“Warlocks?” Riverasked.
Jewel and Anna nodded at the same time. “You believe inwitches?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they’re real, but so are a lot of other supernatural beings,” Annaexplained.
“Can a person become a witch?” River asked. “Or are you just bornwithit?”
Yes, Jewel thought, a person can become a witch, or you might become worm food.Cynical? Yes, yesshewas.
Anna nodded. “Not everyone can become a witch, but most any woman with an open mind will likely have the necessary innate power. Wecanhelp.”
When Jewel didn’t say anything, Anna jabbed her in the side with her elbow. Jewel coughed. “Yes, exactly, wecanhelp.”
“How? What do I needtodo?”
“There is a ritual … but it doesn’t take anything special. We can even do it right here in thestore.”
“Can you take a break?” Jewel asked. The words were tight in her throat. She didn’t want to do this. Like,really, reallydidn’t want to do this, but there was no choice, so she was just going to have to put on her big girl witch panties and suckitup.
“Are you guys serious right now?” River asked. “Because if you all are just messingwithme—”
Z stuck up his hand, interrupting the girl. “We are dead serious. We can show you what you’ve beensearchingfor.”
“But why me? What are you guys doing here?” shepressed.
“The girls are part of a coven here in Los Angeles, small but powerful,” Sly offered. “But they need more members, a few fortunate souls who have the openness of mind to accept that they could be more than just mere humans, that they could have real power. You see, River, the garbage you’ve been reading, all that nature-is-power mumbo jumbo? None of it is real. True power comes from within.” He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. The book dropped noisily from her lap. The warlock looked deep into the girls’ mismatched eyes, allowing a bit of his own innate power to slip from his fingers into hers. Her countenance becamemesmerized.
“Yeah.” She nodded blankly. “Let me just flip the sign and I’llbeback.”
The group watched as Sly dropped her hand, and River walked to the front of the store, flipped the lock, and turned the sign in the window. Jewel turned to look at Anna as the girl was walking back toward them. Jewel saw the fear and hesitation in Anna’s eyes and realized her partner was just a lot better at putting up a front thanshewas.
“We can go to the back,” River called over her shoulder as shepassedthem.
Sly and Z made a motion for Jewel and Anna to go, and they followed behindthegirl.
“Try not to kill her,” Z whispered as they reached the door to the rear oftheshop.
“The first spell I’m going to learn is how to seal a person’s lips shut,” Anna said as she looked over her shoulder at the two warlocks. “And you two will be myguineapigs.”
“Harsh,” Sly whispered as he pressed a hand to hischest.
Anna shrugged. “Maybe.”
They went into a small break room. Jewel looked around before her eyes found River, sitting on the edge of a table, her arms folded across herchest.
“So what exactly does this entail?” River asked. Her eyes no longer lookedglassy.
Before Anna could answer, Jewel spoke. “Why are you trusting us?” This probably wasn’t the question she should ask since they did, indeed, need her to trust them. But Jewel wanted to know if the woman was only responding to Volcan’s magic, or if something deeper drove her to go willingly to a remote location withstrangers.
“What doyoumean?”
“I mean, you just met us. We just told you there are warlocks and witches are real, and now you’re in the back room of a locked building, alone with us, just because we claim to be witches and some strange guy grabbed your hand for a second. Why?” Jewel asked. She could feel the eyes of the others boring into her. She didn’t care. She really wanted to know what was driving the woman to trust four perfectstrangers.
River shrunk in on herself, and she looked like a kicked puppy. “I don’t really have anyone in my life. I have no family, no boyfriend, no anything. I’ve always been interested in magic and the supernatural. I’ve read tons of books, and I’ve always been drawn to witches and the sisterhood that comes with it. I just thought how cool it would be to have a family where we all have something incommon.”
In other words, Jewel thought, she was lonely. Now she really felt like a shmuck. They were totally exploiting her weakness for their own needs. She was probably even more susceptible to the influence of Volcan’s magic. The girl never had a chance. River needed to feel wanted. She desired so much to belong, and they were offering her something thatmightfill that void. Unfortunately, the price of admission into this family might be more than she could pay. It might cost the girlherlife.
