by Les Goodrich
“When was this?”
“He left, um, six months ago.”
“And no one since then?”
“Not yet, but if you know any cute guys that are halfway normal, keep me in mind.”
“Will do. What ages?” Jordan asked.
“Well I’m sixteen, so around that. I guess my age or a year or two older.”
The girls smiled warmly and went back to the food. By the time they had eaten the storm was over but when they went outside the entire night still dripped. Gusts in the trees caused dashes of remnant rain and the temperature had dropped to thirty-nine degrees. Jordan shed water from her bike seat with one hand and Casey did the same and each girl shook their bikes but the entire night around them was so wet that they both just laughed.
“Neither of us will melt,” Jordan said.
“Yeah, that’s a myth,” Casey added and Jordan smiled with true fondness for her coloring book apprentice.
“It’s a myth,” she agreed. Jordan felt a warmth kindled softly within her by Casey’s combination of innocence and genuine gratitude. She could have never hand picked a more perfect young girl to help. Helping Casey was Jordan’s way of giving back. She wanted it to last forever.
“I love your broom. That’s awesome,” Casey said nodding to the broom fixed to the crossbar and extending under the seat of Jordan’s bike.
Jordan laughed. “Oh yeah, well, pagan pride! Come by the shop tomorrow afternoon. I’m closing with Brit.”
“Okay. Bye,” Casey called and the two peddled home through the damp cold night. Casey thought about having her first pagan Yule to look forward to. She had to find a stainless charm before the Wild Hunt. And she wondered if Jordan would find her a boyfriend, but whatever if she didn’t. Jordan seemed to attract clever, fun, and good-looking people wherever she went. As she rode through the spitting rain Casey felt lighter and more hopeful and she thought it was the feeling of having a sister and she beamed so bright inside that it warmed her.
She was an only child and was always content about being so but she never knew she could feel proud of someone older. Not a generation older, but just a bit older. She wanted to go everywhere with Jordan and introduce her to everyone she knew. She loved to be seen with her, but then whenever they were together somewhere, the vanity of that would always fall away as she became absorbed with Jordan’s energy, positivity, and love of life. Casey loved life the same way, but to be around someone else who did created a new feeling and she liked it.
She swung up onto the sidewalk along San Marco Avenue to avoid puddles on her way north. What was it about Jordan that was so different? Gorgeous, yes. But more. Then Casey knew what it was. Jordan was a giver. Every beautiful girl or woman Casey had ever known had been takers. Not that people didn’t give to Jordan. They did. But in her heart Jordan loved to give. Ideas, knowledge, help, and herself. The giving is part of the taking with her. An exchange. And what is exchange? Energy. Casey stood and peddled to hit the low hill top ahead with some momentum. She coasted on the downside.
“I should get her something special for Yule,” Casey said aloud as she rode under the damp haze of the tall street lamps and with each light she watched her shadow stretch long and cartoon-like out on the slick sidewalk ahead of her. “A present for my witch sister.”
Chapter 3
Kids These Days
Monday morning was cold and Brit kept her grey Flagler College hoodie sweatshirt on when she came in at ten. Tanner had opened the store and the music played long sets of space ambient tracks. They helped a few customers, then they worked on resetting the front window.
“Do you think we should change all the window display crystals to white?” Tanner asked.
“White and clear,” Brit suggested and Tanner nodded and the two continued to put away Samhain decorations and arrange the store for Yule.
“Don’t let Carol see you wearing that hoodie if she comes in.”
“Yeah I know. So ridiculous.”
“Maybe, but you know she doesn’t like them.”
“I have a black sweater in the back. Actually I probably don’t need it. All this work warmed me up.” Brit took a large quartz cluster from a box Tanner had fetched from the back. She admired the crystal and placed it in the bay window to catch the light, then pulled the hoodie off over her head. Tanner caught himself looking at her bare lower back where the lifted hoodie had pulled her white teeshirt up. Just a guy thing he thought to himself.
She instinctively pulled her shirt back down and rolled the sweatshirt up. “I’ll put this in back. I say we go crazy with the crystals up here. Pave the bay deck with them.”
“Yeah it’ll look like ice,” Tanner said.
“Do it,” Brit said on her way to the back.
When she returned Tanner was filling the bay window landing with quartz clusters, clear quartz crystal balls, and white calcite geodes. They worked on the display between customers and the morning passed quickly. Tanner was on the step ladder aiming spotlights to the bay window deck when the door opened at noon and Jordan came in.
“Whoa. Crystal city,” she said and she put her backpack on the front table.
“You like it?” Brit asked walking up.
“Yeah. It looks like ice. Very Yule.”
“That was our plan,” Tanner said. “We’re gonna hang some of the garden faerie figures here and there in the window too. And add the white pedestals with books on Yule or winter solstice spells. Maybe the white ravens. Then string it with the blue lights.”
“Blue lights are here,” Brit said and she pulled a box from below the front desk.
“Is Carol around?” Jordan asked.
“Not yet,” Brit said pulling a nest of blue string lights from the box and beginning to untangle them. “How was your meeting with Casey?”
“It was good. I like her. She’s my new buddy.”
“Cool.”
“What about Mims, did you talk to her again?” Jordan asked.
Brit spoke while still fiddling with her tangled ball of lights. “Mims is okay. She’s a bit slow though, like I said. I mean she tries to do too many things at once. I’m trying to get her to focus.”
“Well, she’s a barista. She’s used to multitasking. Those guys work alone so she’s used to doing everything herself. Does she ever ask for help?”
Brit looked up and stopped with the lights. “Hardly.”
“Well that’s the reason. She’s a self-motivated multitasking barista.”
“True,” Brit said and went back to the light puzzle. “And what about Casey? Is she a question-asker?”
“Oh yeah. But she’s smart. She’s just super enthusiastic.”
“Mims too,” Brit said and both girls looked at Tanner who had been listening quietly the entire time.
“Maybe you guys should get Casey and Mims together. Like study hall. Or give them a project to work on together.”
“Witch study hall. That’s actually not a bad idea,” Jordan said.
“Yeah maybe,” Brit said and she smiled as she unwound a final strand and the entire ball of blue string lights fell into orderly loops that she coiled easily. “Mims is finishing her work on the elements this week.”
“Casey too. Maybe once they’re done we could come up with a project for them to do together.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” asked Tanner and he took the lights from Brit.
“We said it was a good idea,” Jordan added. “Casey’s gonna come by today. When she does we can talk to her about it.”
“Cool. I’ll text Mims and tell her.”
“Better yet, we can tell her when we go to Coastal to get coffee later,” Jordan smiled.
Tanner affected a radio commercial voice. “Witches On Caffeine. The underground tweaker band from Old Town. Playing today at Avalon Spellshop from noon to close.”
Jordan made the headbanger horns hand sign and flung her long crimson hair in Tanner’s face.
Carol opened the door to see
Jordan banging her head with her hand up and her hair fanning over Tanner’s head with Brit watching.
“Working hard today?” Carol asked closing the door.
“We’re doing the front window,” Brit said and Jordan stopped head banging and combed her hair back with her hands. Tanner blew a long strand of hair from his mouth and Carol looked to the window display.
“Very nice. How was the morning?”
“Good sales so far,” Tanner said and he pulled the receipt total from the file on the front table. “Ninety dollars already.”
“Good job. And you’re here until when?”
“Just until Jordan gets settled. She just got here. I was gonna clock out and wait to say hi to Casey if she stopped by.”
“How’s Casey?” Carol asked.
“She’s fine,” Jordan said.
“Okay good. Well, I’m just here for an hour or so to go over the orders and write the schedule. Do you guys have all your requests in the book for next month?”
A chorus of yes was followed by Brit adding, “I asked off from the twenty-third through the twenty-sixth, but I can open on the twenty-third if you need me to. I wrote it on a sticky note in the book.” Brit loved sticky notes.
“Okay hon,” Carol said with a smile. Are you going somewhere?”
“To spend that weekend after Yule with Mom and Dad at home.”
“With both of them?” Jordan asked and everyone listened.
“Yeah. My mom has a new boyfriend but he’s visiting his kids in Miami. Dad’s staying in the guest house. It should be interesting, but they’re doing fine. It’s all civil. We’re all happy about it. At least I am.”
“Well good,” Carol said and she took her bag to the back.
A steady stream of customers filled the afternoon. Tanner clocked out and read in one of the chairs under the back bookshelf. Jordan and Brit finished the front window then Brit ran to get coffee from Coastal.
She weaved her way through the crowd then turned left into the tabby wall alley to take the back way into the Coastal Coffee courtyard. She habitually looked over her class schedule on her phone. She swung her backpack around to the front and slid her phone into the side pocket where she kept it. When she lifted her head again the shock of Marshal coming toward her racked her entire body.
“Rats!” she burst and unzipped her pack with a violent snatch. No time to debate whether he was still a functioning hexpawn or not. He strolled right toward her with no one else in sight.
“Brit, I’m so glad to see you,” Marshal called as he quickened his step to close the ten-yard gap between them.
“Um, yeah,” she said and her hand finally felt the hilt of her new wand. In one motion she pulled it free, lifted it toward him, and shouted, “Thought-Flood!” A thin orange mist curled from her wand tip and a sound like crumpling paper bounced between the alley walls. Marshal stopped in his tracks and squinted. He waved a hand in front of his face and blew through his nose as if assaulted by gnats. He wiped his eyes with both hands then looked up.
He looked to each side in obvious confusion then to Brit as if seeing her for the first time in his life. He spoke with an awkward cracked voice. “Pardon me Miss, but can you tell me what time it is?”
“Oh man, that did it,” Brit said to herself and she replaced her wand and set off to walk past him.
“The time?” he asked again.
“Daytime,” she said brushing by.
“Oh. Um, what day is it then?”
“Not sure. Bye now,” she said over her shoulder and she walked warily to the coffee shop. “God he’s handsome,” she said out loud as she rounded the corner and glanced back to see him still looking around at the walls. “Too bad.”
The coffee shop was packed and Mims was slammed so beyond ordering and a brief exchange no chat took place. Mims made time to add something extra, which she so often did, and before she knew it Brit was headed back through the crowded streets feeling more confident in herself than ever.
She backed in through the store door and placed the cup tray on the counter. She took her mocha from the tray and carried a pastry bag to Tanner in the back.
“A present from Mims,” she said and handed Tanner the bag. He looked inside to see a cheese danish.
“Awesome. I’ll take it out to the boat and eat it for breakfast tomorrow.”
Brit walked back to the front to see Jordan just as Casey opened the door. Brit told them all about Marshal.
“So when he started to pick up the pace coming at me, I pulled my wand out and hit him with the Though-Flood spell.”
“Wicked. Did it work?” Jordan asked.
“Heck yeah. It misted orange and he didn’t even know what day it was after that.”
“Good for you,” Jordan said and Casey pictured it all with wide eyes.
Tanner came up. “Cursing your ex boyfriends again?” he asked.
“Every day,” Brit said.
“Hiya Casey,” Tanner added.
“Hi. Headed out?”
“Yeah. Going home to take a nap. I was up late last night.”
“You live on a sailboat?” Casey asked.
“Yep.”
“So cool,” Casey said.
“Later witches,” Tanner said and was gone. Casey watched him leave then turned back to the girls.
“You know,” Jordan said. “If he was still hexpawned, not that you waited to find out, but if he was, the Thought-Flood spell might actually erase it. Ask Carol someday. So Casey, that’s cool about you and Mims?”
“Yeah, I’d love to meet her and study together. Anytime.”
“Awesome,” Brit said. “You guys’ll like each other. I already told Mims and she said the same thing.”
Carol swung up from the back office with her bag. “Hi Casey. Bye girls,” she said and headed to the door.
“Hey Carol. Would a Thought-Flood spell erase a hexpawn curse?” Brit asked.
“It might,” Carol said turned from the door. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason.”
“That was diplomatic,” Jordan said.
“The schedule is posted and copies are on the desk,” Carol said. “Tanner got his. You two be sure to take yours today.” As she opened the door she found her path blocked by customer and store friend Dan. When he saw Carol he bowed.
“Hello beautiful,” Dan said.
“Hi Dan,” Carol smiled and Dan moved to the side with a sweeping gesture of his arm for Carol to exit. Dan pulled the door closed and spun into the shop.
“Dan the Man,” Brit said.
“Captain Dan Notwitch,” said Jordan.
“Hi, I’m Casey,” Casey said and she extended her hand. Dan shook it.
“Nice to meet you,” Dan said and he looked to Brit and Jordan. “Witch?” he asked still holding Casey’s hand.
“A maiden learner,” Brit said and Dan turned back to Casey and released her hand.
“Oh you must be Jordan’s new apprentice.”
Casey smiled and nodded.
“Well, you’re in good hands. Did you teach her to turn stalkers into toads yet?”
“He’s kidding,” Jordan said and came out from behind the counter and pushed Dan into the store. “Leave her alone,” she said and Dan stumbled gently from the shove.
“Okay, okay,” he said smiling back over his shoulder. “Nice to meet you,” and he went to look at books.
“Nice to meet you too,” Casey replied and Jordan went to get her copy of the schedule.
When Jordan came back up front Dan was at the counter again talking with Brit and Casey. Jordan rolled her eyes thinking Dan was flirting with Casey. She put her schedule in her backpack on the front table and turned to join the conversation.
“I don’t watch television,” Brit said.
“Me either,” Casey said. “Well, I watch Game of Thrones at my friend’s house. You ever watch Game of Thrones?” she asked Brit.
“I’ve read the books.”
“Well, it’s
all over the news,” Dan said. “Have you seen it?” he asked Jordan.
“Seen what?”
“The robbery kids. Or the Klepto Kids. That’s what the news is calling them.”
Jordan looked to Brit. Brit shrugged. Casey raised her eyebrows and shook her head. Jordan watched less television than Brit or Casey, and she certainly never watched the so-called news.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jordan said to Dan. Dan went on.
“Here’s the story,” he said and he scrolled through articles on his phone then stopped scrolling and read.
“Believed to be proteges of some modern-day Fagin, several as-yet unidentified perpetrators who appear to be children, have foiled two banks and one jewelry store that we know. These Klepto Kids have been captured on surveillance video and their precision and skill has been called remarkable by authorities. The following statement was issued just this morning by Assistant Special Agent in Charge Marco Rivera of the FBI Field Office in Jacksonville.”
“Wanna hear what he said?” Dan asked.
“Go on,” Jordan said and Dan read on.
“We have very little information to release at this time, beyond the locations and items stolen. The first robbery took place overnight at the First American Bank in Tampa. The main entry was breached at what appears to have been four minutes after a sophisticated computer hack disabled the bank’s alarm system. A secondary safe was then cracked using a combination of computer software and physical safe combination de-calculation. In other words, they figured out the safe’s numerical combination lock sequence and opened the safe while overriding the computerized time lock.
“The second robbery took place at the Nation’s Savings Bank in Tallahassee on the following night. When local agents contacted us, we recognized similarities in not only the security video footage, but the methods of execution.
“The following night, we received a report from local officials in Pensacola that the Timeless Treasures jewelry store had been compromised and a number of valuable watches and items had been removed from the store overnight. An analysis of their internal camera system revealed the robbery to have been allegedly conducted by four children. According to our own investigation into the video records of all three crimes, all we can say is that the alleged perpetrators appear to be between the ages of seven and thirteen and a combination of both males and females. It is not yet known if each videotaped incident depicts the same or different children. Both banks in question appear to have been robbed by two children. The jewelry store, by four. If anyone has any information concerning these events they are encouraged to contact either their local law enforcement agency, or the FBI field office in Jacksonville. Thank you.”