Witches Under Way by Debora Geary Read Free Book Online Page A

and something about mixing music up while you played it.  And she’d tried not to panic when he’d shown her how many songs were on iTunes for her to choose from. 
    How was she supposed to remedy her musical idiocy when there were eighteen million songs and she couldn’t even get her darned iPod to turn on?
    “Cool iPod.”  Lizard walked into the kitchen.  “New?”
    Elsie swallowed her pride.  “Yes.  Do you by any chance know how to turn it on?”  She was eternally grateful when Lizard didn’t laugh, and even more grateful when a magic touch or two had pretty lights coming to life on her screen.
    Two minutes later, her new toy was all hooked up and blaring one of Lizard’s favorite songs.  Elsie was pretty sure their musical tastes weren’t going to overlap very much.  “Is there a way to turn it down a little?”
    Lizard grinned.  “I can probably find some old-lady music for you, if you like.”
    That she could probably manage to do on her own.  Elsie tapped her computer, feeling frazzled and more than a little grumpy.  “I’ll just look around a little.  The man at the store showed me how to use the iTunes site.”
    “It might have been more useful if he’d shown you how to turn on your iPod.”  Lizard  opened the laptop’s lid, hit a few keys, and looked up.  “So, you’re not into rap.  What kind of music do you like?”
    Was there no such thing as personal space in Witch Central?  Elsie squirmed and then straightened her spine.  Trying to remedy a personal weakness wasn’t a reason to be embarrassed.  “I don’t know, exactly.  My mother always played classical music in our house.  I’m fond of opera.”
    Lizard raised an eyebrow.  “Opera rocks your socks, girl.  Weird, but true.”
    Elsie sighed and gave up.  “Yes, it does.  But I want to figure out what else I like.  Normal music—the stuff most people listen to.”  She waved at the computer.  “How can I do that when there are eighteen million songs to choose from?”
    “You were just going to get online and start shopping?”  Lizard grinned.  “Don’t they teach you shrinks anything in school?”
    Elsie was pretty sure nothing as incidental as personal musical taste had ever graced the hallowed classrooms of Harvard.  Time to throw herself on her roommate’s mercy.  “If you were me, what would you do?”
    Lizard rolled her eyes to the ceiling.  “If I find you some good music, will you write my essay for me?  It should be easy for you.” 
    It was shockingly tempting.  For just a moment or two, and then sanity prevailed.  “That would be highly unethical.  What’s the topic for your essay?”
    “How technological illiteracy can be a handicap in modern society.”  Her roommate snickered and held up the iPod.  “But don’t worry—I’ll change names to protect the innocent.”  She stood up and headed for the hallway.  “I have forty-three hours of homework to do.  I’ll have some music stuff for you tomorrow.”
    Elsie felt oddly empty.  “Have you eaten?”
    Lizard stopped dead, thinking.  “Crap.  No wonder I’m hungry.”
    “You can study down here.”  Elsie didn’t stop to examine why this was suddenly so important to her.  “I’ll make some dinner, and you can work on your essay.”  She picked up her new iPod.  “Here.  You can even listen to that really loud rap stuff if you want.”
    She had no idea what the strange look in Lizard’s eyes meant.  And no idea what she was going to make for dinner, given her limited repertoire and their empty fridge.  But it felt… nice.

Chapter 5

    Elsie opened the door of the oven, rather proud at the muffins she pulled out.  Not bad for 6 a.m.  She’d realized the evening before that desire to cook had very little to do with actual results, so she’d knocked on Caro’s door at ten o’clock at night and asked for a recipe to try.  Amazingly enough, her first attempt looked almost like muffins, except for