Charms & Clouds

by Emilia Spring

  We could've been hanging out at the shop. But at that point, if I spent one more morning at the shop, around all those snarky talking animals, I was going to bang my head against the ground. We could go this afternoon.

  I parked in front of Fire Glass, getting out of my car and staring up at the sign. We would have to get one of those for Glass Oceans. Then I pushed the front door open. I could hear Avery talking to Gianna, the words low and calm.

  “How's it going?” I asked.

  Gianna came out of the back, almost bouncing as she walked. “I got to make stuff,” she said proudly.

  I looked at Avery, eyes wide.

  “She just blew up some globes,” Avery said, grinning at my expression.

  I looked Gianna over, checking to see if she had burned herself at all.

  “She didn't get close enough for it to burn the crap out of her,” Avery said patiently. “I promise.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. Then I made myself relax. Gianna was fine, it was a good educational opportunity, and I trusted Avery to look after her.

  “It was awesome,” Gianna said, skipping my way. “You want to see?”

  “Of course.” Kids wanting to show off didn’t end after elementary school. It was a good thing to be proud of their accomplishments, and something I was more than willing to foster in Gianna as much as I could.

  “How can we tell which ones are yours?” I followed Gianna and Avery as they led me towards the giant cooling thing.

  “Hers came out a bit different,” Avery said easily. She reached into the vat of water where the glass was cooling and pulled out a couple of the globes. They were a dark gray, and they seemed to be misty inside.

  “Any idea why that is?” I asked Avery, puzzled.

  She shrugged. “Best guess is that it's magic.”

  “Well yes, that would explain things.” Not really, since I didn't really know what she meant, but.

  “Sometimes, when witches are young, or not trained, when they work with regular objects, they can imbue their magic in it.” Avery looked at Gianna, and winked. “Or, she was eating coloring salts and didn't tell me.”

  Gianna rolled her eyes. “You wish,” she told Avery.

  “Do all glass blowers use the giant vat of water?” I peered into it, reminded of that one time Mom had made the glass pan explode in the oven.

  Avery shook her head, sorting through them. “Most use a special type of low-temperature oven to lower the temperature gradually, but we don’t have to.”

  “Because magic?” I bit back a grin.

  “Because magic,” Avery agreed.

  “You ready to go help Sam practice?” I asked Gianna.

  Avery started cleaning her arms off. “I'm coming too.”

  “Of course.” Gianna looked offended.

  I winked at them. “Let's go see if we can trip her up.”

  Both Gianna and Avery fixed me with a beady eye.

  “Let's go show support and help her out?” I said more meekly.

  Avery looked satisfied, and Gianna grinned. “Better,” Gianna decided.

  Shaking my head as if they were insufferable, I headed out to the car.

  “We're just gonna practice the practical portion,” Sam told me. We were back in the warehouse, her mini kitchen set up in front of us. I had the list of skills in my hand that Clementine had given me. It was a long list.

  “Is Clementine proctoring your exam?” Did teachers get to hold them?

  Sam nodded. “Under the supervision of the Council.” She hid a yawn behind her hand. “Normally the teachers do it on their own, but this is to advance to Journeyman proper, so it’s a bigger deal.”

  I blinked. “Proper?”

  Sam nodded. “The period from apprentice to journeyman is the longest one,” she said. She paused, looking at her feet. “Especially when you accidentally light things on fire.”

  “She's lit more kitchens on fire than I have,” Avery said in a stage whisper.

  Sam lobbed a piece of bread at Avery. “Jerk.”

  I grinned. “So what's after this?”

  “There’s a progressive exam every year,” Sam answered promptly. “And then after the first 5 to 7 years, you can test for your masters if you want it.”

  “You could stay a Journeyman?” That was interesting.

  Avery was the one who nodded. “Most people choose not to,” she said. “There's limitations on what you can do, and they generally prefer that your magic remains supervised.”

  That didn't sound very pleasant to me. “Going for Masters, then.”

  “As if I’d settle for anything else,” Sam muttered. Avery laughed.

  Gianna looked at me, curious. “When will I get to take an exam?”

  I opened my mouth as if to respond, and then looked at the others. That was a good question.

  “New witches generally take their proper apprenticeship exam after they graduate high school,” Sam explained. “But since Natalie is your mentor, and Marguerite your mentor by proxy, I have no idea how it’ll work for you.”

  I had no idea either.

  “I mean, you're not exactly taking your apprentice exam after high school, are you?” Sam looked at me with her eyebrows arched.

  I didn’t even want to think about how long ago that was. “Do I have to take the apprenticeship exam?”

  “Ask Marguerite that.” Sam winked, then turned back to whatever she was cooking.

  “We going to do this or not?” Gianna asked impatiently, shuffling the papers in front of her. “There is important work to do.”

  I looked chastened. “Yes ma’am.”

  She let out a dramatic, teenager-y huff. “Let's get started.”

  Sam wiped down whatever she had been doing and cleared the kitchen space. Avery and I took seats on stools a few feet away, Gianna standing officiously next to me.

  “First task is to make cakes that will make a human double in size for three seconds,” Gianna read off the instruction sheet.

  “Who came up with those instructions?” I whispered to Avery.

  “Somebody with a sick sense of humor,” she drawled.

  I gave her that. That could sum up most of our family members. It was still weird, having a biological family. Especially since my adoptive family was gone. I glanced at Gianna out of the corner of my eye, wondering if maybe, just maybe, I could talk to my adoptive parents again someday.

  But that was sentiment, and there was time for that later. I wasn't going to let myself take advantage of Gianna’s magic in any way. Especially not for my own gain.

  I dragged my attention back to Sam, who was whisking something in a bowl and looking more focused than I had ever seen her.

  It wasn't long before she had the cakes ready, faster than I thought was humanly possible.

  “The exams are held with a time limit,” Sam said when she saw my face. “There’s note time for the cakes to bake properly.” She popped them out of their cake pans and started fanning them with a cutting board. “Who wants to be the guinea pig?”

  Both Gianna and Avery looked at me.

  Sighing, I reached out and picked up a cake. I took a tiny bite, just in case. Warmth surged throughout my body, leaving me too hot, and out of nowhere I was growing. I was at least three feet taller by the time I stopped, wobbling precariously for three seconds before I shrank back to my usual size.

  I blinked at the others, who were trying to hide laughter.

  “I think you passed,” Avery said with a grin.

  “I didn't think it would work,” I said, a bit baffled.

  Gianna shook her head. “Did you even listen to me?”

  “A little bit?” I winked at her.

  Gianna rolled her eyes. She turned to Sam, considering the list. “Since somebody is listening to me, let's keep going.”

  Sam snickered.

  “I want you to create a lemon meringue pie that makes you turn invisible.”

  I looked at Avery, incredulous. She shrugged.

/>   Definitely crazy.

  I dropped Gianna off at the soup kitchen with Sam to help her finish prepping the meals for that day. Riley had texted me that she was grabbing coffee, asked if I wanted to join.

  It totally wasn't like a coffee date. Nope. It was just mutual getting of coffee at the same time. That was my lie, and I was going to stick to it.

  I stepped into the coffee shop, catching sight of her right away. She had her coffee in hand and was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed.

  “Can you sleep standing up?” I definitely wouldn’t have been surprised.

  “I can sleep when I’m dead,” she said easily, opening her eyes and stretching an arm behind her head with a yawn.

  “That's not really the best mindset to have.” I was doubtful. Still, I headed up to the counter and ordered my usual. Caffeine was life. “What did you need?”

  She blinked at me. “Why did I need anything?”

  “You were the one that texted me about coffee,” I pointed out.

  Riley was quiet for a few seconds, as if reorganizing her brain. “Minor details.”

  I looked at her, concerned. “Did you hit your head or something?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, exasperated. “We have some information that these threats to Marguerite and the Council are connected to last month's case.”

  I went cold all over. “Sage?”

  She nodded.

  “Are the threats coming from her?” I took my coffee from Chai, offering her a polite smile before we sat down in the same spot we had last time. My hands were shaking.

  Riley shook her head. “We're still going through the protocol to get some answers from her, since she’s in magical isolation.” She sighed. “It's Aaron.”

  “I didn't realize he and Sage were tied together.” I stared at my coffee cup as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. I was no longer thirsty.

  “Sage had her hands in all sorts of pies,” Riley said, her jaw tightened.

  I sighed. That sounded about right. “How long will it take?”

  She ran her hand through her hair, sighing. “She won't talk to me,” she said. “She made that clear when I locked her up in the first place.” There was something in her pause, something she was waiting for me to put together.

  Then it clicked. “No, no, no,” I said loudly, holding my hands up. “You want me?”

  Her eyes were serious, but there was a kindness, too. “She's talked to you before.”

  “Yeah, when I was trying to convict her.” I stared at her.

  Her lips were tight. “I don’t think she’ll talk to anyone else.” She was quiet for a few seconds, her eyes locked on mine. “Please?”

  The part of me that found this whole situation funny debated whether or not I wanted to see her grovel some more. The part of me that was dealing with the whole convicted murderer thing found it a lot less amusing. But Riley had said please. I wasn’t sure if she had ever said that before. “If I have to.”

  Her whole face lightened in a way that made my stomach flip uncomfortably. I took a sip of my coffee to hide it. “You’re going to have to make it up to me, though,” I said, trying to sound unaffected.

  For a second she looked surprised, then analytical, like she was trying to assess whether or not I was serious. “Dinner?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her, unable to hide a grin. “You can't buy me that easily.”

  Riley grinned back. “I'll find the right thing eventually.” The air between us lightened, and my nerves eased.

  I glanced around, catching sight of Chai's cotton candy hair – now green – behind the coffee shop counter. Hopefully she wasn't listening, and if she was listening, hopefully she wouldn't tell Sam and Avery, because I would never hear the end of it. As it was, they already thought that I liked Riley.

  Okay, I sort of did. But I had more important things to do. Magic, Gianna. Life.

  I sighed. Gianna.

  “I have to get Gianna from the soup kitchen.” I glanced at the time.

  “I wondered where she was.” Riley took a drink of her neglected coffee and made a face.

  I arched an eyebrow at her. Snooty, or something else?

  “It’s gone cold,” she said, and she made a disgusted face.

  “No iced coffee for you, I take it?” I bit back a smile.

  “Never,” Riley said vehemently. “Abomination.”

  Deliberately, slowly, I took a long drink of my iced macchiato.

  Riley laughed. “What’s Gianna up to?”

  “She's working with Sam,” I explained. “It gets her out of the house, and it keeps her practicing.”

  She looked thoughtful. “She's very determined, isn't she?”

  Okay yeah, that was the whole parental pride thing welling up inside of me. “Yes,” I said, feeling the tiniest bit smug. “She's very smart.”

  Riley chuckled. “I'll let you go get your kid then.” She winked at me, drank the last of her cold coffee and sauntered out.

  “Rude,” I told nobody. She really didn’t stop trying to make this type of fancy exit. Her arrogance was sort of cute on occasion. But only occasionally. Other times it made me want to tip her over like a cow.

  I took my macchiato with me to the car, not surprised to see Riley was already gone. I swallowed thickly. The fact that Sage was involved, and that Riley wanted me to talk to her – that sent shivers down my spine.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I waved goodbye to Gianna, and had just gotten back in Ruth when my phone rang. I answered it without looking at it. “Hello?”

  “I got permission,” Riley said promptly. “Can you come by in a couple hours?”

  “Yeah.” I gripped my phone tighter, pulling off to the side of the road and reminding myself to take deep breaths. I had faced worse people, really. Some of the parents I had run into during my time as a social worker were absolutely horrendous. But I was still nervous.

  “Come in two hours,” Riley semi-ordered.

  “Sounds good.” Except it didn’t, not at all.

  I hadn’t felt like heating up waffles for myself, so I stopped by the small B&B, run by Lyrical and Donovan.

  “You look tired.” Lyrical frowned at me when I came in the front door. “It’s only Tuesday!”

  “Feels like Monday to me.” I laughed, but it was a weak one. Gianna had had yesterday off, so it was the truth.

  Lyrical tutted a bit. “Let’s get you settled, dearie.”

  Her accent was southern enough that the term sounded endearing instead of derogatory. There was a long list of things parents had called me when they were trying to insult me.

  “What would you like?” Lyrical was dressed like an old-school diner waitress, apron tied around her middle and everything. She pulled a pad of paper out of it, clicked a pen with her other hand.

  “Waffles and eggs?” I tried.

  “How would you like your eggs?” She wrote the words down, and like the nosy person I was, I watched. The ink disappeared.

  I tried not to stare.

  “Magical ink,” Lyrical said with a wink. “Don’t worry, your order got to the back.”

  “Thanks,” I said, a bit baffled.

  “Want anything to drink?” She glanced towards the back. “Coffee, anything else?”

  “Water’s fine, thanks.” I was a bit dehydrated after yesterday. She nodded to me and then bustled off. I saw her disappear into the back, presumably to fetch something.

  I glanced around the breakfast place, not really surprised to see no one else. It wasn’t a particularly touristy time of year, I didn’t think. Then again, Arizona’s tourism was probably weird due to the weather.

  A glass of water appeared on my table. I stared at it, caught off guard. I looked up at the ceiling as if I expected to see magical sparkles float down on me. “Magic,” I muttered, taking a sip of the water. It was refreshing and cooling to my parched throat. A few minutes later my food appeared in front of me.

  “Of
course.” There was even silverware. Shaking my head, I dug in. The food wasn’t quite as good as Clementine’s, but it was good enough that I kept eating until I was stuffed.

  I dragged it out, alternating bites with reading books on my phone. I had two hours to waste, which turned out to be surprisingly easy when I got absorbed in what I was reading.

  A text popped up on my screen from Riley. See you soon?

  I glanced at the time. “Jerk,” I muttered, but I was actually glad for the reminder. I would have gotten sidetracked. “You don’t tell me what to do,” I informed my phone.

  I looked up to see Lyrical staring at me, her eyebrows raised.

  “How do I pay?” I said instead of an explanation. She held a hand out for my credit card, which I gave her. At least something was normal in this town. I left them a hefty tip, remembering what it was like to work as a waitress. “Thank you.”

  She smiled at me. “Feel free to come back anytime.” And she meant it, too.

  I got back in Ruth and headed towards the station. I could feel my nerves on my skin, the ever-familiar prickling of my magic. I had purposefully not worn the earring bangles. I didn’t want to see if I could spark lightning inside.

  When I parked at the station, there was a large van outside of it. It looked innocuous, but I could tell what it was. It was the van that had transported Sage there. I took a deep breath and then entered, saw Riley waiting in the front lobby for me. I nodded to Melody, who nodded back. Sadly I hadn’t grabbed a baked good for her that morning.

  “Ready?” Riley asked, her voice grim.

  I winced. “As ready as I'll get.”

  She reached out and gently squeezed my shoulder. “It'll be okay.”

  “I know,” I said, gathering my false bravado. Sage couldn’t be worse than dealing with Craig or Lemon. Those birds could bite my fingers off. Sage couldn't.

  Feeling a bit better, I let Riley lead us down the hallway, down a set of stairs to another room I hadn't seen before. To be fair, I hadn't seen the entirety of the police station.