babysitters, and magical guardians a mile long. A somewhat shorter list of witches powerful enough to stand middle-of-the-night shifts, their magic on call to contain Kenna’s mischief. And every grandmother within a mile had tumbled into love with the vivacious, grinning baby who rode on his back as they walked the neighborhood day and night.

But it was Lizard who had discovered Kenna’s love for words. A wide and vast array of them. Poetry, Beatles’ lyrics, children’s rhymes, or Aervyn’s made-up nonsense—his daughter soaked them all in, transfixed.

It was about the only time she was ever still.

He reached for a Dr. Seuss book. Someone was supposed to be taking a nap soon, and it was hard to fall asleep while playing World Explorer, baby version. “Want to read Sam I Am, munchkin?” He couldn’t hold a candle to Lizard’s rap version, but it was his girlchild’s favorite book.

Kenna plunked onto her well-padded bottom for a minute, considering. And then shot him a lightning grin and took off again. “Sa’, Sa’, Sa’.”

Jamie chuckled—he was getting better at the whole parental bribery thing, but his baby girl was a force of nature. “Okay, I guess we’ll wait until you fall over, then.” It wouldn’t be the first time. He’d walked the streets with her at 2 a.m. often enough that all the bouncers and late-night pizza-delivery guys knew Kenna by name.

He watched as his fearless girl pulled herself up, using a sturdy and very tolerant bamboo plant for leverage. And made a mental note as the container wobbled—time to put more rocks in the planters. Other babies used furniture props as they learned to walk. Kenna favored dogs, skateboarding teenagers, and greenery.

Typical Sullivan, doing everything the hard way.

She giggled as the bamboo canes swayed in her grip, her little feet doing a mad dance to try to compensate. Landed on her bottom with a squelchy thunk and more giggles. And then froze, head tilted to the side.

Listening. To something nobody else could hear.

Jamie didn’t bother reaching out with his mind—even Lauren was beginning to raise her eyebrows at Kenna’s range. “What do you hear, sweet girl?”

She flashed a drooly grin and took off toward the door. “Ah, ah, ah!”

Her word for “auntie.” Which didn’t narrow down the possibilities much—the kid had more honorary aunts than the Dalai Lama. Jamie levered himself out of his chair, hoping it was someone with lots of energy.

He pulled open the front door and grinned at his sister. “Heh—a real auntie this time.”

Nell scooped up Kenna as she shot between Jamie’s legs, heading for freedom. “Nice try, punk.”

Kenna snuggled in and looked up with big brown eyes. “Nay-nay?”

Jamie tried to hide his snort—his nephew Nathan and his very fast skateboard were Kenna’s current favorite pastime.

Nell rolled her eyes. “Nice to see you too, turkey girl. I’ll send Nathan over to give you rides tomorrow.”

Given his daughter’s desire to fly, that required a supervisor with porting talents. Jamie yawned. “Don’t send him too early.” Maybe Kenna would sleep in—he could always hope. So far, she seemed to have inherited Nat’s early-bird genes. He probably couldn’t blame the hurl-down-a-hill-on-a-skateboard genes on his wife, though.

Nell headed for the couch, a chatty Kenna in her arms. One head leaked happy stray thoughts—the other was locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

That didn’t bode well. Jamie raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?”

His sister blew raspberries into Kenna’s belly and laughed when sparks flew out the baby’s fingers. “Silly wiggle. Your dada thinks I need an excuse to come visit.”

Hardly—Witch Central didn’t have the foggiest idea what privacy was. “You have your mind barriers all battened down for no good reason, huh?”

“Some of us actually practice our mind magics on occasion,” said Nell dryly, dancing lights on her palm to amuse Kenna.

Jamie caught the edge of his daughter’s power surge and threw up a training circle, breathing a sigh of relief as it landed about a nanosecond before Kenna’s streaks of fire. And snickered as his sister’s eyebrows almost got crisped. It was his job to protect the couch—aunties who should know better were on their own. “Some of us are a little busy at the moment. Kenna, no hot fire inside the house.”

His daughter, mildly chastened, held up a very well-behaved fire globe. And then slid off Nell’s lap, scooting across to her beloved fire truck. “’Ot, ’ot, ’ot.”

Maybe their next child would be a water witch. He could always hope.

Nell snorted. “Be careful what you wish for.”

He ported drinks and some of Nat’s homemade granola from the kitchen. “Okay. Maybe our next child will be a mild-mannered, cooperative sweetheart who sleeps at night and enjoys afternoon siestas.”

His sister nearly sprayed granola crumbs across the room. “Only if you’re not her father.” She grinned at Kenna. “And siestas are boring, right, biggest girl?”

Jamie only sighed and snagged another handful of granola. Nell had done plenty of late nights and nocturnal babies. “So, back to whatever it is that brought you here?”

He got hit by the sudden image of Nell’s mind carefully choosing words. “You know that Beth’s here.”

“Yup.” His nieces had been buzzing with the news. “What’s going on?”

“How much do you remember about your visit to her coven?”

Not a lot. Jamie dug for the memories buried deep under layers of diapers and all the places a small child could hide the TV remote. “A little magic, a lot of attitude. Beth had some potential.”

Nell raised her eyebrows. “Lauren said you walked in, defrocked several witches, flashed your magic, and left.”

He winced—that sounded about right. “I had stuff going on. I probably wasn’t very patient.”

“Well, you’re going to get a second chance.” His sister’s gaze was serious now. “She’s here, and she wants training.”

A picture floated to the surface of a woman in a dark cloak. “She was the only one with more than a sniff of magic. I told her to come if she ever wanted help.”

“Mmmm. She came.”

Jamie frowned at the skeptical tone of her voice. “What’s up? We train witches all the time.” He mused. “Might be a good project for Elsie.”

“Beth’s different,” said Nell carefully. “She’s got a kind of high-functioning autism called Asperger’s.”

Jamie knew what that was. Geek syndrome. “We have a lot of people like that here in California.” His quiet investing activities brought him into contact with plenty of geeks.

“Maybe.” Nell fiddled with a stray thread on the couch. “But most of them don’t have magic.”

Something was up. Jamie waited for the shoe to drop.

Nell looked up. “I don’t get her, Jamie. She came over this morning for a training session, and it was a disaster.”

He listened as she filled him in on the tale of the witch who needed slow, quiet, and controlled and had somehow landed in the middle of a Walker-house morning instead. And heard what she didn’t say. His tough, charge-at-life sister was confused, oddly wary, and hurting.

Her mind wasn’t anywhere near Fort Knox anymore.

He got up and moved to join her on the couch. “Training doesn’t always go well—you know that.”

“Yeah.” Her fingers still tugged on the annoying thread. “But I’m not used to it failing quite that dramatically. When was the last time someone left one of your training sessions and got on a plane to leave the state?”

“She’s not leaving.” Jamie glanced at his phone, full of messages that now made sense. “Lauren seems pretty sure that she’s going to show up at my house tomorrow morning.”

Nell grimaced. “Sorry. That’s the part I came to tell you. Didn’t get here fast enough, I guess. We need someone else to take a swing at this.”

“Sure I’m the right person to pick up the bat?” The memories of the coven meeting were coming back to him now. It hadn’t been pretty. “She’s probably got grounds for thinking I’m an arrogant asshat.”

It was a sign of how disturbed Nell was that she ignored his last comment. “You’re way more creative than I am. You prove that with my son every day.”

He snorted. Training sessions with Aervyn were almost always a blast. “I’m way less mature than you are—not sure that’s the same thing as creativity.”

It was good to see her crack a smile.

Nell sighed. “You used to be really good at getting out of a jam. We’re hoping you can help us all wiggle out of this one.”

He’d have volunteered for far worse than that to help the angst in his sister’s head. “Okay. And have those of you who concocted this little plan come up with any ideas to help a poor, sleepless guy when she shows up in the morning?” He didn’t need rescuing, but it generally amused the women in his life to pretend otherwise.

She caught the edge of his thoughts and managed a grin. “Nope. One step at a time. Maybe she’ll be swayed by your charm and winning personality and it will all be fixed.”

Women were never that simple. And his sister didn’t believe it was going to be that easy either. “Witch Central has lots of room for quirky. It’ll be fine.”

He might as well have been speaking Klingon. Nell wasn’t paying attention anymore.

She was looking over at the corner with a mind full of goo.

Jamie followed her gaze and felt the rush of love from somewhere deep in his toes.

His girl. Sound asleep, head pillowed on her fire truck.

They both watched her for a while, two people who knew how to deeply love a moment of quiet joy in a hurricane life.

“I dropped the ball.” Nell stood up from the couch, her eyes melted into sad again. “I’m hoping you can pick it up for me.”

He reached for her hand. “You’re a fighter, sis. You attack problems, and maybe that hit Beth a little hard.” He waited until he had her full attention. “But my girl in the corner there? Your superdude? They need a fighter. I sleep easier knowing they have one.”

She looked a long time at his sleeping daughter. “They have more than one. But thanks.”

Jamie watched her walk away, mind lighter. He was glad that for once, he’d managed to find the right words.

And wondered what the heck to do with a witch who had undone Nell Sullivan Walker.

-o0o-

Sophie eyed the elderly witch on her laptop screen with a good deal of suspicion. “And exactly why would you be wanting those crystals?”

It wasn’t comforting when Moira’s eyes only twinkled more merrily. “I’m thinking they’d make our young Beth a nice housewarming gift. I’ll be going to greet her properly in the next day or two.”

Waiting a whole twenty-four hours to welcome a guest was an eternity by Irish standards. “Is she up to visitors yet?” Gossip didn’t always arrive promptly in Nova Scotia, but the last Sophie’d heard, all they were sure of was that Beth hadn’t left town yet.

Not that it bothered a certain old witch to stick her nose into situations fraught with difficulty.

“I’m just one little old lady.” Moira was using one of her better matriarchal looks—the kind that was supposed to end conversations.

Sophie was well used to the entire repertoire by now. “Just remember Lauren’s message. Witch Central in small, careful doses.”

“My ears are working just fine. If you’re concerned, I can have Ginia look at them in the morning.”

Oy. Sophie tried not to bury her head in her hands.

She’d about had her fill of feisty witches this long and cold December. Lizzie had decided to make her own potion and only called for help when the billowing smoke turned purple. An utterly cranky duo of patients had just left—Morgan was cutting teeth and Marcus was convinced she was dying. And apparently shipping Moira off to California hadn’t made her someone else’s problem. “I don’t know that we should be using crystals and things to mess with Beth.”

“I thought you believed crystals useful for most everyone.” Their elder healer seemed honestly surprised.

“I do.” Sophie tried to hold on to some shreds of tact. “But they work best when the patient is the one seeking.” And when you knew what the heck you were trying to fix.

“Sometimes patients need a mite of help.”

“And sometimes they want to walk on their own two feet, in their own time.” The words were said as gently as Sophie could manage. “Take her a lovely housewarming gift by all means. Sometimes it’s the simple things that heal a soul best.”

“Don’t you be quoting my gran at me, young lady.” Moira scowled at the screen.

Okay—there was cranky, and there was downright snarly—and Moira was very rarely the latter. Sophie wished for a kitchen table between them rather than two computer screens and several thousand miles. She reached out, trying to touch. “What’s really going on?”

“I don’t know.” Moira stirred her tea pensively. “I feel a bit out of step on this one. Old and sitting by the wayside while people I love are hurting.”

And a new witch sat lonely in the middle of an ocean of potential friends. “Some journeys are trickier than others. And sometimes, much as we want to, it’s tricky to walk alongside.”

“Aye.” The spoon stirred more slowly now. “Knowing where you’re headed is one thing. Knowing how to get there is often the tricky part.”

Sophie smiled, love making its way through the frustrations of a difficult week. “So an old healer taught me.”

Love came back at her through the screen. “Someone needs to walk beside the poor girl.”

“It sounds like Lauren managed a little bit of that today.” Witch Central had gained a very fine negotiator when a certain mind witch had joined their ranks.

“I know.” Moira sighed and held up her hands. “But the desire to help—it’s in my bones.”

And there were no finer healing hands on the planet. Sophie pushed her own short temper aside—perhaps elderly instincts weren’t wrong after all. “So, go visit her then.”

“I believe I might.” A pause for a sip of tea. “Perhaps you might send some of my blueberry preserves—I’ve a jar or two left, I think.”

There were at least fifty sitting in Aaron’s pantry. And Sophie planned to scan them for hidden blessing spells first. “I can do that. There’s no one better to extend her a true welcome.”

“And do nothing more, is that it?” The twinkle was back in Moira’s eyes. “I won’t push, I promise. You’re a tricky one, you are.”

Sophie grinned and blew a kiss at the screen. “I learned from the best.”

Delighted chuckles rolled out over greater California. “Good night. I need to go to bed—I’ve a wee boy to play with in the morning.”

The computer screen went dark and Sophie got up to check on her sleeping son, with the echoing laughter of fairies and elves and old Irish witches warming her soul.