Free Witches in Flight by Debora Geary

between.”
    Melvin’s amused adoration made tears burn in Lizard’s eyes.   “You forgot the underground Goth opera
in Amsterdam.”
    Vero’s laugh rolled, and pushed away some of the seething
tension in the room.   “No, but I
was hoping you had.”
    Lizard tried to picture Vero dressed in black and chains,
belting opera, and failed miserably.   “Some people do dumb stuff and still turn out okay, but that doesn’t
mean Elsie won’t get into trouble.”
    “I know.”   Vero’s
arm settled around her shoulders.   “And those of us who know best what’s out there will worry the most.”
    So they were all just supposed to stand here and wait?   Because of the opinion of some old
woman who hadn’t been out on the streets in thirty years?
    She hasn’t woken up to Elsie’s cowboy dream, said Caro’s voice, quiet and
full of intent.
    Lizard backed into a corner.   It had taken her a lot of years to learn, but defiance
generally worked better if you did it quietly.   What are we going to do?
    ~ ~ ~
    Jennie breathed out.   Vero might have stopped Lizard’s all-out search—which was
wise.   They didn’t need two
WitchLight students stumbling around the strip, or wherever Elsie was, in the
wee hours of the morning.   But
Jennie wasn’t convinced that they should be leaving the newly daring Elsie out
there to fend for herself, either.
    More than one way to skin a cat, sent Caro, hands holding her
knitting, but eyes focused off in the distance.   Lauren lives closer to downtown—I just woke her up
and asked her to run a scan of the downtown strip.
    Jennie was impressed.   Waking Lauren from here was a hell of a reach—Caro had to have
burned through a lot of magic.
    I had help.   Lizard
isn’t as agreeable as she looks over there.   Caro
paused for a minute, listening.   I
interrupted Lauren’s tall, dark, and handsome dream.   She’s a bit grumpy at the moment.
    Jennie frowned.   Are you sure we should be looking for Elsie?   Vero seems pretty convinced she deserves
a little space on this.
    We’re giving her some space.   Caro’s mindvoice was surprisingly mutinous.   If Lauren can find her on mindscan,
Elsie will never even know we were looking over her shoulder.
    Jennie sat down beside her lifelong friend, reacting to the
unsaid in her mental tone, and the love behind it.   And if Lauren doesn’t find her?
    Then I’ll be leading the witch search brigade.   And Veronica Liantro can sit here or
join me, as she likes.
    Jennie looked up to find her nephew watching, eyes ready for
action.   There was more than one
witch in the room who agreed with Caro.
    Melvin sat down beside Jennie and patted her knee.   “Are you two done disagreeing with my
wife yet?”
    She heard his unspoken message, even though she wasn’t entirely
sure she was in Caro’s camp.   This
wasn’t the way Witch Central worked—dissent, pushed underground, weakened
who they were.   Jennie turned to
Vero, who was closing in on Lizard in the corner.   Time to disagree out loud, like grown-up witches.
    Which was a great plan until a sleepy Aervyn parachuted into the
room and landed on his uncle Jamie’s lap, cuddling his blankie and looking
worried.   “Where’s Elsie-Belsie?”
    Crap.   Jamie’s mental reaction was sharp,
focused, and not at all visible on his face.   “We’re not sure, superdude.   Sometimes grown-ups go out at night to have fun.   Or maybe Elsie just took a little walk
under the moon.”
    Aervyn’s eyes were waking up fast.   “Nuh, uh.   You’re all worried about her, and Lauren is sending out the bat
signal.   How come she’s doing that?”
    Jennie sighed.   The
Walkers lived close to Lauren.   No
one had factored that in to their middle-of-the-night mental search party.   “We’re hoping we can find out where she
is, sweet boy.   That’s all.   Maybe she just forgot to leave a note
to tell us where she was going.   How about Uncle Jamie takes you home and tucks you