A Hidden Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,97
recognized the blue. Cornflower. Healing.
Gran’s garden was keeping her alive.
Elorie could hear Marcus barking commands to whoever he’d managed to track down. Her head snapped up. “Do you have Ginia?”
He nodded.
“I need her. I need all the plant blooming and healing she can push to me.”
Marcus looked at her like she’d gone mad.
Elorie pointed to Gran’s hand clutching the flower. “I think she’s pulling healing from her plants.” She waved her arm at the garden. “But look at them—they’re weakening.”
Marcus reached for the nearest plant. “I have a little earth magic. I’ll help.”
“No!” Elorie’s voice snapped out, shocking even herself. “We have more powerful earth witches online, and spells already in the WitchNet library. I need you to find me healers. The plants are only life support; they can’t bring her back. Find Sophie.”
She reached for the laptop beside her. In the meantime, she could keep Gran’s garden alive. Kevin touched her shoulder, pale, but determined. “We can do that part, Elorie. With the plants. I can pull the WitchNet spells.”
Sean was already crouched in front of a flower bed, fingers waving softly. Lizzie sprayed a gentle mist of water from her fingers and crooned gently to the flowers.
Kevin was right. She would be needed to pull whatever healing spells they could find. She handed him the computer just as Ginia’s face popped onscreen.
Marcus practically threw her his laptop. “I have Sophie.”
Elorie nearly broke again when she saw Sophie’s face. “It’s bad, Soph. I don’t know what’s wrong. It’s in her head.”
Sophie was a study in anguish. “I can’t heal what I can’t see. Dammit, we haven’t coded a healing scan for WitchNet yet.” Her voice cracked. “That was on my to-do list for next week.”
Elorie’s eyes closed against the pain. So very close. They had a healer, and a way to pull the magic, but the healer couldn’t see. Her head ached from twin waves of fury and impotence.
Headache.
She grabbed the computer screen. “Sophie. Would a new healer be feeling Gran’s pain?”
Sophie frowned in confusion. “Yes. Any healer would.”
Lizzie.
She whirled around. “Lizzie!” The child ran over, water still dripping from her fingers. “Kevin, can you let down Lizzie’s shields, just a little?”
He nodded, fingers still flying over the keys.
Lizzie grabbed her head.
“I’m sorry, sweetling.” Elorie pulled Lizzie into her lap. “We think you might be feeling the same thing as Gran. Can you tell Sophie how it feels?”
Lizzie rubbed her eyes. “Like a big pounding inside my head. It hurts most right here.” She touched over her left eye.
Sophie met Elorie’s eyes, fear growing. “Is the pain sharp and pointy, sweetie, or big and round?”
Elorie read the words Sophie had typed into the message box on her screen. If this gets any worse, keep her tightly barriered. We don’t want to lose two. It was all Elorie could do not to scream.
Lizzie tilted her head, considering Sophie’s question. “Mostly big and round, but sometimes it’s pointy. It’s a little better now, though. I think the plant spells are helping.”
Sophie’s voice wavered. “I hope so. I hope we have enough ready.” Then she straightened up. “Lizzie, you can go back to watering now. That’s a big help.”
Elorie looked back at the screen, afraid to ask.
Sophie looked grim. “It sounds like a stroke. We’re going to need to move her. You need to get her into Realm, little sister. That’s the only place we can gather healers quickly enough.”
Words caught in Elorie’s throat as she clutched Gran’s hand tighter. “Is it safe to move her?”
“No,” Sophie shook her head, tears falling. “It could kill her. But if we don’t move her, she’ll die.”
Jamie’s face suddenly popped up on her screen, the soaring hills of Ocean’s Reach behind his head. “We can help with that. Elorie, I’m going to push you a special transport spell. We’ll use full teleportation—that will be gentlest for her. Aervyn’s anchoring into rock here to help hold everything as steady as possible.”
Elorie closed her eyes in desperate appeal for a miracle. She knew magic could kill. If hers killed Gran…
Uncle Marcus’s hand landed gently on her shoulder. “We have a full circle waiting. You can do this. She would trust you with her life.”
Holding onto the trust in his eyes, Elorie clasped her pendant and called her power.
“For Gran I seek, for Gran I call,
In power and love, do we stand tall
With magic steady and hearts all true.
Keep her with us, life renew.
There’s love to give, and babes to see,
As I will, so mote it be.”
If babies