A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,52

She has enough mind power to support an illusion spell? Is she all right? Something of that magnitude must have wiped her out.

Jamie: Not at all. She barely felt it.

Moira: Oh, my.

Sophie: That’s insane. No one uses mind power to drive spells—there’s just not enough of it.

Jamie: Jennie and I tried to replicate what they’d done. We couldn’t even make Cat Woman’s whiskers.

Moira: Jennie is sure, then? That would make our Lauren one of the strongest mind witches of this generation.

Jamie: She needs a lot of training and practice first, but yeah, I think that’s the read Aunt Jennie is getting. Aervyn agrees, for what that’s worth.

Nell: Oh, and I almost left off a really important bit. Aervyn didn’t just tap Lauren’s power. She channeled it to him; you were totally right about that, Moira. Lauren didn’t even realize she’d done anything, but my witchling knew.

Sophie: She channeled to Aervyn?

Moira: Oh, Nell. Oh, my.

Nell: Yeah. We might have finally found a channeler for my baby.

Jamie: And she’s a newbie witch who can only stick around for a week of training.

Nell: Easy, Jamie. That’s all she came for right now. We don’t know what the future will hold.

Jamie: Sorry. I actually really like Lauren, but it’d be hard for me to trust Aervyn to anyone, never mind someone who has no idea what any of this even means.

Moira: The bond between channeler and spellcaster is important, but so is training. He will handle immense amounts of power one day. This is an enormous responsibility to put in her hands.

Nell: Take a deep breath, everyone. Even if she is a potential partner for Aervyn, no one is going to throw her in a big circle any time soon. I like her, she likes my kiddo, and they’re in excellent training hands. For now, that’s enough.

Moira: Aye, Jennie is the one I would want if it were my child.

Nell: Aervyn’s future is going to be big and scary no matter who he works with. For now, he’s having a lot of fun with Lauren, and she’s really good with him. He showed her his hearing aids.

Jamie: Really? I totally missed that.

Nell: It was right before Cat Woman. They have a connection.

Moira: That’s a good place to start.

Sophie: Hey, can I change the subject now? I have to go soon, so Jamie—spill.

Jamie: Spill what?

Sophie: My sources say Lauren isn’t the only new arrival in California. What’s up with you and the pretty lady?

Jamie: Is nothing private?

Moira: Of course not, silly boy. Tell us about this friend of Lauren’s you saw in your visions.

Nell: It wasn’t vision precog. Jamie’s been holding out on us.

Jamie: Seriously, is nothing private?

Nell: We already answered that. I had a nice little chat with Nat yesterday. It wasn’t visions Jamie saw, it was future memories.

Sophie: I don’t understand.

Jamie: That’s because you always fell asleep in witch history class :-).

Moira: Don’t tease her, Jamie, or I’ll quiz you on your herbals knowledge, and we’ll see who else used to fall asleep.

Jamie: Teasing done.

Moira: Sophie, most precog shows visions of the future, something like watching events on a movie screen. Precog memories are much more intimate, and for Jamie, they would have had much stronger emotional layers.

Jamie: You don’t say.

Nell: And unlike normal precog visions, precog memories are far more reliable. Much more likely they’ll actually happen. Although Nat doesn’t seem to know that.

Jamie: Don’t you think she’s got enough pressure right now?

Nell: Maybe. But it can’t be making things any easier for you, brother mine.

Sophie: You saw future memories of the woman you’re probably going to marry and have babies with, you don’t want her to feel pressured, and now she’s in California? Gee, Jamie, you don’t live a boring life.

Jamie: It’s been an interesting few days.

Sophie: Are you doing okay? Sounds like your precog must have been pretty high on the Richter scale.

Jamie: Let’s just say I’m glad to be home. I need to retreat to my man cave for a while.

Moira: Don’t hide for too long, lad. There are not so many chances to love.

Jamie: I know it, Moira, and I’m man enough to be slightly panicked at the thought. I’ll get over it. I think.

Her two sweet boys, Moira thought fondly. Both had some momentous times coming in their lives. Jamie had found his heart’s match, and that was important for a man. Her head knew that precog was an unreliable talent. Her Irish heart felt certain she would be dragging her old bones onto an airplane again