A Reckless Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,73

brother. Your turn, dude. If anyone understood extremes, it was Dev.

He breathed a sigh of relief as Devin slid over to Sierra. And blinked in shock at his brother’s mental tone.

“You’re wrong.” Devin’s voice was hard, unyielding. “You keep practicing like this, you’ll be as dangerous as you were.”

Jamie shook his head as Govin started to move. He had no idea where his brother was headed—but no way was he beating up Sierra for sport.

Sierra’s eyes blazed. “I’m using groundlines, training circles, doubled spell barriers, protective layers, failsafes, and I have better control than any witch here.” She hurled each word at Devin. “What more do you want from me?”

“Forgiveness.” Devin’s one quiet word carried deep apology. He reached for Sierra’s hands. “When you came here, we looked at you and saw the lacking in your magic. We’ve yet to truly acknowledge your biggest gift.”

Nobody moved.

“You know how to partner with your magic, little sister. To ride with it and to trust.”

Sierra nodded slowly, still lost. “Momma taught me that.”

“Yes, she did.” Devin grimaced. “And because she left out a few of the usual safety features, we missed the strength of what she did teach you. Don’t make us live to regret that.”

“I don’t understand.”

“If you listen too carefully to us and abandon what your mom taught you, you’ll still be dangerous, but in a different way.” He pointed at the candles. “You know your limits. Deep inside, you know. Can you do another row?”

It was a long moment before Sierra shook her head. “No. I barely made it at thirteen.”

“Right. Groundlines and failsafes are there for the emergencies.” Dev waited until he had everyone’s complete attention. “They’re important, but the most important way to stay safe is to know what you can do—and be a good judge of what you can’t do.” He touched her cheek. “Just like your mom taught you. And just like you taught that little girl in Nat’s belly this morning.”

Jamie felt the band around Sierra’s chest loosening and wondered how his brother kept getting ten steps ahead of the rest of them.

And he wasn’t done. Devin leaned in one more time, tipping up Sierra’s chin. “You’re as safe as you need to be. Now we just build on what you already know. When you’re working with a team, you need to know everyone else’s limits too.” He grinned. “Except me. I’m invincible.”

Sierra’s smile was slow, but it came. “That’s not what I’ve heard.”

Jamie knew it was his turn. Time to trust their new witch—his brother was insisting on it. “Devin’s tough. I’m kinda fragile, though.” He grinned. “And you have to be really careful with Govin. Fire witches are kinda moody and unpredictable.”

Sierra laughed as the square of candles whooshed into a tail of flames that stopped an inch short of his belly. Jamie rolled his eyes at Govin. “Show-off.” And a message as well—no better proof of trust than not flinching when a guy tried to scorch your favorite T-shirt.

Sierra sobered. “It sounds complicated, working together like that.”

Devin grinned. “That’s because I suck with words. You just need a little practice. New magic lesson. Tomorrow. Eat a big breakfast and bring a broomstick.”

Jamie picked up enough of his brother’s thoughts to know where tomorrow was headed. He trusted Dev with his life—but he was still bringing a helmet.

Chapter 17

“Come on in!” Nell had two hands full of computer parts, and she hoped whoever was at the door wanted to help her reassemble Aervyn’s latest experiment. Superboy was awesome at the destruction part. So far he wasn’t showing any signs of genius at reconstruction.

It was hard to believe her Winter Solstice baby was going to be five soon. Two more days.

She sensed her sister-in-law’s presence before Nat came around the corner. And realized this wasn’t a casual visit. Nat’s mind felt… jostled. Uncomfortable.

Nell set down her tools. “Good morning. Jamie drop you off?”

“He did.” Nat smiled. “Apparently if I’m left alone for an hour or two, he’s afraid he’ll come home to me holding our baby girl.”

Not unless she was in a heck of a hurry. “Sorry, that’s kind of my fault. When I was pregnant with the girls, Nathan was driving me crazy, and I made Daniel take him out so I could have a nap. The girls weren’t due for weeks yet, so they went to the zoo.”

Nat grinned. “And you went into labor?”

“Yup. At four o’clock in the afternoon on the Friday of a holiday weekend. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper to get