Shadow Witch (29 page)

“Just call him Jamie. It’s what he wants.” Rachel looked at the table top for a moment before turning back to Miss Duffy. “I guess we should talk about your salary, if we decide to hire you. I know this is a personal question, but what do you make tutoring the Fullers’ kids?”

Miss Duffy swallowed hard and took her time answering. Rachel expected her to be preparing an inflated figure as a starting point for negotiating. “They pay me a half-silver per week, plus my lodging and meals.”

Rachel quickly did the math in her head and frowned.
I wouldn’t work for that
.Then she remembered how low the cost of living was in that town, and she said, “If you take this job, you will need to find another place to stay, won’t you?”

“I could take a room at the boarding house. It is but a short walk from here.”

“How much will that cost you?”

“About a ten piece per week, and another five if I take my meals there.”

Rachel sat back in her chair and folded her hands together in her lap. “Well, you’ll have to eat. You’ll need something for lunch, too, because we don’t have a cafeteria yet.” Shauna stared at her blankly and Rachel added, “A cafeteria is a big kitchen with lots of tables and chairs so the kids have a place to eat. The staff usually eats there, too.”

“I can get something from one of the food carts in the market on my way to school.”

“Good.” Rachel tapped her thumbs together and said, “How about for starters if we pay you a full silver a week, plus the cost of your room and board? If things work out, we can pay you more. We’ll have to negotiate that later.”

Miss Duffy’s eyes lit up and she sucked in a short, tight breath. “That would be sufficient. Yes, definitely.”

“You will have to teach from our textbooks, and follow our guidelines. Can you handle that?”

“Yes. I will do whatever you ask.”

She’s really eager
. “All right, Miss Duffy. When could you start?”

“Monday.”

“Uh, don’t you have to give the Fullers some notice?”

“They will easily find another tutor by then.”

“And you realize that you are taking a risk by coming here? This school could fold in less than a year, and you would be out of a job.”

“I could always go back to tutoring.” She frowned. “Though I would rather not.”

“My mom is going to want to interview you, too, before we decide for sure. Wait here for a minute and I’ll go get her.”

Rachel hurried outside and found her mother sitting in the shade at the picnic table while the kids played in the field. Rachel quickly told her about the prospective teacher, then waited with the children while Evelyn went to talk to the young woman.

About twenty minutes later, Miss Duffy left and Evelyn joined Rachel outside.

“So, what do you think, Mom?”

“She seems like she might have what we’re looking for. I say we should give her a shot.” She pursed her lips. “Though I wish there was a way we could check her out, first.”

“Maybe one of the children knows something about her.” Rachel called the kids together and asked them about Miss Duffy. Blane said, “I know she works at one of the big houses. They don’t hire just anybody, you know. They are quite selective, they are.”

“They can afford to be,” one of the new boys added, and the others agreed.

“Well,” Evelyn said, “she’s coming Monday. She’s going to be teaching you lots of different things, like Latin and singing and art. Would you like that?”

“Art?” Sammi’s dark eyebrows shot up. “I love art.”

“But...Latin?” Blane made a face as if he’d just eaten something rancid.

“It won’t kill you to learn that,” Rachel said. “The rich kids are learning it. Don’t you want to be as smart as them?”

“Um, yes but can’t we be smart without learning that?”

“What’s Latin?” Aiven asked.

“It’s a language that nobody speaks anymore,” Blane said.

“What’s the point, then?”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “It will help you understand our language better, and it will make you a well-rounded person.”

Leora frowned deeply. “But why do I need to know that to become a farmer’s wife?”

“Oh, honey.” Rachel sighed. “You may want to become more than that someday. You may want to have a career of your own.”

“And like I often say, it all starts with a good education.” Evelyn nodded firmly. “But right now, it starts with lunch. Let’s go inside and eat.”

* * *

Jamie checked his watch on Friday afternoon and decided it was time to bring his mother, grandmother, and Sammi home from Eddan’s world. He made a doorway to the front of the school, but was surprised by what he saw — wagons, over a dozen of them, their horses tied to the closest trees.
What is going on?

He opened the front door to find it crowded inside, with people standing shoulder-to-shoulder all the way to the entry hall, and the overhead lights were off. Then he heard
there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home
, and he realized that The Wizard of Oz was playing on the television. He made his way through the press of standing adults, then past the throng of kids sitting on the floor, all of them mesmerized by the colorful images on the big screen.

He found his mother and his grandmother standing on the far left side, watching the movie, too. “What is going on?” he whispered when he reached them.

“Sammi brought Fred’s DVD of the Wizard of Oz,” Rachel said, “and we’re letting the kids and their parents watch it. I think word got around that we were going to do this and a few others came.”

“I’m kinda shocked.”

“I told you Sammi wanted to watch it today.”

“Yeah, but....” He turned and surveyed the spellbound mob behind him. “There must be sixty people here, and more than half of them are kids. We don’t have that many registered here, do we?”

“Not yet, but we might soon.”

The movie ended and Sammi clapped first, then the rest of the crowd joined her. Evelyn flicked the wall switch and the lights came on. “Okay,” she announced to everyone, “that’s all for today. Thank you for coming. Please take one of our school brochures on your way out. They’re on the table by the front door. We’d love to see all of your children here this fall.”

“We have brochures?” Jamie asked.

“Your Uncle Ray worked one up for us and Connie had some printed yesterday. It’s just a simple, one-page thing with a picture of the school on it and a little bit about what our plans are.”

A portly woman in a plain dress waited politely for Evelyn to finish speaking before stepping forward and curtseying before Jamie. “Thank you, Master Jamie,” she said and turned her gaze to the floor.

“You don’t have to call me master, and please don’t curtsey.”

“Do you have any children that might want to come to our little school?” Evelyn asked.

“Three, ma’am. My husband and I own a shop in town, and we would love to send them here.” A nervous smile fluttered across her round face. “They be underfoot at the shop, now, they are. ’Twoud be a blessing to send them away for the day.”

Rachel laughed. “I believe that. Come by sometime next week and we’ll get them registered, okay?”

She nodded and curtseyed again before leaving. Most of the mob was moving toward the door, but two more families waited and spoke to Jamie and his mother and grandmother before departing.

As soon as the last visitor had gone, Jamie started to outline a doorway, but Rachel stopped him. “Hold on,” she said and went to the counter by the sink. She returned with an envelope and handed it to Jamie. “This letter came for you today. It was addressed to Jamie the Sorcerer, care of the Rivershire School.”

“Huh.” Jamie eyed the envelope and frowned. “Who would I know that would write to me?”

He started to open it, but Evelyn said, “Can you wait to read it? We’re ready to go home. We’ve been here all day.”

He stuck it in his back pocket and finished outlining the portal.

Jamie read the letter again while Rachel, Evelyn, and Sammi waited, standing together in his family room. He looked up and said, “It’s from a man named Mr. Winston. He owns a shop in a town called Vessport, which is about a hundred and fifty miles from Rivershire, on the coast. I’ve been there before.”

“You have?” Rachel said. “When?”

“Oh.” Jamie winced. “I meant Eddan has been there.” He glanced at the letter in his hand and said, “So, get this — he’s a wizard. A minor one, though. He emphasized that.”

“I thought Renn killed all of the wizards on Eddan’s world,” Rachel said.

“Maybe this guy’s magic is too weak to matter. I’ve never sensed anything from him, and I was there for all of spring break. Either his magic is too puny for me to detect, or he went all that time without doing a spell, which I doubt. No real sorcerer would do that.”

“So why did he write to you?” Rachel asked.

“He’s heard about our school and he’s offering his services as an instructor.”

“Teaching what? What are his qualifications?”

“He doesn’t say, but he’s offering to come teach on a trial basis, for free, up to two weeks, so we can see if we like him or not.”

“Hmm....” Evelyn rubbed her chin with the knuckle of her index finger. “We could still use another teacher, especially one from that world. What do you think? Is there a way we can meet with him first?”

“We can go to Vessport and talk to him. I know where it is, and I can make a doorway there. I can go Monday morning, since I don’t have to be at work ’till noon.”

“I’d like to go with you,” Evelyn said. “I want to see what this fellow is all about. He may have something useful to offer us.”

Chapter 14

On Saturday morning, Jamie, Carl, Larry, and Garrett helped John Paul move into his new residence in Hendersonville. It took less than an hour, because Jamie made a magic doorway inside it, connecting it to John Paul’s lake home in Thibodaux, Louisiana. All they had to do was slide the furniture through from one house to the next.

“Now,
this
is the way to move,” Larry said, brushing his hands together after they pushed the dresser against the wall. “It’s more like rearranging than anything else.”

“I don’t really that have much stuff,” John Paul said. “My ex-wife took all the good furniture when we got divorced.”

“Why didn’t she take your lake house?”

“She left me before I got it. I inherited it from my great-uncle about two years ago.” He grinned slyly. “She’d a’ taken it for sure, otherwise. She had a slick lawyer.”

They stood together in the small bedroom and surveyed the scene. Cardboard boxes crowded the old hardwood floor, and the walls were drab, once painted off-white, but not in years. “Needs a woman’s touch,” Garrett said, rubbing the side of his jaw with his fingertip. “New curtains and paint and stuff. Basically, though, it’s a decent house.”

John Paul nodded. “I’ll get Brinna to help fix it up. She’s going to want to do that anyway, since we’ll be living here after we’re married. At least for a while.” He patted Carl on the shoulder. “That was nice of your dad to help me find this place. It’s better than an apartment, ’cause I can keep my boat here, and it’s got a garage.”

“My dad didn’t have to do much. He just called one of his cousins. He’s got a ton of ’em. Cousin Jerry’s got quite a few rental properties, so it worked out pretty well, I think.”

“Jamie,” John Paul said, “don’t forget to make a permanent doorway for me before you go.”

“Where do you want me to put it?”

“Can you connect it to the cellar in Brinna’s shop on Eddan’s world? It’ll be inconspicuous down there, I think.”

Jamie looked around the small bedroom and said, “Where am I putting this end of it?”

“There’s a storage closet down in the basement. I thought you could put it there, and I could put a lock on the door to keep it safe until Fred can put a hex on it.”

Someone knocked on the front door and John Paul opened it to find Jamie’s older cousin Jerry waiting on the brick stoop. He was big, with a barrel chest and long legs, and had solid white hair. “Hello, boys,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice, and stepped inside. “Good to see you, Carl.” He turned to Jamie. “You still working for my brother?”

“Yes sir,” Jamie said. “I usually work on Saturdays, but I managed to get off to help John Paul.”

“Earl always speaks highly of you. He’s gonna miss you at the clinic when you go off to college.” He glanced around the living room and said, “Just came by to see if everything’s okay here.”

“Everything’s good so far,” John Paul said.“Got all my stuff in, and electricity and water are turned on. Cable and phone will get connected next week.”

Jerry scratched his ear and narrowed one eye. “You sure did get moved in quick. It’s only ten o’clock. I just talked to you yesterday afternoon and you were still in Louisiana. What’d you do, fly?” He chuckled.

Jamie held his breath while he waited for John Paul’s answer.
He’d better come up with a believable lie. He sure can’t say that we used a magic doorway
.

“Uh...I drove all night,” John Paul said, “and these guys showed up early and helped me unload. I don’t have much stuff.”

“I guess not.” Jerry surveyed the room again and said, “Where’s the truck?”

“Uh....” He glanced at Carl and his eyes flared for a second, then he cleared his throat and said, “I took it to the U-Haul place already. Just got back.”

“Did you take it to the one on Asheville Highway or 64?”

“The, uh, closest one. I don’t know the street names around here yet.”

“Well, that must be the one on 64, then.” Jerry clapped John Paul on the shoulder and nodded. “You just give me a holler if you need anything. Any leaky faucets or whatever, and I’ll come over right away.”

“I can take care of little stuff like that. I’m good with tools.” John Paul opened the front door and said, “Well, got lots to do, still. Got to unpack and go to the store and stuff. Thanks for droppin’ by.”

Jerry hesitated for a moment and took one last look around before leaving. John Paul closed the door behind him and said, “Thought he’d never go.”

“Dad?” Jamie said. “Do you think he’s going to come by here often? I don’t want him seeing the magic doorway if I make a permanent one.”