Free A Different Witch (A Modern Witch Series: Book 5) by Debora Geary Page A

winced.  Aervyn Edric Walker, turn on your hearing aids!
    Oops.  Sorry, Mama.  The contrite reply came quickly.  Dropping the noise back to normal decibel levels took several seconds longer.  Someone needed a refresher lesson in spell unwinding.
    Or hearing aids he couldn’t turn off whenever he felt like it.
    Nell shook her head and turned back to her guest.  “Sorry—he’s playing with his new drum set.”  And sound-wave spells.  The loud kind.
    Beth looked shell-shocked—time to find someplace quiet before she fled California entirely.  “Would you like to head out to the back yard?  I think it’s free of munchkins at the moment, and that way we won’t scorch the ceilings.”
    If it was possible, Beth’s face got even more wooden.  “I’m very careful with my magic.”
    Oh, God.  How had she managed to get a trainee who didn’t eat chocolate or understand a joke?  Nell gave herself a very fast lecture, trying to remember Lauren’s words of wisdom.  Tolerance.  And baby steps.  “It’s easy enough for things to get a little out of hand in a training session.  And I hear you came here for the sun.”
    Beth finally smiled.  “I am enjoying all the light you have here.”
    Phew.  Back yard, posthaste.  Nell turned to lead the way through the house.  “I know you can’t have chocolate, so I made some oatmeal raisin cookies this morning.  We can take a plate out with us.”
    “I brought some nuts, but thank you.”
    Nell sighed—this just wasn’t going to be easy.  She squelched the urge to force cookies on someone who clearly had no sense of smell and grabbed several on her way out the back door.  Somebody needed to eat them, and chocolate-free cookies would likely get nothing but confused looks from the rest of the Walker household.
    Cranky mama witches couldn’t be fussy about their sources of sugar.
    She led the way over to a quiet spot in the back corner, behind the play structure and out of the way of overhanging trees.  “Will this work for you?”
    “I don’t know.”  Beth sat down thoughtfully on a patch of grass.  “I’ve never done magic outside before.  Don’t the air currents and changing light affect your work?”
    Not any more than breathing.  “Where do you practice?”
    “We have a room at the shop.  It’s quiet, no distractions.  We set it up with comfortable lighting and shelves for our tools.”
    It sounded like a prison.  Or a cage for a very fragile witch.  “We do most of our magic outside here.  A lot of people find it easier to access power with the ground right under their feet.”
    “That makes sense.”  Beth nodded and laid her hands in her lap.  “We’ll try it your way.  I came here to learn things to take home with me.  Maybe outdoor magic will be one of them.”
    She’d come to take.  Nell adjusted her seat on the grass—and wondered how to tell a witch that she also needed to give.
    -o0o-
    Little bits of grass poked at her ankles, making Beth wish she’d thought to wear socks.  The sandals had been a concession to the California warmth, but they let far too many things tickle her feet.
    She watched Nell and waited.
    “Is there something in particular you’re hoping to learn?”
    Magic.  The great, glorious wave of magic that Jamie had whisked through Chicago and then taken away with him.  “Perhaps you could review some of the basics with me.  I’ve mastered candle lighting and small currents of heat, but I still struggle with fire globes.”  It was probably best to be totally honest.  “And I do the first two best with my circle for support.”
    “We can fix that.”  Nell shifted slightly and raised her left palm, a bright and tiny fire globe dancing over her hand.
    So blatantly easy.  Jealousy and desire hit Beth hard.  “You must be a magnificent witch.”
    Creases crossed Nell’s forehead.  “These are child’s tricks—simple training skills we teach all our witchlings in the first few