A Reckless Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,33
boys. “Which is why you are a good pair to work with her.” Magic was always about a complicated balance of personality and power. Govin would speak to Sierra’s magic, Devin to her heart. And whatever Nell might think, the girl needed honorary big brothers and uncles, too.
Nell grinned. “Can I sell tickets? Those are going to be some rather interesting training sessions.”
That they were.
~ ~ ~
Nell set down a second helping of waffles covered in a mountain of bananas and whipped cream. She figured eighteen-year-old girls weren’t all that different from their younger counterparts. “Here you go. After three hours of cleaning poop yesterday, you’ve earned it.”
Sierra grinned. “It would have taken a lot longer without all those people showing up to help.” She licked a bit of stray whipped cream off her finger and spoke more quietly. “That was really nice of them.”
“Ha. They all wanted to see the biggest mess ever created in Realm. You two made yourselves famous.” And it would probably take three days for Aervyn to stop giggling. Poop pranks were particularly funny if you were male and four.
“Purple dye is kind of hard to spell out of stuff.” Sierra winced. “And I didn’t mean for the tornadoes to get so big. In real life, I can adjust the power as they form, but with a pre-made spell, I couldn’t do that.”
Which was one of the things Nell wanted to talk about. “Yeah, one of the things we’re learning about putting together spells for the WitchNet library is that you have to build in a bigger margin of error. The witches who pull the spells out often don’t have the necessary magic to adjust them either.”
“I wonder… maybe you could build a control mechanism into the spell.” Sierra downed her milk in three gulps. “Kind of a step-switch, where you could step the funnel speed up or down a few notches. Give voice command to whoever activated the spell.”
That was freaking brilliant—and not at all what Nell had expected. It was a decidedly non-reckless idea. “That’s a great thought to explore with Govin. I don’t think we’re likely to be putting too many funnel spells into the library, though. We don’t really want a non-weather witch with that kind of power in her hands.”
“Even just to play? I could make a really baby funnel for kids to ride on.”
Nell sighed. It was like dealing with Aervyn in his more exuberant moods. “How much damage could a baby funnel do if someone activated it in their living room, or near a toolbox full of nails?”
It was obvious neither of those possibilities had ever occurred to Sierra. “I’m so dumb—I never thought of that.”
“Hey.” Nell reached out, her mama instincts wanting to comfort. “We’re all new to this idea of making spells for other people to use. Like you saw in Realm, it can be a lot of fun, but it can also have some unplanned consequences. We want you to work with Govin to help make weather spells that are really helpful, but also as safe as possible.”
Sierra looked down at her hands. “I’m not sure Govin likes me much.”
Nell debated for a moment, then chose the hard road. “He’s spent his entire life trying to keep people safe from some of the planet’s harsher weather patterns. He sees your talent as a risk.”
She reached out for Sierra’s hand as the girl’s face fell. “You need to show him that you can be a help, and that you can work safely.”
Sierra twiddled with a cookie. “How do I do that?”
“Tell him about your spell-control-mechanisms idea.” No way Govin could resist that one. She hoped.
“I want to help.” Sierra blushed. “But maybe funnel riding wasn’t such a good idea on my first day.”
Nell disagreed—she’d have paid big money to see Govin whirling around upside-down. “I think you can learn from each other. Govin needs to remember to relax and play a little, and you’re good at that.”
“Okay.” Sierra’s solemn nod reminded her very much of her youngest son. Very willing—and still not really understanding.
Ah, well. If three hours of cleaning up poop hadn’t made an impression, a few words over cookies weren’t going to alter lives either. It was a beginning, at least. Hopefully the other item on Nell’s agenda would be easier.
She grabbed her bag off the counter. “Got some stuff for you.” Opening an envelope, she started pulling items out. “A debit card, attached to the bank account where your paychecks will be automatically