A Hidden Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 2) by Debora Geary

you, short stuff.”
    “Let’s give your mama a try first,” Lauren said.
She looked at Nell. “We assume it will be easier for people who
already know how to spellcode. I’ll pull you into mindlink so you
can watch Ginia, and then I’ll walk you through it more
slowly.”
    Nell nodded and hooked easily into mind
connection. After watching Ginia access Net power several times,
she backed out. “Got it. It’s kind of like gathering energy for
spellcasting.”
    “Uh, huh,” Jamie said. “But it’s a lot harder
than it looks.”
    Nell smirked. “Watch and learn, brother
mine.”
    Big witches were sometimes no more mature than
the witchlings, Lauren thought. When Ginia was ready to track the
scanner readings, Nell closed her eyes, and Lauren dropped into
monitoring to watch.
    After several tries, they knew two things. One,
Nell was indeed better than her brother. And two, that wasn’t
saying much. She’d managed to get a couple of tiny bursts of light
to fire, but that was about it. The power levels had been no more
than a blip on Ginia’s screen.
    Lauren hoped Aervyn wouldn’t squish the growing
sense of pride she could sense in Ginia.
    Go ahead, Jamie sent. Let Aervyn show
us creaky old witches how it’s done.
    She’ll be okay, sent Nell, with a small
nod toward Ginia. I think. And if she’s not, we’ll deal .
    Lauren wiped the tomato sauce off Super Boy
Wonder Witch’s face. “Aervyn, why don’t you mindlink with me, and
we can watch what Ginia does. Then I’ll walk you through it
slowly.”
    “Okay.” He finished wiping his mouth on his
sleeve, causing Nell to roll her eyes.
    Lauren dropped quickly into their very familiar
connection, and together they watched the mental fireworks of Ginia
accessing Net power.
    I can do that, Aervyn sent.
    Oh, boy. Let’s go through it a few more
times, buddy. I know it moves kind of fast.
    Nuh, uh, I can do it. Aervyn dropped out
of mindlink long enough to take the mouse from his sister. Lauren
watched in bemused awe as he set off his own mental fireworks
seconds later.
    Nell looked at her grinning son and shook her
head. “I take it he can do it, too.”
    “Yeah.” Lauren shook her head. “Sorry, I didn’t
even have time to clip you in to watch.”
    Ginia looked at the computer readouts and waved
at Jamie to take over. “Hey, Aervyn, can you do it again? This time
turn on all the power, ’kay?”
    Aervyn tried again. And a third time. He was
consistent and fast, and Ginia was a very good coach. In a few
minutes, they were all convinced he was accessing his full power.
But Lauren, with a mind channel hooked into Jamie, could read his
surprise. Aervyn’s spikes weren’t nearly as high as Ginia’s.
    Well, damn, Jamie sent on a very narrow
band. He’s got decent power, but Ginia’s far stronger.
    Nell nodded in approval as she watched her two
witchlings work together. Good .
    Elorie walked into the back yard, sniffing.
“Please tell me that’s food. I’m hungrier than a herd of
seals.”
    Nell shook her head and laughed. “Witches are
always hungry. Glad you got my text to come here. Aervyn, honey,
there are two more pizza boxes on the counter. Can you get
them?”
    Jamie pouted in protest. “There’s more, and you
were hiding it?”
    Two boxes thunked onto the ground at Elorie’s
feet, causing her to jump. Aervyn giggled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to
get your toes.”
    She rubbed his head. “I forgot you can teleport,
sweetie. We don’t have any witchlings in Nova Scotia who can do
that. It’s kind of handy when I’m this hungry, though—thanks!”
    Jamie’s voice spoke in Lauren’s head. Do we
hit her with this now?
    We don’t have a lot of choice . She
leaves the day after tomorrow .
    Elorie looked around at all the computer
equipment strewn in the grass and sobered. “Are you still doing
readings on that new power?”
    “Sort of,” Jamie said. “We’re trying to figure
out how to train it.”
    Lauren could feel mixed emotions