Charms & Clouds

by Emilia Spring

  “We can finish the rest tomorrow?” I looked at Gianna, who was peering into the tanks.

  She turned to give me a look. “I have school,” she reminded me.

  “How about after school?”

  Gianna sighed. “If I have to.”

  “Child labor is not allowed,” Great Aunt Mabel said, apparently deciding to pop back into the conversation.

  “Where did you go?” I looked at her.

  “Away from that horrid woman,” she answered promptly.

  I blinked. “Clara?” I mean, yeah, she was sort of terrifying, but horrid? I didn't really think she'd done anything to merit that. Yet.

  Great Aunt Mabel sniffed. “You're too young to understand,” she said, drawing on the long-used words of elders everywhere.

  I decided, for the sake of my sanity, to let it go. “Do you want to come to dinner?” I asked Gianna. She’d said no last time, and the time before that, but I still wanted to offer.

  Her shoulders hunched, then sank back down. Then she shook her head. “I have homework to do,” she said, not meeting my eyes.

  “It's okay if you don't want to go,” I assured her. From the skeptical look she gave me, I wasn't entirely sure she believed me. And that was going to be a thing. She'd dealt with a lot in her life, and even though I didn't know all of the details, I knew enough that she didn't trust the rest of the village. I was different, but that didn’t mean she would trust me right away.

  “Bye Theodore,” I said, making an ostentatious bow to the amphibian. “Enjoy lording over your domain.”

  “Ha, ha. Very funny.” Theodore did the axolotl imitation of a sulk, swimming to the back corner of his tank.

  I fought to hide a grin, then turned to Gianna. “Let's get you home, then.”

  Great Aunt Mabel appeared in the corner of my eye, her arms crossed over her chest and her face suspicious. “You're not going to be ordering pizza for her again, are you?”

  I looked at Gianna. Gianna looked at me.

  Then Gianna shrugged. “We could do Chinese takeout if that offends you less.”

  Great Aunt Mabel groaned, and I bit back a laugh. Great Aunt Mabel had a lot of opinions about how cooking should be done. And how to take care of ‘your man’. Cook, clean, make their life easy. Too bad I was gay.

  Great Aunt Mabel followed us out to the car, muttering darkly under her breath. That was the downside of her being a ghost. She let herself in the car, sitting/floating in the back seat with Gianna.

  “I don’t understand why you can’t just make dinner,” Great-Aunt Mabel grumbled.

  I reached over and turned the radio up to drown her out. Thankfully the shop wasn’t a far drive from the house, and I stopped in front of it.

  “You're sure?” I asked one last time. “You could come stay in the room upstairs.”

  Gianna gave me an exasperated look. “I’m fine. I’ve got my key and my phone, I’ll call you if I need anything. There’s takeout in the fridge.”

  I pursed my lips, but inwardly I was smiling. “Fine.” She was a trustworthy kid, and after all, Great Aunt Mabel was there keeping an eye on her. And given how nosy she was, I bet that Gianna would be fine. There I was, a mother hen. Like many others my age, I was turning into the mother I swore I would never be.

  Well, turns out my Mom may have been right. Go figure.

  Gianna got out of the car and slammed the door behind her, almost skipping up to the front door and letting herself in. I couldn’t hear or see Great Aunt Mabel, so presumably she had gone inside the house. Either that, or since Gianna was out of range, I couldn’t sense her.

  We weren’t entirely sure how I could see her in the first place. Being able to see ghosts wasn't really a common witch trait. Even Sam and Avery, who had come over once or twice, couldn’t see her.

  I patted Ruth’s dashboard and then put her into gear, wincing a bit at the rattle. She was still hanging in there, and there were no lights on yet. A new car would have been a saner decision, but I had never really gone after a high-paying job. First I had been a social worker, which, let me tell you – did not pay enough for what you go through. I had moved on minimal savings, and now was going to open a small business.

  Besides, Ruth had sentimental value.

  I parked in the driveway to the main house, which was where Marguerite and my aunts lived. The youngest of Marguerite’s children, my mother, had disappeared thirty years ago. No one knew what had happened to her.

  Once life actually thought about calming down, it was a mystery I wanted to solve.

  I used the key Aunt Clementine had given me and unlocked the front door, letting myself in. “I'm here,” I called out, not sure who was going to hear me.

  “In the kitchen,” Sam shouted over the clanging noises of the kitchen.

  She and Clementine were kitchen witches, and they did their magic through cooking. Consequently, you could almost always find them in the kitchen. Whether it was this kitchen cooking dinner, or working with the soup kitchen, or – I assumed Clementine had an actual job or something – they were almost always cooking.

  I popped my head in the kitchen, narrowly dodging Sam who was running around with a pan of muffins. Why were we having muffins for dinner?

  “Avery and Aurora are in the living room,” she said, sounding harried. “Aspen is in the back doing whatever Aspen does.”

  “Where's Marguerite?” I asked warily. Knowing where Marguerite had settled herself was probably the most important thing about dinner.

  Sam rolled her eyes. “She leaves for a Council summit tomorrow,” she said. “She's mad about it.”

  “Council summit?” I asked.

  Another timer went off, and Sam sighed. “Ask Avery,” she advised me, before turning and running off. “She'll tell you.”

  I ducked out of the kitchen before Sam could throw something at me, and headed down the hall. It opened up into the living room, where Avery was sitting on one couch and Aunt Aspen on the other, apparently inside from whatever she'd been doing. Aunt Aurora was sitting next to Aspen, looking at the oversized needles in her hand. There was some baking show going on, which I'd seen before. Didn't remember what it was, but it looked familiar.

  I came over and plopped unceremoniously next to Avery. “What's up?”

  I saw Aurora roll her eyes out of the corner of my eyes.

  “Nothing much,” Avery said. “Aurora is trying to learn how to knit.” There was a wicked glint in her eyes.

  Aurora glared at her. Aurora was Sam's mother, and Aspen was Avery’s. Clementine had no kids. As far as we knew, I didn't have any siblings either.

  “I'm using grass-friendly fibers,” Aurora muttered darkly. “They won't stop getting over my hands.” Aurora, I’d learned, was the type who liked to make life difficult for herself so she could conquer it. Although being a grass witch and knitting with grass-friendly fibers may not have been the smartest choice.

  I struggled to keep a straight face. “Maybe try acrylic?”

  Aurora shot me a glare. I raised my hands in defeat and shut up.

  “How's Gianna?” Aspen asked, turning her wide blue eyes on me.

  She was a time witch, which made her come across a little bit odd. It was like the character in the movie that you expected to start spewing a prophecy with no warning. But she was nice, and she’d been responsible for helping us take down a murderer. It wasn't a thing I ever wanted to do again, but if I had to, I wanted Aspen on my side.

  “Gianna’s good,” I said. “Doing homework.”

  Aspen hummed. “She should join us next time.”

  I didn't miss the way the Aurora’s shoulders stiffened, then she went back to fighting with the needles.

  “I'll ask her,” I said with a polite smile. Aurora's reaction was about what I'd expected, even when she knew what the family had been accused of was wrong. Here, in a world where everybody’s magic was tied to something specific like grass, metal, or weather, dark magic could be used by anybody. The ma
gic was the same for everyone. What changed was the means.

  Even though the accusations against Gianna's mother had been false, it would take the village a long time to come around.

  “How's Charlotte?” I asked Avery, nudging her with my elbow.

  Her face went red and she glared at me. “Keep your mouth shut,” she hissed.

  Aurora and Aspen were looking at us suspiciously. “What did you just say?” Aurora asked.

  Oh crap. “Nothing?” I hadn't even thought about the people in the room. I had assumed they knew.

  “She was asking me how the library was, because I went there earlier,” Avery said smoothly.

  However, neither Aurora nor Aspen looked particularly convinced.

  Avery turned to look at me, giving me the evil eye. I tried to appear innocent, but I was troubled. Avery had been previously accused of murder, and had been acting shifty on top of it. But instead of hiding the fact that she had murdered someone, it had turned out that she was hiding a girlfriend. Not because of the whole girl thing, but because her girlfriend's sister was insane. You know how it goes.

  “How is Graves?” I asked, changing the subject. I would ask her about Charlotte later. Maybe she didn’t want her family to know she had such a close tie to Sage.

  Graves was Avery's mentor, the blacksmith responsible for teaching her things.

  “He’s good,” Avery said. She scrunched up her face. “There's a hubbub over the new council member. So he’s gossiping.”

  “New council member?” I mean, it made sense, but I was surprised I hadn’t heard anything about it.

  Avery looked at me out of the corner of her eye, and then realization dawned. “I always forget you don't know these things.”

  “It's okay,” Aurora assured me. She really was eavesdropping, wasn't she.

  “The Council goes on a summit whenever a new member’s appointed,” Avery explained. “It's to make sure that they're all on the same page, and to discuss any of the larger magical issues affecting our community.”

  “So who's the new member?” I asked, looking at her.

  “He's a fire witch,” Aurora said, her nose wrinkled in distaste. “His name is Zane.”

  Wasn’t that suitably weird. “Oh.” I wasn’t surprised that Aurora didn’t like him. I couldn’t imagine fire and green witches got along well.

  I heard the sound of a wooden spoon being beaten against a pot. “She’s seriously summoning us with that?” I looked at Avery with my eyebrows raised.

  “Only when she’s having a bad day,” Avery said cheerfully.

  I shook my head, disbelieving but not entirely surprised. This family – my family – was crazy. At least I fit in.

  When I got into the living room, Marguerite was already sitting at the head of the table. I took my usual spot on the far left, with Avery sitting next to me, and Aspen popping in on my other side. I was appreciative when they did that, because it kept me from being stuck with more people I didn’t know. For example, there was a tall man that I didn't recognize. He had long dark hair, and a friendly smile. He sat next to Clementine, chattering away as if he knew everything about her. Marguerite kept shooting him dirty looks, so I guessed she knew who he was and didn’t approve.

  Maybe he was Clementine's husband? If Clementine had a husband?

  I hoped my love life would be more interesting than my aunts’.

  It still felt weird to think about it. I missed and loved my adoptive parents, and nothing would replace them, but now I had apparently found my second family; aunts and cousins and a grandmother - and sometimes it still shook me to my core.

  Dishes started popping up on the table, and I closed my eyes as the scent hit me. I still hadn't really got used to this whole magic thing, and I’d fully admit – I didn't do a lot of it my house. Mostly because it was weird. And besides, if I didn't have to get off the couch to fetch the remote, there were days I would refuse to leave the couch.

  I bit back a grin at the thought. “Chicken,” Sam said, clapping her hands with a self-satisfied grin.

  Tonight's dinner was a roasted chicken, and I grabbed a few slices, along with mashed potatoes. There were biscuits that had been made from scratch (“As if there’s any other type!” Sam had been offended) and the smell of them made my mouth water.

  “Are you ready for tomorrow?” Aurora asked Marguerite, her eyes polite.

  Marguerite harrumphed. “Pretentious asshole.”

  I fought to keep a straight face. I was curious as to who she was talking about.

  “I'll take that as a yes,” Aspen muttered from my other side.

  I couldn't fight back a giggle, but hid it with my hand. I hoped.

  “Clara isn't that bad,” Clementine said on Marguerite’s other side.

  “That's debatable,” Marguerite muttered.

  The tall man sitting next to her gave a short laugh, and she glared at him. He smiled politely at her.

  I scanned the table, somewhat disappointed to realize that Riley wasn't there. She was probably busy, seer witch that she was. Well, and a police detective.

  I felt Avery’s elbow touch my side. “Looking for anyone?” she said in a soft, singsong voice.

  I shot her glare. “You don't bring up Riley, I won't bring up Charlotte. Deal?”

  Avery hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Deal,” she said, and we shook hands.

  “Is there anything you want to share with the rest of us?” Marguerite asked, and both of our heads turned to look at her. “Or are we allowed to get on with dinner?”

  I gave her my best, cheesiest smile. “You can talk now.”

  Marguerite glared at me.

  I ducked down to take a bite of chicken to avoid the scowl. She really wasn't happy about going away with the Council tomorrow.

  “Up for practicing tomorrow?” Avery asked, topping a piece of chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.

  “Gianna’s got school, so why not.” I closed my eyes when I took a bite of the biscuit with raspberry jelly. It was so good it should have been illegal. “The warehouse free?”

  Okay, I realized how that sounded. But there was an abandoned warehouse not far out of town where we could use our magic without getting caught. Considering that I still made it rain inside, or lit things on fire on occasion, it was always safest for me to be away from the rest of humanity.

  “Sam got a mini fridge all set up now,” Avery said amiably.

  I grinned at Sam who winked. “There’s even a table,” Sam added.

  I wasn't going to say that it was a hideout, but it was becoming a place not just for magic practice.

  Chapter Four

  As usual, I was the last one to the warehouse. Sam, Avery, and Charlotte were already there, sitting at the flimsy coffee table that we’d set up.

  Sam let out a loud groan and put her head in her hands.

  I looked at her, alarmed, as I sank into the last available seat. “Are you okay?”

  “It'll be okay,” Avery said soothingly, patting her shoulders.

  “Her journeyman exam is coming up,” Charlotte explained.

  “Oh,” I said, nodding as if that meant something to me. I didn't know a whole lot about the whole magic certification thing. I knew that there were multiple tests, and I knew that you didn't generally get certified as a proper mage until you were at least 30. Charlotte, who was 27, beat all of us. Because she was adorable.

  Avery grinned at Charlotte.

  “Get a room.” I nudged Avery.

  “You’re just jealous Riley isn’t here,” Avery shot back.

  “Ladies,” Sam said, one of her hands landing on the table. “I feel you’re greatly underestimating the seriousness of the situation.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Avery. “Can't be that bad, then.”

  Sam looked mortally offended. Avery laughed.

  “Journeyman is the second to last,” Avery explained. “You'll have smaller exams, but those are three main ones. Apprentice, Journeyman, and Mas
ter.”

  That seemed simple enough. “And she's taking her journeyman's exam?”

  Charlotte nodded. “It's one of the more public ones, where people can attend if they want to. There’s a written and practical test, then a demonstration. Covers both magic theory and magic practice.”

  I blinked. “When am I gonna have to take one of those?” More importantly, where could I learn that stuff?

  Avery shrugged. “Theoretically, at some point, Marguerite will have you take your apprentice exam to make it official.”

  “Official?” I looked from one of them to the other.

  Sam nodded. “You're working with her now,” she said. “But it's in an unofficial capacity. You don't become an apprentice proper until you pass that first exam.”

  “Let me guess,” I drawled. “If you don't pass it, something strange happens.”

  Avery and Charlotte exchanged looks, Avery hiding a smile. “No,” she said. “You just have to find somebody else to mentor you.”

  Okay, that wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Not that I really wanted to find someone else. Marguerite was terrifying, but she was good at what she did.

  “We should probably get started,” Sam muttered, kicking the edge of the table.

  I leaned back in the chair. “Let me guess – we’re going to start with meditation.”

  Charlotte grinned. “A+ for the new student.”

  “Hey I’m not that new!” I pointed a finger at her.

  Avery sighed, shooting me a look. “Who wants to risk themselves today? “

  I gave her the middle finger. “I can guard myself, thank you very much.” Mostly.

  “I'll believe that when I see it,” Avery said frankly.

  “I’ve only made it rain once.” I scowled.

  “I just got my hair colored,” Avery said, pointing to her head. It was a rather bright shade of fuchsia. “You get it wet, I'm not going to be happy with you.”

  “You could stop dyeing your hair,” Sam said.

  Avery shot her a look. “Just because you don't have an imagination doesn't mean I don't.” Her face turned smug. “Look at this.” Avery looked way too thrilled with herself, but she tilted her head to the side and ran her hand through the back of her hair, lifting up and revealing multiple sets of colors in the back of her hair. It was like a sunset, going from a deep fuchsia to a bright yellow.