Poor Little Witch Girl Read online

  "It doesn't seem like you need my agreement for that."

  "So it would seem, but I have no intention of taking you against your will."

  "Could you?"

  "Yes."

  I sighed. "What else?"

  "We would both make promises. You would pledge loyalty and obedience. I would pledge to protect and teach you. Our promises would be bound by magic. It would not be like the spell I cast today. You would retain free will, but if you broke your pledge, there would be exceedingly unpleasant repercussions. If you broke them sufficiently egregiously, you would die."

  "This seems a one-sided agreement."

  "I would be equally bound, Lyra." She said it simply, but it wasn't simple at all, was it?

  "You'd risk death-"

  "No," she interrupted. "I would keep my promises, and so there is no risk to me. The spell can be broken. It is easy if we both agree. It is much more difficult to do so unilaterally, although still possible. If you break your promises, then the spell gives me room to break mine. And, of course, vice verse."

  "You would be obligated to teach me."

  "Yes. Or suffer for it."

  "And if you failed to protect me, in spite of your promises?"

  "The spell will not punish me for failure. It will punish me for failure of effort. If I do my best to protect you, but fail, then I suffer only in the failure to protect someone I would have grown to care about."

  "What else?"

  She took a breath before answering. "I cannot protect you while you live here. You would come to live with me."

  "I'm not interested. You may leave."

  "I would invite your friends-"

  "We live here."

  "It's not safe."

  "It's safe as long as you don't tell everyone else where I am."

  "I'm sorry, Lyra, but I am not the only person who has noticed you. I am only the first to make herself known. Advertising that you do readings made you visible. Knowing what you now know, do you really think anyone like you can remain unnoticed? Your name is out there. Others will come."

  "I think you're lying. Leave."

  "Will you tell me your objections?"

  "My objections? Seriously. You are suggesting I give up my entire life. You are suggesting I trust you, someone I don't know. You are suggesting I leave my friends and the life we have made here. I love my bookstore!" I said the last with a great deal of passion. "I love my friends! I have no intention of leaving either."

  She studied me for a while. I pointed to the door, but she ignored the implied command. Finally she said, "I have a large home. I would invite your friends to move with us."

  "Not interested."

  "Perhaps we should explain the situation to them-"

  "No. Leave."

  She picked up her tea and drank from it, her eyes not leaving mine. I gestured towards the door again. She set her tea back down, folded her hands, and then said, "You are making a mistake. But I understand why. I am going to give you some advice, and I want you to listen very carefully."

  "I'm not interested in your advice."

  "You promised a calm conversation. This will be the end of it, if you do not seek to lengthen it yourself."

  "Then you'll leave."

  "Then I'll leave."

  "Fine." I folded my arms and waited.

  "I want you to listen to everything I have to say before coming to a conclusion," she said. "Lyra, I am trying to protect you. Please at least consider that I know more about this than you do. Please consider that I may not have lied to you today."

  "You said you lied about the love potion."

  "All right, I lied about that to make a demonstration. I haven't lied about anything else."

  "Fine. What?"

  "When I get done, I am going to repeat my offer of protection. My advice is this: tell me you wish to take time to consider it. I will then ask to cast a spell on you, and you will accept."

  "What does the spell do?"

  "Consider it a right of first refusal. It makes it very difficult for someone else to force you to accept her protection until such time as you give me a final answer." She gave me a little time to think about that. I nodded, and she continued. "If you are presented with a demand from someone else, then my spell is triggered. At that point, you must decide."

  "Between the two of you?"

  "Between accepting my complete offer or not. If you choose to reject me, my spell is cancelled, and whatever happens after that is none of my affair."

  "What are the dangers?"

  "This isn't remotely as much protection as I feel you need, and of course, I won't agree to teach you this way. You will remain vulnerable. It is difficult for someone else to remove my spell from you, but it is a small matter to force you to cancel it."

  "How?"

  "I imagine if someone threatens your friends and has the power and willingness to follow through, you will do whatever you must to protect them. To be clear, I am not threatening your friends."

  "Is there a time limit?"

  "Only any demanded by other forces," she replied. "If you are able to remain as obscure as you believe, then you could wear this spell until the end of your days. Unless I hear of a direct threat to you, I will not bother you again."

  I turned away and walked back to the window. She let me stand there for a minute or two before she stepped up behind me.

  She set her hands on my shoulders; I let her. To be honest, her touch felt good, in spite of everything.

  "Lyra, others will find you. Maybe when you get to know some of them, you'll realize my offer is the best choice for you. Maybe someone will come along with a better offer, although I doubt it. But I understand I can't push you to accept today." I looked over my shoulder into her eyes, and I nodded. I understood what she had said, even if I didn't entirely believe her.

  "Lyra, I wish you would accept my offer. Will you at least consider it?"

  "I'll consider it, Verity."

  "Will you accept the spell we discussed?" At that, I didn't say anything, but I nodded.

  It took a moment or two, but she said, "You have to accept it," she said. "Look at me."

  I turned to face her. A spell hovered between us. "What do I do?"

  "Step into it, and as you do so, tell me you'll consider my offer."

  When I did, I felt the spell settle over me. It took a moment, but then it felt like it disappeared. Unlike the obedience spell, I didn't feel it wrapped around me.

  "It's gone."

  "It's there, but it won't let itself be known unless you either accept or reject my offer."

  "How would I do either?"

  "Simply say, Verity, I accept your offer. Or reject, of course. The exact words do not matter; it is the intention. You could even do it without words, but the words offer clarity of intention."

  "So what happens if you find me pulled over at the side of the road with my car broken down and offer me a ride?"

  She laughed. "The spell understands the difference between accepting a ride and accepting the offer intended by the spell."

  I nodded understanding. "You promised to leave. I would like you to do so."

  In response, she held out her hand. I stared at it for a moment before accepting a handshake. As soon as I did, she pulled me closer. I didn't attempt to struggle, and I found myself in an awkward hug.

  "I haven't lied to you, Lyra," she whispered into my ear. Her breath tickled. She kissed my ear then our cheeks slid against each other as she released me.

  Everything I felt about her slammed into me again, and my gut clenched, not in fear this time, but in desire. I closed my eyes, and so I heard that Verity stepped only a short distance away from me. I stood there for a moment, my eyes closed, before slowly opening. She was watching me, a small smile on her face.

  "What was that?"

  "A hug, Lyra, and a small kiss. But our magic recognizes each other." Her smile broadened. "You haven't made love until you've made love with a witch such as me."<
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  "Is that what you really want?"

  "It's something I want, but I'm here offering protection."

  She turned for the door, but I stopped her with a word. "Verity."

  She turned back to me.

  "How old are you?"

  She considered me carefully before answering. "Witches can live a very long time."

  "How old are you?"

  "One hundred and eighty seven."

  I was still staring long after she disappeared out the door.

  Explanations

  I was half inebriated by the time Felicity and Jaime appeared, the shop closed for the night. I should have made dinner, but instead I sat in the living room, polishing off the better share of a bottle of wine. It was Felicity who found me first, coming to a stop and staring at me.

  "Jaime," she called out.

  He heard the warning in her voice, and he appeared immediately. The two of them looked at me together before hurrying over, one plopping down on either side. I found both hands held.

  "What happened?" Jaime asked. "You looked so happy."

  "She's a witch."

  "She seemed nicer than that," Felicity said.

  I turned to her. "No. A witch. A real witch. She casts spells. A witch. She's a witch."

  "Honey?"

  I began to quietly cry. The two of them moved closer, and I found myself hugged from either side as I slowly cried. It took a long time, but I was able to tell them the entire story.

  "That bitch!" Jaime said partway through.

  Felicity remained quiet throughout the telling. Then she did what she usually does: she considered carefully and responded even more carefully.

  "Do you think she was lying?"

  "No."

  We sat quietly for a while after that. I dried my tears and cleaned up.

  "Did she hurt you?" Felicity asked.

  "No." I had grown a little numb.

  "Are you all right?" That was Jaime.

  "I don't know." I laid my head on his shoulder. "She didn't hurt me," I repeated. "I'll be fine. I'm sorry."

  "There's nothing to apologize for," Felicity said. She reached over and turned my chin so I was facing her. I looked into her eyes. "Honey, do you think she's, oh, I don't know. Evil?"

  "I don't know."

  "What did her aura tell you?"

  "To trust her, but I watched her manipulate her aura. She could be fooling me."

  "You're never wrong, honey. What does your gut say? Did she feel evil?"

  "What she did-"

  "Maybe that was for your own good. She said it was so you would take her seriously. I'd say it worked."

  "I suppose." I closed my eyes for a moment then opened them. "She didn't feel evil. She didn't even seem to take offense when I called her a nut job."

  "Important safety tip. Don't call the powerful witch a nut job," Jaime said.

  "Yeah. Maybe that wasn't so smart." I offered him a wan smile before turned back to Felicity. "I don't think she's evil. She seemed to honestly care." I paused. "She said if it were a sticking point, we could all move into her house. She said it was big."

  "Did she say anything about the store?"

  "No."

  Felicity paused, but she looked uncomfortable. "You know, I think Dyson is working up the nerve to ask me to marry him."

  "I'm surprised he hasn't moved in," I said.

  "He wanted me to move in with him."

  "Why didn't you?"

  "I don't want to be one of those couples that lives together for twenty years and never gets married. If he wants me to move in, I want a ring on my finger. But my point is this. What we're doing here isn't going to be forever. It's good, and I'm not in a hurry. But I love him, Lyra. Maybe if you'd put out, I'd stay here-"

  I laughed. I couldn't help it. "Any time, babe," I said, trying to leer at her.

  "Honey, we're behind you. You need to make sure you make the right decisions for yourself." She glanced at Jaime then turned her attention back to me. "How big a house?"

  I laughed again. "She wasn't specific."

  "She looked damned rich." Jaime paused. "She drives an Aston Martin. It's a two hundred thousand dollar car. She's filthy rich."

  "She drives a James Bond car?" Felicity asked. "Seriously?"

  "You got to sit in it, Lyra," Jaime said. "I'm sorry you weren't able to enjoy it. I might let her cast that spell on me if it means I get to sit in that car."

  "I'll suggest that next time," I said.

  "Lyra," said Felicity, drawing my attention back to her. "If you need to go with her, we're behind you. If we're holding you back, don't let that stop you."

  "Yeah. If her house is as nice as her car, we'll go with," Jaime added. Even without looking at him, I could hear him smirking.

  I knew they were taking this a little light-hearted, but I knew they were serious at the same time. They were helping my mood while letting me know they were with me.

  "We're together, thick or thin," Felicity said.

  "What she said," Jaime added. "So, she said you're a witch."

  "I'm not a witch," I said.

  "What you mean is that you're not a practicing witch," Felicity said. "You're untrained."

  "Ignorant," Jaime added.

  "Gee, thanks."

  "We're behind you, honey," Felicity said.

  "Both of us," Jaime confirmed.

  Have I said what good friends they are?

  * * * *

  We made some changes. The most obvious was simple: I stopped doing readings. We pulled all our advertisements about it and tried to remove all evidence I'd ever offered them. My room in the back of the store became a storage room, although there wasn't that much to store.

  I began having nightmares, bad nightmares. After three nights of not sleeping, I invited myself into Felicity's bed. The nights she wasn't home, I slept poorly and was a wreck and a bitch the next day. It took only a few of those before she and Jaime began organizing their schedules, and I found myself in Jaime's bed the nights Felicity wasn't home. We'd had slumber parties for years and treated him like "one of the girls", so it wasn't all that strange to share a bed with him. It was far from the first time we'd fallen asleep together, but of course, it was entirely innocent.

  I stopped dating or even leaving the shop alone. If I had errands to run, one of them went with me.

  Other than that, things went back to normal. True to her word, I didn't hear from Verity. None of us brought her up, and over the next few months, I was able to put her behind me.

  Slowly, I began to venture out again, and I even took a few, cautious dates.

  Dyson didn't propose to Felicity. Jaime and I talked about it and were ready to knock him upside the head a few times. Felicity figured out how we were feeling and told us to stay out of it. Jaime's response was, "For now."

  I went back to sleeping in my own bed. And if late at night, I thought about an older woman with an intriguing aura and enchanting eyes, I never said a thing about it to Jaime or Felicity.

  Part Two

  Attraction

  I was sure I knew what she was the moment she stepped into the shop. It had been six months since I'd last seen Verity Patrick, but I clearly remembered her aura, and I remembered she had said mine was similar.

  And so when a woman strolled into the shop with her own unusual aura, I was sure I knew what she was. Another witch.

  It was mid-October. Halloween was just a couple of weeks away, and we'd decorated the shop accordingly. We did every year. In the past, we'd made it spooky, but I wasn't up to that, so we'd gone for kitschy instead. It had probably been a mistake, but we weren't going to change it now.

  The woman stepped in and looked around. She set her eyes on the display of cheap, plastic jack-o-lanterns and smiled. We had a pair of plastic skeletons hanging in the window. Here and there were large spiders made of black pipe cleaners. On the counter was a plastic bowl with a purple hand on the side. The bowl was filled with candy, and if you reached for
a piece, a little motion sensor detected the movement. The hand would try to clasp your hand, and a cheesy voice would intone some Halloween phrase like "Trick or Treat" or "Happy Halloween".

  There wasn't a single witch, black hat, or black cat in sight.

  The woman looked around for another moment. I never took my eyes off her. Felicity noticed my reaction and stepped up to my side.

  "She's-"

  "A witch," I provided quietly.

  "Oh shit," Felicity replied. "I was going to say she's hot. Are you sure?"

  "I don't know. Her aura..." It wasn't exactly like Verity's, but it was similar, far more pronounced than most auras. But there was a sweetness about it, too. It wasn't as, oh, I don't know. Edgy? Yeah, that's the word. I didn't think she would be as edgy as Verity.

  "Maybe you should go upstairs," Felicity said. "I can take care of her. Maybe she hasn't noticed you. You said you have to turn your aura eyes on. Maybe hers are off. She's not paying any attention to you."

  She wasn't, either. The woman was wandering the store, not seeming to have any particular thing in mind. Maybe I could escape her attention.

  "I'll send Jaime down."

  Maybe she heard us. Maybe I should have fled faster. But suddenly the woman was at the counter, holding one of our occult books. I got a good look.

  She was perhaps a few years older than I was, but not much. And as Felicity had said, she was a hottie. Physically, she was my type. I liked my women feminine and confident, and she seemed to be both.

  "What do you think of this book?" she asked, turning it to face me. She ignored Felicity.

  "Go on," Felicity said. "I'll take care of the customer."

  The woman glanced at Felicity for just a moment then set her gaze back on me. "I'd rather you help me," she said. "What's your name?"

  "It's time for my break," I said. "Excuse me."

  I turned to go, but the woman actually reached across the counter and set her hand on my arm. Her touch tingled.

  "I'm Raelyn," she said. "You have an amazing aura. Did you know?"

  I turned back to fully face her. She was smiling, her aura flaring about her. I didn't detect a hint of malice, but she had confidence in spades.

  "I don't know what you're talking about. Aura?"

  She took her hand from my arm and frowned. "You're a terrible liar."