A Reckless Witch

CHAPTER 9



Sierra froze as power rippled and four witches popped into existence on the beach beside her. Four very serious dudes. Holy cow, what was this, the witch SWAT team?

Jamie grabbed his wife. “Are you okay?”

Govin grabbed Sierra. “What are you doing? What magic?”

Jeepers. “Just a little spell to play with the dolphins.” She pointed out at the water. “They’re swimming along with us, so I’m just saying hello. I used a groundline.”

He shook her shoulders, hard. “Saying hello how?”

Govin. Lauren’s mindvoice drilled into all their heads. You’ll get answers faster if you explain the emergency.

“Sorry.” Govin let go of Sierra’s shoulders. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. But we have twenty-foot waves heading toward the Channel Islands south of here, and your magic might be causing them.”

Waves? “I’m not making any waves. Just swirling a little warm water for the dolphins to play in.” The ocean waters were chilly this time of year, and the babies liked the warm currents.

He frowned. “How are you heating the water?”

That was the hard way. “I’m not. I just pull it from Hawaii.”

He paled. “That’s your idea of a little spell? Sierra, we have local currents here that you could totally mess up. Crunch a couple of swirls together the wrong way and you get big waves.”

Okay, she could see that. But why all the panic? “So I’ll just fix the waves.” She reached for power, seeking the fluctuations that would help her locate the problem.

Govin grabbed her hands. “They’re too far away to reach from here. And you can’t just flatten them. The ocean is like an air mattress—if you flatten a wave one place, another one will pop up somewhere else. There are way too many people on the beaches in Southern California, even in the winter. We need to be incredibly careful about how we do this.”

Sierra shook her head, frustrated. She and Momma had played a game where they’d squished waves just to make a bigger one pop up somewhere else. She knew how to be careful. “It’s not a problem—I’ll just head the big waves out to sea.” They could go play with the whales in the middle of the ocean. Whales liked big swells.

Govin got very, very still. “That’s how you make a killer tsunami, Sierra.”

His voice was barely a whisper, but it cracked against her heart. She could feel her own panic rising, not even sure why. “What are you saying?”

“If we don’t handle this exactly right, people will die. And you might be the only one with strong enough magic to fix it.” He held up a hand as several voices clamored in protest. “She needs to know. With the power she has, she needs to know.”

Devin touched his arm. “Your ride’s here.” They could see a helicopter approaching in the distance.

Govin shook his head. “We can’t get there fast enough. Besides, the chopper can only carry four. The more witches the better, right now.”

Jamie started herding them toward the landing chopper. “We’ll all go. You have three air witches at your disposal. And Aervyn and Sierra don’t weigh much. We’ll get there fast enough. It will be easier for Sierra if she can see the waves.”

Sierra tried to find air to breathe as the weight of all their expectations crashed onto her shoulders.

Devin took Sierra’s hand. “And me. Two water witches are better than one.” He squeezed her fingers and spoke quietly. “Any girl who can spin a funnel with one finger can handle this. Let’s go.” The band around her lungs eased a little.

Two minutes later, she was strapped in the back of the helicopter and headed out to sea. She looked out the window, watching the dolphin babies still playing even though the warm waters had gone away.

And then Aervyn and Jamie turned on the magical afterburners.

“Holy hell!” TJ whooped, hanging onto the rudder for dear life. “How long can you keep this up?”

Jamie held up a bag of cookies and grinned. “At least a couple of hours.”

Govin’s face was grim. “We won’t need that long. This will all be over in an hour, whatever happens.”

Sierra just held on and tried not to puke.

~ ~ ~

Devin loved speed. He was exactly the guy you wanted in an emergency—grace under pressure and all that. Under normal circumstances, a super-powered helicopter ride to the rescue was the stuff his dreams were made of. He just couldn’t find any joy in this one, however. Sierra’s white face had been a foot away from his for the last twenty minutes.

He elbowed Govin. “How much farther?”

Govin switched to a private channel on his headphones. “Dunno. You’re the water witch—you’ll probably feel it before the rest of us can see it.” He eyed Sierra. “Can she do this?”

Devin had no idea. “We’re about to find out.”

He could see the disapproval hanging in Govin’s eyes. For some reason, it made him feel inordinately big-brother protective. “She’s a kid, Gov. And you scared her crapless back there.”

“There could be people on those beaches.”

He was well aware of that. As was every adult in the chopper. But it wasn’t going to make Sierra’s magic work any better to keep leaning on how bad this could be. “Magic is play for her. If you’re just going to paralyze her with fear, you might as well have left her on the beach with Nat and Lauren.”

He saw understanding hit Govin’s eyes. “Got it. I’ll try to ratchet it down a little.”

Devin grinned, trying his own brand of doing just that. “Try math formulas or something.”

Govin just rolled his eyes, but his stress levels eased off a little. Good. Mission accomplished.

Instead of looking out the window one more time, Devin cast out with a light finger of water power and thought he caught the edge of something. He nudged Sierra. “Can you feel it?”

She frowned, and then he felt her power surging. Man, she was a powerful witch. A moment later, she nodded. “Yeah. Three big waves, and probably a couple more forming in the backwash.”

Govin leaned forward. “How close to the islands?”

Sierra closed her eyes again—and then turned whiter. “Really close. Maybe… three minutes.”

She’s close to panic, Dev. Jamie’s voice rang in his brain.

Devin grabbed Sierra’s hands and pulled her eyes to his by sheer force of will. “Forget the islands. Just the water, Sierra. Go there with me. We need to figure out how to mellow out those waves a little. You lead—I’ll provide the assist.”

Use Aervyn too—I can handle the chopper for now. Jamie sounded low on gas, but someone else was going to have to deal with that.

He felt his nephew’s power stream sliding alongside and nudged Sierra. She took a huge breath and started to work.

Devin watched her spellcasting for a moment, weaving a complicated dance he could hardly follow. Then Aervyn’s mental picture blasted into his brain. Apparently the four-year-old understood Sierra’s plan just fine. Devin stood where he was told and pulled every ounce of power he could find.

He watched in straining awe as Sierra handled it all and asked Aervyn for more. Shit. Even wonderboy wasn’t limitless.

He’s okay for now, Jamie sent. But she’s really pushing it. Do enough grounding for all three of you.

Devin backed off a fraction and planted both magical feet as firmly in the speeding landmass to their left as he could, feeling the desperate pull and swirl of an ocean of water power in mid-spell. And then braced as he realized what was about to happen.

Power smacked into him, a tsunami of energy pouring through him and out the groundlines. He felt Govin and Jamie jump to handle the overflow. Holy shit. Channels screaming, he took as much of the weight off Sierra as he could, well aware she held the business end of the fire hose.

Hang on tight, said Jamie grimly. That was just the first one.

There was no time for fear.

Twice more, they all got drilled by a wave of power bigger than anything Devin had ever handled. Twice more, they frantically cleaned up the overflow. He hung on by his fingertips.

And then everything went magically silent.

Devin opened his eyes—just in time to see Sierra’s face blaze with victory. And then her head fell to the side as channel shock knocked her unconscious.

He grabbed for her—and nearly crunched heads with his brother. His very pale brother. Crap. Every witch on the chopper was in pretty bad shape. “TJ! Can you put this thing down?”

“Yeah,” TJ yelled. “We’ll set down in the islands. Be there in ninety seconds.” He looked down at his tablet. “Lauren said she’s sending reinforcements.”

Thank God. They needed the cavalry right about now.

~ ~ ~

Lauren tried not to stumble as she landed on a waterlogged beach. This popping into her phone and out somewhere else was still a very strange experience. She wasn’t sure a mind witch could help a lot with magical exhaustion, but Nat had been very worried about Jamie, and no way were they sending a nine-months-pregnant woman to an evacuation zone.

She covered her ears as the chopper landed. Yeeks, it was loud. Then she grinned gratefully as Nell and Sophie popped into existence beside her. Apparently it was okay to send pregnant healers to an evacuation zone. Nell’s eyes were glued on the helicopter. Lauren reached out. “I can feel his mind. He’s okay. They’re all in one piece.”

Nell’s mind beamed white-hot gratitude.

“Ginia’s coming in a moment with supplies.” Sophie’s eyes were on the people exiting the chopper, her mind all business. “And we’ve got a bigger team on standby if need be.”

Lauren quickly texted Nat as she saw Jamie step down and reach up for Aervyn, and then followed Sophie over. She was grateful when TJ cut power before her head blew off. And then stunned by the wave of exhaustion that rolled off the helicopter’s occupants. She hadn’t caught a fraction of it while they were landing.

Holy God. She’d done full circles with Aervyn spellcasting that hadn’t left anyone nearly this exhausted. Even wonderboy’s mind felt oddly faint. She stepped to Sophie’s shoulder as Nell scooped up her son. “How can I help?”

Sophie, leaning over Devin, shrugged a shoulder toward Jamie. “Mindlink with him and find out what happened. I can do the first round of channel clearing without that, but it will help make sure we catch everything.” She glanced over at Nell. “Aervyn’s okay—he looks worse, but his channel shock is minor compared to the others. He just needs milk and cookies.”

“They protected him.” Nell cast one last concerned look at the others and then walked a little away, carrying a disturbingly limp boy in her arms.

“Cookies will fix him.” Ginia, just arrived, touched Lauren’s arm. “Honest.”

Lauren shook her head. Only witches prescribed cookies for healing. Then again, Nell’s Nutella cookies weren’t your average baked good. She took Jamie’s hand and reached out with a gentle mindlink. His exhaustion nearly swamped her.

Cookie. Begging.

Ginia leaned over with a cookie and some sort of nasty green concoction. “Energy drink first, then you can have a cookie.”

Jamie scowled. That’s no energy drink. That’s one of Moira’s brews.

She shook her head, giggling. “Nope. It’s one of mine.”

He sipped suspiciously and made a face. Tastes worse.

Ginia’s glare was worthy of a much older healer. Jamie manned up and tipped back his glass. Totally revolting, niece of mine. Make sure Dev and Govin get a glass too.

She turned away, woman-to-be on a mission, as he crunched into his first cookie.

Lauren didn’t know if it was the teasing or the green goo, but the seeping exhausting in his mind was waning. “Can you tell me what happened? Sophie needs to know. I’ve never seen you or Aervyn hit this hard.”

Jamie glanced over to where Sophie still bent over Devin, who held Sierra in his lap, just now starting to stir. “The two of them got hit the worst. Tell her it’s not just overexertion—it’s probably some backlash, too. Sierra sucked the energy out of the waves back through the five of us.”

Lauren frowned. His voice was fairly nonchalant, but his mind was anything but. “It was risky.”

He nodded, eyes very serious. “Yeah. She took the brunt of it into herself. Govin and I managed to shield Aervyn a bit, but…” He sighed. “And Dev took more than he should have, trying to spare her. He’s going to have a hell of a headache, even with Sophie’s talents.”

Lauren could feel his anger swirling under the surface, but she wasn’t sure of the target. “Is it her you’re mad at?”

He blinked. “No. She’s just a kid. She did the best she could, and it was big magic—I don’t know anyone who could have done more. Not sure we should have done it, but…” We used a dangerous witch. Stopped a disaster, but still.

He winced as Aervyn’s giggles drifted over the sand, and Lauren finally understood the last piece. He’s fine, Jamie.

His eyes were bleak. Yeah. But it’s the closest he’s ever come to not being fine. We didn’t do enough to protect him today. He looked over at Sierra. Her either.

Devin crawled over and snagged the half-cookie in Jamie’s hands. “Is my brother trying to take all the blame for this?”

“Pretty much.” Fascinating, Lauren thought. His tone was teasing, but his mind was pure steel. Jamie’s skulk of self-recrimination was about to walk into a brick wall.

“You took care of Aervyn, bro.” Devin’s face was more serious now. “Just like you promised Nell you would the day he was born. Kid’s in better shape than anyone else.”

“I left you hanging.”

“Yeah.” Devin’s eyes drilled into his brother. “And if you ever have that choice again, you do exactly the same thing, or I’ll be the first witch lining up to give you hell.”

Their exchange was hammering two things into Lauren’s mind. One, Devin loved Aervyn with the same fierceness Jamie did. And two—whatever Sierra had done out there, it had scared the crap out of both Sullivan brothers.

Neither of them scared easily. Hell, as far as she’d ever seen, neither of them scared at all.

Then Aervyn’s anguished cry pelted all their minds, and she knew what true fear really felt like. Every witch on the beach raced to his location—and found him tucked in a small, wet crevice, holding a very still baby bird in the palm of his hand.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Nell, face dry, but mind full of tears, tried to cuddle him. “I’m so sorry.”

He just rocked, keening into the wind, the inarticulate sadness of a small boy with a broken heart.

Lauren felt hers bleeding too—and then realized her pain was a faint shadow of the girl’s next to her.

Sierra reached out a finger and ever so gently touched the bedraggled down of the dead bird. “We didn’t know it was here.” She looked up, cheeks streaking with tears, and her face just crumpled. “Maybe I could have saved it. Maybe if I’d just tried a little harder. I thought a little wave would be okay.”

Aervyn cuddled the bird to his chest and lashed out. “You made the waves, Sierra. You killed my bird.” He breathed big, gulping sobs. “You killed my bird.”

“I know.” Her voice was an anguished whisper.

Lauren turned as Sierra fled—but it was Devin who reached her first.

And held her as her heart cracked in two.

~ ~ ~

Nell touched her small boy’s head as he slept, feeling her heart squeeze one more time.

“Come,” said Sophie, her voice gentle. “The sleep spell will keep him under for a couple of hours. Come have something to eat—I think Caro brought over lasagna.”

Bless the Witch Central pipeline. They’d have a steady supply of food arriving for as long as they needed it. Nell stepped into the hallway and laid a hand on Sophie’s arm. “Thank you for coming. This was pretty big for Ginia to handle all on her own, especially with her baby brother involved.”

Sophie smiled. “Do you have any idea how wonderful it is to be able to come? To not have to watch from afar and pray? So thank those girls of yours who have been busy building the Realm shuttle service.” She turned to head down the stairs. “And if the day comes when I can’t get here? That girl of yours will deal. She’s amazing—just like her mama.”

Nell managed to find a grin. A good healer always took care of the collateral damage as well, and Sophie was one of the best. “I’ll be okay. Aervyn had both uncles there to keep him safe, and it’s only channel shock.”

“I could say something comforting, but honestly?” Sophie touched her belly. “I don’t know how you do it. Really. I find myself hoping sometimes that Seedling just has a touch of plant magic or something. Nothing big.”

With two major earth-witch healers for parents? Not likely. Nell chuckled. “I could say something comforting, but—”

Sophie rolled her eyes, amused, and started down the stairs. Nell followed her down and shook her head when they found her brothers and Nat sitting in the living room. “Didn’t Sophie tell the two of you to go take a nap?”

Devin held up a cookie. “There’s more than one way to deal with channel shock. I’ll be okay. Made Govin lie down, though.”

Nell snorted. Govin was the one adult male in her life who usually followed common-sense instructions.

Jamie grinned and put an arm around his wife. “And I’m not taking a nap unless she takes one with me.”

Sophie chuckled. “That’s not the kind of nap I meant.” She looked at Devin. “Did you get Sierra settled in okay?”

He nodded. “I did the manly part and carried her to bed. Lauren’s taking care of the rest.”

“She’s settled,” said Lauren, coming in from the hallway. “And Caro said she’ll bring out the lasagna when it’s done.”

Nell sat down in her big recliner and let her head rest on its ugly orangeness. Crisis over. She looked over at her two brothers. “You kept my boy safe today. I owe you one.”

Devin scowled. “You owe Jamie. I tried to keep our weather witch from blowing herself up. I wasn’t much of a cover for Aervyn.”

Even Nell’s feeble mind powers could pick up his guilt. “My kiddo came out of today in way better shape than any of the rest of you. He’s more traumatized by that poor baby bird than by the magic you all did.” She eyeballed Devin with her best big-sister stare. “And keeping stray weather witches safe is part of the deal, too.”

He looked at her silently for a moment, and then shook his head. “Man, you’re good at that.”

Yes, she was. She looked at Jamie, trying to figure out if he needed the same treatment.

He just grinned and held up a hand in mock surrender. “We have a fractious little fire witch arriving any day now. Feel free to owe me as much as you like—I’m pretty sure we’ll be claiming payment shortly.”

Truth. Nell looked over at Lauren. “How’s Sierra? My boy broke her heart out on that island.” And every mind witch present had felt the echoes.

Lauren shrugged. “Hard to tell, honestly. Even with the sleep spell, she’s pretty agitated. She feels responsible, and she’s got the image of that bird in Aervyn’s hands imprinted on every brain cell.”

Jamie sighed. “And that’s not actually the worst thing that happened out there.”

“I don’t think she understands that at all.” Lauren flopped on the couch, and then looked up in surprise as Devin wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in.

He grinned. “I’m cold. Humor me. We water witches like a couch full of warm bodies.”

Nell blinked. Devin had always been friendly, but there was a blanket right beside him.

She got distracted by Jamie’s worried tone. “How are we going to handle things tomorrow? We have two pretty distraught witches in the same house right now.”

Yup. And when her little boy was hurting, he had some formidable weapons to make everyone else miserable too, even if it was largely accidental. However, she was sitting in a room full of exhausted witches. Nell took a deep breath, ready to issue mama marching orders. “Everybody go home, get some sleep. I’ll page you in the morning when I need you.”

Jamie nodded and stood, helping his wife out of the couch. “That nap’s starting to sound like a really good idea.”

Lauren’s quiet chuckle had them all turning. “Apparently someone else thought so, too.”

Devin was snuggled into Lauren’s shoulder, sound asleep.

Jamie snorted from the doorway. “That dude’s always been able to conk out anywhere.” He grinned at Lauren. “Just push him off. He’ll never notice.”

Nell stared at her awake brother, wondering if she was the only one paying attention. Then she caught Nat’s eye. Nope. And Nat was very rarely wrong.