by Geof Johnson
Melanie shook her head. “I gotta go to work in a little while.”
“How about you, Fred?” Rollie asked.
“I promised Sammi I’d watch Little Mermaid with her. Mrs. Wilkins gave her the DVD for her birthday.”
“I feel bad that I didn’t get her anything,” Nova said.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
“I know, but...oh, well. I hardly know her, anyway.”
“None of us do, really, if you think about it.”
“But she knows you, right? Because of her power.”
“She knows you, too. That’s why you’re here.”
“Strange.” Nova squeezed her eyelids shut and gave her head a quick shake, then blinked rapidly and sucked in her breath. “I want you to know that this is the absolute oddest, weirdest situation I’ve ever been in, ever.”
“Not me,” Rollie said. “We’ve all been in weirder ones.”
“Things were pretty weird back in December,” Melanie said, “when Fred was kidnapped.”
Bryce sat up straight in his chair and jabbed the air with one finger. “No, April, when we were on Eddan’s world trying to deal with the demon and everything. That was weird.”
“Killing Renn was weird for me,” Jamie said. “Not something you do every day.”
Nova held up both hands in surrender. “Okay, you win. You out-weirded me.” She turned to Rollie. “Are we gonna shoot some hoops or not?”
He glanced at his watch and frowned. “If we don’t get going soon, it’ll be too late. Bryce, you playin’?”
Bryce yawned. “Nah. I need a nap.”
Nova gave Rollie a challenging look. “Then it’s just you and me, one-on-one. Can you handle that?”
Rollie chuckled. “Yeah, I think so.”
“I’m gonna kick your ass. I’m gonna school you so bad, you’ll be cryin’ for your momma.”
“Sounds like talk to me, and talk don’t cut it. You got your sneakers this time?”
Nova raised her leg and pointed at her red shoe. “Got my Chuck Taylors. They’ll work.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Sammi watched Jamie make a glowing doorway on his deck to the front of the school in Rivershire. She peeked through the portal and saw anxious mothers and fathers on the other side, standing beside their wagons, waiting for their children. Sammi said goodbye to her friends as they filed through into the arms of their parents, but Leora hung at the back of the line with her mother.
Leora lingered until all of the children had gone before pulling something from her dress pocket and giving it to Sammi. “I know I wasn’t supposed to get you a present,” Leora said in a low voice, “but I wanted to anyway.”
“What is it?” It was about the size of Sammi’s hand, wrapped in soft brown paper and tied with red ribbon.
“Open it quickly, Sammi,” Mrs. Hale said with a sly smile. “Leora and I have to go.”
Sammi slipped the ribbon off and unfolded the paper. Inside was a pocket doll, like Leora’s, with a little blue cotton dress, blue stiches for eyes, and yellow yarn for hair.
“Ma made it for you,” Leora said. “She tried to make it look like me, so you’ll remember me. Just in case....” She swallowed hard. “Just in case something happens.”
Sammi felt a lump form in her throat. “Oh...it’s beautiful.” She threw her arms around Leora and squeezed her tightly. “Thank you.” Sammi let go and wiped her eyes with her fingertips, then turned to Leora’s mother. “Thank you, too, Mrs. Hale.”
“You’re most welcome.” Mrs. Hale smiled again and led Leora through the doorway. Jamie closed it with a simple gesture.
Sammi looked at the cloth doll in her hands again. This is way better than adumb ol’ Barbie.
Rachel leaned out of the kitchen doorway when she heard the front door close, and she saw Jamie walk into the family room. She said, “Did you make a doorway for Nova?”
“She doesn’t want to go home yet.” He sat down heavily on the couch and let out a long gust of air. “She wants to hang out over at Rollie’s for a while, so I said I’d make one for her later. Mr. Wilkins is shooting baskets with them now.”
“Is she going to eat with them?”
Jamie nodded. “Mrs. Wilkins asked her to, and Nova’s mom said it was okay.”
“Did Nova’s mom do the oath yet?”
“She did it today, when I made the doorway for Nova to come here, so she knows what’s going on.”
“I’d like to meet her sometime.”
“Good luck with that. I think the last person Nova wants to socialize with is her mom.”
“Sounds like a typical teenager to me. Do you think Rollie likes Nova? She’s pretty, even with that unusual hairdo.”
Jamie shrugged. “They’ve certainly been playing basketball long enough. They’ve been at it since the party ended. She sure is different from Tanisha, though. Nova’s got more sharp edges than a box full of razor blades.”
“What do you think of her, besides that?”
“Um...she’s okay, I guess. She’s smart, but she’s kinda, I don’t know... guarded.”
“She’s probably a little intimidated by all of you. I certainly would be.”
“She’s okay around Sammi. I think Sammi really likes her.”
“Sammi likes everybody.”
“Except for Mr. Gundy.”
“Right. I don’t like him either, and I’ve never met him.”
“Let’s hope none of us do.”
* * *
Duane Gundy sat on the edge of the bed in Sammi’s old bedroom and closed his eyes. Damn. It’s her birthday. My little Sweetness is seven years old today, and she’s not here to share it with us.
He sighed deeply and gazed about. Everything was the same as Sammi had left it, the cheap, imitation-wood dresser, with one drawer that wouldn’t close all the way, the closet with no doors, the clothes strewn on the floor. He’d searched the room thoroughly at least five times and found no hint as to where she had gone. There’s got to be something, somewhere, some clue. I’ve got to find you. I’ve got to bring you back where you belong.
Chapter 15
Fred waited with Sammi and Nova while Jamie made a magic doorway from Fred’s living room to Momma Sue’s house. He pushed it open and stepped back, bowing deeply and sweeping his arm wide. “One magic portal, at your service.”
Fred picked up her spiral notebook from the end table, clipped a pen to the cover and said, “Let’s go, ladies.” She kissed Jamie quickly and said, “Come get us around five o’clock, okay? I promise we can hang out tonight. Are you gonna be bored ’till then?”
“I’m gonna run with Bryce in a little while.”
She patted his face affectionately and led the other girls through the doorway to the front yard of the voodoo queen’s home in Louisiana.
Nova eyed the wooden house with the sagging front porch roof. “Not much to look at, is it?”
“Careful what you say.” Fred pointed to a blue jay sitting in a nearby live oak. “Momma Sue can probably hear you.” The bird bobbed its head twice as if in confirmation, then pecked at the thick branch it was perched on.
“Listening through a bird? You’re kidding.”
“She’s not,” Sammi said and walked with Fred toward the unpainted porch steps. “Momma Sue can do anything.”
Nova followed them and gestured at the notebook in Fred’s hand. “What’s that for? Homework?”
“I write down the steps and ingredients of the spells Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley teach us. Momma Sue teases me about it, but I can’t remember all of it.”
“Momma Sue does, though,” Sammi said as she hopped across the wooden walkway, light as a kitten. “She remembers everything.”
“It’s true,” Fred said. “She can remember every spell she’s ever done, every ingredient and every step. I’ve never seen her look at a magic book. Mrs. Malley is the same way.” Fred flapped the journal. “That’s why they tease me for bringing this, but I need it
.”
Sammi bounded up to the porch and said to Nova, “Watch this! The door will open by itself.” Sammi turned to stare at it, but it didn’t budge. After several seconds, she stamped her foot and balled her little hands into fists. “Momma Sue!”
The door creaked open and Fred chuckled. “She got you that time, Sammi.”
Sammi led them inside to the front room, and Nova pointed at the numerous knick knacks, plants, small boxes, and bottles that cluttered the shelves. “Fred, is this stuff for doing spells?”
“Could be. You never know, with her.” Fred cupped one hand to her mouth and called, “We’re here.”
“We know,” came Momma’s Sue’s raspy voice through the open door on the next wall. “Come on in.”
They walked into the adjoining room to find Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley, sitting side-by-side in cushioned wing chairs, a pair of old queens, Momma Sue in a colorful, billowing skirt and blouse, and Mrs. Malley in a long gray dress.
“Hello, Fred the Firecracker,” Momma Sue said, a toothy grin splitting her dark, wrinkled face, “and Sammi the Shadow Witch. Done brought us a new witch, unh hunh.”
Mrs. Malley smiled, too. “You seem to have a knack for that, Fred.”
“I didn’t do doing anything. Sammi found Nova.”
“Nova.” Mrs. Malley’s smile widened. “That is a beautiful name, and your skin is so pretty. What color would you call that, Sue?”
“Maybe honey.” Momma Sue pursed her lips and the wrinkles around her mouth deepened. “Deep gold honey. Not quite as dark as Rollie’s, though. He’s more like a piece a’ dark caramel candy.”
“Yes,” Mrs. Malley said, “it does look like honey. But....” Her eyebrows drew down sharply. “What happened to your hair, Nova? Did one of your spells go badly?”
Fred put her hand over her mouth and tried not to laugh, but a tiny grunt escaped through her nose.
Momma Sue answered for Nova. “Those are just dreadlocks. Lotsa girls doing that, nowadays. I was thinking a’ doing that myself.” She patted her thick gray hair and cackled heartily.
“Well, you’re a lovely girl just the same.” Mrs. Malley held out her hands to Nova. “Come here so that I may test you.”
Nova shrunk back. “Test me?”
“She’s going to feel how strong your magic is,” Fred said. “Go ahead. It won’t hurt.”
Nova stepped closer to Mrs. Malley and let her hold her hands. The room was silent while the old woman closed her eyes and concentrated. After about a minute she murmured, “Yes.” Then she looked at Nova and nodded once. “You have the power.”
“Let me.” Momma Sue gestured for Nova to come to her. Momma Sue grasped the young witch’s hands and Momma Sue closed her eyes, just as Mrs. Malley had done, and she hummed a low note, her forehead creased and her face still. “You’re strong, I think...but something...there’s something about you.” Momma Sue nodded slowly at Nova and said, “There’s some hurt in you, I can tell.”
Nova stared back at Momma Sue but didn’t answer.
The old witch let go of Nova and said, “It’s hard for you to have friends, really close friends, isn’t it? You know when they’re lying to you, even a white lie, and you can’t say anything about it ’cause they might guess that you’re a witch. You’re tryin’ to hide that fact, I bet.”
Nova hesitated for a long moment, and then she gave a small nod, barely a dip of her chin, and Fred thought she saw Nova’s lower lip twitch before she pressed her mouth into a fierce line.
“It ain’t easy, growin’ up a witch. I know all about that.” Momma Sue’s brown face softened as she held Nova in her gaze, Momma’s Sue’s black-marble eyes penetrating but gentle. “I can help you, child. Would you like that?”
Nova took a halting breath and mumbled, “I guess, but I don’t see how.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised what I can do. Bet you can’t feel nothin’ from me, or Mrs. Malley either, can you?” Nova shook her head and Momma Sue continued, “That’s ’cause we’re usin’ a block. You can’t read my emotions unless I want you to. It’s an easy trick to do, I can teach it to you, and to Fred and Sammi. Even non-magical people can do it. I’ll show you how before you leave today, and you can teach others how to do it. Anybody that you want to be your friend.”
“It’s the only way you’ll ever have true friends,” Mrs. Malley said. “You can never have normal relationships, otherwise. People always tell a little lie or two, usually innocent ones, and often it’s for your own good, because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. That’s what real friends do, but it’s a small act of kindness that is denied to you because of your special abilities. You hear every lie, and they are painful to you.”
Fred suddenly knew why Nova acted the way she did, why she seemed to surround herself with invisible barbed wire. She’s afraid of making friends. She knows they probably won’t last. Fred felt a stab of sympathy for the girl. She’s probably really lonely, all because of her power. What a curse.
“After I teach you girls how to do the block,” Momma Sue said, “I want you to go home and show everybody you care about how to do it.” Momma Sue grinned again. “Especially that handsome one, Mr. Rollie Wilkins.”
Mrs. Malley leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “I think Sue is sweet on that boy.”
“It’s true,” Momma Sue said. “If I was ’bout sixty years younger, I’d make him one of my best love potions. He couldn’t resist me, them.” She laughed softly and settled back in her chair, her hands gripping the ends of the armrests. “But that’s enough a’ that. Tell us a little more about yourself, Nova. I know you’re from somewhere in North Carolina. You still live with your folks?”
“Just my mom.”
“You look like her?”
Um...her skin’s much darker and her features are...broader, I’d say.”
“She a witch, too?”
“She thinks she is, but I’m not so sure.”
“What’s her name?”
“Simone. Simone Belanger.”
Momma Sue wrinkled her wide nose. “She ain’t no witch. I’d a’ heard about her, otherwise.” She tilted her head slightly to one side. “How about your daddy?”
“He left home when I was baby, and we haven’t heard from him since. I don’t even know what he looks like.”
“Was he a rambler?”
“I don’t think so. He probably couldn’t deal with my mom anymore, so he split. She can be a real...well, you know. Rhymes with witch.”
Fred was surprised that Nova chose a milder phrase to describe her mother. Nova didn’t seem to have any qualms about using bad language before. Fred glanced at Sammi and saw a faint smile on her small face.
Momma Sue tilted her head the other way and lowered one eyebrow. “You don’t even have a picture of your daddy?”
“Not that I know of. I think my mom burned them all right after he moved out.”
“Ain’t you a little bit curious about him?”
Nova gave the smallest of shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Would you like to see what he looks like? We can do that, if he’s still alive.”
Nova’s face brightened slightly. “You can?”
“Momma Sue can do anything,” Sammi said confidently. “And Mrs. Malley, too. They’re the strongest witches in the whole world.”
“Two worlds, Sammi,” Mrs. Malley said with a wink. “I don’t live here.”
“Oh. Right.” Sammi bobbed her head. “They can show your daddy to you, Nova. They can do a scrying. Don’t you want to see him?”
“Uh....” Nova put one hand to her cheek and blinked repeatedly at Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley.
Fred realized that Nova was being asked to make a difficult decision. A potentially painful one, if the image they called up of her father was disturbing. And Nova had no time to think it over. She may not like what she sees. What if he’s a homeless bum, or in jail?
Sammi decided for her as she reached up and took Nova’s hand. “Come
on! Let’s go find out. We make potions in Momma Sue’s kitchen.” She pulled Nova toward an open door on the rear wall. “It’s this way.”
“Well, there you go.” Momma Sue said. She stood with Mrs. Malley and began following them. “I think we’re going to do a scryin’.”
As they walked to the kitchen, Nova said, “Momma Sue, I have a question. I know Sammi is a Shadow Witch and all, but does she have any other special magic in her?”
“Hard to say, ’cause she’s still a young ’un. Wait ’till she starts bloomin’ into her womanhood, then we’ll know for sure.”
Momma Sue’s kitchen was a narrow room that nearly covered the width of the house. In the center of it was a long wooden table, scarred and stained, that might have been painted yellow at one time. It was supported by thick, round legs, and the top had a few jars and a mortar and pestle on it.
Shelves lined the walls, full of more jars and bowls and cooking utensils. Nova surveyed the room and said, “You do magic in here?”
“Why not?” Momma Sue said. “It’s got everything I need.” She reached into a cabinet and pulled out a wide, silver bowl, and set it on the long table. “We’re going to do a new way of scryin’. Me and Bella come up with this one ourselves.” She grinned, showing her yellow teeth. “New and improved. We should make our own commercial, like they do for laundry detergent.”
She began pulling jars down from the shelves, but paused when she grabbed an empty green bottle. “Dang. I’m out of gingko root. Think I got some more in the front room. I’ll be right back.” She walked out of the kitchen, leaving Fred with Sammi, Nova, and Mrs. Malley.
Nova cleared her throat and said, “Mrs. Malley, I really appreciate you doing this for me.”
“Think nothing of it. I have been helping younger witches my whole life.”
“That’s what Fred told me. She said Momma Sue’s been doing it, too.”
“She and I think alike, we do. We know that it is difficult for young girls who have the power, especially here on this world where it is not accepted like it is on mine. We want you to learn your craft properly, and not be afraid of it.”
“Momma Sue is a little intimidating.”