A Witch Too Late Read online

  Streaks of vibrant color covered everything outside the bubble. Silver, greens, and shades of gold passed by with increasing intensity. Instead of looking outside, she focused on Juniper. The other woman sat with her eyes closed.

  Once the dizziness was under control, the next thing that demanded Cas’ attention was the horrible smell. She choked on it, coughing until her eyes watered.

  The sound of fireworks erupted inside the bubble contraption. Juniper’s eyes popped open.

  Cas jumped, and the seat belt dug into her neck. “What was that?” Her voice sounded a little hysterical. She didn’t like that, but things were happening so fast.

  “It was you.” Juniper snapped, sounding annoyed and worried. She tapped thin fingers against the plush armrest. “You coughed, and magic erupted out of you. You’re making random things happen. Try not to cough. Or hiccup. Or sneeze. Just sit there quietly. Here, this will help with the smell.” She handed Cas a contraption that looked like a clothespin with soft orange pom-poms on the pinching end. “It’s a nose pincher,” she responded to Cas’ bewildered look. “Coursers are stinky inside. It’s just the way it is. We use these to deal with it.”

  “So this bubble thing is called a courser? What’s making it move?” The nose pincher helped with the odor, but Cas had never liked being forced to breathe out of her mouth. It made her feel like she was drowning.

  “Ley lines. They’re invisible currents that flow between magical places. Crystal Springs is such a place. The coursers ride on the ley lines, and they’re faster than cars. But a lot stinkier.”

  Cas’ heart pounded much too fast. It was almost painful. She pulled in a lungful of air, hoping to slow it down. But the silly nose-pinchers made breathing difficult. Now it felt like the round walls of the courser were squeezing in.

  She knew the bout of claustrophobia was all in her head. Cas chose to do what she always did when upset or nervous. Get information. Like her mom had always said knowledge is power. And right now, Cas could use some power. Everything was—literally and figuratively—spinning out of her control.

  “Crystal Springs,” she said. “I’ve always loved that town. It’s so lovely. My ex-husband and I used to like to visit the hot springs. I was never much of a skier, but I enjoyed drinking wine in the lodge while other people were on the slopes.”

  “The town is a magical hub. There are only a large handful of them in the world: places where the elements of air, fire, water, earth, and magic converge.”

  “Elements?” Cas fought to keep her mind off the suffocating feel of the nose pinchers. Plus, her stomach felt queasy. Cas groaned. The spinning, though it had slowed down some now, and the nose pinchers were not a good combination.

  “The mountain provides a conduit to the earth and air elements of nature, the hot springs hold open a portal to the fire element, and the Crystal River, which dumps into Sapphire Lake, is a connection with the powerful water element. All that was required was a High Court to establish a link with the element of spirit and voila! We have a magical hub. Its energy draws all manner of magical and supernatural beings to it.”

  Cascade had lived in this area her whole life and had never seen anything that would make her think the supernatural was real. Until today. And she still wasn’t convinced this was happening. Maybe the fall had put her into a coma. Perhaps she was actually in a hospital bed, hooked up to tubes and machines keeping her alive. Her neurons could be firing off an elaborate hallucination while her body lay motionless.

  Or maybe it had been a stroke. All the noise, lights, and smells she’d experienced right before she collapsed might have been her brain circuits shorting out. But she’d just been to the doctor. The doc had pronounced Cas perfectly healthy, with good cholesterol levels. Besides, there was no history of stroke in her family that she knew of.

  No, this wasn’t some bizarre medical mishap. Maybe this courser thing was some kind of strange government technology? Perhaps she was being kidnapped by a secret government organization that would run experiments on her.

  “Why haven’t I seen any witches or anything like that if Crystal Springs is such a draw for the supernatural?” she asked Juniper, speaking just above a whisper in an attempt to avoid making the nausea worse.

  “Regular humans usually shy away when they feel magic,” Juniper replied. “They prefer not to see and hear what they don’t understand—it’s easier for them than expanding their minds would be. The poor dears. But Crystal Springs is so lovely and has such wonderful attractions that the non-magical folk can’t help but be drawn in for short periods. And that’s a good thing. Many of us in town depend on the tourist income. But only a few actually live in the town proper.”

  As the Blossom Greeter spoke, Cas hiccupped without warning.

  Juniper’s glasses floated off the bridge of her nose as if they were pulled by invisible strings. She snatched the red specs out of the air and settled them back into place with a huff.

  “Sorry,” Cas murmured. “I get the hiccups under stress.”

  The wild-haired woman offered an amicable tsk-tsk. She reached over and patted Cas’ hand.

  “No. I’m sorry, dear. This is a lot for you to take in, and you’re handling it very well. Not many people could deal with all that you have this afternoon without shrieking or passing out.”

  “I did pass out. Just a little. But I’m okay now. No more unconsciousness for me. I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on, but thank you for your kindness.” Cas felt a twinge in her throat and a sting behind her eyes that told her she might cry. She squeezed her eyes shut and thought about irises. They were her favorite flower.

  This was a trick she’d learned in yoga class years ago. When she was upset or feeling like she might cry but didn’t want to, she’d pull a picture of a dark purple iris into her mind and focus on it as hard as she could. She’d try to see its velvety petals, including a droplet of water, observe its thick yellow pollen, and watch it sway gracefully in the breeze. It did the trick every time, helping Cas feel calm and in control again.

  As she focused on the flower behind her eyelids, Cas did, indeed, begin to feel calmer. The pounding in her chest slowed. And her hands stopped shaking as the adrenaline drained out of her blood stream.

  In fact, the imagery was more real than it had ever been before. The smell of the iris was strong, and her fingers reflexively closed around the flower’s stem.

  Cas’ eyes flew open and saw a deep purple iris in her hand. She squawked and tossed it away with a jerk. Her heart beat just as fast as it had before she’d tried the meditation. “Where did that come from?” she cried.

  “I told you—you’re powerful. You might as well add try not to think about anything too hard to the list of things you should avoid doing right now. Oh, look! We’re here. Thank goodness. You can leave your nose pincher here. The next folks who use the courser will definitely need it.”

  Juniper unbuckled her seat belt and stood. Cas tried to follow suit, but her fingers shook. With a good amount of mental effort, she managed to get the belt undone. Her legs were like rubber bands, unsteady and unsure. Cas saw the flower on the floor. She thought about bending over to pick it up but felt the attempt unwise.

  Juniper twisted her wrist and fingers in a complex manner. The bubble contraption suddenly snapped out of sight as though it had never been there. Cas, Juniper, and the flower dropped about six inches onto a marble floor. It was so abrupt Cas inhaled sharply and then hiccupped.

  The iris burst in a pop of bright colors.

  Maybe there was something to this magic thing after all? Four hours ago, she’d been painting her entryway and now rain-clouds, flowers, and fireworks exploded out of nowhere. Whenever Juniper gave a flick of the wrist, something happened. Cas stared at her hands and flipped them over. They didn’t appear any different. And she didn’t have to move them like Juniper for odd things to happen.

  If this was all a hallucination, she’d eventually wake up. Right? Cas wasn’t sure.
She didn’t know what to do. Play along? Would that make all this worse or better? Another hiccup burst out, and Cas slapped a hand over her mouth. It was as though a screenwriter had been put in charge of her life and composed the most bizarre scenes she could think of.

  “This way!” Juniper snapped. The purple backpack bounced as she power walked away in an unsuccessful attempt to outrun another rain-cloud that had appeared.

  Oops, she hadn’t seen that new cloud. At least for now, the decision had been made for Cas. She followed Juniper.

  The hall was unlike anything Cas had seen before. It had to stretch about the length of a football field. Grey stonework and gold-filigreed marble rose to a ceiling so high, Cas could only glimpse the highest point. It reminded her of the finest of Victorian architecture.

  “Wow!” she breathed.

  “This is the Courthouse,” Juniper explained as Cas jogged a little to catch up with her. A few other people milled about in the big room. None of them glanced toward the two women as they moved with urgency.

  The cloud had rained itself out and disappeared. Juniper led the way toward a round tile near the edge of the room. Off-black in color, it seemed out of place next to the other square, grey tiles. “It’s where the High Court works and meets. Some of them even live in apartments or penthouses here.”

  “It’s beautiful. I had no idea there was a building like this in Crystal Springs.”

  “Mmhm. It’s one of those things that non-magical beings tend to ignore, even though it takes up about five acres and is thirty stories high. Come along, Cascade. I need to get back to my other job. This has taken more time than it should have.”

  “Sorry,” Cas said, following Juniper onto the round tile, even though she felt like it wasn’t really her fault. She’d just been having a quiet evening at home, not intending to go out anywhere, least of all to a towering gothic structure in Crystal Springs to meet with people who thought they were some kind of witch council. This was all really Juniper’s fault for showing up with her crazy stories and virtually kidnapping her.

  As soon as their feet touched the round tile, Cas felt as though her body moved upward, like in an elevator, only faster. She gasped, and a tiny winged pig materialized in front of her.

  It squealed, and its miniature, chubby, porcine face turned a pinkish-red. Juniper’s yellow bird stuck its head out of her knapsack and squawked at the intruder. The pig flew over and they both climbed inside the sack.

  Juniper sighed. “Now I have two of them to feed,” she muttered.

  Cas bit down on another apology, refusing to let it leave her lips. None of this was her doing.

  When the moving sensation stopped, they were still standing on the round tile but hovered in midair next to a small platform. Juniper stepped off and motioned for Cas to follow.

  Juniper led her down a short hallway with emerald marble floors and into a large, almost empty room. A woman sat on a high stool behind a tall desk in the middle of the otherwise empty room, filing her nails. A gold-plated sign sitting on the desk declared she was the receptionist. Despite that fact, the woman didn’t look up when they entered.

  “Hi, Waverly. Are the sirens in? I have a bit of an emergency,” Juniper said.

  The receptionist still didn’t look at them. Her bright blue hair stood out in perfect two-inch spikes all over her head. The mane looked like it wouldn’t move if a hurricane came by and sucked the woman inside. A matching shade of blue adorned her lips, eyes, and cheeks, and Cas wondered briefly where she’d bought her makeup. Not that she herself could ever pull off wearing a color like that. Until that moment, she wouldn’t have thought that anyone could, but Waverly looked beautiful. She also had a confident air about her. It was as if Waverly knew she was stunning and felt comfortable in her own skin.

  That was something Cas had been striving for throughout her whole adult life. She was fit and healthy, but she hadn’t ever really found her own personal style. Her wardrobe was mostly jeans and flowy, comfy shirts.

  “They’re in a meeting,” the blue-haired woman replied in a bored tone. “I can’t disturb them. You can wait over there, and I’ll let you know when they’re available.” She gestured toward a wall in the room against which no chairs or benches stood.

  “Waverly. This is important. Please pay attention. This woman, Cascade Lorne, is forty-nine years old and just blossomed today. She doesn’t know about witches or anything else supernatural and doesn’t have a family to teach her. Every time she hiccups or coughs, her magic goes nutty. I need to present her to the Court and let them figure out what to do with her. Waverly!”

  The secretary looked up at Juniper and then her eyes moved to Cas, traveling down her body and up again before bouncing back over to Juniper.

  “I have to go back to work, so I’m going to have to leave her here with you.” Juniper sounded calmer now that she had Waverly’s attention. “Will you make sure her magic doesn’t go haywire and hurt anyone until the sirens can take over?”

  Waverly sighed deeply and put her nail file down. She hopped down from the tall chair. “I’ll take her in now, I suppose. You can go, Miss Crossings.”

  Cas felt a jolt of panic at the thought of Juniper leaving. The Blossom Greeter was the only person she’d had contact with since touching the river stone, and though the woman was eccentric, she had been kind. Now Cas was in a new place with strange people and didn’t have a car or any money to get back home. The danger of her situation was becoming apparent. “Juniper, this is insane. Just take me home in the bubble thing and I’ll be fine. I promise not to do any, um, magic or whatever.” She tried to sound strong and steady, but a little catch in her voice revealed the truth—she was scared.

  Juniper grabbed both of Cas’ hands and squeezed them. “You’ll be all right, dear. The sirens will figure everything out. You’re safe here. I can’t take you back without them seeing you because who knows what you might accidentally do with your power? You could hurt yourself or someone else. You don’t want that, right? And I have to get to my other job before I lose it. I hope to see you again soon.”

  With that, Juniper spun around and walked away. The pig and the yellow bird stuck their heads out of the knapsack and waved goodbye.

  Cas was not going to be abandoned in some strange place. She started to follow Juniper, intending to trail her back out of the building and then find her way home. But her nose hadn’t felt right since she’d been in the stinky courser with the nose pinchers on, and now a horrible pressure was building and... she sneezed.

  Orange, yellow, and green silly string burst out of her nose and mouth in a blossoming 10-foot spray that landed around her in all directions. Some of it fell back onto her. It felt wet and sticky.

  As Juniper disappeared out the waiting room door, someone grabbed Cas’ arm. She jerked around to see Waverly standing there. The receptionist held on with a vice-like grip that Cas couldn’t hope to break.

  Up close, she could see the secretary’s blue eyes matched her hair and makeup. And now they stared with a hard intensity that made her squirm a little in the woman’s grip. “You should come with me now, Miss Lorne. Miss Crossings is right—you’re an immediate danger to everyone around you and should be kept locked up.”

  Chapter 4

  Waverly’s iron grip didn’t hurt, but there was no way to escape it. Cas tried planting her feet and twisting her arm this way and that, but nothing worked.

  “It’s magic. You aren’t going to be able to get loose.” Waverly sounded as bored as ever. “Juniper was right. The Council needs to see you, so I’m going to make sure they do. If you start running willy-nilly through this building, you’re going to cause more trouble for all of us. Come on.” The eccentric-looking receptionist guided Cas toward a door behind the high desk.

  “I’m not a witch, and I don’t know what any of this is about!” Cas huffed, though she had to admit that recent happenings in her life had been pretty strange. “I want to go home.” That much she could say
with conviction.

  “Once the sirens figure out what’s going on with you, I’m sure they’ll let you go home.” It seemed like Waverly meant to be soothing but only managed to sound blasé.

  The two women entered a short hallway lined with multiple closed doors. Waverly headed straight for one at the end, opened it, and propelled Cas through. She let go of Cas’ arm as the door shut behind them.

  This room had darker colors on the walls and floors than the reception area. It was decorated in muted brown and gold, and a majestic chandelier hung from the center of a tall ceiling. There were no visible chairs. Two of the walls were covered in built-in bookshelves that didn’t have any books. The other was blank except for three doors spaced at odd intervals.

  “Wait here. I’ll get the sirens,” Waverly said before exiting through a different door. Cas spun around and tried to go back out into the reception area. But the door wouldn’t budge—even though she hadn’t seen Waverly do anything to it.

  “Okay, that’s fine. I’ll talk to these siren people, explain the whole misunderstanding, and then they’ll let me go home.” Even though she said it out loud, Cas had trouble believing it. She wandered around the edges of the room, trying the doors. They were all locked tight.

  Her hands shook. Cas balled them up and forced a rising wave of panic down. She paused in front of a large window and peered down at the street. A fair number of people milled around down there. Some of them stopped and talked to each other while others walked with purpose down the sidewalk. If Juniper was to be believed, most of those people were witches. She’d visited Crystal Springs countless times. How could most of the residents be something other than human?

  Cas saw a person dressed in a hooded blue cape, and something about it triggered a memory. Her mom had told her a story and, in it, a witch wore a similar cape. It had been a very exciting story for a five-year-old, and it ended with everyone living happily ever after. She remembered feeling delighted and satisfied at the conclusion of the story. Mom had hugged her and whispered, “Most witches are good, Cassie, but some are bad. You can’t trust them all, and you must make your own happy ending. All by yourself.”