The Witches of New Moon Beach Series
Night Flight
BY:
Meriam Wilhelm
AMAZON EDITION
*****
PUBLISHED BY:
Meriam Wilhelm on Amazon
The Witches of New Moon Beach Series
Night Flight
Original copyright 2016 by Meriam Wilhelm
All Rights reserved
Cover Design by H.O. Charles
Amazon Edition Copyright by Meriam Wilhelm 2016
Amazon Edition, License Notes
All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy.
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address proper representatives through the author’s website, www.meriamwilhelm.com
This book is dedicated to my husband and
my children, who listened to all of my crazy witch stories, offered their encouragement and rarely laughed at me!
And to Rebecca Forster, who gave me her support and valuable insights as I transitioned from non-fiction into fiction.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Preview of Book 3
About The Author
Prologue
I woke with a start. No, no, no. Not again!
Rubbing my eyes, I looked up into a cloudless blue sky and recognized the sound of waves crashing on a nearby shore and I knew that I had done it again. I was no longer snuggled in my own bed; I was somewhere else far from home.
At least this time as my sight cleared and I looked around a little more, I was relieved that I actually recognized where I was. On two other mornings I had awakened to find myself somewhere other than in my bed and twice before I had been terrified, unsure of where I was or how I even got there.
But today was different. I was tired of waking up afraid and uncertain. Today would be the day that I would learn how to deal with whatever was happening to me.
The morning breeze brought a chill as I wrapped my arms protectively around myself and looked down to see that my pajamas were wet through and through from the damp grass where I had apparently landed. A stray leaf had lodged itself in my hair and I swiped at it in a feeble attempt to remove it from where it had become tangled in my hair. Could this get any weirder?
I was chilled to the bone and goose bumps riddled my body. My teeth chattered as my bare feet, tingling from the cold, sunk further into the damp mucky soil; leaving in sight only the toenails I had recently painted with Pretty Pink Polynesian polish. I knew that I had better start clearing my brain as I grabbed a quick calming breath of chilled ionized air.
Damn. Why did this keep happening to me? More importantly, now that I was here what was I going to do about it and how was I ever going to get home? I couldn’t help but blush as I worried about the fact that you could now see right through my soggy pajamas? After all, who wore underwear beneath their jammies?
You notice that I didn’t ask how I got here. I had already started to figure that part out. I guess that you could say that I flew here in my sleep; a skill I didn’t even know I had until recently. This was something new, over which I apparently had no control - at least not yet.
Chapter One
My name is Olivia Merriman and my sisters and I all live in New Moon Beach, California. It’s a wonderful beach city that almost got trashed when a big hotel wanted to move in and mess with our simple life by the sea. But I’ll get into that in a minute.
As I said, New Moon Beach is a great place to live. I recently returned here after finishing up college and I’m thrilled to be back. It’s safe to say that I love this city and the people who live here! New Moon Beach is my home.
My sister Constance owns a deli in town called Supernatural Subs and I am the proud owner of Mystique Creations a sewing and crafting shop just down the street from the deli. I run the shop with my best friend, Gail. Oh, and my sister Harmony, she’s been the Mayor of the City of New Moon Beach for about a year and a half now. And I can tell you that her early days as Mayor have been a doozy!
There’s something else that I think is important for you to know; something that most of the residents of New Moon Beach don’t even suspect. We are a family of witches who practice white magic. No dark witchcraft or black magic for us; nothing for you to freak out about.
Our dad is a witch too; he’s one of our family of four. But I’ll fill you in on him later because he is what we call, complicated. Our mother was a witch too. She’s been gone since I was little, but her spirit seems to be popping up unexpectedly lately. All I can say is that it feels extraordinarily freaky to me as I don’t remember much of her from my childhood.
Lately I’ve been having some trouble with my magic; especially when it comes to my spell casting skills. So I haven’t been performing magic a whole lot these days. Which is a real bummer when you’re a young, vibrant witch like me. But not to worry; I haven’t given up on magic up all together.
Because of me or maybe better stated, because of something that I did with my magic, the early stages of that hotel I was telling you about washed out to sea. Yep, the Bella Vista Hotel never got built at the end of our block. There was all of this brew ha ha about this big, massive structure moving into our little beach city. It was pretty gnarly for a while with everyone having a different opinion about the whole thing. While some people were in favor of the hotel, others not so much. A few merchants and the city council members were clamoring for the additional revenue the hotel could bring in, others residents were fearful that the hotel would mess up our quaint beach city. And, I guess that it was especially hard on my sister Harmony, trying to balance the demands of her city council with the wishes of her sisters and friends. She’s had a love/hate relationship with most of her council members since the hotel thing started; something that I guess you could say I am directly responsible for since I got so involved and actually caused a lot of the mess.
So okay, who wants a big old hotel at the end of their block, especially one that requires the destruction of their brand new, awesome shop? Not me and not my sister, Constance. So all I did was cast a little spell to convince the developers to move the hotel somewhere else. It was an innocent enough spell cast with the best of intentions in mind.
Well, remember that I told you that I’ve been having some trouble with my spell making skills? That hotel spell of mine got way out of hand and I’m sorry to say that a few people got hurt and a lot of property got damaged. My bad!
At my behest Mother Natur
e worked up quite a storm and all of the hotel planning stuff got washed away; along with the roofs of several homes of our city residents. I never did understand how such a simple spell got so super charged and destructive. Anyway, it took quite a while for our city to get back to normal. And it took even longer for things to calm down between me, my sisters and our father.
But something good did, eventually, come as the result of my spell. The MaxDon Land Development Company decided not to put the Bella Vista Hotel at the end of my street. And, with the help of our family of four, my friend Gail and just a touch of magic, we located a new spot for the hotel to go. Oh, one more piece of important information for you to know; my friend and co-worker Gail is a witch too! She’s an awesome water witch with certain powers that my sisters or I don’t even have. But we can talk about that more a little later.
My on again off again boyfriend, Jonathan Maxwell, is the son of the original guy who wanted to build the hotel. After the spell driven storm, Jonathan’s dad got ticked off, tired of trying to make it all work in New Moon Beach. So he gave up on the whole hotel idea and ran back to San Francisco, which was fine with me. I think Jonathan’s dad is a real skunk. He’s not real fond of me either, even though he has no idea that I am the one who called in the storm. He also doesn’t know that I’m a witch. Neither does Jonathan which is just one more thing that I need to get working on.
Anyway, Jonathan just joined forces with our good friend and millionaire Larry Webber and they are planning to build a different kind of vacation spot on some land that my sisters and I inherited up in the Rolling Rock Hills of New Moon Beach. The new land was identified to us through a spell that my entire family participated in, so I guess that you could say we are all partners in this new venture.
And that’s just where I’ve landed this morning. I am standing, shivering on the cliffs overlooking the city of New Moon Beach on one side and the ocean on the other; on the land where our new hotel is supposed to go. I am relieved that it must still be early in the morning and no one is around yet to witness my tremors, bare feet or see through jammies.
Unfortunately for me, we haven’t had time to get much started at this new site yet. There’s more open land and abandoned orange and apple trees than anything else.
Fortunately for me, just yesterday Jonathan had what I call a “command center” trailer hauled in. And I happen to know that there is a working phone inside. And even though the trailer is locked and I’ve been told to stop attempting any new spells, I need to get inside. So I feel compelled to cast a tiny, little spell, so wish me well:
All things are possible, let the Spirits agree
Come to my aid, give me what I need
As I view this lock which stands in my way
Please know that I have no time to delay
Open the door and clear my way
And I shall be grateful for the rest of the day
With a snap of my fingers the door unlocks and I shimmy in out of the cold. All it had taken was just one small spell and voila! Who would ever know? And, lucky for me it had actually worked. Reaching for the phone I silently thanked the gods for their help and quickly dialed my sister Constance’s number.
After one ring Constance answered. Stifling a yawn, she said, “Hello, who’s calling me at six a.m. on a Sunday morning? You have just taken your life into your own hands by calling me this early and it better be for a very good reason.”
Taking a deep breath I responded, “Good morning Constance.”
“Olivia? What are you doing up so early and on a Sunday?”
Sunday is the one day of the week that both of our shops are closed. That means that Sundays are the only mornings that we ever get to sleep late.
“I’m so sorry, but I need your help. I am up at the new hotel site and I need a ride home.”
“A ride home? How did you get up there in the first place? Are you okay?” Constance asked suddenly sounding more alert.
“Yes, I am and thank you for asking. It’s a long story. If you come and get me, I’ll take you out to breakfast at The Hang Ten and explain.”
“Only for you Olivia, only for you,” grumbled Constance. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”
“Oh, and Constance, can you please bring me some clothes and, uh, my purse so I can pay for breakfast?”
“What?” she asked. “I don’t even want to know. Yes, I’ll stop by your place and grab your stuff. Good thing I have a copy of your key to let myself in. It may take me a little longer to get up there. Where exactly are you?”
“I’m standing inside of the command center trailer that Jonathan brought up yesterday. And believe me, I won’t be going anywhere. Please make sure that you bring me some underwear too,” I begged.
“Oh boy! I bet this is going to be a really good Olivia story! I can’t wait to hear. How did you get into the trailer anyway? Oh, never mind, I don’t think I want to know,” she said hanging up.
I could only hope that Constance was truly awake and wouldn’t just turn over and go back to sleep as I had not yet learned how to fly back home. And why did she need a key to my house anyway? Her magic must be ten times stronger than mine when it came to gaining access to any door; even the strongest of locks would be defenseless against her witchcraft.
Chapter Two
The Hang Ten has the best pancakes in town and over the years it’s proven unmatchable whenever I need to bribe, coax or thank my sisters for something. So it seems like the perfect spot to share a breakfast of gratitude with Constance.
“I’m trying to decide if I like the buttermilk or the chocolate chip pancakes best,” I said as I poured maple syrup over my 5 high stack of cakes. Prior to adding the syrup I had broken up my strips of crispy bacon and stuffed them in between the three buttermilk and the two chocolate chip pancakes, along with a ton of butter. Now this is what I call a great breakfast; especially since I was starving.
Reaching for the silver coffee urn Constance filled her large white mug nearly to the top, added a little milk and a lot of sugar. “Okay, spill it, Olivia. What is going on with you?” Constance said, trying to squelch another yawn. It wasn’t quite seven and she appeared far from rested. “I still don’t understand how the heck you got up to the new hotel site and in just your pajamas too.”
Grabbing the pot and filling my own cup to the top I wrapped my hands around the porcelain in a feeble attempt to warm myself up. Even though, thanks to Constance, I now wore a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, sweatshirt and a full complement of underwear, I was still a little cold.
“It’s taken me a while to figure it out too,” I said to my sister as I took a sip of the warm Hazelnut brew and felt it warm my throat. “And I’m not sure that I have it all right in my head yet, but here’s what I think I know.”
Raising her hand to wave hello to Ante, the Head Chef for The Hang Ten, Constance signaled with her eyes that we would have to wait a moment to continue our conversation.
A gregarious Greek with shoulder length black hair, Ante was a delightful specimen to view. He wore a constant smile that shone through sparkling eyes of Kelly green. An unusual combination of beauty and brawn, Ante Eliopoulos was a gorgeous Greek to behold. And I noticed that this morning his smile was only for Constance.
“Another fabulous breakfast, Ante; these are the most de-licious pancakes,” Constance said. “I want to know your secret ingredient; I may have to steal it for my deli!”
Spreading his arms and beaming down at Constance with his majestic green eyes, he said, “It’s love my dear Constance. They are simply filled with love for you!” Bending down Ante gave Constance a quick peck on her cheek before returning to his kitchen with a wicked smile on his face. A smile that Constance didn’t seem to catch, but I did. Oh boy, we were going to need to talk about this later.
“Hmm, what’s going on there?” I wondered, looking toward the kitchen while I scarfed down another pancake.
“What?” responded Constance ignoring the gentleman and his s
mile, as well as my question. Was Constance really unaware of what those green eyes were saying to her or was she intentionally ignoring them? Or more curious still, was something going on between the two of them that I had been totally unaware of until now?
Sensing the coast was now clear, I went on. “Okay, so about two weeks ago I started having these really funky dreams about flying at night,” I said looking at Constance and lowering my voice. “You know that I rarely take my broom out for a ride. And when I do, I’m extremely careful.”
“I should hope so.”
“Give me some credit Constance,” I said with a huff. “Anyway, in my dreams I fly through the air without the aid of my broom. I just take off and fly all by myself, arms outstretched and feet kicking freely in the air, superman style.”
I added a bit more syrup to my pancakes before returning to my story. “And each time I have this stupid dream I wake up in the morning totally exhausted. The first couple of times I woke up scooping sand and sea shells out of my bed, without the slightest memory of having been anywhere near the beach. I guess I must have flown there and then flown back to my bed.”
“Are you kidding me Olivia? Wait a minute. Are you making this up as some dumb excuse for waking me up so early?” Constance said staring at me in disbelief.
“What? NO. You saw the state I was in when you got to me this morning. I am not fooling around and I’m hurt that you would even think that!” I said sounding more wounded than I really was.
“Okay, okay, but I have to tell you, Olivia, I have never had night flying or any other kind of teleportation thing happen to me,” she said using her fingers like quotation marks around the words ‘teleportation kind of thing’. Nor have I heard it happening to anyone else in our family. What did you do to start this all up? Were you playing with your Book of Shadows or your Spell Binder before this started happening?”
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