The Trouble With Spells (4 page)

She linked her arm
with mine, hurrying me toward the stands. I couldn’t resist one more glance
over my shoulder, toward Vance. But when my eyes rested on the fence, I
discovered he’d already gone.

Chapter 3

My party was going
dismally and it was all the fault of those stupid Snowflake Lobos. I don’t know
what their coach said to them at halftime, but they came roaring out onto the
field for the second half and proceeded to slaughter our team like a well-oiled
machine. The final score of the game ended up being forty-two to twenty-one.

Several of the
Sedona football players were here now, drowning their sorrows in my pink
lemonade, while girlfriends hung on their shoulders trying to cheer them up.

Shelly was sitting
on Brad’s lap over at the picnic table, her arms draped around him as she tried
to give him a pep talk.

The group of girls
clustered around the stereo kept playing melancholy songs one right after
another, serving to only enhance the gloomy mood.

I sighed and
jumped off the small half wall surrounding Grandma’s well-groomed backyard. I
walked under all the hanging Chinese lanterns into the kitchen, letting the
screen door bang shut behind me.

“Having fun?”
Grandma asked, pulling a pan of her steaming enchiladas out of the oven,
filling the air with wonderful aromas.

I let out a
pitiful harrumph. Grandma cast a quick glance at me.

“Don’t worry,
Lollipop. It’ll get better I’m sure.”

“We should’ve
planned this party for tomorrow.” I descended with a sigh into a chair at her
small dining table, laying my forehead on it.

I heard Grandma
place the enchiladas on the stovetop. She came to sit next to me, sliding her
hand over to cover mine.

“Everything will
be all right. Let’s get the food served and open presents. That always makes
everyone feel more festive.” When I didn’t move she told me to go outside and
put on some livelier music.

I pushed away from
the table and meandered back out the door to go across the porch to where the
stereo was. I picked through the selections before pulling the slow playing
mood music out and put in my favorite pop artist.

As the strong beat
poured through the air, Grandma began bringing the food to the table. Shelly
hopped up to help, and I snagged a classmate named Wes, recruiting him to keep
the fast music playing, and followed after her.

We quickly had the
table loaded with the most delicious looking meal of red and green enchiladas with
Spanish rice. The chips and salsa, along with a mouthwatering seven-layer dip,
soon had everyone looking a little bit peppier.

Grandma had
several folding tables she’d placed end to end, to make one giant table
decorated in bright fiesta colors. In the middle of each of the tables were
sombrero hats that had the brims filled with chips, with a bowl of salsa or dip
sitting in the top of the hat. Just as she predicted, my guests were soon
sitting around the array, talking and laughing while the late night meal was
going on.

We had a good time
visiting and joking with one another, and when everyone looked like they were
finished eating, Grandma surprised me by bringing out a giant piñata in the
shape of a donkey. A couple of the guys helped her string it up from the large
tree in the middle of her yard.

Since I was the
birthday girl, I got nominated to go first. After I was blindfolded, I made a
few feeble attempts to hit the swinging cardboard animal, but only managed to
connect with it once, and that was just a slight brush. I eagerly pulled off
the blindfold and passed it on to someone else before I made myself look any
more foolish.

As it turned out,
the piñata was just what the guys from the football team needed to get them
going. They started to eagerly take turns, each one trying to outdo the next
while their girlfriends laughed and cheered them on.

I suddenly
realized we were all having a great time, and my eyes sought out my grandma who
was watching the whole game play out with a large smile on her face. She snuck
a quick wink at me. I smiled back at her, then moved back toward the rear of
the group since some of the guys were getting pretty aggressive with the
baseball bat.

Finally, the
piñata gave a great crack when Brad whacked it with a super hard hit. Candy
flew everywhere. Shelly ran over with a squeal to pull Brad’s blindfold off and
gave him a little kiss on the lips, while all the other kids scrambled at their
feet gathering up candy. I laughed to myself at the funny picture they all made
and wished I had a camera to capture the moment.

“Time for
presents!” Grandma called over the din. She grabbed my arm, shuttling me over
to a seat near a table where several gift bags were piled.

She placed a funny
looking bow on my head and handed me a gift bag to open.

“This one is from
Maggie Pratt,” she said, reading the tag.

I shot Maggie a
smile and began removing the tissue paper from the bag. Maggie and I had
chemistry together, and she was a really sweet girl.

I opened presents
for about ten minutes while Grandma wrote everything down on a list so I could
send out thank you notes later. When we were all done, I was sitting next to a
nice stack of gifts and feeling a little overwhelmed at everyone’s generosity
toward me. Grandma went back into the house and proceeded to bring out my
birthday cake.

I had to admit the
cake was pretty impressive. It was in the shape of a star with three tiered
layers. There was one candle in the points of each of the stars and one in the
very center of the cake on the top layer, making a total of sixteen. It was
decorated in pink frosting with little white beaded accents around the sides.

My friends broke
into singing the happy birthday song while Grandma lit the candles.

“Make a wish!”
someone yelled, as I leaned over to blow the candles out. I was amazed to find
an unbidden picture of Vance Mangum raced into my mind. I closed my eyes and
savored the image for a moment before taking a large breath and blowing out all
the candles.

The group cheered
at my success and began lining up for a piece of cake. When Grandma was done
cutting it for everyone, I went over and wrapped my arms around her in a giant
hug.

“Thank you,
Grandma. For everything you’ve done.”

She laughed and
hugged me back. “It was the least I could do. I’m just sorry your mom couldn’t
get off work so she could join us.”

I nodded. “I do
have another surprise for you, though.” She smiled slyly.

“Really?” I looked
at her expectantly, wondering what it could possibly be.

“Come with me,”
she added, stepping away and gesturing with her index finger for me to follow. She
led me back into the house, through the kitchen and out into the family room.

“Dad!” I cried out
when I saw the debonair looking man sitting in the armchair
,
reading the
newspaper.

“Hey, Pumpkin!” He
dropped the paper to the floor, jumping up to greet me.

We enveloped each
other in a deep embrace.

“I thought you
were in Denver!” I nuzzled my head against his shoulder, realizing how much I
missed him.

“It’s my little
girl’s sixteenth birthday! I couldn’t miss it!” He tightened his bear hug hold
on me. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, but I came on the earliest flight
I could get.”

“I’m just glad
you’re here.” I hugged him even tighter. “Mom will be so happy to see you. Did
she know you were coming?”

 “Yes, she did.”

“And she didn’t
tell me?” I asked, wondering why she would keep such a secret from me.

“It was a
surprise!” He laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders while we walked
back toward the kitchen. “Plus, I didn’t want her to get your hopes up in case
my flight was delayed for some reason.”

“It’s midnight
now, Lollipop,” Grandma broke into our conversation. “It’s probably time for
your guests to be getting home. Why don’t you go say goodbye to everyone and
get them moving in the right direction? Then you can visit some more with your
dad.”

“All right. Be
back in a minute!” I bounded out the backdoor with a happy spring in my step.

I said goodnight
to all my friends and thanked them for coming, opening the side gate to the
yard so they could get out easier. I walked them out to the street and waved to
them while they loudly piled into their different vehicles and drove away.

I went back into
the yard, through the gate so I could close it and secure it tightly. Then I
proceeded to go about picking up plates and cups that hadn’t made it into the
garbage can.

Soon Grandma was
at my side helping me clean up. We visited while we made quick work of
restoring the place to its normal order. We left the Chinese lanterns hanging
though, because Grandma said she wanted to enjoy them for a little longer.

After we were done
carrying the last of the dishes into the kitchen, I turned to start loading the
dishwasher, but Grandma stopped me.

“I can do those
later. Come sit at the table for a minute. I want to talk to you about
something.”

“Okay.” I walked
over to the table and sat down. “Where did Dad go?” I added, looking around and
not seeing him anywhere.

“He’s doing
something for me,” Grandma said, picking up a flat rectangular black box off
the counter. It was tied with a purple ribbon. She came and sat down at the
table and pushed the box across the surface toward me.

Even though I knew
what was in the box, it still took my breath away when I opened it. My
beautiful purple pendant on its silver chain lay stretched out across the black
velvet lining. I gently lifted it.

“Thank you,
Grandma,” I said, and she helped me to fasten it around my neck. I fingered the
smooth purple stone once again. “I can’t stop looking at it. I don’t know why,”
I whispered. “It feels special already, almost … magical.” I laughed at my
stupid statement.

Grandma sat back
down next to me and reached to take my hand.

“I told you there
was more, remember?”

I nodded,
wondering what else she could possibly have in store.

“I’m going to tell
you something you’ll probably find a bit unbelievable. All I ask is that you
listen to me openly, without judgment, and try to understand.”

“Okay,” I said,
feeling a little bit apprehensive at her sudden seriousness.

Grandma squeezed
my hand. “I am a witch,” she said with a sudden twinkle in her eye.

I looked at her,
scrutinizing carefully, before I burst out laughing.

“Yeah right.” I
rolled my eyes, looking round the room. “So is this some kind of candid camera
joke you and Dad are trying to pull on me? Nice try. I know you two have a
wonderful sense of humor, but sorry, I’m not buying it.”

 Grandma patted my
hand, stood up, and went over to pick up a candle off the counter. She brought
it back to the table and set it squarely between us. She cupped her hand around
the unlit wick and blew on it slightly. It immediately burst into flame.

I jumped up,
knocking my chair over in the process, and stood for a moment just staring at
the flame. After a minute Grandma reached over and pinched it out.

“Oh, I get it,” I
said, the pieces of the joke clicking into place for me. “It’s a trick candle!
Anyone can do it.”

I leaned over the
candle and cupped my hand the same way she did and blew gently on the wick. Though
it was slow, the candle sputtered to life once again.

“See!” I gestured
proudly. “A trick candle!”

“Well, actually
Portia, you’re a witch too.” She smiled gently.

“What?” I
stammered, wondering what she was hoping to accomplish with this line of play. Had
she lost her ever-loving mind? What was going on?

“You’re a
descendant from a long line of witches and warlocks,” Grandma said, fixing me
with her gaze.

“I thought
warlocks are supposed to be evil.” I blurted out the first thing that popped
into my head.

“Some are. Just
like some witches too. As with all things, it’s a matter of choice,” she
replied, watching me carefully. “I happen to be the High Priestess for a very
good coven, though.”

“A coven?” My mind
was spinning like it was on a roller coaster. I took a step away. “You’re the
leader of a coven.”

She nodded,
maintaining eye contact with me. I could see no hint of teasing on her face.

“No offense,
Grandma, but I’m having a bit of trouble believing any of this. I still think
you’re trying to pull some big joke over on me, though I don’t know what you’d
hope to accomplish by that.” I stared at her. “I really hope you’re trying to
pull a joke on me.” I added the last part slightly under my breath.

“That’s to be
expected. Will you allow me to show you something?”

“Be my guest,” I
said, waving my hand through the air, wondering what she could possibly be up
to.

“Follow me then.”

We left the room
and walked down the hall, stopping at her linen closet, which she opened.

“Sheets? That’s
what you wanted to show me?” I said sardonically, beginning to feel a little
irritated at this continued charade.

Grandma reached
into the closet and pressed on something. To my surprise, the whole set of
shelves slid to the left, revealing a slim door behind them, the same color as
the walls. She opened the door, and I could see a small set of stairs leading
down into the earth.

“Now you’re
starting to scare me,” I mumbled, suddenly aware there was definitely something
serious going on here—much more than a practical joke.

Grandma stepped
ahead of me and began to make her way down. As we neared the bottom of the
steps, we entered an earthen room that had many shelves covered with bags and
jars of different mixtures.