Free Witches Under Way by Debora Geary

“That’s why we have earth witches.  They’ll fix it after we’re done.” 
    “It doesn’t seem fair for them to do all the cleanup.”  Especially since earth-witch magic apparently wasn’t very useful in a water-balloon fight.
    “Hardly.”  Jamie snickered.  “Once we get ourselves dried out, we’ll need all the fire witches to deal with the pond we’ve made in Nell’s back yard.”  He pointed.  “Ah, excellent.  Here come reinforcements.”
    Nat, and Nell’s husband, Daniel, were making their way across the lawn with a hose and a box of balloons.  Non-witches, both of them.  Elsie was well aware the other two teams were staring—they’d kept their list of recruits very, very quiet.
    Aervyn giggled from his perch at the top of the slide.  “Don’t you need some more witches, Uncle Jamie?  We can give you some.” 
    Ginia clapped her hand over his mouth.  “No way.”  She surveyed their team.  “How are you going to throw the water balloons without magic?”
    Jamie curled his biceps.  “I have arms, niece of mine.”
    She grinned at him.  “You can’t throw this far.  You guys are so toast.”  She switched tactics.  “Auntie Nat, it’s going to be a lot drier up here.  Sure you don’t want to switch?”
    Nat simply smiled and peeled off her tank top, revealing the swimsuit underneath.
    Elsie was watching the other two teams’ reactions very carefully.  Almost everyone seemed to agree with Ginia.  The two notable exceptions were Jennie and Nell.  Maybe Nell knew about her husband’s MVP pitching trophies in college. 
    Jamie grinned.  See, I told you they’d totally underestimate him. 
    Elsie still didn’t really understand why a guy who could throw a ball at ninety miles per hour wasn’t seen as a water-balloon fight threat, but she could see with her own eyes it was true.  Jamie said victory tended to hinge on the witch talents on the team. 
    Which was a bit nerve-wracking given the rest of their team members.
    Ginia held up an arm.  “Are we ready to start?”
    “Not quite.”  Jamie walked over to the deck and grabbed four plastic chairs.  “We have a few more team members to add.”  He grinned at Elsie and raised his voice.  “Okay, you guys can come in now.”
    Elsie had never seen anything quite so funny as the reactions of Teams Lizard and Ginia as the rest of Team Jamie walked slowly in the back gate. 
    Helga hooked her arm through Marion’s elbow and waved at Caro.  “How come you never invite us to do anything like this?  Sounds like almost as much fun as knitting.”
    Melvin, his hand on Vero’s arm, chortled.  “Indeed.  We old folks couldn’t even get a decent invitation, could we, my dear?”
    Help me get them settled before the shock value wears off.   Jamie’s mental voice was full of glee.  We’ve got this one in the bag.
    Elsie still wasn’t convinced—but the other two teams did look rather off their game. 
    Off their game?  You’ve just masterminded the biggest shocker in Witch Central balloon-fight history.   Jamie took Melvin’s hand and helped him to the chair facing the mind-witch team.  “Jennie and Lizard are straight ahead,” he said quietly.
    Melvin’s eyes gleamed.  “I can keep those two under control.”
    Elsie helped Helga sit facing the play structure where Team Ginia watched in confusion.  And prayed she was right that nobody would soak a little old lady.  Helga pulled out her knitting—and lifted it up high enough that Elsie could see the water pistol hidden underneath.  “Don’t you worry, my dear.  They won’t get past me.”
    Marion and Vero positioned themselves in the other two chairs.  Team Jamie’s home base was now defended by four people over the age of seventy.
    And looking at the faces on the other two teams, Elsie could finally taste the possibility of victory.
    ~ ~ ~
    Frack.  Lizard had plenty of practice figuring out when to fight and when to run.  This was rapidly