A Modern Witch

Chapter 12

“Cripes, this is frustrating.” Lauren pouted. “I was doing better with setting barriers in Chicago. Why am I having more trouble now?”
Trainee witches are all the same, mused Jennie. Whether four years old or twenty-eight, they all figured it should be easy.
“Normally we’d have taken a day or two off after your traveling. Your brain is tired from the crowds and that Cat Woman stunt you and Aervyn pulled last night.”
Lauren grinned. “Am I in trouble for corrupting a minor?”
“Ha. That one was born looking for partners in crime. He has four older siblings—you can’t do much damage.”
“I never had a little brother; it must be fun.”
“Oh, they can get tiresome at times. I have three, and it’s probably good I couldn’t teleport as a child.” Jennie smiled. “Who knows where they might have ended up. Did you hear the story of when Jamie ported himself and Nell to Chinatown?”
Lauren shook her head.
Better she starts learning about witchling antics now, Jennie thought. With the kind of power this one has, it won’t be surprising at all if her children have magic. A toddler with her channeling abilities could pull off all kinds of mischief.
She began sharing one of her favorite stories. “Nell was babysitting her three little brothers—Jamie’s a triplet. They were digging a big hole in the back yard. She was about fourteen at the time, and the boys were five or six. Anyhow, she laughed and asked if they were digging a hole to China.
“Jamie must have picked up on the image in her mind, and he ported them both there. He didn’t have a lot of control over his teleporting skills yet. Fortunately, Aervyn is mastering his younger than Jamie did.”
Lauren tried to imagine. “He teleported them to China? For real?”
Jennie laughed. “Fortunately, no. Nell had never actually been to China, so the image in her mind was from Chinatown in San Francisco. That was when we discovered Nell’s true talents as a spellcaster. She managed to reverse the spell and harness Jamie’s talents to get them back home. It took her three hours, though, and there was quite the panic when Jamie’s brothers said he’d gone to China with Nell.”
Jennie smiled at the memory. Neither of her daughters had ever manifested power, so she’d enjoyed the antics of her sister’s children and envied her just a little as well.
“I can only imagine,” Lauren said. “I’ll be sure to let my parents know how easy they had it. I’ve been meaning to ask someone, though. It seems like most witch talents show up in children. Why didn’t mine?”
“Oh, they likely did. You’ve probably always picked up some images and feelings from other minds. Given how sensitive you are, you also probably learned to block them from quite a young age. In a witching family, we’d have seen the signs and tested you early. You’d have grown up knowing you were a witch.”
“So, you think my parents just didn’t recognize what they were seeing?”
Jennie shrugged. “There might not have been much to see. Mind talents are often subtle. Children with elemental powers are usually harder to miss. Ask Nell about Aervyn’s first weeks sometime. Speaking of, he’ll be here this afternoon to practice with you, and we have work to do first. Let’s get back to it. Tell me what’s happening when you try to create your barriers.”
Lauren sighed. “I thought you were linking so you could see.”
“I am, and I did. I want to hear how it felt for you.” Something is getting in the way of those walls, Jennie thought. Let’s see if the girl is self-aware enough to figure out the problem.
“Well, I visualize the bricks just like Jamie and I drilled. That part works fine. When I try to pull them into place, though, it’s like there’s a bunch of friction. In Chicago, they just slid smoothly down.” Lauren paused. “It’s like part of me doesn’t want them and is resisting.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Ah. And what do you want?”
Lauren squirmed. “I want Cat Woman. Not the illusion part, but when Aervyn and I joined, it felt totally different. Strong and flexible—like I could see anything I wanted. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but the bricks are like being locked in a prison. Jamie’s gizmo, too.”
“Good.” Jennie was pleased. Lauren was quick and resilient, even if she wasn’t all that pleased about her newly-discovered mind powers. “The bricks were necessary to keep you protected when Jamie’s precog blew your channels open. Usually we try to do that a bit more gently.”
“It wasn’t his fault.”
For an only child, Lauren had impressive sibling loyalty. “Trust me, I know how easily surprises can happen when you’re training a new witch. He did well to get you here. Mind magics are not his strength. That little gizmo of his was inspired—he’s a highly creative witch.”
“He is. I like to think I’m fairly creative too. Can I try something different for a minute? I want to try something a little bit like what Aervyn and I did. Maybe you can tell me why it’s different than when I try to set barriers.” Lauren squinted with concentration.
Jennie caught her broadcast image of Jamie in a Cat Woman suit, waving a wand at flying sushi plates. She was amused, and impressed. Lauren shouldn’t be able to push images with that kind of control yet, particularly an image with moving parts. It was a little blurry, but still. Sneaking a quick look through the monitoring link between them, Jennie tried to work out how Lauren was controlling her power.
There were small creatures of light flitting in and out from a warm, green shadow. Slowly working inward, she realized the creatures were small lightning bugs. When they flashed on, small bits of thought or feeling flowed out. Jennie recognized a couple of images from her own outer mind. Well, well. The girl was reading quite a bit more than she’d let on.
Jennie moved closer to the warm green center and suddenly faced a cloud of angry, buzzing lightning bugs. She could have swatted them aside with a breath of power. However, the fact that Lauren could summon any defenses at all at this stage was truly extraordinary.
Jennie focused on one of the lightning bugs and gently sent. Let me see. Please. The cloud dispersed, and her single lightning bug led the way. Jennie could see the flickering lights on either side, an escort of sorts. Good, the girl was no pushover.
Jennie grinned as she arrived at the warm green. This was where Lauren intuitively centered her power, and brick walls it was most certainly not. Unusual, but they could work with that. Slowly, she retreated, backing out to just a simple monitoring connection.
When she opened her eyes, Lauren watched her steadily. “You have a pleasing mind, Lauren. Sturdy and creative. Thank you for letting me see. Now tell me about your couch.”
Lauren blinked. “My couch?”
“Every mind witch needs to work from a center, a place of safety and strength. Barriers work best if they build out from this center. Mine is a camera.”
Lauren looked thoroughly confused. “You set your barriers from a camera?”
Jennie nodded. “I feel safe and powerful behind a camera, and there are lots of things I can control. I can change lenses and zoom in, or put on a filter to soften the light or block it out almost completely. The lens works as my barrier and as a channel to send and receive.”
Comprehension bloomed on Lauren’s face. “It’s your visualization for controlling what you do. Just like Aervyn used Matchbox cars.”
“Exactly. Jamie’s not a mind witch of any strength, so his barriers are rudimentary—bricks and bubbles. That’s more than enough for most of his students, and a good first lesson for anyone.
“More talented mind witches need fancier tools with better precision and more options. Aervyn may eventually outgrow his Matchbox cars, although last time I checked, he’d outfitted them with wings and laser beams, so maybe not.”
“Laser beams?”
“Protection is an important part of any good barrier system.”
Lauren laughed. “So, he shoots down incoming bad guys?”
“Something like that. It’s not literal—at least, not usually. He might shoot down stray thoughts he doesn’t want in his mind, for example. It’s powerful because it’s an extension of his center, the place he feels safe and in control. For a little boy, that visualizes as his favorite toys. For you, it’s your couch.”
Lauren blushed. “My couch is my center? That’s a little embarrassing. It’s just the place where I hang out and eat ice cream.”
“It’s the place you feel safe and secure, and that’s a wonderful thing to have. Since it’s the couch you have now, I’d venture that it’s also the center of the life and home you’ve built for yourself. A place of nurturing, friendship, recharging... how am I doing?”
“You’re the mind witch—you tell me.”
Jennie laughed. “Smart-ass witchlings come in all sizes. Some mind witches just ride power channels, but most of us find images and visualizations very helpful, and I think we’ve found one that will work for you. You’re already using it to drive some of your talents—I watched what you were doing when you broadcast Jamie flying the plates. For flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants magic, that was well done, and you powered it from your mental couch.”
Lauren lifted an eyebrow. “If I’m doing that, why don’t I know it? I thought I was just thinking loudly.”
“Jamie’s right,” Jennie said ruefully. “You’re going to make us all jealous if it comes this easily for you. You pushed that image to me quite nicely. Your barrier control is still weak enough that it surprised me. Makes sense now, though—you aren’t pushing your barriers out from your center. They’ll get a lot more effective as soon as you do.”
“That would be nice. Will my head still feel swaddled?”
Jennie grinned. Impatient witch. “When you and Aervyn connected yesterday—that strong and flexible feeling? That’s what we’re going for. Try it now. I want you to visualize that nest of a couch as your center and grow barriers out from that.”
Jennie tapped into the monitoring connection to watch her trainee work. Lauren wobbled around for a moment, and then settled quickly into her couch nest. Excellent. Moments later, slimy pink goo grew out of the couch. Eeww, what was that? Bubble gum. Silly girl. Jennie popped the bubble to get Lauren’s attention and dropped out of mindlink to wait.
“Did you have to pop my bubble? I’ll never get that stuff out of my couch.”
Jennie’s lips quirked. “Then don’t make your barriers out of chewing gum, child. Your barrier image needs to be a part of your center, an outgrowth of that.”
Lauren looked confused, and then nodded. “Like your camera lenses are an extension of your camera.”
Smart girl. Jennie nodded.
“Okay, that makes sense, but how do I grow barriers out of a couch? What do I do, add monster pillows?”
“Not a bad thought, actually. The visualizations don’t have to be totally realistic. You could use soft pillows as a barrier; I imagine they’re a wonderful buffer. It needs to be your image, though. Think of something that naturally extends from your couch, that you can tinker with fairly easily.”
Lauren thought a moment and closed her eyes. Jennie dropped into mindlink to watch. This time, the girl found her center with lightning speed for a trainee.
Nothing happened for a bit, and then a gorgeous rainbow dome lifted up to cover Lauren and the couch. It looked warm and fuzzy and delightful, like a gigantic blanket. As Jenny watched, the texture of the dome changed. It was more like silk now, and somewhat see-through.
She walked over and gave the dome a gentle, testing poke. Bravo, girl—very nicely done. Now let’s see what you’ve got.
Jennie stepped back a few paces, imagined a ball of light into her hand, and threw. When the ball bounced off Lauren’s dome, she grinned and manifested another ball. This time she called on her Little League pitcher-of-the-year skills and hurled a fastball. When it ricocheted back into her leg, she hopped around cursing. Damn, should have seen that one coming. She was getting old.
Jennie looked up and saw Lauren’s rainbow dome shaking. Oh dear, had the fastball really done some damage? She reached out with a deeper monitoring channel.
The girl was laughing at her. Trainer pride won over the dent to her ego. Not only did Lauren have excellent shielding in place now, but obviously she could still see out. A very fine morning’s work.
…

Nell: Morning, all. Jamie should be here shortly as well.
Sophie: So, Nell, you’ve met Lauren now.
Nell: I have.
Moira: What did you think of her, our Lauren?
Nell: I don’t think it had really occurred to me until she got here, how wild a ride she’s been on for the past few days. I like her—she’s rolling with things amazingly well. She’s having her first lesson with Aunt Jennie this morning. I have plenty of gossip from yesterday, though.
Sophie: Oh, do tell!
Nell: Do I ever not tell? Let me brag about my youngest witchling, first. Jamie rigged an iPod to shield Lauren on the airplane, but it conked out when they landed. Aervyn spellcast barriers for her in the middle of the San Francisco airport.
Sophie: Wow. That’s a lot of people to counteract.
Nell: Exactly.
Moira: It’s a marvelous job of raising him you’re doing, Nell. He’s growing into his powers with as much support as any witchling could have. He’s a fortunate boy.
Jamie: He didn’t turn you into Cat Woman.
Sophie: Hey, Jamie. Aervyn turned you into a sexy woman with furry ears? Please tell me someone took pictures.
Nell: It was just an illusion spell. He did it at dinner last night—it was damn funny. However, the part that will interest you most is that he worked with Lauren to pull it off.
Moira: She’s got spellcasting talent? Even if she does, surely it’s dangerous for her to be working on that so soon.
Nell: It wasn’t planned. The two of them cooked it up and made it happen before anyone figured out what was going on. Aervyn spellcast, and Jennie says he used Lauren.
Moira: She has enough mind power to support an illusion spell? Is she all right? Something of that magnitude must have wiped her out.
Jamie: Not at all. She barely felt it.
Moira: Oh, my.
Sophie: That’s insane. No one uses mind power to drive spells—there’s just not enough of it.
Jamie: Jennie and I tried to replicate what they’d done. We couldn’t even make Cat Woman’s whiskers.
Moira: Jennie is sure, then? That would make our Lauren one of the strongest mind witches of this generation.
Jamie: She needs a lot of training and practice first, but yeah, I think that’s the read Aunt Jennie is getting. Aervyn agrees, for what that’s worth.
Nell: Oh, and I almost left off a really important bit. Aervyn didn’t just tap Lauren’s power. She channeled it to him; you were totally right about that, Moira. Lauren didn’t even realize she’d done anything, but my witchling knew.
Sophie: She channeled to Aervyn?
Moira: Oh, Nell. Oh, my.
Nell: Yeah. We might have finally found a channeler for my baby.
Jamie: And she’s a newbie witch who can only stick around for a week of training.
Nell: Easy, Jamie. That’s all she came for right now. We don’t know what the future will hold.
Jamie: Sorry. I actually really like Lauren, but it’d be hard for me to trust Aervyn to anyone, never mind someone who has no idea what any of this even means.
Moira: The bond between channeler and spellcaster is important, but so is training. He will handle immense amounts of power one day. This is an enormous responsibility to put in her hands.
Nell: Take a deep breath, everyone. Even if she is a potential partner for Aervyn, no one is going to throw her in a big circle any time soon. I like her, she likes my kiddo, and they’re in excellent training hands. For now, that’s enough.
Moira: Aye, Jennie is the one I would want if it were my child.
Nell: Aervyn’s future is going to be big and scary no matter who he works with. For now, he’s having a lot of fun with Lauren, and she’s really good with him. He showed her his hearing aids.
Jamie: Really? I totally missed that.
Nell: It was right before Cat Woman. They have a connection.
Moira: That’s a good place to start.
Sophie: Hey, can I change the subject now? I have to go soon, so Jamie—spill.
Jamie: Spill what?
Sophie: My sources say Lauren isn’t the only new arrival in California. What’s up with you and the pretty lady?
Jamie: Is nothing private?
Moira: Of course not, silly boy. Tell us about this friend of Lauren’s you saw in your visions.
Nell: It wasn’t vision precog. Jamie’s been holding out on us.
Jamie: Seriously, is nothing private?
Nell: We already answered that. I had a nice little chat with Nat yesterday. It wasn’t visions Jamie saw, it was future memories.
Sophie: I don’t understand.
Jamie: That’s because you always fell asleep in witch history class :-).
Moira: Don’t tease her, Jamie, or I’ll quiz you on your herbals knowledge, and we’ll see who else used to fall asleep.
Jamie: Teasing done.
Moira: Sophie, most precog shows visions of the future, something like watching events on a movie screen. Precog memories are much more intimate, and for Jamie, they would have had much stronger emotional layers.
Jamie: You don’t say.
Nell: And unlike normal precog visions, precog memories are far more reliable. Much more likely they’ll actually happen. Although Nat doesn’t seem to know that.
Jamie: Don’t you think she’s got enough pressure right now?
Nell: Maybe. But it can’t be making things any easier for you, brother mine.
Sophie: You saw future memories of the woman you’re probably going to marry and have babies with, you don’t want her to feel pressured, and now she’s in California? Gee, Jamie, you don’t live a boring life.
Jamie: It’s been an interesting few days.
Sophie: Are you doing okay? Sounds like your precog must have been pretty high on the Richter scale.
Jamie: Let’s just say I’m glad to be home. I need to retreat to my man cave for a while.
Moira: Don’t hide for too long, lad. There are not so many chances to love.
Jamie: I know it, Moira, and I’m man enough to be slightly panicked at the thought. I’ll get over it. I think.
Her two sweet boys, Moira thought fondly. Both had some momentous times coming in their lives. Jamie had found his heart’s match, and that was important for a man. Her head knew that precog was an unreliable talent. Her Irish heart felt certain she would be dragging her old bones onto an airplane again soon, this time for Jamie’s wedding.
And their Lauren might be a channeler for Aervyn. It had been a concern. Channeling talent was getting rarer, and many of the younger channelers couldn’t handle a full circle. For Aervyn to grow into his potential, he would require a full circle of their strongest and best, and a channeler who could pull that power together for him.
They were still a long way from knowing if Lauren could fill those shoes, but even the possibility would fill the witching community with hope.
…

Lauren stared hard at Aervyn. She was going to take him down this time. It no longer seemed odd to be planning a sneak attack on a four-year-old. Not that she’d disbelieved the stories about Aervyn’s power, but it was humbling to be spanked by a little boy at pretty much every task Jennie had set them so far.
Lauren had been proud of her dome creation this morning, inspired by Nat’s handmade rainbow throw that lived on her couch at home. Jennie had seemed impressed as well—and then promptly set about trying to unravel it.
Now Aervyn was Jennie’s little minion. They were playing a game with the innocent name of ‘Grab a Thought’, basically the mind-witch version of Capture the Flag. Jennie had given each of them a secret thought to hide behind their barriers. The objective was simple—grab Aervyn’s thought before he grabbed hers.
It was Aervyn’s turn to be on offense. She could see him walking toward her mind center, and more clearly than when they’d started an hour ago. He tossed a few lights at her dome, which at this point was pretty much just a ‘game on’ signal. She waited for his serious efforts.
The flying Matchbox cars were cute, but no match for her superdome. She grew wooly tendrils out from the textured surface and wrapped them around his cars in mid-flight. She was getting faster by the minute. Gotcha, munchkin.
Just in time, she remembered his cars had lasers and tugged on her tendrils to turn the cars around. Aervyn giggled as he ducked the laser beams that were suddenly coming in his general direction.
Dang it! She shoved a pillow off the edge of her couch, immobilizing a ladder sliding up from the stealth fire truck he’d sent quietly in around the side. That had been far too close. She’d been distracted by his giggles. Time for the sneak attack.
Lauren thinned her dome to rainbow silks and projected surprise as strongly as she could. Look, Aervyn—Cat Woman! When he swiveled around to look behind him, she shot out a handful of tendrils to tickle him under the ribs.
Her commandeered Matchbox car waited just outside his barriers and jumped through the instant they wobbled. She’d picked a speedy-looking red one. It had better be up for the job. She stepped on the gas, leaning out the open window to grab Jennie’s planted thought.
When she opened her eyes, Aervyn was staring at her with surprise. “You’re sneaky! That was a really good trick.”
Jennie reached over and tickled his toes. “You have to watch out for the sneaky ones. That fire engine was a nice try, by the way. Lauren almost missed that one.”
She looked at Lauren and nodded just once. It felt like winning a lifetime supply of Ben & Jerry’s.
…

Nat walked out of the Shattuck Lounge and took a deep breath of the nighttime air. After several hours on the very crowded dance floor, it was a welcome cool.
She looked at Jamie. “That was fun, and a little bit strange.”
Jamie grinned. “Doing something I already have precog memory of? Yeah. It was more fun in person, though. You are a seriously sexy dancer.”
Dancing with a guy who was all wrapped up in you was about as good as it got. Nat had no words; she just let her heart shine.
Jamie settled an arm around her shoulders. “So, how is it that you’re so calm about all this?”
Lots of practice, thought Nat. Calm had always been her refuge. “I figure we all have a future. I just happened to get a few peeks at what might be in mine.” She smiled at Jamie and spoke softly. “They were some pretty nice possibilities.”
Jamie turned her into his arms. “Close your eyes and hang on.”
Nat felt an odd elevator-type sensation and opened her eyes on a beach. A very deserted beach. She kicked off her shoes. “Where are we?”
Jamie grinned. “I thought we deserved something we didn’t already know about. This is Point Reyes National Seashore; we’ll be up on the cliffs on Monday night for the full circle. It’s one of my favorite places.”
Nat swung around slowly, taking in the crashing waves and the glorious night sky. Even she could feel the power in this place. It was no accident he had brought her here now. However casual Jamie might appear, he got the important things exactly right.
She looked over to where he stood. He waited, absolutely still. She’d spent the night dancing with the man. Now it was time to be with the witch.
She nodded, just once. He reached for the sky, and glowing with power, pulled a shower of starlight down on their heads.
Then he kissed her, and the light in her heart moved to dance with the stars.