Making sure Kevin was fetching her a cookie as she’d asked, she turned back to Nell. “You’re sure on the last? The rest is true enough, but we haven’t tested young Kevin for the latter in quite some time.”
Nell grinned. “That might be worth doing in the next day or two. I’d be very curious to see if our little scanning program is right.”
Moira wasn’t entirely convinced yet, but she had two other witchlings at her elbows clamoring to be scanned. Lizzie’s readings showed her strong water elementals, and hints of something else. That was no surprise—little ones could grow new talents as fast as they grew out of their clothes.
When Sean held the mouse, Nell looked very surprised. “Sean, honey, are you a spellcaster?”
Sean brushed cookie crumbs off his face. “Gran says so, but I’ve only worked with small circles so far.”
Moira hadn’t lived this long without knowing some things weren’t meant for small ears. She picked up the plate of cookies. “Why don’t you three take the cookies into the garden and pick some nice, fresh flowers to brighten my table.”
When their voices grew faint, she turned back to Nell. “What are you seeing in our Sean?”
Nell frowned. “I can’t be sure of this part of the code—we haven’t done enough testing. But Sean has a big spike in the unknown powers category, which could be healing, casting, or something more rare.”
“I don’t think he’s a healer,” Sophie said. “I spent some time with Sean last summer, and he didn’t show any evidence of healing talent.”
Moira nodded. “I agree, and we’ve seen no signs of astral travel or precognition. He does very well with complex spells for a boy of ten, so we assume he’ll be a solid spellcaster.”
“His spike is almost as big as Jamie’s,” said Nell.
Oh, my, Moira thought. Jamie was a talented spellcaster at the peak of his powers. “That’s a little more than we thought we were dealing with. We haven’t a full circle’s worth of witches on hand at the moment, but the next time we do, perhaps we’ll test him in a bigger circle.”
“Maybe when we all come for witchling training this summer,” Sophie said. “With me and Nell, you’ll have enough, I think.”
“Jamie and Nat are going to stay here,” Nell said, “but Lauren would like to come. She’s turning into an able trainer—with her mindspeaking, she could guide Sean through the process of hooking into a full circle quite nicely.”
Moira’s heart warmed at the thought of seeing Lauren again. She’d developed such a fondness for their first “fetched” witch. And it was good to know they had a spellcaster of some considerable talent to train, even if the method of discovery had been a bit unorthodox.
She glanced toward Great Gran’s crystal ball, sitting in its usual place in the corner of the room. Perhaps if the darned thing had ever worked, they wouldn’t need all these new-fangled witch tools. The old ones could be a tad unreliable.
Ah, well. Witches made do with what they had. “That’s quite the pot your little scanning spell has stirred up, Nell. I’ll speak with Elorie about what we’ve discovered—she coordinates training for the young ones.”
“Do that.” Nell frowned. “And if it turns out the readings are right, we have a bigger mystery to solve.”
“And what’s that, dear?”
Sophie spoke gently. “The fetching spell said Elorie has power, Aunt Moira. If this new tool of Nell’s is accurate, she’ll need to be scanned again.”
Moira shook her head slowly. Her own power had reached out to Elorie in hope time and time again, but found no magic. It didn’t seem possible that a wee gadget could see what she couldn’t. “It will cause her pain, just in the asking.”
“I know,” Sophie said. “So let’s not go there just yet, and take one step at a time. Test Kevin first—see if he has mind magic. If he does, then we can think about the next step.”
“Aye. That much I can do. I’ll contact Marcus myself.” Moira turned at the sound of running footsteps down her hallway. “I’ll let you know what we find.”
“Blessed be, Aunt Moira.”
Chapter 3
Elorie shook her head at Kevin. “Nope. My favorite color’s not blue.”
Kevin scowled. “I think your brain looked a little blue.”
Elorie handed him a bowl of blueberries, still wet from a quick rinse after picking. “Maybe you’re just hungry. Why don’t we wait until Uncle Marcus gets here, and then you can try mindreading with someone who can