Small Town Witch (The Fae of Calaveras County) Read online

  Small

  Town

  Witch

  by Kristen S. Walker

  Copyright

  Small Town Witch

  Copyright © 2013 Kristen S. Walker

  Cover design by Luke Derossi

  All rights reserved.

  Kindle Edition

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold, or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and you did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  © Kristen S. Walker and kristenwalker.net, 2013.

  DEDICATION

  For Luke and Debby:

  this story would not be written without you

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1:_The_Perfect_Family

  Chapter 2: The New Girl

  Chapter 3: The Ghost Town

  Chapter 4: Right to Privacy

  Chapter 5: The Faeriekin Party

  Chapter 6: The Party’s Aftermath

  Chapter 7: Pride

  Chapter 8: A Fun Night Out

  Chapter 9: Full Moon Flight

  Chapter 10: The Kiss

  Chapter 11: Into the Land of Faerie

  Chapter 12: Lavender’s House

  Chapter 13: Discoveries

  Chapter 14: Powered Down

  Chapter 15: Breaking and Entering

  Chapter 16: Runaway

  Chapter 17: Desperation

  Chapter 18: Destruction

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Perfect Family

  I hated it when my mother had a big harvest from her garden. Magic was fun, but gardening was messy. I wrinkled my nose up as I walked in through the back door. The kitchen was crowded with too many different smells, spicy and woody and sharp all mixed together. Freshly-cut herbs were piled on the table and counters. In the middle of all of it was my mother, Rosmerta, tying together bundles with twine so that she could hang them up to dry.

  “Whew, it stinks.” I opened the window, letting in a fresh breeze. “Do you have to do all of that in here?”

  “Why not?” Mom pointed to a pile. “Some of this is for the kitchen.”

  I picked up a piece of something and smelled it. It made me think of Italian food. “What’s this one for?”

  “That’s basil,” she said patiently. “I was thinking of making fresh pesto sauce for dinner tonight. Would you rather have pasta or pizza?”

  I rolled my eyes. I knew my family could afford to get take-out once in a while, and in the twenty-first century not all frozen dinners were disgusting, but my mom always insisted on making home-cooked meals for us every night. I didn’t have that kind of patience for cooking. “Yes, but what kind of magical use does it have?”

  Mom sighed. She was a witch, so she used all of these plants in her spells. She was supposed to be teaching me witchcraft, too, but I didn’t like dealing with all of the plants. She looked at me. “You’re supposed to remember these things, Rosamunde.”

  “I could just write it all down to help me remember.” I put down the basil and picked up a sprig of lavender. “Or maybe I’d remember it better if you taught me the spells that I would actually use them in.”

  “I only teach you as much as you’re ready for,” she said for the hundredth time.

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you keep saying that, but when am I ever going to be ready for anything? I’m probably one of the most responsible sixteen year olds ever. I get okay grades in school, I don’t get in trouble, I’ve never even scratched your car driving, I always call to let you know where I am and I come home on time.”

  “Don’t make a mess,” Mom said sharply.

  I looked down at my hands and realized that I had been picking apart the lavender piece by piece while I talked. I swept up the bits into a little pile and looked up at her. “Well?”

  “Well, are you practicing all of your exercises like I taught you? You need discipline to learn magic.”

  She meant the deep-breathing exercises and meditations. They were so boring that they often put me to sleep. “Yeah, um, sometimes, when I get the chance. But I’ve been doing the same things for years. Other than flying on my broom, you hardly ever let me do anything.”

  Mom raised her eyebrows at me. “When you demonstrate discipline, then I will trust you to do more. If you don’t like the way that I teach witchcraft, then you can learn sorcery at your school.” She turned her back on me. “I’m not going to argue with you, Rosamunde.”

  I opened my mouth to protest that sorcery was completely different from witchcraft, and did she really want her daughter to stop following in her footsteps? Glaring at my mom was hard, because even at sixteen I was still shorter than her. Since I’m only five foot four, most people were taller than me, but Mom was also really good at looking intimidating. She pulled herself up straight and loomed over me in a way that made me feel like I was five years old again.

  I was interrupted by something insistent bumping into my leg. I looked down and saw a small black cat head. “Oh, hi, Menolly,” I cooed. I bent over so that I could scratch behind her ears. “I didn’t see you there. All the stinky plants didn’t chase you out of the room?”

  Menolly sat back on her hind paws and arched her back so that her head lifted under my hand. She blinked her round, yellow eyes at me and then turned her head to rub her chin on my hand. I continued to pet her, and soon I managed to coax out a purr.

  Mom cleared her throat loudly. I looked up at her, blinked, and then remembered that we had been having an argument.

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” I said. I went over and put my arm around her. “I think you should make potato gnocchi with the pesto sauce for dinner. That was really good last time.”

  Mom nodded. “I’ll see if I have any potatoes. Don’t you have a test to study for tomorrow?”

  “I’m already on my way up to my room.” I turned and left the kitchen to go do my homework.

  The next morning, I repeated a familiar ritual: waiting for my sister to finish getting ready. I drummed my fingers on the banister rail and looked at the clock. We should have already left for school by now. “Akasha, we are going to be late!” I called up the stairs. “Get your butt in the car now!”

  The bathroom door opened and my sister came out. Her hair was still hanging down in messy curls. “I haven’t done my braids yet.”

  “You can do it on the way. We have to go now.” I folded my arms and glared at her. She couldn’t pull the hair thing with me. I had the same long, thick curly hair and I knew enough to get up early so that I had time to braid it up properly before school.

  “Okay, you don’t have to yell at me.” Akasha picked up her bag and started coming down the stairs.

  “I wouldn’t yell at you if you were ready on time. I’m the one driving you to school now, so that means I’m the one who has to be responsible for you. And today you are setting new records for being slow.”

  Mom came out of the kitchen and gave us a hard look. “Rosamunde, you do not need to be that harsh with your little sister.”

  I whirled to face her. “But she—”

  “No arguing.” Mom put her arm around Akasha and kissed her on the forehead. “And you need to listen to your sister when she reminds you that it’s time to go. Hurry along now, girls, but don’t fight.”

  I rolled my eyes, but I bit my tongue and waited while Akasha put on her shoes. When she finally had everything, I rushed to the garage. I didn�
�t know what Akasha’s problem was today, but I did not want to get in trouble for being late to school.

  I was already backing the car out of the driveway when she turned to me with these big, tear-filled eyes. “Rosie, I don’t want to go.”

  The old childish nickname annoyed me. My friends call me “Rosa” now. I stopped the car and shot her a look. “You never want to skip school. Are you sick?”

  My sister screwed up her face and looked at the floor. “Well, no, I feel fine—”

  I started the car again.

  “No, wait!” she said. “Can’t I just take a day off?”

  “I can’t play hooky with you today. It’s my first Social Studies test, and I actually studied for it.” I looked up at the house. “Do you want to ask Mom to stay with you?”

  Akasha shook her head. “No, I don’t want to bother her. Let’s just go.”

  “Okay.” I left the driveway.

  Akasha turned and looked out the passenger window as we drove, still brooding. As my annoyance wore off, I began to wonder what was bothering her.

  “Why don’t you want to go to school today? Is something going to happen?”

  “No. I just don’t feel like it,” she said without turning around.

  “That doesn’t sound like you.”

  She said nothing. I thought about the past few weeks since school had started, and realized that Akasha had sounded less like herself for a while. She had been sullen like this before, and she didn’t talk about her classes or teachers at all. I had just been too busy to pay attention.

  Time to be the big sister. “Look,” I said, “everyone has a hard time adjusting to a new school. The work is harder in seventh grade and at a private school, but you knew that. I had problems when I started at Crowther, too, remember? You just need to give it more time. Try to make some friends.”

  Akasha shook her head. “Sarah’s parents pulled her out. She’s already switched to St. Teresa’s.”

  St. Teresa’s was another local private school—an all-girls Catholic school, with Bible readings and everything. It was a good school, but they’d never accept a witch as a student, or even a witch’s daughter.

  I tried to remember the girl and failed. “Who is Sarah?”

  “She was the only other human in my class.”

  Despite our town’s reputation, humans were still the majority over magikin. The stereotype for Madrone was that everyone around here had at least a little Fae or shapeshifter blood in them, but in a population of about four thousand people, less than a quarter of our neighbors had any kind of magical genetics. That was still enough to be unusual, because the average was about ten percent worldwide. There were also a lot of humans who practiced magic here. Mom and I were the only witches, but there were lots of sorcerers and most people knew how to do a few easy tricks.

  The thing that attracted magikin to Calaveras County was the same thing that attracted humans: the California Gold Rush. Discoveries of gold and copper mines brought a lot of people here from all over the world, and they built towns like Madrone. When most of the mines played out—there were a few left, mostly copper, and they were all jealously guarded by dwarfs—some of the towns dried up as people left, and some of them lasted. Where people stayed, they had to learn to get along with their neighbors, whether they were Japanese kitsune or Spanish xana or German farmers.

  In the public schools, like Madrone Elementary where Akasha and I both went, about three-quarters of the students are human. Crowther Private Academy, the junior and senior high school where I’ve been for four years and Akasha just started, was exceptional because it was small, only letting in twelve students each year, and most of the students—and faculty—were magikin. There are only five humans in my class, and that included a witch—me—and a sorcerer. I hadn’t realized that there were even fewer human students in Akasha’s class, but should that matter?

  I gave Akasha a pointed look. “You had plenty of magikin friends in elementary school.”

  She pouted. “That’s different.”

  “How is it different? All of a sudden, you have to start sticking with your own kind?”

  She shrugged and turned away. “They’re the ones who want to stick with their own kind. I don’t belong at this school.”

  I sighed. “No one feels like they belong in middle school. If they’re forming faeriekin cliques or whatever, it’s because they feel just as insecure as you do. You have to open up to them first if you want to make friends.”

  “You wouldn’t understand. All of the faeriekin love you.”

  I stopped the car at an intersection and threw my hands up in the air. “That’s because I make an effort! I talk to them, I hang out with them after school, I go to their parties and hang out at their Court. It doesn’t take magic to make friends, just being friendly.”

  Akasha started crying again. She rubbed her face. “It’s not that easy for me. And even for you, your best friend is still a human like you. You’re just sucking up to the faeriekin because of the pact, but they’re not really your friends. Don’t you feel like they can’t really understand you?”

  I stared at her with my mouth open. “How could you say that? Lindsey is just—” I stopped and shook my head. “All of my friends are good friends, and I’m not sucking up to anyone. And it wouldn’t hurt for you to at least get to know them before your test. Your thirteenth birthday is going to come up faster than you think.”

  Akasha looked up and glared at me. “Would you and Mom just stop giving me such a hard time about the test? Ugh! I’m not even sure that I want to become a witch like you two!”

  I snorted. “Don’t be stupid.” I turned away and started driving again. “Of course you want to be a witch. And you’ll make plenty of friends at school. You just started, give it some time.”

  Akasha turned her head away and looked out the window. “I don’t think that we should fight about it any more.”

  I gripped the wheel tighter and didn’t say anything. I was trying to help her, not fight with her, and she wasn’t listening. Well, yelling about it wasn’t going to help anything. I just kept driving.

  Crowther was a mess first thing in the morning. There was always a long line of cars full of parents waiting to drop off their kids all around the front of the old ranch mansion which had been converted into the school. The small paved parking lot was already full, since most of it was reserved for staff. Students who brought their own cars had to drive around to the gravel lot on the far side of the new wing, and then walk in.

  The yard was a stream of students, all clad in the black-and-white uniform. Seeing them from a distance made me think of those nature documentaries where the deep-voiced narrator points out that in a herd of zebras or antelopes, all of the animals look the same and blend together, so that predators can't pick out an individual. It was the same way with the students: there were naga tails and pookha ears here and there, but they all blended together as just another group of teens.

  In the middle of this, a pale red and yellow mare came walking out of the trees, picking up her feet and raising her tail. On her back were two tall faeriekin, a boy and a girl. They were both blond and beautiful, but she looked that much more ethereal than him: finer features, pointed ears, with perfect skin. They were Glen and Ashleigh, two of my classmates and friends. I waved to them as they rode by on their way to the stable.

  At the front door, every student had to pass through the wards. Crowther has magitek locks which are keyed to recognize every student and staff member, and keep out anyone who doesn’t belong. It takes a little bit of magic to use the doors, so the first thing that anyone learns how to do is operate the doors when they get to school. But today, I realized that Akasha would not touch the doors herself. She waited for someone else to come along and open the door, and then grabbed it before it could swing closed again.

  She held the door open and looked at me. “Are you coming?”

  “Just a minute.” I took the door out of her hand and
pushed it shut. “Open it.”

  Akasha looked at the ground. “I thought that you didn’t want to be late for your test.”

  “Yeah, I just want to see you open the door.”

  Another group of girls came up behind us. One of them started to reach for the door. “Wait,” I said, putting out my hand again to stop her. “Let my sister get it.”

  Akasha looked up and glared at me again.

  The other girls looked at each other and smirked. They brushed past us and opened the door.

  Before I could stop her, Akasha rushed to follow the other girls inside.

  I shook my head, but I let her go run off to her own classroom. I had to hurry, even though I was worried that my sister was starting to not like magic.

  I made it through the test and the classes after. My friends and I caught up on gossip in between the lessons. It wasn’t until lunch that I remembered my earlier conversation with Akasha. Now I found myself thinking over the things that she had said and wondering what could really be going on.

  I was eating in the dining hall with Lindsey, who had been my best friend since we started at Crowther. We sat together at one end of a long wood table. Some of the furniture at Crowther was part of the estate: polished wooden tables, carved chairs, fine lace curtains on the panoramic windows.

  I thought maybe Lindsey would be able to help me understand my sister’s problem, because she was a human, too. I asked her, “Do you think that it’s hard for us, being one of the only humans in our class?”

  Lindsey swallowed a bite of her sandwich and shrugged. “Not really.”

  “What about the first year?”

  She paused. “I guess it took some getting used to. This school is different than the one that I went to before.” She looked at me and smiled. “You were always nice to me, Rosa. We hung out so much that first year that I barely even missed my friends at my old school.”