Chapter 3

Maddy was just about to open the door when a thought occurred. How did she explain this? She wondered. “I have a cat, are you allergic?”

Colin shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

Nodding, she opened the door. As she went through it she called out. “Whiskers, I’m back — with company.” She really, really hoped Whiskers would take that prompt and go out and lounge under a tree. Colin grabbed her and quickly shoved her behind him as she turned to close the door.

“That’s a bloody panther!” Colin stood there and watched the creature stroll toward them.

Maddy tried to see what he’d see. The animal was huge. At least six feet long, and her shoulders were more than two feet from the floor. She moved gracefully, and Maddy had to admit she was a beautiful animal.

-He’s pretty. A little scared right now, but still pretty.

Maddy smirked at her pet’s thoughts. “She’s very friendly.” She peeked around Colin and watched how Whiskers was performing for the stranger. “Sorry, I didn’t know how to warn you.” She moved out from behind him.

Colin hesitantly reached down and touched the head of the sleek animal, which had sat right beside him and was looking up at him. The head was almost to his hip when it sat. “It’s—”

“She,” Maddy corrected quickly.

“She’s gorgeous,” Colin said softly, running his hand down the back of the soft fur-covered head.

-Smart and pretty.

Maddy turned her amused eyes to her familiar.

“Isn’t it illegal to keep large cats?”

She smirked at him and then studied Whiskers for a moment. That was an explanation for later, much later. “Whiskers being here is a long, complicated story.”

He turned back to the large cat. “Whiskers is also an odd name for an animal this size.” The cat turned amber eyes towards him and gave him a look that stated it—she agreed with him completely.

Maddy shrugged, “She’s always been Whiskers, though, since she was tiny.”

-Oh, tell him why I’m not tiny.

Maddy ignored the cat and set her bag down. Moving into the kitchen, she opened the cupboard and stood there. She had more than fifty different tea blends. She had said she’d make him tea, and she would, but truthfully, she knew tea wasn’t going to fix this. Shrugging, she pulled out a random box and set it on the counter. “Have a seat, Colin. I’ll just put the kettle on.”

Colin walked over and perched on one of the stools beside the counter. “Oddly enough, I haven’t had any more of those pains since we left the museum.”

Maddy turned and got two cups out. “That’s good.” She set the cups on the counter and turned to lean back against it. She studied him for a moment, trying to find the words to explain it to him. “You’ve never had anything like this before?” He shook his head. “I think I may—well, it’s possible I could...” She sighed. “There is just no way to tell you this without you thinking I’m completely insane.” He sat there, giving her a puzzled look. “Do you believe in magic, Colin?”

He smirked. “Like a magician?”

Maddy shook her head. “Um—no. Although a few that play at the game of illusions do have special abilities. I’m talking about magical people who can do spectacular things—”

Colin smirked again. “Like witches?” He chuckled. “Are you an actress—is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

The kettle whistled. Maddy turned to pour it. “No, I’m not an actress. I’m a hereditary witch.” She fiddled with the tea bags, not wanting to turn around and see his expression.

“I see.” He had no idea what to say to that.

She knew by his tone that he was probably plotting how to leave as soon as possible. “I’m not sure you do. Have you ever seen someone do something that you just couldn’t explain? Or thought you were seeing things?” She shrugged, “we’re not supposed to use magic in the general public, but some do, at a terrible risk.” She glanced over to look at him. His look said it all. Colin thought she was a weirdo.

“Okay. Uh, so is there a reason for telling me this?” Why did the beautiful ones always have to have some sort of mental flaw?

Maddy turned from the cups and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, actually I do.” She hesitated for a few seconds. “When we were leaving the museum, I thought I felt a trace—that’s kind of a feeling you—my kind get when magic has been used—”

“A trace?” He studied her for a moment. “Why are you...”

He looked like he wanted to give her a chance. Just in case she wasn’t insane. She let out a quick breath. “I think something was done to us—the pains hitting, but then leaving just as quickly.” Colin raised one eyebrow at her and crossed his arms. Now he probably just wanted to go home.

“I’m sure there’s a much more—sane explanation for this.”

Sane? Of course, he thought she was insane. How did she prove to him she wasn’t some lunatic? Letting out a slow breath, she took a chance that she’d be able to focus properly and glanced at one of the cups on the counter. Don’t float across the room to him.

Colin stood as a cup came up off the counter and floated in his direction.

She wasn’t touching it...she hadn’t rigged it in any way. When it got close enough, he reached out with an unsteady hand and grasped it out of the air. Running his hand under it, and then around it, he looked back at her. “How—”

“I just told you how.” She leaned back again, more pleased that she’d done it so smoothly than the fact that she had stunned him. “Are you willing to listen now?”

Colin sat back down and looked at the cup. He set it on the counter beside him and turned to look back at her. “Okay, say I do believe you just moved that cup to me through the air—what does that have to do with my stomach hurting?”

Maddy sighed, “I’m not sure—yet.” He gave her a doubting look. “When you went around the building, the pains came back, but they left when you appeared again—for both of us.” He didn’t say anything, just continued to sit there and look at her. “Okay, I get it...you think I’m some sort of weirdo. Fine. Humor me for ten minutes, and let’s see if I’m as crazy as you think I am.” She could tell by his smirk that it was the first thing she’d said he agreed with so far. He did think she was crazy.

“How?”

Maddy bit her bottom lip for a moment. “I don’t know the exact working of the spell, so it’s going to take a bit of thought. I do know it has something to do with distance.” She looked out through the window into her backyard. “Let’s go outside and see if I’m right.”

Colin stood up. “Ten minutes—then I’m going home.”

She shrugged and walked out of the kitchen. Whiskers got up from where she’d stretched out on the floor and prowled up to her.

-You’ve been cursed again? Talk about bad luck.

Maddy glared down at the cat. “Not right now, Whiskers. I’m working really hard at not freaking right out.” She glanced behind her to see Colin was still following her.

-I’m coming too, this I have to see.

Ignoring the cat, she stepped out into the yard. It was longer than the distance of the walkway behind the museum, so it should work. Of course, she’d have proven herself a lunatic if nothing happened. Turning, she looked at him standing on the back step. “Stay right there, and I’ll start walking towards the tree line.”

“And then what?” He didn’t even try to keep the sarcastic disbelief out of his voice.

“Just wait.” Maddy started slowly walking toward the back of her property, glancing back every few feet to make sure he was still there.

Colin glanced down at the cat that had sat down beside him again. “She’s a bit odd,” he said quietly to the animal. The cat looked up at him and then back at Maddy.

Maddy had lost count of how many steps she’d taken, trying to figure out what she’d do if nothing happened. She was more than halfway down the yard when her stomach cramped lightly. Drat! Taking three more long strides, she caught her breath when the pain sliced into her. First instinct told her to back up, but she had to know—

Turning slowly, she looked back to where she’d left Colin standing. He, too, was gripping his stomach, watching her. She took four quick steps back toward him and felt the pain fade to nothing again. He cocked his head and watched her as she backed up slowly again—until the pain returned instantly. Stepping back to the painless distance, she sat down on the grass and put her head into her hands.

Now what? She sat there with her eyes closed, trying to logically think of what to do next when the pains sliced into her again. She jerked her head and looked at Colin to find he’d walked to the side of the house and was now standing there bent over. Crap! She crawled several feet toward the house, and the pains left again. Flopping on her back, she covered her eyes with her arms. She needed to talk to Ginger; she’d know a counter spell or something She heard him walking in her direction, it sounded like he was talking to himself—or cursing. When she moved one arm, he was standing there glaring down at her. “Sorry, I was right,” she said softly. Whiskers appeared beside her and without one nasty or haughty thought stretched out beside her so her head was across Maddy’s hip. Running a hand over her friend’s furry head she looked back up at him. His facial expressions were changing so rapidly, she didn’t even want to ponder a guess at what was flying through his mind. “Might as well sit, I have some figuring out to do.”

Colin sat down a few feet from her and studied her. “So, if you’re a—I can’t believe I’m going to say this, witch or whatever, then undo this.”

Maddy frowned. “I’m more of a witchling, a full-fledged witch.” Did she really have to pour out her whole miserable existence to a man she didn’t know? “There’s been a few...hiccups in my abilities."

He leaned closer and looked at her. “Did you do this to us?” She shook her head, and from the upset expression on her face, she didn’t want this any more than he did. “Define hiccups.”

Maddy bit her lip. “Well—I sometimes don’t always get the, uh, desired outcome to my castings.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Desired outcome? You’re telling me you can’t then?”

Maddy leaned up on her elbows. “I didn’t say that, I know I can or would at least like to.”

Colin ran a hand through his hair. He had gone from looking mildly confused to stressed and tense. “Okay, so what do you mean by desired outcome?” He had no idea what he was asking, then again, before today magic and witches were something from cartoons and movies. Whiskers sat up straight beside Maddy and looked down at her.

Maddy sighed, “Whiskers was, is, actually my pretty normal-sized house cat.”

-You make me sound boring?

She flicked a quick look at the offended animal. “Someone, a long time ago put some sort of blocking curse on me—no one’s ever been able to figure out who, so it couldn’t be reversed— anyways, the abbreviated version when I do a spell the opposite, or at the very least, wildest, version of what I want happens.” She glanced at the cat beside her and then back to him. “Whiskers wanted, and yes, before you think I’m any stranger, I can hear her thoughts—she wanted to be a bit bigger, so she could jump to higher locations.”

“You turned her into a panther?”

“Yeah,” she sighed again. “The elders have all tried to reverse it, but there’s something stopping them. Popular consensus is Whiskers was an actual large cat in a past life, and this is her true form which is why she doesn’t change back.”

Colin blew out a long breath. “Could any of this get any bloody weirder?” He rubbed a hand over his face and tried to think while completely confused and astonished at the same time. “I’ll calculate all of that later. What has to be done to fix whatever is happening to us—and if you didn’t do this, then who did?”

Maddy sat up and looked over at him. “I have no idea, to both.” She stood up and looked down at him. “But I know who will have answers.” She turned to walk toward the house and stopped when she realized he hadn’t gotten up. “Um, I think you should follow me. I don’t know the exact distance before those pains come back, but I’m figuring it’s roughly sixty feet or so.”

Colin got up and shook his head in disbelief. “So, you’re saying we must remain within sixty feet of each other, or do those knives in my gut come back?

Maddy started walking again. “I think so, and to be honest, I’ve had enough of those pains for one day or I’d suggest we experiment further and figure out all the facts.”

He caught up and kept stride with her. “No, I’d rather avoid them again if at all possible.” When they reached the steps again, he paused. “Do you think it’s safe sitting on the steps? I need a few moments alone right now.”

Maddy turned in the door and looked down the steps at him. “I think we’re safe, I’m just going to go to the study, and it’s only about fifteen feet from here.” She would have smiled to reassure him, but she wasn’t feeling very confident right now. Turning, she walked into the other room. She couldn’t do this, already, she was trying to live her life with one curse, one that had ruined her chances of ever doing anything of value in her own community. Dealing with another one, an insane one, well, this might break her completely.

Sitting down, she uncovered the oversized leather-bound book on the corner of her desk. She placed a hand on it and took a deep breath. “Professor Ginger Wist.” Opening the cover, she watched the blank page until her favorite professor and, hopefully, savior appeared on the page.

“Maddy? I don’t think you’ve ever paged me on a Saturday. What’s wrong?”

Maddy leaned closer to the book. “Ginger, I have a serious issue here and have no idea what to do.”

Ginger frowned. “What’s happened? Was it that text...”

Maddy quickly shook her head. “No, no. I haven’t screwed up a casting.” She sighed, “I was out at the museum, and something happened to me and a man I don’t even know—” She hesitated for a few seconds. “I think some sort of spell has been placed on the two of us.”

Ginger’s eyes widened. “Really, at the museum?” She looked away for a moment and then glowered. “Did you see any students from Hidden Cove? I don’t think there were any trips planned today but—”

“I don’t think this is from a bunch of kids, Ginger.” She stood up and looked down at the book. “When we’re further than roughly sixty feet, there are pains that hurt so bad we can’t move or breathe.”

Ginger leaned over the book, eyes wide, “I’ll be right there don’t do anything!”

Maddy sighed and closed the book. She debated whether to go out and tell Colin help was on the way or to sit here and try to figure out more before Ginger got here. Colin came bolting into the room.

“A woman just came out of your tree!” He looked over his shoulder and then back to her.

Maddy grimaced; she probably should have warned him about that. “She’s come to help figure this out.”

He turned and watched as the woman reached the house. “A-and popping out of a tree is okay?”

Maddy glanced behind him to see Ginger coming in. “Uh, yeah.”

Colin turned and backed up to the desk, then perched on the edge of it.

Ginger came into the room and stopped short, looking at the man leaning on the desk. “Oh, I hadn’t thought to ask if it was a man from our community, but I see by the look on his face that he’s not.”

Colin shook his head and sighed a loud breath. “Lady, I don’t even think we’re from the same planet.”

Ginger sat in the first chair she came to and then smirked at Maddy. “He’s taking it well.”

Maddy came around and stood beside Colin. “Actually, if I were in his place, I’d be running and screaming by now.”

Colin gave her a half-hearted smirk. “I thought about it, but with this whole distance issue, I decided to stick close to you, for now, was the best course of action.” Her pretty eyes had nothing to do with it, he decided. Maybe he’d let his mind go back there once he was free to leave.

Maddy smiled. “If it makes you feel better, I want to scream ‘why me?’ very loudly.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Colin, this is, Professor Ginger Wist. I called her to see if she can figure it out and reverse it.”

Colin inclined his head towards the least professorial-like woman he’d ever seen and shrugged. “So what do we do?” He held up a hand and looked from the professor to Maddy, “And do we have to go through that pain again to do it?”

Maddy turned to Ginger. “Do we?”

Ginger got up and went over to Maddy’s oil cabinet. “I’m hoping not. Let me dig around here and see if you have what I need.” She glanced back to Maddy for a moment, “I’ll need the book I loaned you.”

Maddy nodded and went over to her desk to get it. “I really hope you can figure this out without having to bring Professor Galt into it.”

Ginger grimaced. “Me too.”

Colin continued to stay right where he was. He could not offer any assistance as the two women went back and forth between cupboards and the book. He just wanted to go home. He shook his head, this was what he got for ogling women. Maddy stopped and glanced over at him.

“Are you hungry or anything?”

He shook his head. “Yes, but I’ll wait and see if we have to do this the painful way first, thanks. I think it would be worse on a full stomach.”

Maddy rubbed a hand over her stomach. “Yeah, you may be right.”

“Okay.” Ginger straightened up from the book and turned. “We’re ready to give this a try.” She motioned to the floor in front of her. “I need you both to stand over here.”

Colin pushed away from the desk and walked over. “What exactly are you going to do? I’ve had more than enough surprises for one day.”

Ginger grinned. “I’m not going to do much physically.” She picked up the small dish. “I’m going to wave some of this around while I recite a chant—mostly in my head and it should show me what color or type of casting we’re dealing with. Then, I’ll figure out how to fix it.”

Colin exhaled and nodded. “Okay.”

Ginger placed a hand on Maddy’s arm. “Turn and face him, the two of you stand and look at each other, I’ll need to see how this link works.”

Maddy turned and faced Colin. He turned and looked down at her. She smirked because she knew he felt as silly as her standing face to face staring at each other. She could smell the oils Ginger was waving around them and took a deep calming breath so her mind was clear and nothing she thought would interfere with this.

Colin had no problem standing here looking into those eyes, which once again seemed to be a different shade. Of course, with the circumstances, he’d prefer to be looking into them without the witch professor walking around them whispering. The entire linked-together-with-a-spell part, he could definitely live without. He smiled at her, sensing she was nervous about whatever her teacher was doing. “All will be well, lass.” He blinked. Lass? Did his voice suddenly slur with a thick Scottish brogue?

“Aye, it will.” Maddy’s eyes widened. Where had she come up with an Irish accent? Her Da had a slight one, but nothing like what she just had. A feeling tingled over her, and she turned to glance at Ginger, seeking spell or not. Ginger stood there looking bewildered. “What?” She looked at Colin and realized her hands were resting on his chest, and his hands were over hers. They quickly stepped apart.

Ginger shook her head. “I’m not sure.” She walked over and glanced at the book.

“You’re not sure?” Colin walked over and looked down at the woman. “What aren’t you sure of?”

Ginger glanced up from the book. “Oh, well, I know you’ve definitely both had a spell placed on you.” She gave Maddy a hesitant look and then looked back into the book, “It’s a very old one too.”

Maddy crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you mean old? How can an old spell just fall on us out of the blue?”

Ginger straightened up and cleared her throat. “I don’t know. Did either of you feel anything odd just now?”

Maddy chewed her lip. “I could swear I suddenly developed an Irish accent.”

Colin scowled, “I thought I was just hearing things, but I became very Scottish when I spoke.”

“Huh.” Ginger rubbed her hands together. “You both sort of shimmered for a moment.”

Colin looked down at himself. “Shimmered?”

Ginger shook her head. “Not a sparkly shimmer, as in you sort of faded and became someone else very briefly—but you were still you—at the same time.”

Maddy sighed and went over and sat behind her desk. She put her face into her hands and groaned. “We’re going to have to call Professor Galt, aren’t we?” She dropped her hands and glared at Ginger. “I had nothing to do with this, but she’s going to blame me. It will be one more excuse for her to keep me going to stupid classes at the Academy until I’m fifty!” She groaned again.

Ginger went over and leaned on the desk. “There is no way she can pass this off on you, Maddy. No way at all. I’ve only ever read about something like this, and while I’m sketchy on the details right now, we’ll figure it out.”

Maddy pouted, “I may never leave the house again.”

Ginger sighed. “I’ll deal with Regina—why don’t the two of you go have a snack or tea or something.”

Maddy stood up and sighed again. “Fine.” She turned, walked towards the kitchen, and then called over her shoulder. “You make sure she understands I had nothing to do with this.”

Colin looked at the blonde woman for a moment and then turned to follow Maddy into the kitchen. She was dumping chips into a bowl. She looked angry now. He sat on the stool he’d been sitting on when his reality was rocked. “So, this other professor isn’t a good thing I take it?”

Maddy reached into the fridge and got out the dip. “It’s a good thing as far as figuring this out goes.” She set the dip beside the chips and motioned to the fridge. “I have apple juice, root beer or milk.”

“Root beer’s fine.”

She turned and pulled out two cans of root beer. “Professor Galt just likes to make me her biggest pet peeve of her life.”

“Ah.” Was the only thing he could think to say, “I understand that, I have one superior at work that rides me non-stop.”

Maddy sat on the other stool. “Exactly.” She opened the dip and picked up a chip. “So, what do you work at?”

Colin opened the pop and took a drink. “I’m a research manager.” He smirked at her. “Or, a science geek—either fits.”

Maddy almost choked on the chip in her mouth. “You definitely do not fit into the geek stereotype.”

He grinned, “So I’ve been told.” He slowly ate a few chips as he looked out the window. “Another woman just came out of a tree.”

Maddy didn’t bother to look. “Is she old, short, and angry looking?”

“Yes, to all three.”

“Professor Galt.” She turned to see Ginger meet the older woman halfway down the lawn. Professor Galt turned, looked back at the house, and then back to Ginger. Ginger’s arms were flying around, telling Maddy one thing, she wasn’t nearly as calm with all of this as she let her believe. Professor Galt took a few steps, stopped, and talked to Ginger again. Ginger was shaking her head vigorously. Professor Galt stood there for a moment holding a hand over her chest without speaking. When she turned and started walking towards the house again, she walked quickly and was frowning.

Maddy pushed the chips away from her. “This is so gonna suck.”