Stranger Than Witches (The Witches of Secret Hallow Book 3)

by Nora Lee

  The amount of work it had taken the coven to restore the Ash Academy had been incredible. It had been months of labor, laughter, and sweat.

  All of that struggling had made it seem almost impossible that they would ever defeat Emilia Ash’s wards and create a new building.

  But they had.

  In truth, Kimberly believed that if the coven came together, they could accomplish anything at all.

  She spent too long sitting behind the wheel, gazing with fondness at the vine-covered school, which sparkled with magic more vivid than any Kimberly had seen before. Coming into her power had opened her eyes in so many ways. It was very distracting.

  But only for Kimberly.

  Keene saw the school and mostly saw his favorite place, full of his friends, and wanted to be inside of it.

  He started to struggle with his car seat and grunted when he couldn’t manage any of the buckles on his own.

  Kimberly couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s okay,” she said, climbing out of the front seat and circling back to him. “Give me a second, kiddo.”

  A second still seemed like too much time—and then, to Keene’s distress, he’d kicked off his shoes in his frustration, so it took them another couple seconds to get those settled again—but soon enough, he was running across the grassy field to where the other children were playing.

  Kimberly locked up the car and followed, stopping where Gemma was seated on a bench to watch the kids. She had a tablet resting beside her thigh. There was a video chat open on the screen, but nobody was in Fox’s chair at the moment. All Kimberly could see was the artist’s drawings taped to the opposite wall.

  “Hey!” Gemma said happily, getting to her feet. She didn’t hug; Gemma wasn’t a hugger. It was one of the things Kimberly liked about her. Kimberly also liked that she could tell Gemma would have hugged her if she was a hugging person. “It’s good to see you and Keene here.”

  “Thanks,” Kimberly said. “Do you have anything fun planned for them today?”

  “So many things! We’re going to do some artwork to celebrate Beltane,” Gemma said. “The fairies are going to come by with glitter-dust, and we’ll be using mushrooms as sponges for the paint!”

  That did sound like a lot of fun. Kimberly almost wished she could join them.

  Keene had found his way to Fern, who was practicing her magic with Rowan again. Kimberly couldn’t help but hold her breath when a gust of wind Fern created went a bit askew in Keene’s direction, but Keene just giggled and dodged the gust like Fern had made it chase him on purpose.

  He was really okay at the Ash Academy. He was growing up around witchlings and could take good care of himself. And for the occasions that he couldn’t, the adults were watching him. They would keep him safe.

  “You sticking around for long?” Gemma asked.

  “I was actually thinking about going back to the farm and working on my magic?” Kimberly knew she shouldn’t make it a question, but she couldn’t help it. That Keene was at school and probably would be for a while was huge for her. She could take baby steps on everything else.

  “Oh, nice! I loved seeing your feathers at Beltane.” Gemma held out her arms like they were wings. “So cool. I wish I had some of that power.”

  And Kimberly would have gladly traded it for Gemma’s technologic powers…well. A few days ago, maybe.

  Now she had embraced the eagle and wouldn’t have given it up for anything.

  Keene’s shrieking giggles drew her attention back to him, and her lips twitched into a smile.

  Almost anything.

  “Would you like to see a full change?” she asked. “I can leave the car here. I don’t need to go back to the farm to change.”

  Gemma’s eyes brightened. “Oh, please.”

  Kimberly grinned, and with a quick check for Thorn with her power, she was pushing off the ground, her arms replaced with wings. Not fighting the change and actually seeking it out had meant that she hadn’t dreamed about flying last night or woken up with feathers after. Who needed dreams when the reality was better?

  She circled once several feet over Gemma’s head—Gemma was beneath her, clapping—and did one quick pass over Keene, who waved and went back to playing with Fern as Kimberly pulled away and headed for the trees next to the school.

  Thorn emerged from where he’d been waiting. He asked without words how long she wanted to go out.

  Kimberly was pleased to tell him that she wanted the entire day.

  They turned and flew.

  * * *

  Sunset found Kimberly back at the school where her car was parked.

  It was amazing how easily she returned. Now that she knew that her urge to be an eagle was only part of her magic, and not the urge to leave her family, she didn’t fear getting lost within herself at all.

  She and Thorn had spent an entire blissful day flying and hunting, and she had no drive to remain an eagle.

  When she landed, she found the Ash Academy empty, haloed in fairy glitter that still glowed faintly in the last of the dying sunlight. The kids and teachers were gone, so Maddock must have picked up Keene earlier. It just meant that Kimberly was that much more eager to get home to join him.

  The drive was quick, and the smell of the food cooking inside was almost as welcome as Keene running by, hoisting Poke over his head. He stopped long enough for a wave before he kept running.

  “Is that you, wife of mine?” Maddock called.

  “Yes!” Kimberly called back, walking through the living room and into the kitchen. She kissed Maddock hello. “Thanks for picking up Keene.”

  “Thanks for taking him to school.” It sounded casual, but someone who didn’t know Maddock might miss how intensely he looked at Kimberly afterward. He knew what it meant to her to hand her son off to someone else, and trust them to care for him while she took a few hours to herself. “Dinner’s going to be a few more minutes, if you want to entertain our son until then.”

  Keene looked pretty occupied on his own, but Kimberly meant it when she said, “I’d like nothing better.”

  She played branch for a moment by lying on the living room floor on her side—all the better for Poke to land on, of course. Playing with Keene was always fun, but she was tired after an entire day in flight. Being able to play with him without actually moving was a blessing.

  “How was school?” she asked.

  “It was okay,” he said.

  “What did you do?”

  “Nothing.”

  A smile crept over her face. “Nothing at all?”

  “Nope,” Keene said. “Nothing.” He bounced Poke along Kimberly’s side.

  “Nothing to do with…fairies? Mushrooms?”

  “Oh,” he said distractedly. “Yup.”

  He was even cuter than usual when he was pretending to have no idea what was going on.

  “Do you know what I did today?” Kimberly asked, propping her head up on a hand. “I went flying.”

  He stopped moving Poke. “Like a birdy?”

  “Like a birdy,” she said.

  He grinned broadly, revealing all of his square white teeth. “I wanna go with you.”

  She ruffled his hair.

  “Maybe you will someday,” Kimberly said, her throat unexpectedly thick.

  The doorbell rang.

  “We expecting anyone?” Maddock called from the kitchen, where his magic was still sending pots and pans flying across the room, banging noisily. “How many people are outside the door? I could make more.”

  Kimberly didn’t know who was waiting for them. It was entirely possible that they were supposed to have visitors. In Secret Hallow, it was hardly uncommon to have a random person or seventeen show up for dinner at any given house.

  She frowned and straightened, kissing Keene on the head as she went for the door.

  If it was someone from the coven, Kimberly should have been the one making food. After all, they’d all done so much for her family when she’d taken a day to herself.r />
  She raised her eye to the peephole, and—

  “Wife of mine?” Maddock called.

  The doorbell rang again, and Keene ran up and grabbed Kimberly’s leg.

  “Just a second,” Kimberly said, loudly enough for both her husband and the visitor to hear. She took a moment to pat Keene on the head before pulling the door open.

  Kimberly’s eyesight hadn’t failed her. Standing on the threshold, on the other side of the door, was none other than Mary O’Malley.

  Her mother was wearing the same Stevie Nicks casual that she had worn in the forest. Chances seemed good that she hadn’t changed for days. She didn’t look terrible for a woman who had been living in the forest, though. Magic had been gentle with her.

  Kimberly swallowed hard. “Hello.”

  “Hello,” Mary echoed. “I found your place.” Kimberly was courteous enough not to point out how obvious that was, as Mary couldn’t have been on her doorstep if she hadn’t found the Leif farm. “A nice older woman in town pointed me this way. She was very helpful when I told her who I was.”

  Kimberly nodded. She imagined that was true. Anyone in Secret Hallow would have instantly embraced Mary as family. “Do you want to come in?”

  “I don’t want to bother you. It must be dinner, and…”

  She trailed off, and when Kimberly followed Mary’s gaze, she realized Mary was looking at Keene, who had emerged from behind Kimberly to see who she was talking to. He was still firmly attached to her leg, like he was any time someone he didn’t know came to the door.

  “Who…” Mary cleared her throat, and Kimberly could see tears in her eyes. “Who’s this?”

  “This is Keene,” Kimberly said. “Keene, can you say hi?”

  Keene buried his face in her leg.

  “You never said if…” Maddock trailed off when he saw who was at the door. He didn’t need to be told who Mary was. Surely he would be able to see many of Keene’s features in his grandmother’s face. He stopped next to Kimberly. “Hello, I’m Maddock Leif.”

  He extended a hand, and Mary took it. “Mary O’Malley.”

  He looked between Kimberly and Mary. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

  Silence fell, awkward for a moment, before Mary said, “I’ll come by some other time. It’s dinner, I shouldn’t—”

  “Stay.”

  Mary froze, half turned away already. “What?”

  “Stay,” Kimberly said again, stepping back from the door. “For dinner?”

  Mary turned around again. “If I wouldn’t intrude.”

  “Not at all.” That came from Maddock, who was already stepping away from the door. “I’ll put more food on. Wife of mine?”

  He was checking to make sure she was really okay with it. Kimberly kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks,” she said.

  With a grin, Maddock went back in the house.

  “Please,” Kimberly said, holding the door open just a bit wider. “Come in.”

  Mary took a breath, squared her shoulders, and walked inside, following Maddock. Kimberly closed the door behind her, and, picking up Keene, shuffled back to the living room.

  “Is there enough?” Mary wasn’t turning back. “Room, I mean.”

  Kimberly smiled. “There’s always enough room for family.”

  * * *

  Enid Ash’s story is next!

  Learn more!

  Next in Secret Hallow

  It's a double wedding, and you're invited! In fact, Enid Ash wants to invite everyone - including the ghost of Hephaestus Hallow, who can't leave the general store he's haunting. She'll have to figure out a spell to move his spirit to Castle Hallow for the festivities. But Hephaestus isn't cooperative, and the magic goes awry. Enid finds herself in the spirit world, and she'll have to work with a centuries-old ghost to get back to the living world in time for the weddings...

  Learn more about A Witch in Time!

  Join the coven!

  coven.secrethallow.com