A Nomadic Witch

And froze as magic exploded in front of his eyes.

***

Marcus grabbed the tiny, lifeless girl lying on the sand, the tornado of horror in his mind a tiny wind compared to the keening wail in his heart.

No warning. No alerts.

Not asleep. Just gone.

Frantically, he reached for his phone and the life-saving Realm transport spell-and then realized the obvious. Her soul was gone. Moving her body to Realm now would kill her.

She was so still. So cold.

Just like Evan.

The helpless, anguished fury of a small boy took over Marcus, body and soul. He sank into a heap on the sand, the babe he loved as his own curled in his arms. Not again. Oh, gods, not again.

The tortured moan that escaped his lips was all he had left. Marcus closed his eyes-and wished for the mists to take him too. Morgan would need company. The mists would be terrifying for such a tiny girl.

Don’t be a stupid-head.

Marcus’s eyes shot open, seeking. Evan?

Nothing. Empty silence.

And a tiny, insistent thread of hope stirring in his heart.

He wasn’t alone. This time, he wasn’t alone. He wasn’t a small boy with barely-born magic and a circle too far away to matter.

Marcus charged to his feet-grown men didn’t fight sitting down. Strength burning back into his limbs, he tucked Morgan into her sling against his heart. It would keep her body warm-and he needed two hands to type.

Thumbs flying, he blasted an emergency alert to every witch in virtual earshot. He needed a circle. Now.

Barely pausing to breathe, he tossed the Realm spell library, activating spells as fast as his fingers could move. A rooting spell to hold him while he went after Morgan. More heat. And cornflowers. He needed cornflowers. When some appeared in his hand, roots, dirt, and all, he could have wept. Aervyn.

And then the pendant around his neck blazed, white hot.

Help was on the way. It was time to go find his girl.

Wait! Jamie landed on the beach in front of him, breathless. “I’ll go. I’ll cast. You do point on air, just like last time. The circle’s forming in Realm right now.”

It shamed Marcus that he considered it, even for a moment. The mists still terrified him. “No. It’s mine to do.” He shuddered in a breath and wrapped his arms around the still, cold bundle on his chest. For Morgan, he could do this.

She was his.

Jamie met his eyes-witch to witch. Father to father. And saw whatever he needed to see. “We’ll have your back.” And then he was gone.

Marcus wrapped his hand around his pendant, feeling the gathering power. The steady, deep drumbeat of the earth trio, already linking with fire’s heat. They’d keep his precious girl’s body warm. The pulse and flow of water, ready. And then air linked in. Jamie was in place.

They were ready. Marcus reached his arms to the sky, calling the powers his to claim. And froze as a fifth power stream joined in.

It’s Elorie, Ginia, and Kevin. Lauren’s mental voice rang calm and sure in his mind. They’re feeding you Net power.

Impossible. Marcus punched out in fury. Circles have four elements. Five is out of balance.

Jamie says it can be done. The dare was clear.

Impudent wench. Marcus growled-and then he understood. And with understanding came charging hope. Net power would give him real magic up there in the mists. Again, he reached for the sky-and this time, for the child in his arms as well.

“I call on water, call on air,

These feeble magics mine to bear

I go to find the child I love

From power below to power above.

With my circle, five times three

As I will, so mote it be.”

Power exploded up through his channels, a torrent of sheer energy. Marcus wove madly, trying to bring five raging flows into balance. For a man who’d spent his whole life managing four, it was a hell of a brain stretch.

And it wasn’t right. He could feel it. The circle wobbled, tilted on an axis of uneven power.

His mind raced, seeking a solution. Jamie said it could be done.

And then he had it. Kevin! Niece! Warrior Girl! Marcus mindsent what he needed, praying it made sense.

The circle’s power flows wobbled dangerously, trio leaders straining to right the tilt-and then snapped into place. Four streaming columns of energy, wrapped in a dancing weave of Net power.

Net power wasn’t a fifth element. It was the energy that united them, held them together in community. Rooted them.

And it was the power that would bring Morgan home.

He was not alone this time.

Quickly now, Marcus leaned back into the streaming power flows, ignoring the aching shear as soul separated from body.

His mind already sought lavender eyes. Morgan. Baby girl, let me see you. The mists closed in more quickly this time-thick and green and full of evil.

No. The mists weren’t evil. They just were.

Marcus clenched mental fists and imagined them as ocean waves or tornado winds. Mighty. Sometimes deadly. But not evil.

I’m coming, sweet girl. He tried to hold an image of her in his mind. The ethereal, fairylike waif that flitted in front of his eyes annoyed the hell out of him. His Morgan was no fairy. It’s cold up here, silly widget, and I bet you’ve kicked off your socks again. Her image firmed up. Better. He kicked, the streaming power of the circle at his back. I bet you’d like a bottle of that mysterious white stuff, and a nice walk on the beach.

Beach. They’d been on the beach.

He felt humor shining through the fear. You’ve still got sand in your hair, don’t you? Good, solid Nova Scotia beach sand, up here in the mists with you. Her face danced in his mind now, real and solid and blowing raspberries.

Raspberries.

Marcus pulled on every ounce of mind power he’d ever had, his fingers madly weaving a broadcasting spell with Net magic, and held the sound of Morgan’s best and loudest raspberry in his mind. I bet you can’t do that again.

This time, it wasn’t just his head that heard her reply.

Mind and heart wide open, Marcus grabbed the power of fifteen willing witches and hurtled toward his baby girl.

***

She was warm.

Before he ever opened his eyes, Marcus knew his beautiful girl was just fine.

She was warm-and blowing raspberries.