pulled Sean in a big circle, and then dropped him off about twenty feet from shore.
Sean treaded water for a moment, and then threw his hands up in the air.
Kevin leaned over to Lizzie. “Aren’t you going to save him?”
Lizzie shrugged. “He can swim.”
“Yeah, but we’re supposed to be practicing, remember? What if he couldn’t swim?”
Lizzie scowled. “Fine.”
Two minutes later, Sean was on dry land and nicely warmed by the third spell Ginia had thoughtfully provided—now Elorie knew what the fire power had been for.
She wasn’t sure her trio had taken the exercise seriously enough, but Ginia had shown creativity and forethought in the spell bundle she’d pushed to Lizzie. That had been very well done, and Elorie took careful mental notes. It would be her turn as the on-call Net witch soon enough.
Sharing the spells of the everyday was really the heart and soul of WitchNet, as their spell library project had quickly been dubbed. But the ability to network witches like this—with this, they would save lives.
Their emergency response team could use a lot more practice first, however.
Chapter 22
Elorie watched as the flower bud under her fingers bloomed and grinned in delight. In theory, she and Gran were testing a batch of plant spells Ginia had bottled for WitchNet.
In reality, for one small part of a morning, she was living a childhood dream. So many times Gran had said to her, “One day, you’ll sit in my garden and we’ll work magic together.”
It had been a very long wait, but that day was today. They shared few words—just a love of tending, and the knowing that their hands did the work of witch hands down through the centuries.
For as long as she could remember, Gran’s place had been her garden. Some of Elorie’s earliest memories rooted here, along with her belief that magic was meant to be used for healing, for doing, for creating.
And that small magics, done well and often, were the true strength of a witch.
Moira stood up to stretch for a moment, and then beckoned. “Come, child. This patch of chamomile could use a bit of that potency spell Ginia sent.”
Elorie held her hands up, trying to separate the potency spell out from the others she held. It was beginning to get quite confusing, and a couple of the spellshapes were starting to fade. That was one of the things they wanted to know—how long could a witch hold a pushed spell before it degraded?
About twenty minutes, she figured as she untangled what was hopefully the potency spell. Gently she touched the top of the nearest chamomile plant. When it started to dance, she had to laugh. “I’m guessing that’s not the right one.”
Moira chortled. “I don’t believe so, but it’s a lovely spell, nonetheless.”
Feeling like a little girl on a summer’s day, Elorie walked in a small circle, touching what flowers she could reach. Soon an entire bevy of flowers danced, much to Gran’s delight.
They stood for a moment, arm in arm, and watched the flowers sway under the noon-day sun.
That was one of the other lessons she had learned at Gran’s feet. Sometimes, magic was just meant to be enjoyed.
~ ~ ~
Nell lay back on her blanket and enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun soaking into her skin. Getting five kids packed up and off on a picnic was easier than it used to be, but she was still claiming the right to be lazy now.
Nat and Jamie could keep an eye on Aervyn. With a fire witchling on the way, they could use the practice. Besides, nothing bad ever happened at Ocean’s Reach; the magic of the place had always felt protective to her.
She thought back to Aervyn’s first weeks as a newborn and wondered if her brother was ready for what was coming. It was very unusual for an unborn babe to be playing with power streams, but if her son were to be believed, Nat’s little bean had been doing so practically since she’d been conceived. They were in for an interesting ride.
Cracking open an eye to check on her herd, she realized Jamie wasn’t paying attention to Aervyn at all. His hand was glued to Nat’s belly, and his face was a mix of wonder and panic. “What’s up, brother mine?”
“I can feel her.” Jamie spoke in a hushed whisper.
Nell frowned. Nat wasn’t far enough along yet for him to be feeling the baby kick.
Nat touched his cheek. “It’s the power in this place. Even I can feel