A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,89
father already, and no shortage of other people who loved him deeply. But what Jamie felt for that small boy was fierce, and coming to Chicago had nearly ripped him in two.
She waited quietly while the video chat wrapped up and tried to decide how much she wanted to pry.
Jamie looked up. “You going to share that?”
Lauren handed over her ice cream. “You really miss him.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, you eat my ice cream, you talk in more than one-word sentences. House rule.”
Jamie’s smile didn’t make it all the way up his face. “I miss everyone, but yeah, especially him. It’s different with a little guy, harder to stay connected without actually being there.”
“We’re going to visit in less than a week now.”
“I know.” Jamie paused and looked at the ice cream. Apparently, Mud Pie didn’t cure everything. “He was telling me how his training’s going. Jennie’s doing some mind stuff with him. That’s a good thing. We probably focused too much on elementals and spellcasting when I worked with him.”
Missing his trainee, too. “It’s what you’re best at, right? So that makes sense.”
“It was fun, that’s all. Aervyn’s got power to burn, and we could do all kinds of things you can’t do with most trainee witches. Heck, with most any witch. I miss that, too.” He looked up at Lauren. “Do you miss doing magic with him?”
Lauren wasn’t sure whether to offer up truth or comfort. “Some. But honestly, it was a pretty crazy week in California. It’s been nice just to coast for a while, try to put my life back together.”
Jamie nodded. “It can get intense even if you grew up there. That’s when I used to take my motorbike down to Carmel.”
And dammit, thought Lauren, just one more whack on a homesick guy’s skull. Time to change the subject. “Want to go to a coven meeting tonight?”
Jamie looked like she’d suggested an orgy. “You want to join a coven?”
“I don’t even know what a coven is, exactly. My mental picture involves stirring cauldrons and reciting lines from Shakespeare, but I’m guessing that’s not any more accurate than anything else I learned about witches in school.”
“In theory, a coven is just a group of witches working together.” Jamie looked pained.
“In practice?”
“In practice, it tends to be really heavy on ritual, really light on actual magic.”
Lauren thought back to the full circle at Ocean’s Reach. “Unlike campfire sing-a-longs by the ocean.” She had very fond memories of roasting marshmallows deep into the night and carrying a sleeping Aervyn back to the car.
“We’re pretty minimalist with our rituals in California. Moira’s family is a little more traditional, a bit more grounded in the history of the craft.”
Lauren had a crystal-clear picture of what Jamie had looked like calling air, hands to the sky and wind whipping his hair. Every inch a witch, minimalist rituals or not. “But a coven is different?”
Jamie hesitated. “I shouldn’t make assumptions. I’ve run into too many who join a coven, brew a love potion, and call themselves a witch.”
Lauren laughed and handed over the business card for Witchery. “Bingo.”
Jamie rolled his eyes. “Where’d you get this?”
“I was practicing mind nudging at the Garden Show yesterday. The woman who gave me this copped to what I was doing.”
“You got caught?” Jamie scooped some ice cream.
“I don’t know how much she picked up on, but obviously something. She tried to scan me. Jennie would have given her extra practice for how sloppy it was, but she was clearly a mind witch. Called herself an empath.”
“Terrific. Just what Chicago needs—a poorly trained empath on the loose.”
Lauren grinned. “She invited me to her coven meeting tonight. I think you should come with me.”
“Stay here and eat ice cream. Trust me.”
If it got Jamie’s mind off Aervyn, it was worth the field trip. “I’ll pick you up after work. I’ll even feed you first.”
“Come do Nat’s afternoon class with me. If I have to suffer through backbends and hip openers, you should too—hip openers should be illegal. Then we can all have dinner together and come back here to watch a movie.”
“Nice try, and I agree with you on the hip openers. Class, dinner, and then we’ll send Nat home and go check out the coven.” She winked at Jamie. “They’ll love you. Apparently they need an air witch for their circle.”
He groaned and held up the ice cream. “Got any more of this? I deserve more if I have to deal with amateurs.”
Lauren walked to the kitchen. “I have Karamel