The Trouble With Spells by Lacey Weatherford Read Free Book Online Page A

hold out your hand.”
    I held out my open
palm and he placed the ball of burning fire into it, and it was so hot I could
hardly stand it. Before I could drop it a cooling wave shot through my
fingertips, and suddenly the fire was frozen, locked inside a piece of ice.
    Vance’s quiet
laughter rumbled in his chest.
    “How’d you do
that?” I exclaimed, lifting my hand to examine the peculiarity.
    “I didn’t. You
did.” He smiled at me. “The magic’s inside you. You just need to learn how to
consciously use it.”
    He took the
ice-encased flame and threw it onto the rock. It shattered into a million
pieces and disappeared.
    “Other than no one
telling me about it, why didn’t I know about my powers until now?” I asked him,
truly curious about what he was telling me.
    “It seems to
manifest itself around the age of sixteen for most people.”
    “Is that when you
got yours?”
    He shook his head.
“No. For some reason I started manifesting around the age of five.”
    “Is that good or
bad?”
    He shrugged. “No
one really knows. My mom and dad were excited since they were both magical.
    “My dad was the
leader of their coven. Of course, that was before he got involved in some
heavy, dark magic. My mom started to notice the signs, though at first she was
in denial. It wasn’t until she started observing that I was taking on some of
his dark traits she became really scared. She thought he was molding me to
become like him. I was ten by then.”
    “What did she do?”
I asked captivated by his story, wondering what kind of dark traits he actually
referred to.
    “She ran with me
at first, but he was always able to find us. Finally, she met this witch in another
coven. Her name is Marsha—you met her tonight. She explained the situation to
her and begged for her help. Marsha agreed. She got someone to fake some
documents so Marsha looks like my aunt, and she took legal custody of me. We’ve
been running ever since.”
    “What about your
mom?” I asked, my heart feeling a twinge of guilt for pushing him to divulge
things which were difficult.
    “I don’t know what
happened to her.” I heard a touch of longing enter his voice. “That was part of
the agreement. We were never to contact her again.”
    “That must’ve been
horrible for you both,” I replied, knowing how I would’ve felt if I’d have been
in his place.
    “It is for me. I
just want to know she’s all right.” He stared out wistfully into the night sky.
    “So what brought
you here?” I tried to gently steer the subject in a different direction.
    “Marsha heard of
your family and their coven. She came here and explained our situation, and
they agreed to offer us protection. That’s part of what your dad is doing when
he’s gone. He’s scouting things out, making sure we’re still safe.”
    “Wow,” I said in
surprise, thinking about all the times my dad had been gone from home recently.
Could he have been out helping Vance? “I’m starting to see my dad in a whole
new light.”
    “He’s a very good man,”
Vance said sincerely.
    “Oh, I know that,”
I replied. “I just mean … encyclopedia salesman? Really?”
    Vance laughed with
me.
    “So why all the
mystery and everything at school?” I asked, changing the subject to a slightly
easier topic for him.
    “I figured if I
stayed aloof, people wouldn’t get too close.” He shrugged. “It’s easier to stay
hidden that way.”
    I mulled that over
in my head for a few moments. “Then why are you here with me?”
    He sighed,
sounding a little frustrated. He stood up placing his hands in his pockets and
began walking back and forth in a line.
    “Well, for one
thing, you’ll be the thirteenth member of our coven, which will make us the
strongest we can be. That’s a good thing.”
    “Oh,” I replied,
almost feeling a little sad but not really sure why. “Is that the only reason?”
     “Well.” He
paused, looking slightly uncomfortable. “No, not exactly.” He