Believe: The Complete Channie Series (20 page)

Josh stood up and ran his hands down the length of Channie’s arms then hugged her to his chest and kissed the top of her head. “This is...amazing. I’ve never felt so...connected to anyone before. I shouldn’t be so greedy.”

Channie thought about the magical connection they’d shared earlier and said, “Did you notice anything...unusual at the award ceremony?”

“I didn’t just imagine that?”

“No. It was real.”

“What was it?”

Channie turned her head and rested her chin on Josh’s breastbone so she could look into his eyes. She didn’t know how to explain their magically bound hearts without the risk of Josh thinking she’d forced him into it. He’d specifically asked her about controlling someone’s emotions with magic the night he came over for dinner. She didn’t understand it herself, but she knew that it required two people with willing hearts to create a bond like theirs. Josh was just as much a part of this as she was. Channie decided to start with the basics. “It was heart-magic.”

“There’s more than one kind of magic?”

“Yes...and no. Magic exists in everything...water, air, rocks, plants, animals, people. A mage just learns how to manipulate it.”

“So it’s a skill you can learn?”

“If you’re a mage. Basic magic is instinctive. It’s all most folks ever use. Once we learn to focus our minds, all we have to do is think of the spell we want and tap into the energy stored in our power-wells to create it. The more powerful mages learn to manipulate magic in a more discreet and finite way.”

Josh slid his hands to Channie’s waist, leaned back and arched his eyebrows. “Huh?”

“Okay, it’s like biology and physics. It’s easier to work with magic flowing through a whole organism—which is what most of us do using energy from our power-well— than manipulate it on a cellular level, with heart-magic, which is what master-healers do.”

“And physics?”

“The only way to manipulate non-living matter is on a molecular or atomic level. It’s theoretically possible, but I’ve never met anyone that could do it.”

“So magic is like the force...in Star Wars.”

“What?”

Josh laughed. “It’s a movie. Actually it’s six movies. Come over sometime and we’ll have a Star Wars marathon.” His smile softened as he tilted his head to the side. “Do you think you’ll ever learn to control your new power-thing so you won’t go around zapping guys all the time?”

Channie said, “Not completely, my parents used an ancient binding-spell. The only way to control it, is to break it.”

“Binding spell?”

“You don’t want to know.” Channie shivered thinking about the Book of the Dead.

“Sure I do. I want to know everything about you.”

She shook her head, wiggling her chin into the hollow spot between Josh’s pectoral muscles.

He twitched and chuckled softly. “That tickles.”

“Sorry.”

“I don’t mind.” Josh kissed the top of her head. “So, tell me more about heart-magic. How long have you been using it?”

“I didn’t even know where my heart-of-hearts was until Enchantment chose it as a hiding place when my parents changed my name.”

“Where is your heart-of-hearts?”

“Inside my regular heart.”

“Do I have one?”

“Before the award ceremony, I would have said no, but I don't know how we could have experienced what we did if you didn’t have a heart-of-hearts. Your shield must be more powerful than I thought if it’s giving you the ability to use magic.”

“I used magic?”

“Not just any magic—heart-magic. Are you sure you don’t have any mages in your family tree?”

Josh frowned and pulled his eyebrows together, then parted his lips. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “The only thing I’m sure of is that I want to hold you like this forever...but I’m really tired. I’m about to pass out on my feet.”

“Do you want to sleep with me?”

Josh’s arms tightened around Channie. She clamped down on Chastity’s energy as soon as she realized what she’d said, but Josh’s lust very nearly overpowered her. Channie doubted she’d be able to control herself if Chastity’s magic supercharged Josh’s shield when they were this close.

She disentangled herself from his arms and said, “I meant real sleep...not...you know.”

“I would love to fall asleep with you in my arms and hold you all night long. I’ll behave, I promise.”

The
next morning, as Channie drifted into wakefulness, yesterday’s events distilled into coherency like dew out of a warm mist.

She reached for Josh, but he wasn’t there. She peeked over the side of her bed and found him, asleep on the floor. He was lying pigeon-toed on his stomach with his hands tucked under his thighs. Shadows cast by the yellowed lace of her window curtains floated across his back like fallen leaves on water, shifting with the ebb and flow of his breath.

Josh hunched his shoulders and shivered then blinked his eyes open. He yawned and said, “Morning.”

Channie propped herself up on her elbows. “What are you doing on the floor?”

“Behaving.”

“You were behaving last night.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t.”

Channie sat up and even though she was fully clothed, pulled the covers up under her chin. “What do you mean?”

“You were having some pretty good dreams.”

Abby used to complain about the way Channie talked in her sleep. “What did I say?”

Josh wiggled around to face her, but remained on his belly. He folded his arms and rested his chin on the back of his wrist. “It wasn’t what you said, so much as what you did.”

Holy crap. “Wh… what did I do?”

“Nothing I didn’t enjoy.” The corners of his mouth curved into a lopsided grin as his cheeks reddened. “But when I realized you were asleep, I felt like a perv, so I just moved to the floor.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt what was obviously a very good dream.”

Channie resisted the urge to pull the covers over her head and changed the subject.

“Do you mind keeping an eye on the trips while I take a quick shower? They’ll wake up any minute and I don’t dare leave those little monsters unsupervised.”

Josh yawned again and sat up. “Sure, anything in particular I should do if they wake up?”

“No, just don’t let them kill each other or tear the house apart.”

When Channie opened the door after her shower, the aroma of pancakes led her to the kitchen. Josh was standing in the middle of the room—a crocheted pot holder and cast-iron skillet in one hand, a spatula in the other. The triplets were staring at a large pancake clinging to the ceiling.

Josh said, “I barely tossed it. There’s no way that thing should have gone that high.”

The smug look on Savvy’s face was all the explanation Channie needed. Most mages weren’t able to cast spells until they were at least eight-years-old. But then again, she’d never heard of a sixteen-year-old mage and an empty binding themselves with heart-magic either. The power that flowed through Momma’s line was extraordinary. Channie couldn’t help but wonder how much of that was due to the dark magic practiced by her ancestors.

When the pancake fell from the ceiling, Josh caught it in the skillet then opened the cabinet under the sink.

Channie put a hand on his shoulder before he could throw it in the trash and said, “We don’t waste food. That one’s Savvy’s.” She pretended not to notice when the little devil slid it onto Zeal’s plate.

After breakfast, Channie sat the boys down and said, “Granny and Grandaddy left on a little vacation. They left me in charge so you better behave.” They took the news a lot better than she thought they would.

Savvy said, “How long they gonna be gone?”

“I don’t know. But Granny said she’d call us in a few days to check on us.”

Josh’s phone whooped like a tornado alert siren. He rolled his eyes and said, “It’s my mom,” then flipped it open. “Yeah.”

“Fine...I’ll be home before noon.”

Josh grimaced and held the phone away from his ear, even the triplets stopped fighting over the syrup to listen to Josh’s momma yell at him.

“I am sick and tired of you running off without so much as leaving a note to let me know where you are—”

“If you were so worried, why didn’t you call last night?”

“If you don’t get your ass home in the next twenty minutes, consider yourself grounded for the next week.”

“Fine!” Josh slammed his phone shut and said, “I gotta go.”

Channie glanced sideways at the trips and said, “Thanks for coming over this morning to fix breakfast for us.”

Josh quirked an eyebrow, but he went along with Channie’s plan to keep his overnight visit a secret. “Anytime. Call me if you need anything.”

Channie ducked her chin as she stacked the breakfast dishes on the table. “Don’t tell anyone, okay? Especially not your momma.”

Josh kissed the top of her head and said, “I’m not stupid.”

Channie
spent most of the morning at the park with the trips. It was a warm day so she sat at the new picnic table in the pavilion—the city didn’t waste any time replacing the one Daddy had stolen—and did her homework while the boys played and fought with each other.

When her phone started playing “Gotta Be Somebody,” Channie’s heart flip-flopped into her throat.

“Hi, Josh.”

“Hey, Channie. I just called to let you know that I can’t call you today.”

“Why?” Her heart stopped mid-flip and slid to the floor.

“Mom’s punishing me and taking my phone after this call.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Me too, I just didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you, but she’s standing here listening to every word I say and timing this call. For every minute we talk, she’s grounding me an extra day...so I guess I’ll see you at school.”

Ten minutes after they hung up, Josh started texting Channie—from Elijah’s phone.

She fed the trips peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and supper both, but no one complained. She didn’t give them baths or try to put them to bed on time, but just let them play until they fell asleep on the floor, then carried them to bed.

Channie’s phone woke her up a little after midnight. It was just an ordinary ring tone so Channie assumed it was either Momma or Daddy calling from a pay phone to check on her and the boys.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Channie, you awake?”

“Josh? Did your momma give you your phone back?”

“No, I’m still using Elijah’s.”

“That’s awful nice of him.”

“Not really. I’m paying the little twerp five bucks to use his phone and another five to not tell on me.”

Channie had no idea how long they talked before she fell asleep, but the last time she checked her alarm clock, it was after two in the morning.

Her phone was open and stuck to her cheek when Momma shook her awake and said, “Rise and shine sleepy-head, you’re gonna be late for school.”

Channie yawned and stretched then forced her eyes open. “When did you get back?”

“About an hour ago.” Momma was grinning so wide Channie could see her back teeth.