A Hidden Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,16

Ginia was a freaking awesome spellcoder. Elorie was still a total mystery.

~ ~ ~

Ginia prepared to login to Realm. She had a whole hour, a new strategy, and three new spells. Gandalf was going down. He deserved it, for thinking her coding sucked. If she could spellcode a computer melt, she could take down some old guy who learned to code in the last century.

Well, he was actually a pretty good coder, but his spellcode had some cracks. She’d tried taking him in a duel, and he’d locked her up in a tower. Her friends had busted her out, but he was too strong in a head-on battle. She needed to be sneaky.

She logged in and headed to the pub, pretty sure she’d find him on his usual chair in the corner. She didn’t get that—Realm was a lot more fun with friends, but Gandalf always played alone. People had tried—the third-best player in Realm would make a powerful ally—but he was always his usual rude self, and they eventually went away.

Today he was dressed like a monk. Generally, the simpler his disguise, the more dangerous he was. She set a couple of warding spells in place just to be safe.

Warrior Girl: Good evening to ya, Gandalf.

Gandalf: Merry meet, Warrior Girl. I see your friends aided in your escape. Can I buy you a drink?

Warrior Girl: Some of us have friends. Cider, please.

Gandalf: Get the girl a cuppa. Make it a small one, since she’s being rude today.

Warrior Girl: I have a proposition to make.

Gandalf: Big word for a little girl.

Warrior Girl: I’m big enough.

Gandalf: Really. And what big things have you done lately?

Warrior Girl: I melted a computer this morning.

Gandalf: On purpose?

Warrior Girl: I’m a well-trained witch. I don’t do magic by accident.

Gandalf: Ah. Trying to recreate the incident with Aunt Moira’s computer, were you?

Warrior Girl: Yup.

Gandalf: Learn anything?

Warrior Girl: Well, it wasn’t just power overload. Even Aervyn couldn’t melt a hard drive that way, and he tried. Uncle Jamie thinks he could do it with the juice of a circle behind him, but—

Gandalf: If the baddest witchling in the West couldn’t do it alone, then it’s unlikely that’s what happened.

Warrior Girl: Exactly.

Gandalf: So, if Aervyn couldn’t do it, then how’d you pull it off?

Warrior Girl: I didn’t just use magic; I used coding, too.

Gandalf: You spellcoded a computer melt? Remind me to keep you away from my electronics.

Warrior Girl: It worked, but you’re the only spellcoder at Aunt Moira’s house.

Gandalf: I didn’t cook her computer, little fighter.

Warrior Girl: Could you?

Gandalf: Good question. I don’t happen to have a spare one around to test on, however.

Warrior Girl: Uncle Jamie doesn’t think Elorie could have spellcoded.

Gandalf: Ha. The girl can hardly answer email.

Warrior Girl: But what if she did it by accident? Not spellcoding, exactly, but something like that.

Gandalf: Hmm. Different process, but same result?

Warrior Girl: Huh?

Gandalf: Never mind. You’ve got me thinking now, which I’m guessing was your intent.

Warrior Girl: Yup. You might be a crusty old witch, but you’re pretty smart.

Gandalf: Be gone with you, brat.

Ginia logged out of Realm and giggled. Mission accomplished. Well, two missions, actually. It probably was a good idea for Gandalf to think about Elorie’s magic. Maybe he’d figure something out.

More importantly, however, the conversation had distracted him long enough for her to plant her weaving spells. By this time tomorrow, his two most potent spells wouldn’t recognize him as caster. They’d belong to his two biggest challengers besides her. She hoped they got the hint and ganged up on him. And while they were doing that, she’d be going on a spell raid.

Warrior Girl was going to rule Realm. It was just a matter of time.

~ ~ ~

“It’s so you don’t forget about us while you’re gone,” Lizzie said.

Jeebers, Elorie thought. You’d think she was going away for years instead of a week. Her three students had shown up with a care package of homemade snickerdoodles, some freshly picked blueberries, and a painstakingly drawn and lettered card—clearly Lizzie’s handiwork.

“We picked the berries this afternoon,” Kevin said. “There were more, but it was hard to stop eating them.”

Elorie looked at the gallon bucketful and tried not to giggle. It didn’t seem likely they would let her take those on the plane. Aaron would be serving blueberry pancakes to their guests for days. And the snickerdoodles wouldn’t make it as far as the plane—their cinnamon-y goodness was already teasing her nose.

She hugged Lizzie. “I’m only going for a few days, so I won’t forget