easy to comfort.
She could see the other three exchanging glances. “What’s going on, guys?”
Jennie spoke first. “Lauren, we wanted to do some circle work today, a much smaller version of what will happen on Monday night.”
“Right,” Lauren said. “So Aervyn could practice, and I could see what a circle does.”
“Yes,” Jennie said. “And so we could test your channeling talents.”
“Isn’t that what we did? If he could fly us, obviously something worked pretty well.”
Nell laughed. “Lauren, that was the most amazing magical experience of my lifetime.”
Jamie nodded in agreement. “We held more power than I’ve ever felt, even in a full circle. A large part of that was from Aervyn. It really juiced the circle to add his power as well.” He rubbed Aervyn’s head. “Buddy, how did you pull that off?”
“I had the power, but I needed her to hold it so I could cast the spell,” Aervyn said. “I didn’t know where else to put it, and Lauren’s web was really pretty.”
Nell looked at Lauren. “Most spellcasters can barely spare enough magic to hold themselves upright, never mind grab a power source to feed the circle.” She lifted Aervyn’s chin. “Nicely done, sweet boy. Just don’t forget to keep what you need to close the spell. Lauren’s right—we don’t want to crash in mid-flight because you ran out of energy.”
Aervyn rolled his eyes. “I know, Mama.”
Jennie tickled his toes. “Judging by how long you kept us in the air after the circle broke, you had plenty of energy left. However, you aren’t the only one who did something pretty impressive.” She looked at Lauren. “That was the most creative bit of channeling I’ve ever seen.”
Something in her tone had Lauren feeling suddenly unsettled.
Jamie nodded. “You had a crazy amount of power to handle there, Lauren. Looking back, we were insane to do that without circle monitors, but none of us expected a fraction of what happened. Only about one in three who have channeling talents can handle a full circle. I’ll eat my shoes if you aren’t one of them.”
Nell jabbed her brother in the ribs. “You’ll eat anything, brother mine. However, I agree with you. Between us, we’ve been spellcasters for hundreds of circles. Lauren, you handled a whopping amount of power, and very cleanly. I’ve never seen it done anything like how you did it.”
“She has very strong and flexible barriers,” Jennie said. “I believe she used them as a surface to transmit the circle’s power.”
Lauren could feel the conversation heading somewhere, but she had no clue where that might be. Her sense of unease was growing, however.
Apparently Aervyn knew what was coming. “Will she be my channeler?”
Jennie nodded slowly. “That’s what we’re all wondering, sweetie. The two of you certainly work well together. You’ll need to learn to work with other channelers as well, but I think we should pair the two of you on Monday. That certainly wasn’t the plan, but I’d say that with today’s little display, you’ve earned the chance to work together.”
Lauren was fervently glad she was back on the ground. “You want me to channel for a full circle?”
“Yay!” Aervyn bounced in her lap. “Lauren, maybe we can turn the whole sky into Cat Woman.”
“Now there’s a spell worthy of history,” Jennie said dryly. She looked at Jamie. “You might want to brainstorm a few options there.”
Jamie shrugged. “What, you don’t like Cat Woman?”
Lauren’s stomach was curling up into knots. She was coming to terms with being a witch. A nice, ordinary, run-of-the-mill witch. Channeling Aervyn’s first full circle wasn’t remotely run-of-the-mill. She’d been around long enough to know that nothing to do with him was ordinary.
Jennie touched her shoulder and spoke quietly. “You’re not at all ordinary, as a woman, or as a witch. You have a strong mind gift, and now we know you also have the makings of a very fine channeler.” She smiled gently. “Of course, we probably should have figured that out with Cat Woman.”
“I wasn’t a witch until last Wednesday,” Lauren said. “I don’t know how to handle this.”
“You’ve always been a witch, sweetheart. You just didn’t know.”
Chapter 16
Nell stood outside Lauren’s bedroom Thursday morning bearing a pint of ice cream and three spoons. She hoped it was adequate price of entry to the conversation inside.
She knocked, and Nat answered the door.
“Nell’s here bearing gifts,” Nat said, stepping aside to let her in.
“Do moms believe in ice cream before lunch?” Lauren asked.
Nell handed out spoons. “I have three daughters—there’s no bad time for chocolate