A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,36

had drilled Mind Magic 101 yesterday until both she and Nat begged for mercy. Taskmaster he might be, but this morning before leaving her apartment, she had visualized a brick wall of protection and felt it drop into place with a quick and satisfying thunk. She was making progress, even if Jamie had added a little extra reinforcement spell to her own capabilities. Just a precaution.

With cheery waves to a few colleagues, Lauren slipped into the conference room and greeted the Greenleys. “Hello, you two. I just stopped by the selling realtor’s office and picked up the accepted offer. A couple of signatures from both of you, and we’ll be set. You’ll be in your new home in a few weeks.”

Kate leaned into Mitch and grinned. “We’re so excited. It’s such a perfect home for us; we can’t thank you enough.”

This was the part Lauren loved best—a successful match. She reached for Kate’s hand. “Invite me to the baby shower. I love to see my clients in their homes.”

She couldn’t feel it. Kate was obviously brimming over with happiness; the room should have been vibrating from it. Instead, with a head swaddled in bricks, Kate Greenley could have been a stranger.

Lauren held on to her composure as she walked them through the paperwork. She wanted to cry. Being a realtor was serious work, and a lot of the work was disappointment and drudgery. The payoff came with what she thought of as the three C’s—click, contract, and close.

The moment when a client clicked with a property was the absolute best—nothing beat it. But finalizing the contract and handing over the keys on closing day mattered, too. Those were the moments she worked for, and here she was in the middle of one of them, missing all the good stuff. She knew the Greenleys were happy, but dammit, she wanted to feel their happiness.

It was hard not to curse Jamie. Before he’d shown up, none of this had been an issue. She hadn’t asked to be a witch. Her life had been just fine without some freaky magical accident waking up her twitchy mind powers.

And that, thought Lauren, was more than enough whining. It had happened, and she would deal. Time to stop feeling sorry for herself. She controlled the bricks.

She thought back through Jamie’s instructions and blew a candy-pink mental bubble inside the brick wall. Then she gave a swift and satisfying kick to a couple of bricks and watched a hole open up.

Like a dam breaking, thought and feeling rushed through the hole. A green room, gorgeous artist murals on the wall, and sleeping baby in the crib. Satisfaction at a big item checked off the to-do list, and a tinge of both pride and worry about the future. Warm floating and a rhythmic drumbeat, da-dum, da-dum. So peaceful.

Concern! “Lauren.” Mitch had a hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry?” Lauren felt oddly disoriented. There was a strange drumming in the background, and worry radiating off Mitch and Kate.

Too deep. Too much. Bricks, fix the hole. Trying not to panic, Lauren retreated and imagined her brick wall firm, strong, and unbroken. Okay, hole plugged.

“I’m so sorry. I had a bit of a crazy weekend.”

Kate grinned. “I hope he was cute.”

If only it were that simple. Lauren flipped through the paperwork one last time and arranged to deliver keys to the brownstone on the closing date. As the Greenleys walked out of the room, she deflated into a chair.

On Friday, when she’d found the Greenleys their brownstone, she was a realtor with impeccable instincts. Now it was Monday, and she was a witch with an oversensitive head and a big mess of bricks and bubbles she couldn’t control.

What had just happened? Obviously, kicking holes in a brick wall was bad for more than her toes. It had been too much at once. The mental to-do list had to have been Mitch. The green room with the amazing murals must have been Kate’s vision for the nursery—the baby in the crib had looked like a miniature Mitch.

Then there had been the drumming. Lauren sat up very slowly as she realized exactly what that had been. Warm, dark waters and a drumbeat. She’d mind-connected with the baby.

Tears came to her eyes as she remembered the feelings that had come. Such peace and safety. She’d wanted to stay. Lucky baby.

Lauren reached for her papers and stood up. She might be a newbie witch, but she still had a job to do, and damned if she was