A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,22
both an unusual and highly sensitive mind witch on his hands.
He opened a second, careful channel to monitor her. It was always good to be cautious. Gently he eased her out of the first test.
Lauren’s eyes floated open. “Okay, that was fun. I’ve never been on a bike before. I might not be able to resist now.”
“Wind chill’s a little steeper here in Chicago,” Jamie said. “That was interesting. You picked up on the non-visual pieces really well. That’s fairly uncommon.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. “So, do I have ‘witch’ stamped on my forehead now? If motorbike-ride daydreams are the full extent of my talents, that seems pretty harmless.”
Jamie wasn’t dumb enough to tell her just how wrong she was. “For now, let’s just say you have an unusual sensitivity to fairly low-volume mind projections.”
Lauren smirked. “That sounds suitably geeky. I’ll put it on my business cards.”
Jamie threw a pillow at her. Why were his trainees always the ones with maturity issues? “Close your eyes again. I’m going to stir a few elemental power currents, just like I did at the restaurant yesterday, only without visual effects. I want you to tell me if you sense or feel anything.”
Jamie reached for power and gathered a basic elemental web. He went gently at first, softly pushing threads of power closer to where Lauren sat. A trained or sensitive witch would have felt even those gentle touches.
When she didn’t respond, he pushed a little harder. Then he separated out each element one at a time and did the magical equivalent of pouring a bucket over her head. Within a couple of minutes, he was absolutely sure she was deaf, dumb, and blind when it came to elemental magic.
“You’ll be thrilled to know you’re most definitely not an elemental witch.”
Lauren opened one eye. “Does that mean I can’t make a storm?”
“Pretty much. It’s the most common talent, but it tends to be weak for most. Unfortunately for those of us who test and train witches, it also runs crazy strong in a few, and generally their control sucks. At this point, I can be pretty sure you’re not going to set me on fire or pull a hurricane off Lake Michigan.”
“Now there’s good news.”
Jamie resisted the temptation to light a decent-sized fire just to tweak her lack of belief. It was a really comfortable couch and hadn’t done anything to deserve scorch marks.
“For this next test, I just want you to follow some basic instructions. Eyes closed again.”
Lauren lay back into the pillows one more time. “This is almost better than napping.”
“We’ll start easy. Wiggle your toes. Do girls always paint their toenails; is it a rule? Never mind, don’t answer that. What’s your favorite color?”
Jamie quietly stopped talking, and just projected words with his mind. Lauren, open your eyes. If your favorite color is blue, why are your toes red?
“Nail polish is a mood thing.”
Jamie caught the visual of her nail polish drawer in all its neat little color-coded rows. He mentally elbowed her. Wow, how much nail polish does one woman need? Do you organize your clothes by color, too, or are you just anal about your nail polish?
He saw the moment Lauren realized she was the only one talking out loud. Unfortunately, pissed-off mind witches could really broadcast their displeasure. Hers was edging into panic.
This was the part of the program where he needed to tread very carefully. Cranky witches could be really touchy creatures.
“I told you to stay out of my mind. Out.”
Jamie winced. “You don’t need to yell. Trust me, your mind is making plenty of noise. I wasn’t in your head. In fact, I took some pretty careful precautions to stay out.”
“Then how the hell do you know I have a color-coded nail polish drawer? And why can I hear you talking in my head?”
“You met me halfway, Lauren. Even as untrained as you are, you can push images well enough for me to pick them up. Emotions, definitely. Feel free to ratchet down your mad anytime now; it’s hurting my head. I’d say you have pretty much the full package of mind-witch powers.”
Lauren was still steaming. “Maybe you just have darned sensitive receptors.”
Jamie risked a laugh. “Nope. My mind talents are pretty weak. Not as useless as you are with elemental power, but not near sensitive enough to pull off what you’re accusing me of. I can’t read worth a darn unless you’re sending.”
He heard what she wasn’t saying and tried to speak to her fear. “Lauren.