The Witch Within

by M. Z. Andrews

  “I’d have to move my clothes?!”

  “Well, obviously,” said Alba.

  “Mercy…” Jax looked at me, her eyes pleading for help. I didn’t know what to say. We’d spent the last nine months listening to Holly and Alba bickering like sisters, and I, for one, was over it. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to switch Jax for Alba, but it was only for a week. I didn’t have any good reason why they shouldn’t switch.

  “It’s only a week, Jax. We’ll be rooming together all summer, or until we find our new place.”

  Jax looked from me to Holly to Alba. I could tell she really didn’t want to switch, but she felt like she was being ganged up on. While I felt bad, I was exhausted and just didn’t have the energy to argue with the girls anymore. “Fine,” she whined with her brow furrowed.

  Alba smiled widely. “Sweet. I’ll go pack my stuff.”

  Before Alba could leave the room, Sweets appeared in the doorway. “Hey, girls.”

  “Hey, Sweets,” said Alba, pushing past her and disappearing into the hallway. “How was work?”

  “It was okay,” said Sweets, looking over her shoulder at Alba disappearing into her room down the hall. “Where’s she going?”

  I sighed. “To get her stuff. Alba and Jax are switching rooms for the rest of the school year.”

  Sweets looked at Jax curiously. “They are? Why?”

  Jax crossed her arms over her barely-there breasts and looked like she was fighting back tears.

  “Because Alba’s a royal pain in my ass,” said Holly bluntly.

  “Holly!” chastised Sweets.

  Holly held up her flattened palm to Sweets. “Bup,” she snapped. “I don’t want to hear it. We all agreed. It’s just for the last week of school. No big deal.”

  “You okay with it, Jax?” asked Sweets.

  “I guess. I don’t really have a choice.” Jax sighed. “Today’s been a really bad day. First my mom tells me I can’t go to witch college in the fall, and now I have to move out of my room.”

  Sweets’ eyes widened. “Sorceress Stone told you you can’t go to the Institute in the fall?!”

  “Yeah.”

  “But that’s crazy! You’re her daughter!”

  “I know,” breathed Jax, her bottom lip trembling.

  “I certainly wouldn’t get her a Mother’s Day present, that’s for sure,” said Holly under her breath as Alba reappeared with an armful of clothes she’d pulled out of one of one of her drawers.

  “Get who a Mother’s Day present?”

  “Sorceress Stone,” said Sweets.

  “Oh, yeah. Hell no, I wouldn’t get that woman a present. I don’t care if she is Shorty’s mother. That woman doesn’t deserve the title of mother, let alone an entire day devoted to her.”

  I nodded. “Especially since your birthday’s the same day as Mother’s Day, Jax. The day should be all about you.”

  That did the trick. A smile spilled across Jax’s face, brightening her eyes. She loved to talk about her birthday. Besides talking about any topic related to witches, her next favorite topic was her birthday. “So what are we going to do for my birthday?”

  “Well, it’s the same day as graduation,” I said. “So unfortunately, we’ve got a lot going on. Mother’s Day, Libby and Cinder’s graduation, major declaration day, and your birthday. Plus, I’m pretty sure Libby and Cinder mentioned their class is throwing a big graduation party that night.”

  “A party?!” Jax’s eyes lit up as if she hadn’t heard anything else I’d said.

  “Yeah, for Libby and Cinder’s graduation.”

  “I don’t care. We could pretend it’s my birthday party,” said Jax with a brilliant smile.

  “I mean, if you want. Maybe we could go out to dinner before the party,” I suggested, looking at the rest of the girls.

  Sweets nodded. “Yeah, that would be fun.”

  Jax sucked in her breath excitedly. “All of us going out to eat together for my birthday and a party?!”

  We all nodded.

  “Oh, you girls are the best!” She leapt up and took turns hugging each of us.

  When she got to Alba, Alba held her hand out, palm facing Jax. “Hug me and I’m not going.”

  Jax stopped short of her. “Okay,” she said in a small voice.

  “Now listen, before we go getting all hot and bothered about your birthday and the graduation party, we still have to figure out how to lift the curse so you can get your powers,” said Alba, rocking her weight onto her other leg.

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” I said. “I have a ton of studying to do to get ready for finals, but how about after dinner, we run over to see Gran and see what we can do to convince her to lift the curse?”

  “Can we?!” asked Jax excitedly, looking around the room.

  Sweets fell onto the small futon in our room. It was the same one that Jax had brought to college. We’d gotten Reign to move it to the B&B so Sweets could have a bed. “I’m exhausted and my feet are killing me, but once I eat, I think I’ll get my second wind.”

  “I’m almost done with my homework,” said Alba. “Then I got nothing else going on. I’m up for it.”

  Holly shrugged flippantly. “I don’t really feel like studying anyway. Count me in, too.”

  “Yay!” cheered Jax. “I have the best friends a girl could ever ask for!”

  4

  Gran was having supper at the Baileys’ when I called to ask if she minded if the girls and I stopped over for a visit. She sounded surprised, but happy to hear from me, and said we were welcome to stop by Char and Vic’s place anytime that evening. So the girls and I all loaded into Sweets’ small Ford Taurus and headed over.

  “So how’s this going to go?” asked Sweets, looking at us in her rearview mirror.

  I let my head fall back against the headrest. “I have no idea. I don’t expect it to be easy.”

  “Well, maybe we can convince Char and Vic to help,” said Sweets. Charlotte and Victor Bailey were an elderly couple that were not only friends of ours but also Sweets’ bosses at Bailey’s Bakery and Sweets. Like my grandmother, Char was also a witch, and before Vic’s accident, he’d been a wizard. “I mean, they both love Jax. I’m sure they think she deserves her powers, just like we all do.”

  “Yeah, I mean, we can sure try.” I shrugged and then looked over at Sweets. “Speaking of the Baileys, how are things going over at the bakery? You haven’t said much lately.”

  Sweets turned on her signal, took a left, and drove down a side street. “That’s because it’s really been busy, and without Louis around, I’ve been doing everything myself. I need to work on getting someone new hired. Char said I could advertise. I just haven’t had time to write up an ad. And to go through interviews?” She leaned her head back against the headrest. “Ugh, I just really don’t have that kind of time at the moment.”

  “Well, all I can say is that I’m glad they fired that scumbag for trying to frame you for Mr. Bailey’s murder,” said Alba.

  Sweets’ eyes brightened as she turned to look at Alba. “Oh, definitely! I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining about having to do Louis’s work. I was doing most of it anyway. It’s amazing how much lighter the atmosphere is there without him. I actually enjoy going to work. I’m just exhausted by the end of the day.”

  “So Louis gets fired and Auggie Stone gets off scot-free? That hardly seems fair.” Alba shook her head and looked out the window.

  Jax piped up next to me. “Mmm. I’m pretty sure I heard she was reported to the Great Witches Council.”

  I nodded. “I heard the same thing. Mom said that since the intent to harm wasn’t there, she pretty much got off with just a slap on the wrist and a warning to be more careful with who she gives potions to.”

  “Who reported her? Sorceress Stone?” asked Holly.

  “Puh!” I spat. “You really think Sorceress Stone would report her own mother?”

  Holly shrugged.

  “No, I heard C
har and Gran reported her,” said Jax, referring to my grandmother, not hers. Jax was my half-brother Reign’s first cousin. By roundabout means, she thought that made her and me cousins, and therefore she considered my grandmother and Reign’s grandmother to be her grandmother too. Which I personally thought was nuts, because my grandmother was the one who had cursed the Stone family all those years ago and the reason that Jax had never gotten her powers. Why would Jax want to claim Gran as her own?

  “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” said Alba with a nod.

  Char had had every right to report Auggie for the role that she’d played in Vic’s accident. I would have done the exact same thing. It was only unfortunate that Auggie hadn’t gotten into more trouble.

  Sweets pulled her car up next to the Baileys’ small bungalow-style house, and we all got out of the car. It was May in Aspen Falls, Pennsylvania, and for a spring evening, it was warmer than one would expect. It almost felt like summer. The combination of the warm spring evening mixed with the thought that my first year of witch school was nearing a close had me bounding up the sidewalk with an unusual burst of energy.

  “Damn, Red. You got ants in your pants or something?”

  I bounced up and down on the pavement, swinging my arms next to me. “No, but this weather makes me feel like jogging or something. Doesn’t it make you feel like getting your run on?”

  Alba rolled her eyes. “I don’t run unless a zombie is chasing me. Even then, I might just let him catch me if it means I don’t have to run.”

  Sweets and Jax giggled.

  I smiled. “Yeah, I hear that. I’m not much of a runner either. But if feels like summer is finally around the corner! Doesn’t it feel good to finally shake off the cold weather?”

  Jax plumped out her bottom lip. “I only wish that you guys weren’t leaving for the summer. It would’ve been so much fun to hang out together all summer. We could’ve gone swimming and gone for hikes and taken Chesney on long walks—”

  “Yeah, I don’t know about all that,” I interjected, holding up a hand to stop her from continuing. “But Jax has a point. Do you realize how boring it’s going to be in Aspen Falls without you girls?”

  “Well, I’m not going anywhere. I have a job and this is where I live now.” Sweets giggled and threw her arms out on either side of herself. “I guess you could say I’m finally all grown up.” She giggled at her own little joke.

  “Yeah, well, I have a husband, so I’m more grown up than you,” said Alba.

  Holly flipped her hair over her shoulder and quirked a brow. “I’m pretty sure adults don’t argue about who’s more adult than the other one. But just having a husband doesn’t make you an adult.”

  “And you think running home to Daddy for the summer makes you an adult?”

  “I never said it made me an adult, Alba.”

  “Good, because you’re not, Holly.”

  Standing between Holly and Alba on Char’s front porch, I held a hand out on either side of myself. “You two really need to quit arguing. We came to help Jax, and the two of you are going to spoil it. Now shut up so I can knock on the door.”

  Holly bit her glossed lip.

  Alba leaned against the yellow siding. “Knock already, then. Jeez. We don’t have all night.”

  I glared at her while knocking on the door. From outside, we heard a recliner snapping into place, and seconds later, Char’s puffy white head appeared in the doorway.

  “Hey, Char.”

  “Well, hello, girls! Welcome!” Char opened the door, and swiped the air in front of her grandly as she stepped back for us to enter. “Come in, come in. So excited to have you all join us. We just made some popcorn and popped in a movie. Would you like to join us?”

  “Thanks, Char, but no, we just came to visit Gran.”

  A small tan Chihuahua was seated on the arm of Char’s recliner.

  I gave him a small wave. “Hi, Mr. Bailey.”

  “It’s so good to see you, Mercy!” boomed Mr. Bailey’s big voice out of the frail body.

  One by one, each of the girls said their hellos and filed into the house behind me.

  Gran was seated on the sofa with a blanket covering her lap and a bowl of popcorn lying on the side table. “Hey, Gran.”

  “Mercy! It’s about time you came to see your old gran. Come over here and give me a hug!” She held her arms out wide but didn’t get up.

  I leaned over, and Gran tugged me down onto her lap. Her arms squeezed tightly around my neck so I couldn’t get back up. “Jeez, Gran.”

  “What?” she squawked in my ear. “I never get hugs from my favorite granddaughter anymore. You used to give me hugs all the time.”

  I tried to wiggle out of her viselike grip. “I’m your only granddaughter, and yeah, maybe when I was five!” Gran, Mom, and I had been a very close-knit group of witches at one time in my life. But as I’d come to find out about Gran’s past—feuding with the Stone family, how she’d treated my mother when she was younger, and what she’d done to my brother—I’d sort of grown apart from her. Recently, however, after finding out what had really happened all those years ago, I’d felt myself relenting and forgiving her a little. After all, Jax’s grandmother had done some pretty horrible things to my family, so I could kind of understand where she’d been coming from. And when Reign had stopped hating her for what she’d done to him all those years ago, I’d figured it was time I stopped holding a grudge as well.

  “Oh, come on. You got more in you than that,” grumped Gran.

  “Fine.” I squeezed her a little harder, until I felt her let loose a little. “Good to see you.”

  “Good to see you too,” she agreed, finally letting me stand up. Gran looked over the rest of my friends. “I see you brought the whole squad.”

  “Yup.”

  “Hi, Gran,” chirped Jax, rushing my grandmother to give her a hug.

  “Hello, Jax.” Gran patted Jax’s back while she attacked her neck with a pair of scrawny arms.

  “Well, come on in, sit, sit,” instructed Char, taking her place next to Vic.

  Jax let go of Gran and then perched herself up on the armrest right next to her while Alba, Sweets, and Holly took spots on the sofa on the other side of Gran. I stood, watching them all.

  “So,” said Char. “To what do we owe the honor of this visit?”

  All the girls looked at me, the only one standing. I lifted a shoulder noncommittally. I wasn’t entirely sure where to begin. “Oh, you know, I just figured I hadn’t seen Gran in a while.”

  “Isn’t that sweet,” said Gran, with one eyebrow lifted. “I can’t say I remember the last time my granddaughter came to visit me just because she hadn’t seen me in a while. Seems a little sketchy if you ask me.”

  Char nodded. “Sketchy sounds like the appropriate word. Don’t you agree, Vic?”

  “Oh, now can’t a granddaughter just drop in from time to time to see her grandmother? Why does there have to be an ulterior motive?”

  Gran sat forward in her seat. “Oh, there doesn’t. Just usually in the case of my granddaughter, there is.”

  “Gran!” I breathed.

  “Knock off the act, dearie. Just tell me what you and your friends are up to, so we can get on with watching our show.”

  “Up to?” I scratched the back of my neck and looked innocently at my friends.

  Before I could say anything else, Jax leapt off the arm of the couch and spun to face Gran. “Gran, we came to beg you to take the curse off of my family.”

  Gran lifted her brows and gave a tip of the head before crossing her arms over her heavy chest. “Ahh. I wondered as much. I’ve been waiting for this day.”

  Jax smiled brilliantly. “You have?! So you’ll do it? You’ll take the curse off?”

  Gran frowned and lifted her chin, sticking her nose in the air. “Nope. Not gonna happen.”

  “Gran!” I said.

  She wagged a finger in my direction. “I don’t want to hear it, Mercy Mae Haberna
ckle. Jax’s grandmother killed your grandfather. I don’t care if it was accidental! Her family deserves everything it gets!”

  “But it’s Jax! You can hardly think Jax deserves to be punished for her grandmother’s actions?!”

  Gran closed her eyes and stubbornly lifted her nose into the air once again.

  “Char, can’t you help us?” begged Sweets from the sofa.

  Char swished her lips sideways. “You girls know how much I love you all. Especially Jax. But Auggie Stone is responsible for what happened to my poor Vic, too.”

  Vic jumped down to the floor. “But, Sugar Pop, I’m still here! What’s done is done. I don’t want Jax to pay for what happened to me! It wasn’t her fault in any way, shape, or form! We can’t punish her for Auggie’s actions.”

  Char clucked her tongue and tipped her head sideways. “I’m sorry, Vic. I can’t go against Phil. She’s been through too much as it is. I will not side with Augusta Stone on this one, even if that means not helping Jax become a witch.” She looked at Jax. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I want to see you come into your powers, but I understand why Phil doesn’t want to give in to your grandmother.”

  “But it wouldn’t be giving in to Jax’s grandmother,” said Alba. “She’s not the one asking. She could care less about her granddaughter. They don’t even know each other.”

  Jax nodded. “Alba’s right. I only met my grandma once, when I was a little girl. She’s never bothered to call or write me over the years. Not even a single birthday card!”

  “Come on, Gran. Jax’s birthday is on Sunday. I promised I’d help her get her powers before her birthday.”

  Gran pointed a finger at me. “What have I told you about making promises you can’t keep?” Then she turned to look Jax up and down. She lifted a brow. “Ah, a birthday. You’ll be how old?”

  “Eighteen,” said Jax.

  Gran pursed her lips. “Eighteen. Is that right?”

  Jax nodded.

  Gran’s head lifted before turning away from Jax.

  Something about that tiny movement made me suspicious. Like there was something that Gran wasn’t saying. I looked at my grandmother with narrowed eyes. “Why?”