A Modern Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,94

done.

He’d furnished his living room with a friend’s college cast-off couch, for Pete’s sake. Not once in a whole week in California had she gotten even a small whiff of millionaire witches.

Then Lauren realized the true icing on this particular cake. She grabbed a shell-shocked Nat’s hands. “You gotta promise me one thing.”

Lauren blazed a grin Jamie’s way. “Please, please, please let me be in the room when your parents find out he’s rich.”

…

“Can’t we just shop online? This is so much more painful.”

Jamie was not happy about the afternoon’s outing. They were leaving for California in three days, and they had a triplet birthday to shop for. Lauren linked her elbow in his to prevent escape. It was the Magnificent Mile, not some awful suburban shopping mall.

“If you help us find the perfect gift, we’ll be done sooner,” Nat said, linking with his other elbow. “What do you think we should get the girls?”

Jamie looked around in a classic display of male desperation. “Apple store across the street. The girls are all great coders; we should get them some electronics. Let’s go check out the new Macbooks.”

Lauren started to laugh at Jamie’s shopping-avoidance ploy, and then reconsidered. Ginia and Mia had done most of the coding to add video to Witches’ Chat.

Thirty minutes later, they left the Apple store with three souped-up and custom-engraved laptops. Lauren was still in shock from her third of the cost. Apparently the Macbook’s basic configuration wasn’t remotely good enough. Jamie had added every upgrade available and then some. There were going to be three very excited girls in a few days.

Panic ripped through her head. Lauren slammed down barriers in automatic defense and scanned for the source. A man darted around people on the sidewalk, on a silent and desperate hunt. Jamie had clearly picked up the panic too, although he hadn’t yet figured out where it was coming from.

Lauren decided this was one of those times where you pried now and asked for forgiveness later. She pushed into the man’s mind. Missing child. Cute toddler with curly brown hair.

Okay, that was something she could help with. Lauren stepped quickly to the man’s side. “Can I help you?”

“My girl. I’ve lost my girl. Three years old, in a yellow rain jacket. I just lost sight of her a moment ago.”

“What’s her name?”

“Delancy. But she can’t hear you, she’s deaf.” The father was almost vibrating in panic. No wonder. Lauren was beginning to share his feelings. How the heck did you find a lost, deaf child on one of Chicago’s busiest streets? Just the thought of traffic made her nauseated.

“Lauren.” Jamie shook her shoulders. “You can find her. Do a scan. Now. She shouldn’t be out of your range yet.”

How the hell had she forgotten her mind talents? Lauren grabbed fiercely for control. Nat was talking quietly to the father. Good. She could hardly see anything around his panic.

Lauren cast out over the thousands of minds along the Magnificent Mile, seeking one small lost girl. Delancy, honey, where are you? She swept up the street one direction, then the other. And did it again. Nothing.

Jamie hooked into her mind. Try the buildings. She might have gone inside a store.

Lauren shoved her frustration at him. I can’t. I don’t have enough power. I can’t find her.

Jamie swirled power and reached it toward her. Use this. Just like in the circle, but this time, you use it.

Lauren grabbed. Holy God, she could look through concrete walls. Frantically, she stretched her new range to its limits. Did so freaking many people have to be out shopping today?

She almost missed Delancy’s mind. The child was lost in a dream and only lightly connected to her own name. No, not a dream—a story. A book.

Lauren looked around desperately. “A bookstore. She’s in a bookstore.”

“Borders.” Nat started running north, pulling the father with her. Cripes, that was almost a block away. Lauren hoped to hell she was right. Jamie was stumbling beside her. God, he looked drunk. Or exhausted. Just how much had he fed to her?

They crashed through the door of the Borders bookstore. The father looked around hysterically, but the store was huge and full of people. Nat, who was obviously thinking more clearly than anyone else, headed to the customer service desk.

Lauren gasped for breath and reached out again for Delancy’s mind. Confused, she looked behind her. There, tucked in the window display, book in her lap.

The panic pummeling her mind stopped abruptly as father rushed to