A Reckless Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,84
have any idea how hard it is to make a model that says ‘How can I fix this, assuming I can drop a witch pretty much anywhere on the planet we’ve got Internet?’”
Yeah. Models with a zillion moving parts sucked. And TJ was probably the best mind in the world with them. Govin zoomed in on the storm and tried to imagine how he’d intervene if he was standing on the Australian coast. And realized pretty quickly what the problem was. In general, the best way to help dissipate a storm was to slow its rotation. Australia was exactly the wrong place to do it from.
He held up his hands to triangulate. Shit. The exact right place was middle of nowhere in the Indian Ocean. Not exactly a good place to find witches with Internet access.
Damn. He had a really bad feeling about this.
Chapter 20
Turning five was an uber-major event, at least if you were a Sullivan. Sierra held up one end of a rainbow-colored streamer and tried to turn around without falling off the ladder. “Here?”
The decorating committee conferred. Shay finally looked up. “Yup. Uncle Jamie, your end’s gotta go higher. They aren’t even.”
Sierra tried not to giggle as Jamie glanced around at the off-kilter streamers already up and wisely bit his tongue. The triplets took decorating very seriously. Jamie got his end anchored higher, and they both crawled down their respective ladders.
“We done, girls?” Jamie collapsed to the ground and laid a streamer over his eyes. “It all looks good from here.”
Mia surveyed the room. “I think we need more glitter.”
“No way!” Jamie sat bolt upright in protest. “This is a boy party, remember?”
“It’s red glitter.” Mia shrugged. “Besides, Aervyn loves shiny stuff.” She squinted. “Hey, can we make it float in the air? Kind of like snow?”
Jamie’s eye roll was classic—and clearly giggle-inducing. “I’m a serious witch. I don’t do silly spells.”
Sierra grinned. “I do.” Devin said she was supposed to have more fun. How could glitter snow not be fun? “Do you want it to swirl or anything?”
Mia’s look was one of total hero worship. “You can do that?”
Oh, yeah. Sierra thought for a moment and got started. She had an audience to impress. Picking up the huge bowl of red glitter, she ran a quick test on the top layer. Excellent. Enough metal in them to magnetize. It would be a tricky spell on that many individual pieces, though.
They’ll love it. Jamie’s mental voice sounded resigned. Want some help?
I thought you don’t do silly spells. Sierra was still getting used to talking inside her head and having other people hear.
He chuckled and stood up, placing his hands on the other side of the bowl. “Who do you think taught them everything they know?”
She felt his incoming power stream and started magnetizing the top layers of red glitter. As they built up charge, tiny pieces started to float up, pushed away by those underneath. She eased off a little—they wanted the glitter floating in the air, not plastered to the walls. The girls were watching with rapt attention.
Ha. Not just them, sent Jamie. The entire room’s watching.
We are. Lauren sounded highly amused. Is this a friendly shower or a red-glitter menace you’re building?
Sierra grinned. It was like a whole family inside her head. The menace is tempting, but the decorating committee might be mad.
Oh, I think you underestimate my girls, sent Nell dryly.
Not to break up your conversation or anything, but I think you’ve got most of the glitter floating now. Jamie tried to shoo some away from his face.
Sierra laughed. Coat yourself in a negative ion charge, and it’ll leave you alone. They’d positively charged the glitter.
Jamie blinked, and then wove a quick spell. Hot damn. A glitter repeller. He waved his arm in the air, and glitter flew away. He turned toward his nieces, glee in his eyes. “Behold, the glitter menace.” He grabbed a fork, positively charged it, and advanced on them with his tiny, glittery spear.
Only to have Nell jump in front, glitter-covered plate in her hands. “Back off, Sir Forkus. These girls are mine.” Jamie’s fork flew out of his hands and thunked onto her plate.
The triplets knew a good thing when they saw it and ran to arm themselves. Sierra watched in giggly astonishment as the room broke out in an impromptu glitter fight. It didn’t take long for the triplets to be smack in the middle of things. And judging from their weaponry, Ginia’s earth magic wasn’t having any