To Love A Witch (A Novel Nibbles title) (8 page)

Firebolts from Romy’s hands crashed into the
rubble strewn on Tabletop Rock. Maybe if she fired enough of them,
whatever magical well that existed inside her would run dry.

She’d run out of tears long ago, but the magic
showed no signs of weakening.

A lifetime of fighting for control had taught
her a lot about what set off her freaky powers. Fear and anger were
the two worst, or so she’d managed to convince herself. Twenty
years of distance from the birthday bounce house had allowed her to
forget the most potent trigger of all.

Joy.

Throwing her hands high, she raged at the
sky.

“That’s a pretty impressive temper tantrum, cara
mia.”

Romy spun around. “Go away, Carla. I didn’t
climb up to the top of this rock to have company.”

Carla raised an eyebrow. “I’m not company. I
told you once that most can learn to work with their magic in an
hour or two. Seems like you need that second hour. You let me know
when you’re ready to start. I’ll just sit here and read a book
until you’re ready.”

Romy felt some of her temper drain into sheer
confusion. “You came to give me a magic lesson?”

“You don’t think you could use one?”

“He kissed me and I sparked. I burned him. I
don’t think there’s much you can do to help me fix that.”

Carla tossed over a bottle of water. “Already
did. I put a little aloe on, and he’ll be good as new. Franco’s
done worse to himself making tomato sauce. As for the rest, we’re
not going to have ourselves some kissing practice, but I’m pretty
sure I know a thing or two that can help you.”

“No.” Just thinking about the marks on Jake’s
face made Romy’s stomach slick with guilt.

“He loves you.”

Apparently her tears weren’t done after all.
“He’s going to have to love me from a distance. I won’t touch him
again.”

Carla snickered. “Good luck with that.”

And now panic was seeping in through the guilt.
“You don’t understand. I didn’t just lose control. I lost it
without any warning. I won’t put either of us in that position ever
again.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Romy.”

Like hell it wasn’t. “What, he shouldn’t have
kissed me? I’m a grown up, not a kid who needs some pretty lies. He
kissed me, and my circuits blew with no warning. I could have done
a lot worse than I did to him.”

Carla grinned. “Yup. He’s pretty glad your hands
weren’t in his pockets.”

The humor hit Romy like a Mack truck. Even as
she told herself it wasn’t remotely funny, the giggles would simply
not stop. She collapsed against a rock, held her aching sides, and
felt utterly drained.

“That’s better,” Carla said. “Now I want you to
listen to me. We’re about to have ourselves a conversation about
the birds and the bees.”

And that, thought Romy, would truly be the
cherry on the worst day of her adult life. “You hiked all the way
up here to tell me about sex? I spent three years in juvie; I don’t
think there’s much you could add.”

Carla’s smile was awfully smug. “Fine. Then you
tell me what Jake did wrong when he kissed you.”

What Jake did wrong?

“Never even occurred to you, did it? What do you
think happens to a witch when his or her hormones get all stirred
up?”

Romy tried to connect enough brain neurons to
speak. “The magic gets stirred up, too?”

Apparently that wasn’t a terrible answer.
“Exactly. Same thing happens if you stir up emotions, and double
whammy if you’ve got both going on.”

So far, none of this was news. Romy could feel
her frustration heating up again.

“Uh uh.” Carla cut her off before she could say
anything. “This is the part where you just listen. So our boy Jake
got you all juiced up—“

“I know, that, dammit! It’s not his fault—”

“Basta. Enough. Listen!” Romy knew better than
to argue with a sparking witch.

“The problem is not the stirring up of things.
Dio mio, my Franco has stirred me up plenty over the years.”

Carla reached for Romy’s hands. “You have to
have someplace to put the magic, cara mia. The more it stirs inside
you, the bigger the need to give it a place to go. I think that’s
what you did. I think you pointed your magic at Jake.”

Romy spoke very quietly. “That’s pretty obvious,
isn’t it? I burned his face.”

“That’s not what I mean. My Franco isn’t a
witch, so I speak now of something I’ve never experienced. Power
calls to power, mia cara. In your joy, and those first moments of
realizing that you loved, I think your power reached for his.”

The tears were back. “And I hurt him. Why is my
magic so awful, Carla?”

“Oh, child. It isn’t you that hurt him; it was
his own fear. You offered him everything you were, and he ducked,
just a little. Poor boy, he’s never been in love before. He
faltered for just a moment, and your magic couldn’t quite reach
his.”

Carla reached out and touched her cheek very
gently. “And then you ran and broke his heart.”

“I threw fire at him.”

“No, my sweet girl. You offered him magic, and
what flows in you is very strong. He will need to be strong to
match it, and for just a moment, he wasn’t what you needed.”

It was hard to blame Jake for that. “So he can’t
be human? He can’t hesitate at all?” Romy barely got her last words
out. “Who would want that?”

Carla’s smile was slow and sweet. “Franco did.
He’s not a witch, so it wasn’t quite the same, but it took some
time for me to get a grip on what he stirred in me, too.”

“I bet you never left burn marks on his
face.”

“No. But I did singe a couple of other pretty
interesting places.” She grinned. “He still has the shirt with my
hands imprinted on the back.”

Carla sobered. “You and Jake will need to find
your own way. Just remember that your magic calls out to his as
much as your heart does.”

“That seems like a good reason to stay far
away.”

“If I thought you were that kind of coward, I
wouldn’t have walked all the way up here to give you this little
lecture. You’ve let your magic be the boss of you for far too long.
It’s part of you, but it’s not in charge.”

Romy took a shaky breath and reached inside. The
lines of magic wobbled, but they held for her as she sent power to
her fingers. The ball of light was a little wimpy, but it would
do.

Carla nodded in approval. “Now go find that boy
of mine. He’s hurting, cara mia.”

They both turned at the rumbling in the sky.
Jake was riding in at high speed. He landed in a slide of rubber
that nearly knocked Romy off her feet.

“Molly called. Jolie is insisting there’s a
little girl who is about to start a really big fire. She says
you’ll be the one to find her, Romy. I need you to help me
look.”

Carla grabbed her things. “I’ll go to your house
and monitor the Sentinel system. I’ll call you if there’s an
alert.”

“Does Jolie know anything else?” Romy took
Jake’s hand and climbed on behind him.

“I don’t know. That’s our first stop. Hang
on.”

She didn’t have much choice.

Jake held the bike tight, flew like a madman,
and prayed this wouldn’t end badly. He thought of himself as a good
guy to have around in an emergency, but he wasn’t at all certain
this was his crisis to solve.

If Jolie was right, that was going to be the job
of the woman clinging to his back.

He slammed the bike down in Molly’s back yard
and turned to grip Romy’s shoulders. “You okay? I had to pull some
pretty serious magic to get us here fast, but I didn’t see you
sparking. I’m so sorry—for earlier, and for pulling you in like
this.”

She reached out and touched his cheek, just
once.

Her voice was quiet, but certain. “There’s a
little girl who needs us. I don’t know how I can help, but let’s go
see what we can find out.”

Jolie came out of the house, followed by Molly
carrying a plate of sandwiches.

“Thanks, Molly,” said Jake. “We may have a long
night coming.”

Jolie tugged on Romy’s hand. “Do you know where
to find the little girl?”

“Not yet, sweetie.” Romy squatted down. “I need
you to tell me a little more about what you see.”

“It’s kind of confusing. I think I’m seeing some
now stuff, and some future stuff. She’s in a dark room, and her
belly really hurts. I don’t think she’s hungry, though; maybe she’s
sick. There’s a big fire in the room, but you come and save her, so
that must be a future thing.”

“Okay, that’s a really good start. Can you tell
me more about the little girl? How old she is, or what she’s
thinking about?”

Jolie frowned. “I heard her talking to her dolly
a little. She said ‘baby, don’t be afraid’. Maybe she’s been bad,
and somebody put her in a closet, like me, only Molly says little
girls can’t be that bad.”

Jake glanced at Molly in approval, and then bent
down beside Romy. “Indeed, they can’t. Is she scared?”

“Yeah.” Jolie thought a moment. “But excited,
too. Like she’s waiting for something.”

None of this was getting them any closer to
finding a little girl about to start a fire. He tried to think
about the details his mother tended to pick up in her visions of
the future. Emotions, stray thoughts, odd environmental details.
“Can you see her at all, Jolie? Her face, or does she maybe call
herself a name?”

“No. But I think she’s kind of big. When Romy
comes to rescue her, she can’t carry her by herself, and you have
to come help.”

Great, he got to be the muscles.

Jolie frowned, confused. “That doesn’t make
sense. She’s as big as Romy when you pick her up, but she’s a
little girl, just like me.”

Jake grabbed Jolie as her eyes suddenly dilated.
He’d seen that countless times from his mother. Jolie clutched her
belly and moaned.

“What’s going on, Jake?” Romy looked close to
panic.

He wasn’t very happy himself. “She’s sharing
sensations with the other little girl.”

Jake tried not to imagine what Jolie would go
through if she stayed linked to a small girl in a room full of
fire. They needed to find the child, and now.

“It happened once before,” Molly said. “About
ten minutes ago. It lasted for almost a minute, and then stopped.”
As if on cue, Jolie stopped clutching her belly and looked up.

Romy turned white and grabbed Jake’s arm.
“Jolie. How long have you been feeling these belly aches?”

“Since just before dinner, but they hurt more
now.”

Jake could see Romy connecting the dots as he
watched. She turned to him with big eyes. “It’s not a girl, Jake. I
think it’s a woman, and she’s in labor.”

“What’s labor?” Jolie asked.

Molly answered. “It’s when a woman has a baby in
her belly, and it’s time for the baby to come out.”

Romy clutched his arm harder. “Carla said her
magic hit hard when she gave birth to her babies. If this woman is
a fire witch, that could be what triggers the fire Jolie sees.
Jake, we have to find her.”

Her urgency exploded against his frustration.
“We still have no idea who she is, or where she is.”

“Think, Jake. You said I set off the Sentinel
alarms four times as a kid.”

Now he saw it. “And there’s no way she’s a grown
fire witch and never set off an alert. She’ll be in Alvin’s
files.”

He turned to Molly. “You have a laptop, right? I
need to use it.”

Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he
called home. “Carla, we think the girl might be one of the ones
Asshole Alvin gave up on. I need you to log into my private files
so I can pull that data faster.” He quickly walked her through his
four-step login. “Thanks, Carla. Love you. We’ll let you know as
soon as we find her.”

He hung up. Action felt really, really good. “I
already researched where all the girls ended up. We can narrow that
down to ages likely to be pregnant and start checking the names
out.”

Molly flew out of the house, computer in hand.
It was old and clunky compared to his baby, but anything with a
keyboard would get the job done.

He brute-forced a connection to his home
computer and grabbed the data file. Eighty-one girls. Sixty-two
still living.

He looked up at Romy. “Let’s assume for now that
Jolie’s picking up on someone close by; that gets us to thirty-one
names. What’s a reasonable age range for pregnant women?”

“Could be thirteen to fifty, Jake. She’s alone
and scared—that doesn’t suggest a husband in the picture.”

His fingers flew. “Okay, that gets us down to
nineteen. I have known addresses for half.”

She grabbed his arm. “Wait. If she’s pregnant,
she’d have seen a doctor.” Her face collapsed. “Never mind, there’s
no way we could figure that out.”

There sure as hell was. “All healthcare visits
get run through a billing system. There’s only two big ones in this
state. If I cross their records with our nineteen names, maybe we
get a match.”