A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,19
categories of witching talent. Some witches only manifest one type of power; a very few have all seven. Most of us have one or two stronger gifts and a couple of minor talents. The tests are simple and as non-intrusive as possible. We do them on children regularly. They’re nothing to fear.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Jamie took a gamble. “You let me in. I think you did because at least some tiny part of you wonders if I might be right.”
Lauren sat down and just looked at him for a minute, clearly having an internal debate.
Jamie resisted the urge to tap into her upper layer of thoughts. First, it wasn’t strictly ethical. Second, she’d shown some initial signs of mind powers yesterday, and she might actually feel him tap in. He suspected that would not end well.
He read her assent before she spoke it. The power of coffee and bagels shouldn’t be underestimated.
“Okay,” Lauren said. “For now, I’ll roll with this. You have an hour to try to convince me that I have more than just good instincts.” She sighed. “And I’ll do my best to keep an open mind.”
Phew, thought Jamie. Now he just had to tread carefully during the test. The last person he’d tested was a cute seven-year-old girl missing three front teeth. She’d been entranced when he made rainbows dance inside her head. Lauren seemed destined to be a little pricklier.
He guided them both toward the couch in the main living space. It looked insanely comfortable, and was pretty clearly where she hung out at home. The safer she felt, the better the test would go. Lauren settled on one end of the couch and he folded into the other, deliberately stacking some pillows between them. A clear physical separation was best, at least for now.
“I’m guessing this will be easier for you if I give you a bit of an introduction to what I’ll be doing and what we’re looking for?” At Lauren’s nod, Jamie kept going.
“In the past, witching talents tended to be categorized on results—you had weather witches, kitchen witches, mindspeaking witches, witches that were good with charms and potions. In recent years, there’s been a lot of effort to understand how witchcraft works, and we tend to categorize a little differently now.”
“Sounds pretty scientific for ‘double, double, toil and trouble’.”
Jamie grinned. “Shakespeare didn’t help us out any more than Harry Potter. Sorry, I can skip the details if you want.”
“No, that’s fine—I like information. So, how do you classify modern witches?”
“The first question we ask is what kinds of power you can tap. There are five different power sources. The way you do magic, and the types of magic you can do, depend on what types of power you can access.”
“So like earth, air, fire, water?”
“Those are all elemental energies, which are one type of power source. Many witches work with only one or two elements. Those with earth power, like Sophie, tend to be very good with plants and herbs. People who work with air and water can really impact weather. I have a cousin who chases storms for a living. Fire witches were battle mages in the old days. It’s not a hugely common talent these days, perhaps because most battle mages didn’t live long enough to pass on their genes.”
“So, magic is genetic?” Lauren looked intrigued. That was a good sign.
“Not always,” Jamie said. “I have a cousin who does witch genealogy. In some families, the inheritance patterns are really obvious. Other times, they make no sense at all. Then you get someone like Sophie, who isn’t related to any witches, but has strong talent.”
Lauren finished off her bagel. “Okay. So far, I follow you. What are the other four power sources?”
“Mind powers are one.”
“Like telepaths?”
“Yeah, and empaths. Those are receptive skills, when you can read someone else’s words or emotions. Most mind witches can also send into someone else’s head.”
Lauren raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound so friendly.”
“Like most witching powers, it can be used for harm or good. One of Moira’s daughters works in a hospital with children about to go into surgery. She pushes them words and feelings of comfort. It’s pretty cool to be able to calm a scared kid facing a difficult operation.”
Lauren nodded slowly. “I remember having my tonsils out. It was terrifying.”
Jamie debated with himself, and then took the opening. “Hospitals are full of lots of scared, hurt people. You might have sensed more of that than most kids would.”
Lauren raised the