A Hidden Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,92

and Aervyn were going to work on shrinking iPhones into the glass. It was a more reliable method of portable Net power, particularly for the witchlings—sea glass was well used to getting banged up and wet. iPhones weren’t proving quite as durable.

Ginia looked up. “Okay, I’m going to ping you. Lemme know if it’s too loud.”

Elorie squeezed her eyes shut. The last time had sounded like a monster gong inside her head. Fortunately, Ginia’s idea of volume control was more precise than her little brother’s. “Much better. A little quieter yet would be fine for me, but that’s tolerable.”

Jamie grinned. “Looks like we’re ready to go, then. Do your troops have their emergency ready for us?”

Elorie rolled her eyes. “They’ve been ready since dawn.” Nothing could have pleased Lizzie and the twins more than being asked to cause trouble on purpose.

She leaned out the window to activate their pre-arranged “go” signal. Uncle Marcus, lying in the hammock, raised his hand to the sky, and an ear-piercing whistle blasted through the air. Good grief. Aervyn wasn’t the only witch who needed a lesson in volume control.

Moments later, Lizzie screamed, right on cue. Elorie looked over at her computer. “Emergency in progress.”

Ginia grinned. “Excellent. I’m ready to rock.”

Elorie walked outside to monitor in person. Uncle Marcus was still lying in the hammock. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye on them, so Sean doesn’t actually float out to sea?”

He tapped his head. “I’m mindlinked with Kevin. Not a problem. Lizzie’s father has his boat out. Sean’s not going anywhere.”

Elorie shook her head. She knew all too well how much trouble Sean could get into even when you were watching him.

Halfway down to the beach, she spotted Sean in his inner tube, floating happily out in the waves. When he spied her, he screamed and yelled “Shark! Help!” She had to laugh. The last shark attack in Nova Scotia had been exactly never.

Kevin and Lizzie were on the beach, acting as the rescuers. Kevin had his iPhone out, shooting video so Ginia could see the problem. Smart boy. They hadn’t discussed how best to communicate with the Net witch on call, and video was a lot faster than texting or talking.

Moments later, Lizzie, phone in her hand, started swaying slightly. She only did that when she worked with power. Elorie reached for her pendant, activating the fancy new visualizing spell that let her view elemental power streams.

Jeebers. Ginia had pushed a mess of spellshapes to Lizzie. Lots of air power, which made sense—that would be the easiest way to bring Sean back toward shore. But what on earth was the fire power for? There was also a third, more complex spellshape she didn’t recognize.

Lizzie, all three-and-a-half feet of her, worked with the novel power streams like she’d been born to them. The spellshape containing most of the air power morphed out toward Sean and began blowing him back to shore. Routine rescue. Excellent.

Halfway back, Lizzie grinned and waved her left hand. Suddenly Sean was headed back out to sea, and at a fast clip. Then his inner tube flipped over. Elorie could tell from Lizzie’s face—the change of direction had been on purpose, but the flip had been an accident.

It wasn’t quite a real emergency yet. Sean was an excellent swimmer, and Lizzie’s dad wasn’t far away with his boat. But their carefully planned drill was now officially off the rails.

She converged on Lizzie at the same time as Kevin did. A quick hand stopped them in their tracks. They both knew better than to interfere with a witch holding a boatload of spellpower in her hands.

Lizzie took the spellshape Elorie didn’t recognize and gently activated it. Suddenly the air was alive with a strange kind of music. Kevin listened in rapt attention, and then grinned. “Dolphins. She’s calling the dolphins. Look!”

He pointed out to sea. Sure enough, a formation of three dolphins swam in from the north, heading straight for Sean.

Lizzie danced with delight, but never let go of the spell. The strange music changed slightly as the dolphins reached Sean.

Elorie watched in awe as Sean grabbed two dorsal fins and hung on for dear life. She could hear his maniacal laughter even over the crashing waves. The smallest of the three dolphins jumped into the air and landed with a splash. Elorie laughed. Another young one who didn’t know emergencies weren’t supposed to be fun.

Lizzie spun in a circle, just once, and the music changed a third time. The dolphins