A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,43
he opened a link for me. He says to tell you that his gizmo worked, and Lauren has been fine on the plane. Mama, what’s a gizmo?”
“Uncle Jamie did a little spellcoding on his iPod to create some barriers for Lauren. You remember I told you she’s a mind witch, right? Just like you.”
“Why doesn’t she make her own barriers?”
“She’s a beginner witch, so she’s just learning how to do that. When you’re just starting, it’s hard to do in crowded places like airports and airplanes, so Uncle Jamie is helping her.”
“How can she be a beginner witch? She’s a growed-up person—I saw her.”
“Not everyone knows they’re a witch when they’re born, sweetie. She just found out a few days ago.”
Aervyn’s forehead squished up. “Why didn’t one of the other witches tell her?”
“Maybe she’s never met another witch. Her family is different from ours. She doesn’t know lots of witches.”
“She’s gonna know lots now. Is that why she’s coming to visit? To meet us?” Aervyn started to ask something else, then turned toward the arrival gate. “They’re coming, Mama. Uncle Jamie just has to kiss his pretty lady first.”
Baby brother, if you’re going to let the four-year-old into your head, keep it G-rated. Nell was sorely tempted to ask Aervyn to patch her in to Jamie’s thoughts, but curiosity wasn’t a good enough reason to spy, especially when you were trying to model good witch manners. She’d corner Jamie later. Sometimes sisterly persuasion was more useful than magic.
She saw Jamie’s dark head above a line of passengers flowing through the exit door and grabbed Aervyn’s hand. “Just wait, sweetheart. Let them come to us.”
When they were only a few yards away, Aervyn yanked. “Mama, let go. She needs help.” Nell’s empathic talents were very weak, but even she could feel Lauren’s sharp distress. Judging from the heads suddenly turning their direction, so could half the people in the airport.
Aervyn skidded to a halt in front of Lauren and waved his fingers in the air. Nell knew that meant he was pulling big magic, and quickly; normally he didn’t need any physical cues.
Lauren’s distress vanished, and her entire body relaxed. Jamie shook his hand out—clearly Lauren had held it in a death grip—and gave Aervyn a puzzled look. Then he dove into Lauren’s purse and came out with what Nell assumed was his gizmo.
Jamie shook his head in disgust and led the group over to Nell. “Got any iPod batteries handy? Stupid charge just ran out.” He looked at Lauren. “I’m really sorry—that must have hurt.”
Lauren was holding Aervyn’s hand. “Big time. Thanks for putting some walls back up for me.”
Jamie shook his head. “Wasn’t me. I’m not sure I could have done it with this many people around. Aervyn did it. He’s still holding them up for you, I’m guessing.” He looked at his nephew for confirmation. “Can you hold them until we get home?”
“I can do it, Uncle Jamie. It was like Iceman. I blew a big wall of ice around her head. Good, huh?”
Punk child, Nell thought fondly. Then she remembered Aervyn’s spells often had some gaping logic issues and looked more closely at Lauren. Oops, the poor girl’s teeth were chattering.
“Love, that was a great big spell. I’m thinking that maybe a wall of ice will be pretty cold for Lauren the whole way home, though. Can you change it now, maybe to bricks?” Nell gave Jamie a look. Be ready in case he needs help.
Aervyn bristled. “I don’t need help, Mama.”
Oops, she’d forgotten he was linked with Jamie. She looked at her son. Bricks. Now. Sometimes being the mama was all the reason you needed.
“Bricks are boring.” Aervyn said. He closed his eyes for just a moment, no finger wiggling this time. “There, she won’t be cold now. Sorry, Lauren—I didn’t mean to freeze your brain.”
Lauren beamed at her pint-sized knight. “I like Iceman too. That was a very fancy spell, kiddo. When I grow up, I want to be a witch like you.”
Aervyn giggled. “You already growed up. Do you like the Matchbox cars?”
“Love them. Jamie only taught me how to make boring brick barriers. I think I’m always going to make mine out of Matchbox cars now. The big fire truck in the middle is the best.”
“I have one at home. You can play with it. Let’s go.” Aervyn started to tug on Lauren’s hand. Then he reached out for Nat’s, too.
Nell had completely forgotten about Nat in the coming of Iceman. So this