Enchantment by Charlotte Abel Page B

side, put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his fists. “You any good?”
    Josh looked at Channie and blushed. “The best in my age group.”
    Daddy thumped him on the back and said, “Good for you, my boy. Good for you! Do you like peach cobbler?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Daddy dumped half of Momma’s peach cobbler onto Josh’s plate then grilled him about bicycle racing between bites.  
    Damn it to hell and back. Channie could see the wheels of greed spinning in Daddy’s mind. She’d set him straight after Josh left. No way was she going to let him sabotage Josh’s race just so he could bet on his rivals.
    Channie watched in amazement as the cobbler disappeared. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, but Josh could sure put away the food.  
    Daddy pushed back from the table and said, “Prudence, take the boys to the park for a while. I’d like to talk to Channie and Joshua.”
    Oh crap. What now?
    The boys whooped and shrieked with delight then bolted for the front door before Momma could override Daddy’s decision and order them to get upstairs and into the bathtub. She threw her napkin on the picnic bench and slammed the front door on her way out — leaving Channie and Josh all alone with Daddy.
    Daddy patted the bench to his left. “Come on over here, baby girl.”  
    Channie narrowed her eyes, but did what he asked.
    Daddy folded his arms across his barrel-sized chest and leaned back in his chair. “Alright, son, how much has Channie told you about us?”
    Josh’s gaze switched from Daddy to Channie for the briefest of moments, but Daddy noticed.
    “It’s alright, son. Just tell me the truth.”
    “I’m sorry, sir. You’ll have to ask Channie.”
    Daddy slammed his fist down on the table, making the dishes as well as Channie and Josh jump. “I’m asking you!”
    “Stop it, Daddy.” Chastity’s energy buzzed, prickling Channie’s skin. “I told him what we are and what you and Momma did to me. I also told him how I don’t have very good control of my powers and how easy it is to trigger a curse. Something you might want to keep in mind.”
    Daddy took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “I wanted to hear it from the boy, Channie. That way I could judge his understanding and know what to do about it.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead then put both hands flat on the table and leaned towards Josh.  
    “Do you believe her?”
    “I think … maybe … I do.”
    ~***~
    After supper, Josh insisted on helping Channie clear the table. Daddy’s face turned red when Josh put the dishes in the automatic dishwasher instead of the sink. He glared at Channie, but didn’t say anything.  
    Josh was a regular chatterbox and talked non-stop. “This is so cool. I can’t believe you can really do magic! Can you levitate stuff?” He held a plate by the edges and grinned at her.  
    Channie grabbed it before he dropped it. “No. Only the most powerful mages can manipulate non-living matter.”
    “Can you fly?” He widened his eyes and lowered his voice. “Or cast a spell on me … so I can fly?”
    “There’s a cost to every spell. It takes so much power to make something fly it’s rarely worth it.”
    “But you could do it, if you needed to.”
    “Yes. For instance, if CoCo had slipped when I was trying to haul him in off the roof, I could have cast a spell to lower him safely to the ground. But I would have to be fairly close to him to make it work. And I’d be so drained, I’d have to go to bed for a week.”  
    A spell like that would most likely kill her, but Josh was taking things much better than expected. He’d even let Daddy put a no-speak spell on him so he couldn’t tell anyone else about magic. Channie didn’t want to freak him out with too much information.
    Josh put the last plate in the dishwasher and opened the cabinet under the sink. “Where’s your dishwashing detergent?”
    “It’s right there in front of your nose. In the white