A Different Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 5) Read Free Page B

currently eating grilled-cheese sandwiches in the Walker kitchen.  Nell sent off a quick text—not everyone’s bones would handle being dropped on hard surfaces.
    Their new arrival slid off the table, already shrugging off her hard landing.  “I brought eggnog.  And turkey wraps.  I think they’re supposed to be good for us.  Lizard says we eat like teenage boys.”
    “We do.”  Nell reached to rescue the eggnog, eyeing it for signs of anything suspiciously green.  “Since when is Lizard not one of us?”
    Lauren grinned.  “I think she’s been spending time with Nat.”
    That was dangerous.  If Nat Sullivan had her way, the citizens of Witch Central were all going to turn into nutritionally balanced squirrels.  Nell reached for another brownie in self-defense.  “Moira’s coming to help with party planning.”
    To Lauren’s credit, the spluttering laughter of her mind only showed up as mild amusement on her face.  “Wonderful.  We could use some adult supervision.”
    Moira wasn’t fooled.  She accepted a turkey wrap and handed Lauren a brownie in exchange, eyes full of impish delight.  “Solstice is a time of deep wonder as the veil between the worlds thins and we look to the coming of the light.  Children simply touch the wonder more deeply than most of us.”
    “Uh, huh.”  Nell poured eggnog into glasses.  “And so do certain healer witches, if I remember correctly.”  It tended to keep things fairly lively.
    Moira had managed to get her face halfway to innocence when someone crash-landed on the table behind them.  Again.
    Nell turned, sighing, expecting one of her daughters.  And found herself face-to-face with a stranger.
    A stranger with a blank face and a mind full of panic.
    -o0o-
    She was still alive.  Maybe.  Beth felt the weird cold seeping out of her bones and tried to get her eyes back in working order.  She’d landed hard.  On something cold and flat.
    She needed to see.  Reaching out with rattling fingers, she squinted against the horrifying blur.
    And felt warm hands gripping hers.  “Don’t be silly, Nell—she’s no threat.  Can’t you see the poor girl is utterly confused?”
    A soft touch on her brow, and Beth’s vision cleared.
    “There, dear—can you see now?”
    Beth looked into deep green eyes, full of the emotions she could never understand.  And tried not to pass out from the panic.  It looked like a kind face.  If alien kidnappers were kind.  She stared at a green pendant, counting its sides.  Eight.  An octahedron.  Sort of—a very organic one.  “Who are you?”
    “I’m Moira, my sweet girl.  And who might you be?”
    Years of therapy and social training exercises dug a response out of her terrorized brain.  “My name is Beth Landler.”
    And then a second face stepped forward—and this time, it didn’t belong to a complete stranger.  “You’re from the Chicago coven.”
    The woman who had come with Jamie Sullivan.  Fear clawed Beth’s insides—where was she?  “You came with him.  With Jamie.”
    “Yes.  I’m Lauren.”  A hand reached for hers, along with the delicate flutter she knew as mindtouch.  “It’s very nice to see you again.”
    She hadn’t been kidnapped by aliens.  Just witches.  Ones with power beyond what she had ever imagined possible.  Beth put a leash on her catapulting fear through sheer force of will.  Surely, whatever unfathomable magic they had used, they subscribed to the same creed that had guided her for over a decade— and it harm none . 
    “We absolutely mean you no harm,” said the most familiar face softly.
    More flutters.  A mind witch.  Eleven years as Liriel’s partner, and Beth still shuddered.  Not everyone had Liri’s gentle ethics.
    The flutters vanished.  “I will respect the lines you set.”  Lauren touched her hand briefly and stepped back.
    Beth gripped the edge underneath her hands and realized she still sat in the middle of a table.  Wishing