Page 47 of Eye on the Ball
“Is it possible he’s been with this Celine all this time he’s been missing?”
Her eyes widened. “I never even thought about her. But even if she had something to do with him disappearing, you’d never be able to prove it. She’d just use magic to hide the evidence.”
I’d been pacing the small space, and I froze. “Wait. She’s a witch?”
“Yes! And?—”
“Awitch? Brenda, we just had somebody smack our team in the face with a bad-luck charm. And Ace, the Riverton team captain who wants to crush us, was talking to a witch, and you didn’t think to mention this before?”
Susan and Alejandro walked up to the cell, and Susan’s face was grim. “Brenda, what the heck? Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
Brenda’s face flushed. “You warned me about Ace, and I went out with him, anyway. I was embarrassed to admit he was cheating on me with Celine.”
The sheriff put her hands on her hips. “Not that! That he was talking to a witch!”
Lizzie rushed into the hallway. “Sheriff! You’d better come quickly. There are at least a dozen Truckmans in the parking lot, and they’re all yelling at two old guys who are standing in front of the door.
This time, it was Susan who turned the air blue.
23
Tess
Aunt Ruby and I put together a quick lunch of cold fried chicken, potato salad, raw veggies, and dill pickles with peanut butter.
Yes, that last was at the express request of the pregnant woman.
While we did that, Uncle Mike went outside to feed the animals and do various farm chores, while Rose and Shelley put their heads together at the table and talked about everything magic.
“The most important thing is control,” Rose said, eating her third pickle.
Aunt Ruby and I exchanged a grin.
“I saw that,” Rose said, pinning us with a severe look. “I know, I know. But when you’re pregnant with twins, you can talk to me.”
Since neither Aunt Ruby nor I had ever been pregnant, we had to concede the point.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” Shelley said, her entire face lit up with excitement. It was the first time she’d been able to talk to another witch about magic since her mom died.
“Yes!” Rose pointed a fourth pickle at Shelley. “Spiderman and witches, too.”
Shelley saw Pickles dancing around by the back door, and she jumped up to take the little dog outside. “I’ll be right back!”
When the door closed behind my sister and her pug puppy, Rose gave us a serious look. “I don’t want to worry you, but that girl’s talent is off the charts. She’s going to be a powerful witch. You’re going to need to find her a mentor.”
“Can’t you be her mentor?” I winced, suddenly feeling pushy. “I’m sorry! Of course, you’ll be too busy with all your children.”
“I’ll be busy, but that’s not it. And I’ve already given Shelley my phone number and my email address. Plus, I’ll have my little sister call her, since she’s much closer in age to Shelley.”
“Thank you so much, Rose. That’s very kind of you,” Aunt Ruby said, discreetly taking the jar of pickles off the table before Rose made herself sick and replacing it with a plate stacked with sliced homemade bread and a small crock of butter.
“She needs somebody closer than Ohio, preferably within easy driving distance. Lessons, talks, and mentoring. All are super important. Puberty is tough enough, but when you’re a witch, it can be excruciating. Anything and everything can go wrong. She’ll need all the love, patience, and understanding you can muster, and then some.”
I sank into the chair next to Rose. “Oh, boy. I know a garden witch named Yasmine who is nice, but she’s an introvert. I’m not sure she’d agree to something so demanding.”
“It will be a big job. I’ll reach out to my network and see if I can find someone. I’ll let you know. If—” She stopped speaking and gasped. “Oh. Wow. That hurt.”
“What is it?”