Enchantment (12 page)

There was a long pause while Josh listened to his momma give him a scolding.

“Whatever. I’ll see you when I get home.”

Channie asked, “Are you in trouble?”

“Nah. She’s just pissed off because—”

Josh gagged and started spitting in the trash can under the sink. Channie couldn’t help but hope that he’d wipe his tongue with his shirt again so she could get another glimpse of his belly. No such luck. He just leaned over the sink, turned the water on and rinsed his mouth out straight from the faucet.
 

“Yuck! What is that nasty taste?”

“It’s a clean-speech spell. Momma doesn’t like bad words.”

“I said a bad word?”

“You sure did.”
 

“What was it?”

Channie lowered her voice until it was barely a whisper and said, “P. I. S. S.”

Josh made a few more sour-lemon faces then finished explaining why his momma was upset.
 

“My little brother, Elijah, threw a huge fit when Mom got home from work because I didn’t rescue him from Mrs. Guffy in time for Sponge Bob.”

“Rescue?”

“Mrs. Guffy is a sweet little old lady that lives next door. She takes care of Lijah after school, until Mom or I pick him up. She feeds him homemade cookies and lemonade, but she makes him do his homework. I let him play video games and watch TV.”
 

Josh rinsed the fork and handed it to Channie instead of putting it in the drain rack. His hand barely grazed hers, but it sent a tingle up her arm. She looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

“I’m fine. That one didn’t hurt much.” Josh bumped her with his hip. He jerked and twitched when Chastity’s magic zinged him again — but he also laughed. “Maybe if I trigger the curse often enough, I can get used to it.”

Daddy’s voice drifted into the kitchen from the parlor. “Don’t count on it.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The Race

Channie left for school fifteen minutes early the next morning. Josh was already there, waiting for her, sitting on the floor in front of his locker. He stood up as soon as he noticed her and grinned.
 

“Hey, Channie. What’s up?”

She couldn’t keep from grinning back at him. His smile was contagious. “Nothing much. How about you?”

“I’m great. Except for one little problem.”

“Oh? What’s wrong?”

“I’m grounded.”

“What’s grounded?”

“It’s a punishment. I can’t leave the house except to go to school, to practice, or to a race for the next two weeks. It really sucks.”

“Does this mean you can’t come over to my house?”

“I could sneak out tonight — if you want to meet me in the park, sometime around midnight?” Josh’s voice was deeper, seductive. Chastity’s magic buzzed. Channie frowned and took a step back.

Josh drew his eyebrows together. “What’s wrong?”

“You know ...” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “My curse.”

“No way. I swear I wasn’t thinking anything … inappropriate.”
 

“Really? What were you thinking?”

A faint blush crept into Josh’s cheeks and across the tops of his ears. “I was thinking that I would really like to talk to you again, without worrying about anyone overhearing us.”

“That’s all?”

“Pretty much.”

“That wouldn’t trigger the curse.”
 

Josh’s ears and cheeks went from pink to cherry red. “Well, I might have … sort of … maybe … been thinking that you look really nice today.”

“So do you. Your eyes are so beautiful.” Heat flooded Channie’s face and neck. Josh was an Empty, with no magical abilities whatsoever, so why did she feel compelled to blurt out the first thing that flitted across her mind every single time she looked into his eyes?

Josh’s grin widened. “Uh … thanks. So are yours. They’re really … green.” His energy field buzzed with power. There was plenty of lust but it was mixed with … affection? It was hard to get a clear read on Josh’s energy when her own was so active.
 

Magic percolated under Channie’s skin. She took another step back. Apparently, Josh couldn’t take a hint. He stepped closer and pulled a folded red triangle of paper out of his back pocket. He tried to hand it to Channie. “Your dad mentioned that he might like to come see me race on Saturday. This flyer has all the info.”

Josh was too close, but with her back against the wall of metal lockers, and two couples making out on either side of her, Channie had no room to maneuver. She was trapped.
 

Chastity’s magic pulsed and surged, feeding off the lust in the now crowded hall. Sparks of power shot across Channie’s skin. She shook her head and said, “Josh, don’t.”
 

“Don’t what?”
 

Channie held on with all her strength but it didn’t do any good. Power shot out of her with a blue-white flash and hit Josh in the middle of his chest. He flew backwards and slammed into the opposite wall of lockers with a metallic crash. Everyone stopped what they were doing, even the couples making out, and stared at Josh. He swore and shoved the paper through the vents of Channie’s locker then spun around and took off, pushing and weaving his way through the curious onlookers.
 

Channie wanted to cry. Even though Josh believed in magic and understood that the curse was hard for her to control, that didn’t mean he’d be willing to put up with it just to be her friend. She blinked back the tears that threatened to undermine her tough-girl persona and read the note Josh had shoved inside her locker …
 

Help us kick off the fall season with the nationally sanctioned BIG AIR Series.
 

Come support the Redman/Rockstar National Factory Team and nationally ranked number one and two in their age-groups…
 

Josh “The Jet” Abrim and Wesley “The Weasel” Wickam.

Below the text was a map with detailed directions to the race track. Channie hoped with all her heart that she hadn’t hurt Josh bad enough to cost him the race.

She was disappointed but not surprised when Josh failed to show up for their first period class. Channie’s concern turned to anxiety when she went to get her bicycle at the end of the day and Josh wasn’t there. She’d zapped him pretty hard, but he should have been fully recovered by now.
 
His funny little bike was still chained to the rack so he had to be around here somewhere. She waited as long as she dared, but when it was obvious Josh wasn’t coming, she went home.

As soon as everyone else was asleep, Channie snuck out through her bedroom window. Momma and Daddy couldn’t keep her from leaving any old time she felt like it, but she couldn’t keep them from cursing Josh if she made them mad enough. She sat on the picnic table under the pavilion in Heritage Park where she’d kissed Josh and waited. He never showed up.

~***~

Josh wasn’t at school the next day either.
 

When Channie saw Eric fiddling with the combination on his locker and talking on his phone, she got an idea.
 

“Hey Eric, I need to borrow your phone.”

He barely glanced at her then turned his back and strode off down the hall without opening his locker. Channie felt her power build as she ran after him. She put a hand on Eric’s shoulder and let a little magic trickle out to reinforce her request. “I said, I need to borrow your phone.”
 

He twitched and jerked away from her. “Stay away from me, freak.”

Channie wanted to hit him with everything she had, but she maintained control and only used a tiny bit of power to zap Eric. He yelped and dropped his phone. What a wuss. Channie picked his phone up off the floor and said, “Thanks, Eric.” But he was already gone.

However, the person he’d been talking to, was still on the line.

“Eric? Baby? What happened? Are you there?”

Channie said, “Sorry, Eric’s not available.”
 

“Who is this?”

“Channie Belks.” She didn’t need to ask who she was talking to, she recognized Kassie's nasally-rich-girl voice.
 

“What the hell are you doing with Eric’s phone?”

“I’m borrowing it.” It gave her a great deal of pleasure to antagonize the girl that had called her an inbred hillbilly. “I don’t have time to chat. Bye-bye.” Channie closed the phone and waited a few seconds. When she reopened it, Kassie was gone.
 

Channie had been watching the other kids use their phones since Daddy had agreed to buy her one so it didn’t take her long to figure out how to use Eric’s. Josh answered on the first ring.

“What do you want, jackass?”

“Josh?”

“Uh … Channie?”
 

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing with Eric’s phone?”

“I borrowed it.” Channie leaned against her locker. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“How come you didn’t come back to school?”

“I’m in the hospital.”

“The hospital! What are you doing in the hospital?”

“I’m fine. I just made the mistake of going to the nurse after you … after I started feeling bad. When the school called my mom to come get me, they told her my heart beat was a little erratic. She panicked and took me straight to the hospital. Hang on a minute.” Josh muffled his phone, but Channie could still hear him. “Come on, Mom. Give me a little privacy. Go grab a cup of coffee or something … okay, Channie, I’m back.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? An erratic heartbeat could be serious.”
 

“I’m fine. I promise. They did a bunch of tests — I feel like a damned pincushion — but they didn’t find anything wrong with me. I guess there isn’t a lab test for magical curses.”
 

Josh laughed, but Channie didn’t. “If it’s not serious, why are you still in the hospital?”

“Probably because my mom was so freaked out. They gave me an IV and insisted on keeping me overnight for observation. A pediatric cardiologist just checked me out an hour ago. He said the school nurse must have made a mistake because my heart is in excellent condition and there’s no reason I can’t race tomorrow.”
 

“That’s fantastic.”

Josh said, “I sort of miss you.”

Channie grinned and wondered what a pediatric cardiologist would say about her irregular heartbeat if he could hear it now. “I sort of miss you too.”

“So … are you going to come see me race?”

“The whole family’s coming. I showed Daddy that paper you gave me.” After he promised not to curse Josh. “He’s so excited, he can hardly stand it.”

“What about you?”

Channie spoke without thinking.
 

“I can’t wait to see you again.” She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against her locker. She’d better learn to keep her mouth shut. If Daddy ever heard her say something that forward to a boy — he’d kill her in her sleep.

Josh laughed and said, “Guess what I just figured out? Your curse can’t touch me when we’re this far apart.”

“Of course not, silly. I’m a mage, not a super-hero.” Channie giggled then realized she was being rude. She’d never explained the law of distance to Josh. “How did you figure it out on your own?”

“I … Uh … think I hear my mom talking to the nurses in the hall. I need to go. But, tell Eric I appreciate him letting you borrow his phone.”

“He didn’t exactly let
me. I sort of coerced him.”

“How?”

“He was talking to his girlfriend, so I just tapped into his lustful energy and zinged him a little then picked his phone up off the floor when he dropped it.”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. I swear I didn’t hurt him. It wasn’t anything like what I did to you — which was an accident. You know that, right? You know I’d never hurt you on purpose.”

“I sure hope not.”

Channie had a hard time returning Eric’s phone. Every time he saw her, he ran away. She finally caught up with Kassie between classes and gave it to her. Pissing her off was a huge bonus.

~***~

Daddy waited until bedtime to give Channie her new cell phone. She was too excited to be mad at him for not giving it to her sooner and stayed up till eleven-thirty studying the instruction book.
 

She couldn’t wait to tell Josh about her new phone, but she didn’t want to wake him if he was already asleep. His ringtone for phone calls was a song called “Next Go Round” and it was loud enough to wake his whole family. His text message alert was a high-pitched noise that most adults couldn’t even hear, but it would still wake him if his phone was turned on and Channie didn’t want to disturb his sleep the night before his big race.

~***~

They got to the race track at about ten o’clock the next day. Daddy pulled Channie aside in the parking lot and said, “Joshua didn’t happen to mention who he thought his closest competition was did he?”

“Why?”

“Just wondering, that’s all.”

“You promised you wouldn’t curse Josh.”

“Why baby girl, I have no intention of cursing the boy. Not when you’ll do it for me.”
 

Daddy patted her cheek and strode off after Momma and the trips, leaving Channie in the parking lot with her mouth hanging open and Chastity’s energy boiling in her power-well. She took a deep breath to calm herself and choked on a cloud of red dust that cast a cinnamon haze over the sun and leached the turquoise glow out of the Colorado sky.

Channie continued to cough as she trotted off towards the crowd. It wasn’t hard to find her family — she didn’t even need a seeking spell — all she had to do was follow the sound of the trips’ raucous laughter.
 

“Hey, there you are.” Josh ran towards Channie with a wide grin on his face, but stopped when she lifted a hand in warning.

“Josh, you have to be careful.”

“I know, I know, come on, I want you to meet my family.”

Josh’s momma and daddy may have been divorced, but they sure didn’t act like it. Josh’s daddy had even brought his new wife to the race but they were all sitting around in lawn chairs under a tarp, laughing and talking like one big, happy family.