A Touch of Water (Touch of Magic Book 1)

by C. K. Johnson

  .o0o.

  The next evening, I pulled Tyler’s water bottle out of the closet and stared at it. What if she didn’t let me in the door? What if it was too late?

  I shoved the water bottle in my backpack before I could talk myself out of it and left my room. “Mom, I’m heading out.”

  She stuck her head around the corner and held out a slice of warm bread. “It’ll be okay.” She squeezed my hand for a second before putting the bread in it.

  “What if it’s too late?” The thought kept running through my head, undermining my determination as I stood there.

  She made eye contact and held it. “It’s never too late, honey.”

  “Wish me luck,” I said as I walked out the door. This was the last time I’d have to do battle with this emotion, and I just hoped she’d let me in the front door.

  Caitlyn’s mom answered the door. “Lilly, it’s been a long time. Caitlyn’s in her room.”

  I hadn’t been in her room since this all began. She waved me to my once-familiar path. The hallway made my stomach drop. Her little brother’s picture was gone. A lighter white square on the wall reminded everyone who passed that a picture once hung there.

  I swallowed and made myself knock on Caitlyn’s door.

  “I don’t want to talk, Mom,” she said, the words slightly muffled.

  “It’s me. We need to talk. I’ll wait here until you’re ready,” I said, preparing to sit down in the hallway.

  “Do I have a choice?” The words were clearer this time. She must be standing just on the other side.

  “No.”

  She opened the door and waved me in, then slammed it behind me. “What?”

  I don’t know what I was expecting, that the change inside her would be reflected in her room, but it hadn’t changed much. I’d been here a thousand times and could walk around it with my eyes closed better than I could navigate my own room.

  I set my backpack on the floor and pulled out the water bottle. “I’m sorry, Caitlyn. I can’t think of any other way.”

  “No.” She sat down on her bed, tucked her knees up, and wrapped her arms around her legs, holding them tight.

  “I saw they took his picture down.” I set the water bottle on the nightstand beside her.

  She looked wearily at the bottle but didn’t move. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Caitlyn, I think I changed you and somewhere along the way, you got stuck when everyone was moving forward. I know it sucks, but it’s time for you to deal with it.”

  “If I let you do it, will you leave me alone? Stop threatening to tell my mother?” Her glare made me want to shrink away. The emptiness seemed larger, like it had grown in her the way the sorrow had grown in Melissa. It’d twisted into something new, and as it did, Caitlyn had been dragged along with the change.

  Part of me wanted to jump up, leave, and never come back. “Yes,” I made myself say, despite the desire to run. I scanned the room for baseball bats. Good, none in sight. I kept an eye on the lamp in case.

  “Okay, go ahead.”

  I stuck my fingers in the bottle and held out my hand. She pulled back. I grabbed hold anyway and felt the emotion blossom to life, pleased to go back home after all this time. It skittered in and spread like a drop of dye added to water. I shivered as it filled her, digging in and reshaping the synapses. I pushed further, to the dark, empty hollows, willing it to fill more, wishing it could fill the empty hole inside.

  Memories that had shriveled unfurled and sprang back to life. The blackness edged back but did not go away. A piece of the darkness would always haunt her.

  Please, let this be enough, I thought as I let go and screwed the cap back on. Even though it felt empty, I wanted to cover all my bases.

  “I’ll leave now,” I whispered when she didn’t react.

  “Please don’t.” Her breathing hitched and I turned back.

  Her shoulders sagged and the pain in her face looked fresh, as though her brother had died yesterday, not more than a year ago.

  “I’m so sorry.” I wrapped her in a hug.

  “I saw them pack up his room, donate his toys, and put away his pictures. I remember my mom crying, late at night, when she thought no one heard. But I didn’t care.” Her voice wobbled and cracked, “They hardly speak of him anymore. They’ve all forgotten him.” I took her shaking hands in mine.

  “We won’t forget. I promise.”

  “You’ve moved on. You’re with Tyler all the time now.”

  “I like Tyler, but you’re my best friend. Call me whenever you need me, and I’ll come over.”

  The next thing I knew, we were talking like we hadn’t skipped a beat. Some of the conversation felt strained. I could feel her difference, as if she were a carbon copy of her former self, the same but slightly blurred. We were still talking when we heard knocking at the door. I glanced at the clock and cringed. Mom had told me to be home by ten, and it was almost midnight.

  Her mom opened the door and stuck her head in. “Caitlyn, there’s someone at the door. They said they need to speak to you now.”

  “You still seeing Drew?” I asked one last thought before I left. That decision was up to her but from the way Mike had been asking questions about her lately, she had another choice if she wanted it.

  “No, we broke up.” I stood up and hugged her. She followed me to the living room.

  Melissa stood in the living room, clutching her purse as if she meant to brandish it as a weapon any minute.

  “Melissa, what’s wrong? What are you doing here? Is Tyler okay?” I didn’t even think she knew where Caitlyn lived.

  “He’s fine. I came over because those government guys stopped by my house again now that my parents are home. And Lilly, they were asking about Caitlyn by name. I wanted to let you know so you’d be prepared.”

  “Did they say why?” I snuck to the window and peeked out. There, across the street, someone was getting out of a car. The dim streetlight did little to illuminate who it was, but I could guess. “Too late. They’re already here.”

  “Julia said she saw Caitlyn at the water cooler,” she hissed before going to the front door. She looked out the small peephole and hunched down. “Is there someplace I can hide? It’ll look suspicious if we’re all here.”

  Caitlyn pointed to her room and Melissa snuck out. She waited for the door to close before asking, “What do you think would happen if I didn’t answer it?”

  “I don’t know. But if you think about it, they can’t do anything. If they could get a warrant to search the property, there’s nothing to find—the water bottle is empty. I’ve already hidden the bleach bottle.” Still, this couldn’t be good if he was coming over at almost midnight.

  Dread still surged through me when they knocked on the door. I froze.

  Caitlyn was the first of us to move. She answered the door, letting in agents Patterson and King. King had her hand tucked in her jacket like she was reaching for her gun. Patterson shook his head and she shoved her hands in her pockets instead.

  Agent Patterson stepped close to Caitlyn. “Caitlyn, your friend here said she saw someone putting something into the water cooler the day before the football team all came down with a mysterious illness. But she couldn’t see who. One of the cheerleaders, Julia, said she saw you dump something into the cooler. As we have still been unable to name the substance, we’ll need to take you in for questioning.”

  Melissa came out of Caitlyn’s room and stepped in front of her. She folded her arms. I hoped the agents hadn’t seen her shaking hands. “Hello again, Agent Patterson. I thought by now you’d learn you can’t question a minor without their parents present.”

  Agent Patterson glanced at Agent King. “Go grab the evidence.” He turned his attention to me. King brought in a clear plastic bag. Inside was the dirty bleach bottle.

  I met his eyes and refused to look away. “We know something is going on. Littering in a national forest is a punishable offense, especially if the co
ntents can be hazardous to plants and wildlife. Strangely, when we dug it up and tested it, all we found was water. And Lilly, you seem the only one directly tied to all the oddities going on.”

  My stomach churned at the accusation. Don’t look away, I told myself although I could see no way out of this. They were going to lock me away over stupid littering charges. They’d gotten Al Capone on tax evasion, I thought, not so helpfully. I’d never see my family or Tyler again.

  Melissa pulled her phone out. “Agents, I think my lawyer would find it interesting that you’ve now threatened and harassed not one, but four local teens, without their parents present. First, you say she’s going to be locked away because she’s buried a poisonous substance and then in the next breath admit it’s just water.” She started to dial, her bully pose fully turned on. I didn’t want to admit it, but it was interesting to watch her intimidate someone else.

  “No need to be hasty,” said Agent King. She took a step back from Melissa.

  Agent Patterson responded by stepping closer to me. “We know something is going on, Lilly. We are just trying to get to the bottom of it. If you’d cooperate, this would make it easier for you and all your friends.”

  Melissa and Caitlyn stood beside me, and Melissa hit the call button. The sound of a ringing phone filled the charged room.

  “We’ll talk later,” he said to me, waving to Agent King.

  The second the door was shut, I turned to Caitlyn and hugged her. “I’ve got to get home, but call me if you need me.” I gave her one more squeeze before I let go and turned to Melissa.

  “No need to get mushy,” she said, but the edge of her mouth twitched.

  As I left the house, I saw Agent Patterson still parked in front of Caitlyn’s house. I raced to the car before the agents could change their mind.

  When I got home, Mom was sitting at the kitchen table in her night robe, reading a magazine. She pushed a piece of chocolate cake in front of the seat beside her. I slumped down into the chair and picked up the fork. I took three good size bites of the cake before saying, “It’s done.”

  “Poor thing. It’s hard to deal with grief even as an adult.” She squeezed my shoulder.

  My dad ambled out of their bedroom and patted the top of my head before leaning over and kissing my mother. “You work everything out with Caitlyn?”

  “Yeah, I think we finally did.” I turned to him and wrapped him in a hug.

  He squeezed me back. “Good. It’s been odd having her gone. You two were shadows of each other. How about we all go to bed?”

  “Can I talk to Mom a little bit more? It’s girl stuff,” I added, one more question lingering in my thoughts.

  “I’ll leave my girls to it. Have a good night.” He dropped a kiss on top of my head and squeezed Mom’s hand and walked back to their room.

  “I know I fixed Caitlyn, but I can feel she’s not exactly the same. It took a long time for me to see she’d changed. But I’m worried about how I changed Tyler. I don’t know if taking out what I put in him would be worse for him.”

  “Well, it’s a question only you can answer. I can only tell you I never took back my mistake. I’ve watched more than ten years, and I see no ill effect.”

  “How do you know? You’ve been stalking someone for ten years?”

  “Honey, the person I changed is your father.” Her gaze drifted to their room. “But tonight is not the time to talk about it.”

  “Wow! I mean how?”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. I stopped. She looked pained, fragile, in the pale light. She’d championed me through this whole journey and in this moment she looked—lost.

  I shoved down the many rambling questions in my head for another day. There was one detail I couldn’t leave unsaid. “Okay, but we are so talking about this later. There’s something else though.”

  She met my gaze and gave me the mom look. If I’d been trying to sneak in another question about Dad, that look would have stopped me.

  “They found the water bottle. They know it’s me.”

  Afterword

  Thank you for reading A Touch of Water

  On a personal note, I wanted to reach out to any readers that might be struggling with their own form of sorrow. Depression is difficult and often makes you feel alone. If you, or someone you know, is struggling with these feelings—you are not alone! Please reach out.

  The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is free and available 24/7 across the United States. Their number is: 1-800-273-8255

  Thank you for reading A Touch of Water

  I hope you liked it.

  Reviews mean a lot an author and I would greatly appreciate you leaving an honest review at the retail site where you purchased it.

  If you enjoyed A Touch of Water, please read on for a preview of Witches Anonymous

  Witches Anonymous

  Chapter 1

  The church gymnasium smelled like someone had released an essential oils convention. A woman sank into the chair beside me, and the overwhelming scent of patchouli gave me the last push to stand and force myself to the podium positioned directly under the basketball hoop. The meeting was ending soon and, if I didn’t go up now, I knew I wouldn’t. I had laughed when my friend Clara first suggested I attend the meeting, but with everything happening in my life, I needed someone to talk to. If anyone would understand, it would be the people sitting in the chairs in front of me.

  A woman, with wavy red hair almost to her butt, motioned for me to begin. She wore a peasant blouse with a large name tag that read Hello, My Name is Margaret. Her crinkled flowing skirt swished as she walked. She probably ran one of those new age shops that had popped up like crazy in the last few years at the end of 5th Street. That gave her a seventy-five percent chance she was faking it, a twenty percent chance she got her hands on a book and could do some amount of spell work, and a less than a five percent chance she actually was a witch.

  “Hi, my name is Adeline,” I said as I looked around the room and swallowed.

  “Hello, Adeline,” the twenty or so people in the room responded.

  My heart raced and, despite the fact I’d waited for four other people before I got the courage to come up myself, my nerves still sang: this is wrong.

  I looked down at my shaking hands and clasped them together and started again. “Hello, my name is Adeline, and I’m a witch.”

  “Welcome. We are so happy you could join us tonight,” Margaret said when I didn’t say anymore.

  What was I thinking? I blushed and rushed away from the podium, past the patchouli woman, and almost out of the crappy gym. My hand was almost on the handle when the door swung open and a guy who took the dress-in-all-black code a little too seriously entered.

  “Adeline? What are you doing here?” He looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place him. Furthermore, I didn’t want to see anyone I recognized here.

  “Leaving,” I said. I shifted to step around him and he moved back in my way.

  He didn’t pause a beat. “What coven are you with? Your matriarch move away? I haven’t seen you here before?”

  “I’m not with a coven,” I growled.

  “Wow, how did your mom take that?” He rested a hand on his coven’s sigil, as if my being rogue would rub off on it.

  “My mom doesn’t know.”

  He gave me the familiar shock I’d seen in the past when I’d let this little tidbit out.

  The test proving you’re a witch was simple, so my mom was either stupid or… “It’s not from her side. It’s from my dad’s.”

  His nice green eyes softened. “So when you said your mom doesn’t know, you meant your mom doesn’t know.”

  I nodded.

  “Wow, so who did your passage? Someone from your dad’s coven? Were you all like, hey, we’re going out for burgers and a life-altering right of passage that I may not come back alive from.”

  I swallowed. The desire to flee built again.

  “Jacob,” Margaret’s cool voi
ce cut through my panic. “Not everyone is as eager to stare their story as you are.” She rested a hand on my shoulder. “Forgive my son. He forgets not everyone has grown up in a family where even third cousins-twice-removed have a little magic. He just gets excited when people his age come to these meetings.”

  “Mom!” His cheeks flushed and I finally placed him.

  Math class, two years ago. Every time he’d been called up to write out something on the whiteboard, he’d gone bright red. I didn’t remember his eyes being so green. I’d also missed the fact he was a warlock.

  I stepped around him again in hopes of getting past both of them before anyone else came up to talk to me. Why had I let Clara talk me into coming to this?

  “We have a gathering.” The words tumbled out of his mouth and stopped me short. “I mean for spring equinox. It would be a group thing. A big group of us.” He scribbled down his number on a napkin and shoved it at me.

  I tucked it into my pocket wanting to say yes. It’s part of why I came here tonight, but if I couldn’t talk about my passage to Jacob, someone I sort of knew, how was I going to deal with a family full of strange witches?

  “I can’t.” I shoved down the guilt that trickled in as his face fell. “We don’t celebrate the equinox,” I tagged on to soften the rejection that had nothing to do with him. It was true.

  A look passed between Margaret and Jacob before she smiled at me and said, “Well, if you change your mind and want to try it out, you’re welcome to come.”

  “Thanks.” I might have said more, but patchouli woman was beelining for us. I walked out the door and took a deep breath of the floral-free scent of the cool night air.

  I couldn’t talk about my passage. I wasn’t sure I’d even finished it. It was almost a year and a half ago and I still woke in a cold sweat remembering it. On my birthday, my dad had taken me into a small room in the back of Madam Zelda’s palm reader shop and left me there. The small fire in the corner did nothing to warm the chilly space on that night.