Believe: The Complete Channie Series

by Charlotte Abel

  When Momma came back, she was sweaty, grimy and in complete disarray. She always wore her hair pulled into a tight knot at the nape of her neck, but most of it had come undone. Grey wisps floated around her shoulders like ghosts and her eyes had that vacant, glassy look you see on the front row at funerals. She stabbed the ground with her shovel, burying half the spade with one angry thrust. “Well, I got it.”

  Channie’s heart skipped a beat. “Got what?”

  Momma raised her shield and glared at Channie. “None of your gall-darned business. Now, go help your sister wake up them babies and get ‘em loaded in the bus.”

  “We’re ready to go?” Channie’s bike was still leaning against the side of the cabin. “What about my bike?”

  “We don’t have room to take everything we own.”

  “I’ll leave something else behind. I want my bike.” Aunt Wisdom had given it to Channie for her fourteenth birthday two years ago. It was her most prized possession. As soon as the keep-away spells around the cabin wore off, someone was bound to steal it.

  “And I want a million dollars. Now do as you’re told before I take a switch to your bee-hind.”

  “Calm down, Prudence.” Daddy grabbed Channie’s bike with one hand and tossed it on top of the pile of furniture bound to the roof of the bus. “Get me another rope out of the shed, baby girl. There’s no reason we can’t take your bike.”

  Momma pressed her lips into a thin hard line and glared at Daddy, but she didn’t argue.

  As soon as he finished securing Channie’s bike, he nodded at Momma. “It’s time.”

  She spun around and stomped back inside the cabin.

  Daddy waited for Channie to climb inside the bus then jiggled the side door, testing the baling wire holding it shut. He leaned in through the passenger door. “You stay here and don’t come inside no matter what happens. I’ll send Abby and the trips out.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  The wrinkles around Daddy’s eyes deepened. “On second thought, if something happens, get your bike and ride as fast as you can to your Aunt Wisdom’s place and tell her what’s going on.”

  “What is going on?”

  Daddy scrubbed his face with calloused palms. “Just promise me you won’t go inside that cabin.”

  “You’re scaring me, Daddy.”

  “Good.” He squeezed Channie’s arm then patted her cheek. “Promise?”

  “Yeah, I promise.”

  He nodded once then joined Momma in the cabin. Abby and three very cranky trips stumbled out the front door.

  Daddy’s 1956 panel-van Volkswagen bus was useful for avoiding prying eyes when running moonshine. But with no windows or rear seats it wasn’t very comfortable—even when it wasn’t packed floor to ceiling with half their earthly belongings. Channie helped Abby clear a space for the triplets in the back then wriggled between Momma’s cedar trunk and Daddy’s tool chest like a snake.

  Abby grabbed Channie’s left foot and said, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Daddy told me to go get help if something goes wrong. How am I supposed to do that if I’m stuck in here?”

  “Well, Daddy told me to keep ever-body in the bus.”

  Channie pushed a little persuasive magic at Abby.

  She sighed and let go of Channie’s foot. “I wish you wouldn’t do that, lil’ sis. You’re gonna get me in all sorts of trouble.”

  Channie rolled onto her back and grabbed the steering wheel to pull herself between the front seats.

  When she sat up and saw the cabin, her jaw dropped. Black, oily smoke seeped through the cracks between the logs and poured out around the door jamb and window sills.

  She ran to the cabin and pressed her palms against the front window glass. The interior of the cabin glowed but Channie couldn’t see anything through the smoke. There were no flames and no heat. The cabin wasn’t on fire, it was bewitched. Energy pulsed all around her. Channie had been healed, blessed, bound and even cursed, but this magic was different, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. Her vision tunneled, going grey around the edges. She stumbled back to the bus and yanked on the rope holding her bike. “Abby! Get out here and help me get my bike!”

  “No need, baby girl. We’re all done.”

  Channie whirled around. Daddy was sitting on the top porch step, fanning smoke away from his face. Momma stood to the side, clinging to the porch post.

  Channie slid her hand from the base of her throat to her hip. “Good lord, Daddy, you scared the bejeebies outta me.”

  Daddy rocked forward and launched his massive body off the step. “Let’s get outta here.”

  Fifty miles west of the Oklahoma state line, Daddy pulled over and switched places with Momma, letting her drive. As soon as the trips fell asleep, he did something he’d never done before. He confessed.

  “I was on a winning streak, sold all my moonshine the first night and tripled my money playing poker with the boys. Me and Lucky Feenie decided to head on down to Hot Springs and play the ponies.”

  Momma shot Daddy a sideways glance, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. They all knew Momma didn’t approve of moonshine or the Feenie clan. According to her, moonshine was a tool of the devil and Lucky Feenie was a traitor for marrying Triumph Veyjivik, a Cumberland mage.

  Twenty years ago, Triumph denounced her own clan, swore a death pledge of loyalty to the Feenie’s and married Lucky, but that wasn’t good enough for Momma. As far as she was concerned, “that woman” was still a Veyjivik, still a traitor and not to be trusted. But her worst offense was contaminating the Feenie line with her Veyjivik blood. Just one more reason it was a bad idea for Hunter to court Channie. Momma would never accept him or his children.

  Daddy sighed and wiped the sweat off his brow with a red shop towel. “Usually, the tracks, stables, horses and jockeys are shielded from magic, but there was some sort of hullabaloo going on that day with visiting celebrities so the track’s mages were a little distracted. Lucky found a hole in the shield and kept watch while I cast a weakening spell on Dark Magic, the colt favored to win in the fifth race. It would have been okay, except the horse belonged to…a very powerful mage.”

  Channie couldn’t believe Daddy had been so stupid. “How could you not know that a horse named ‘Dark Magic’ belonged to a mage?”

  “Lots of Empties name their horses Magic something-or-other. It don’t mean nothing.”

  Abby said, “Just because a magically disabled person don’t have no powers, don’t mean they’s empty.”

  Channie rolled her eyes and muttered, “Here we go again.”

  “Don’t interrupt.” Momma glared at Abby in the rearview mirror then nodded at Daddy. “Go on. Tell ‘em what happened.”

  Daddy dropped his chin a couple of inches and exhaled loudly, pursing his lips. “Dominance had already cast a spell to increase the colt’s heart rate and lung capacity before I got to him.”

  “Wait.” Channie paused, but no one scolded her for interrupting. “Are you saying the mage that owns the horse you cursed is...Dominance Veyjivik? The Queen?”

  “The one and only.”

  Channie’s throat tightened around her heart. All the Cumberland Mages were wealthy, powerful, and violent. But the queen, was pure evil. She’d murdered her own family, including her parents, her siblings and even her own son, to seize the throne. She was the reason Hunter’s momma had run away.

  “Oh Daddy.”

  “I know. Talk about bad luck. The horse probably would have died anyway, but since I cast the weakening spell, I got blamed for it.”

  “He died?”

  “Collapsed on the track going into the final stretch. Killed his jockey too—who just happened to be the old bitch’s grandson.”

  Channie’s mouth went completely dry.

  Daddy sighed again. “And to top it all off, the horse I was betting on got tangled up in the mess when Dark Magic went down. I lost everything.”

  M
omma’s breath came slow and steady, but shallow. She was tight-lipped, stiff-spined and royally pissed. “The point is…since we can’t raise the money to pay off the blood debt, the Veyjivik clan has sworn to exact vengeance.”

  Abby blinked and put her hand over her heart. “They want to even the score by killing Daddy?”

  Momma cast a be-calm spell on everyone then said, “The Veyjivik’s don’t get even. They get revenge. They plan to make your daddy watch while they torture and kill the rest of us.”

  Daddy shot Momma a look then twisted sideways in his seat and draped his arm over the back. “I don’t want you girls to worry about it. Your Momma used some powerful magic to bewitch the plants around the cabin and redirect any tracking spells. We’re going to Colorado, but everyone, including the Veyjivik clan, will think we headed east to seek sanctuary with some of my kin in Appalachia.”

  Channie’s legs were starting to tingle so she nudged Savvy off her lap, careful not to wake him. “But, we don’t have any kin west of Arkansas. And I’ve never heard of any mage organizations based in Colorado.”

  “Which is exactly why we’re going there. No one will ever suspect a family as magically gifted and deeply rooted as ours would go so far away from home, cut all ties with our clan, and live amongst nothing but Empties.”

  “What do you mean…cut all ties?” Channie’s voice trembled, even though she was still under the influence of Momma’s be-calm spell. “What about Aunt Wisdom?” Truth be told, Channie was closer to Aunt Wisdom than anyone, even her own momma. “She knows I’d never leave without saying good bye.”

  Daddy frowned and shook his head. “No one can ever know where we went. It’s as much for their safety as ours. The Veyjivik's are ruthless, but they ain’t stupid. When they discover how hurt and angry everybody is on account of us just up and leaving without a word, they’ll know our kinfolk had nothing to do with it. Their ignorance will protect them as well as us.”

  “How much is the blood debt? If the whole clan pitched in, maybe we could raise enough to satisfy the Veyjivik’s while we earn the rest of it. We could all get jobs.” Even as she suggested it, Channie knew it was futile. The Veyjivik’s wouldn’t care whether or not mage law demanded they accept gold in lieu of blood for payment. They’d still want revenge.

  “That’s right kind of you, baby girl, but there’s no way we could earn that kind of money. In addition to the blood debt, Dominance is demanding I reimburse her for the horse. That’s why I was gone so long. I had to find a safe place for us to start over and get new documents.” Daddy patted a large brown envelope on his lap. “I changed our last name to Belks.”

  “Belks? Seriously?”

  “I wanted to change it to Belts, but Lucky convinced me that Money Belts was a little too obvious, especially since we’ll be living amongst Empties. They have no sense of humor when it comes to names. In fact, I’ll be going by Monroe. The rest of y'all can use your first names or nicknames, but Money is too unusual for a man on the run.”

  The be-calm spell wore off a few miles west of Tulsa. Savvy, Courage and Zeal woke up cranky and fought all the way across Kansas. The little monsters didn’t fall asleep again until just before sunrise outside of Denver. Channie closed her eyes for the first time in what felt like forever. She was almost asleep when Momma turned off the engine. “Well, we’re here.”

  Daddy turned around in his seat and grinned. “Welcome to Louisville, Colorado. Home, sweet, home.”

  The trips burrowed through the clutter like gophers and crawled over Momma and Daddy to escape the confines of the bus. Channie was right behind them but waited for Momma and Daddy to get out first.

  All three boys dropped their pants and peed on the back wheel next to the curb.

  Channie stretched and looked around. Aunt Wisdom had shown her pictures of places like this, but no photograph could capture the magnificence that surrounded her. The houses were ginormous. And well kept. They were freshly painted in muted colors that complimented the scenery. There were no sagging porches, no rusting vehicles on cement blocks, no chickens, goats or pigs either. She counted eight windows on the front of a single house. There wasn’t so much as a dandelion in anyone’s yard. But the yards were tiny, smaller than Momma’s kitchen garden back home. Did these folks buy all their groceries in town? If you could afford one of these houses, you’d probably be rich enough to buy just about anything you wanted.

  The trips finished peeing, but no one told them to get back in the bus. Channie noticed a “For Rent” sign in the yard of a two-story house next to a large park with a well equipped playground. Her jaw dropped. “Are we gonna live here?”

  “That’s the plan, baby girl.” Daddy chuckled and gave Channie’s shoulder a squeeze. “Why don’t you and Abby take the boys to the park for some fresh air while your momma and me see if we cain’t find us a pay phone. We need to call these good people and set up a meeting face to face.”

  Channie was thrilled with the prospect of living in a mansion, but she felt sorry for these ‘good people.’ Even though you couldn’t force a person to do something against their will, you could push them a long ways down a path they’d already chosen. Especially if they were Empties with no defense against magic. These folks already wanted to rent their house, so it wouldn’t be hard for Momma and Daddy to steal it out from under them. They’d still have to pay rent, but it wouldn’t be anything close to what the house was actually worth.

  They’d been at the park for less than an hour when Daddy’s shrill whistle called them back.

  Momma opened the combination lock on a brass box hanging from the doorknob and pulled out a key. Her eyes shone as she unlocked the door and stepped inside.

  Daddy flipped off the porch light. “I couldn’t convince the owners to keep paying the utility bills on this here place, so keep the lights off and don’t use no appliances; or I’ll give you a switching you won’t forget. See that tree out front? They don’t call it a weeping willow for nothing.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “It’s just as easy to light a candle or a kerosene lamp as it is to flip a switch and a whole lot less expensive. Money don’t grow on trees.”

  Where was the money coming from? Back home, Momma and Abby drove the bus into town once a week to sell eggs. They earned enough cash to buy the things they couldn’t make, shoot or grow, but they hadn’t brought any chickens with them. Daddy’s moonshine brought in a fair amount of cash, but even if he didn’t gamble it away as fast as he got it, Channie doubted he’d make enough money to pay the bills.

  Channie and Abby took the trips back to the park while Momma and Daddy settled in. They sat on picnic tables under the pavilion while the boys played, fought and scared off all the other kids.

  Abby had been in a foul mood ever since they left and Channie was sick of it.

  “What the hell is your problem?”

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “I might, if you told me what’s wrong.” Enchantment’s magic grew warm inside Channie’s belly, instinctively rising to the challenge. It softened both her demeanor and tone of voice as it flowed out of her.

  Abby ignored her and stared straight ahead, her depression so deep, Enchantment’s magic had no visible effect on her.

  “Whatever.” Channie hopped off the table, dusted the back of her jeans with her palms and walked towards the baseball field. Five minutes later, she was surrounded by boys. She was flattered, even though she knew it was only because of her name. She probably should have pulled Enchantment’s magic back into her power-well, but it took a considerable amount of energy to restrain it once it was active. Besides, she didn’t want to.

  “Enchantment?” Daddy’s voice startled Channie. She’d been so distracted by the boys she hadn’t felt Daddy sneak up on her.

  He narrowed his eyes and glared at each of the boys. Not a single one of them paid him any attention. They only had eyes for Channie. Daddy leveled his gaze at her and said, “What do you think you�
�re doing?”

  “Talking?”

  “Go home.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Daddy kept his shield up and didn’t say a word as he followed her back to the house. “Get on upstairs. I need to talk to your Momma.”

  “We were just talking. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

  “Them boys was Empties.”

  “This whole state is nothing but Empties. We can’t avoid them forever. I start school tomorrow. Half the students will be boys.” Channie meant it as a joke, but Daddy didn’t laugh.

  He rubbed his forehead with his fingers and groaned out loud, as if he were in physical pain. “Go to your room, and don’t come out until I call for you.”

  There wasn’t so much as a stick of furniture in Channie’s room. All she had was her pillow case full of books, a couple of blankets and a quilt. She made a little nest for herself and curled up on the floor. She considered casting a listen-up spell on herself, but if Daddy called for her before the lavender scent of Enchantment’s magic dissipated, she’d be in even more trouble for eavesdropping.

  “Channie?” Abby's voice woke her up. “Momma and Daddy wanna see you downstairs.”

  Channie yawned and opened her eyes. Abby was standing in the doorway, a candle in one hand, her flashlight—a birthday gift from Aunt Wisdom—in the other. How long had she been asleep? “Am I in trouble?”

  “I don’t know. They was holed up in their room when me and the trips got back from the park. I ain’t heard no hollering.” Abby tucked her flashlight under her arm to light the candle then squatted down and handed it to Channie. “What’d you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything! Except talk to a few boys.”

  “Oh.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You want some advice, lil sis?”

  Channie nodded.

  “Don’t argue or interrupt, no matter what they say. Just let ‘em get it out of their systems. All you can do is pretend to repent, beg their forgiveness and hope they don’t beat you.”