a spell in place. “Air layering? How’d you get it to stop bouncing?” Air spells were notoriously unstable because air molecules preferred to be in constant motion.
“You can see what I did?” Nell raised an eyebrow. “What powers do you work with?”
“Mostly air and water. A little fire.” Sierra eyed the walls again. Her feet got cold all the time when the layers in her magical wetsuit spell got too wobbly. She needed to figure this out. Carefully, she traced the lines of Nell’s spell. “Oh, cool. You’re not trying to hold the layers still—they’re looping. The air’s like—running around on a track or something.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Oh, man—she was in a room with a totally famous witch and being a complete geek. “Sorry. You probably didn’t come here so I could watch you do magic.” Although that sounded pretty awesome.
“No worries.” Nell looked at her for a moment, and then turned off the spell. “Why don’t you give it a try? Easiest way to learn.”
Sierra called to power and mumbled under her breath. No point letting Nell hear her dorky rhymes. The joining part was a bit tricky, but a few moments later, she had the air currents flowing in three layers around the room.
“Dang.” Nell grinned. “Nice—you’ve got some good training.”
“Momma taught me.” Sierra cursed as tears filled her eyes. “She said I was a natural.”
“Aw, sweetie. Come here.” Strong arms pulled her in for a hug. Nell kissed the top of her head, and then led them both to a couple of chairs. “Tell me about your mom. She was Amelia Brighton, wasn’t she—you have her eyes.”
“You knew my mom?” Her nose sniffles were threatening to turn into a torrent.
Nell handed over a Kleenex. “We all did. I didn’t know her well—she was older than I was, and she did a lot of traveling.” She paused a moment, and then spoke gently. “We didn’t know about you, Sierra. I’m so sorry about that. We would hear from your mom sometimes, and then that stopped about six years ago.”
Yeah. Six years ago. Sierra stood up, arms wrapped around her waist, and started walking around the edges of the tiny little room. “We were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. We’d just come from the Carnival in Venice—Momma loved any place with a really big party, but she loved those two best. Said it was like the planet’s birthday bash for a few weeks every February.”
Nell chuckled. “That sounds like Amelia.”
“One night I was really tired, so she dropped me off in our hotel room and went out to dance some more.”
“She left you alone?”
Sierra shrugged. “Sure. I was twelve, and I was just going to sleep.” She frowned, wanting Nell to understand and stop looking at her with those serious eyes. “She was a good mom. I was really responsible.”
“Okay. So she left you to get some sleep…”
There was a spider working busily in the top corner of the room. Sierra stared hard at the strands of the web. “She never came back. They said she must have abandoned me.” She spun around. “But Momma wouldn’t have done that. Something bad must have happened to her.”
Something inside her eased when Nell’s eyes didn’t show any doubt. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. That must have been awful.”
It had been. Six years of awful.
“I didn’t really know how to find any of Momma’s friends.” A fact that still troubled her deep in the night. “So they put me in foster care. I ran away a couple of times, but…” She shrugged. “The streets suck. This sucks too, but not as much. I like being near the ocean, so when I got placed here, I didn’t run again.”
Now Nell just looked mad.
“It really isn’t that bad.” Sierra tripped over words, trying to be completely honest. Some kids in foster care had it way worse. “The family I live with is okay. They’re just used to having lots of kids come and go.” She shrugged. “More like a cheap motel than a family.”
Nell nodded slowly. “And what happens in four days?”
“I turn eighteen.” Sierra turned around, remembering she desperately needed Nell’s help. “If I have a job, I can leave. Otherwise, I have to go into the transitional program. Halfway-house hell.” Help. Please.
It was amazing to watch Nell’s face change. Suddenly she didn’t look like a mom at all. She looked like an avenging warrior. “You have a job and anything else you need.” She looked straight at Sierra, eyes glistening bright. “You’ve found