A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,53

soon, this time for Jamie’s wedding.

And their Lauren might be a channeler for Aervyn. It had been a concern. Channeling talent was getting rarer, and many of the younger channelers couldn’t handle a full circle. For Aervyn to grow into his potential, he would require a full circle of their strongest and best, and a channeler who could pull that power together for him.

They were still a long way from knowing if Lauren could fill those shoes, but even the possibility would fill the witching community with hope.

…

Lauren stared hard at Aervyn. She was going to take him down this time. It no longer seemed odd to be planning a sneak attack on a four-year-old. Not that she’d disbelieved the stories about Aervyn’s power, but it was humbling to be spanked by a little boy at pretty much every task Jennie had set them so far.

Lauren had been proud of her dome creation this morning, inspired by Nat’s handmade rainbow throw that lived on her couch at home. Jennie had seemed impressed as well—and then promptly set about trying to unravel it.

Now Aervyn was Jennie’s little minion. They were playing a game with the innocent name of ‘Grab a Thought’, basically the mind-witch version of Capture the Flag. Jennie had given each of them a secret thought to hide behind their barriers. The objective was simple—grab Aervyn’s thought before he grabbed hers.

It was Aervyn’s turn to be on offense. She could see him walking toward her mind center, and more clearly than when they’d started an hour ago. He tossed a few lights at her dome, which at this point was pretty much just a ‘game on’ signal. She waited for his serious efforts.

The flying Matchbox cars were cute, but no match for her superdome. She grew wooly tendrils out from the textured surface and wrapped them around his cars in mid-flight. She was getting faster by the minute. Gotcha, munchkin.

Just in time, she remembered his cars had lasers and tugged on her tendrils to turn the cars around. Aervyn giggled as he ducked the laser beams that were suddenly coming in his general direction.

Dang it! She shoved a pillow off the edge of her couch, immobilizing a ladder sliding up from the stealth fire truck he’d sent quietly in around the side. That had been far too close. She’d been distracted by his giggles. Time for the sneak attack.

Lauren thinned her dome to rainbow silks and projected surprise as strongly as she could. Look, Aervyn—Cat Woman! When he swiveled around to look behind him, she shot out a handful of tendrils to tickle him under the ribs.

Her commandeered Matchbox car waited just outside his barriers and jumped through the instant they wobbled. She’d picked a speedy-looking red one. It had better be up for the job. She stepped on the gas, leaning out the open window to grab Jennie’s planted thought.

When she opened her eyes, Aervyn was staring at her with surprise. “You’re sneaky! That was a really good trick.”

Jennie reached over and tickled his toes. “You have to watch out for the sneaky ones. That fire engine was a nice try, by the way. Lauren almost missed that one.”

She looked at Lauren and nodded just once. It felt like winning a lifetime supply of Ben & Jerry’s.

…

Nat walked out of the Shattuck Lounge and took a deep breath of the nighttime air. After several hours on the very crowded dance floor, it was a welcome cool.

She looked at Jamie. “That was fun, and a little bit strange.”

Jamie grinned. “Doing something I already have precog memory of? Yeah. It was more fun in person, though. You are a seriously sexy dancer.”

Dancing with a guy who was all wrapped up in you was about as good as it got. Nat had no words; she just let her heart shine.

Jamie settled an arm around her shoulders. “So, how is it that you’re so calm about all this?”

Lots of practice, thought Nat. Calm had always been her refuge. “I figure we all have a future. I just happened to get a few peeks at what might be in mine.” She smiled at Jamie and spoke softly. “They were some pretty nice possibilities.”

Jamie turned her into his arms. “Close your eyes and hang on.”

Nat felt an odd elevator-type sensation and opened her eyes on a beach. A very deserted beach. She kicked off her shoes. “Where are we?”

Jamie grinned. “I thought we deserved something we didn’t already know about. This is Point Reyes