Excerpt: Bury St. Edmunds

The room was stifling, all the midday heat caught in the tiny eighth floor apartment. Sliding onto the couch, exhausted from the long day, Madelyn was relieved even in the warmth.

She felt eyes on her all day, someone watching from the creeping shadows along every street, in every corner. It was beyond disconcerting. At least now that she was home she could breathe a bit easier, even if the air didn't stir an inch.

If she knew there was someone on the other side of her door, the owner of the very real pair of eyes that had followed her all day, she wouldn't have felt so comfortable. The knock made her jump. She debated quite seriously for a moment about grabbing a knife from the kitchen. The whole day had pulled her further along the path of paranoia than she'd ever been and Madelyn was more concerned with her safety than sanity. She stood with her hand pressed to the locked door. "Who is it?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible.

Liesl wasn't sure how to begin. She'd spent her entire life searching for someone as special as Madelyn, someone like herself that she could help and nurture. No amount of searching could prepare the seeker for the moment when what you wanted was within your grasp. She cleared her throat. "My name is Liesl Guillory."

Madelyn waited a moment before paranoia turned to irritation. "And?"

Liesl traced the door handle with her index finger before letting her hand come to rest on the door, just in the spot where Madelyn's hand remained on the other side of the door. "I can't even begin to explain who I am on the other side of this door." It was the bald truth and she knew it wouldn't stand on its own. "I can't ask you to trust me and I won't ask you to have me in your apartment, considering we've never officially met." She stalled out and tried to remember the trick Jerry suggested. "I don't know if you're interested in a higher education, but I'd like to offer you an opportunity. If you're curious or ready to listen I'll be at the little café around the corner." She left it at that and made her way to the café as promised. She was determined to wait all night if necessary.

Madelyn's hand tingled on the door, a peculiar sensation as if something in her was reaching out to this stranger, right through the wood of her front door. She leaned into that feeling with growing curiosity. Despite her better judgment she grabbed her purse and headed out into the humid afternoon.

She wasn't sure who she was looking for, or if this Liesl would recognize her. It struck her then that her hand was still tingling and it grew stronger the closer she drew toward the café. She followed it like a beacon, finding a thin, olive skinned woman sitting at a table near the front.

The air conditioning in here was refreshing, but it did nothing to quell the peculiar sensation now coursing up her arm. Liesl smiled at her as if they'd known each other all along; she gestured Madelyn into the seat across from her. "You'll get used to the tingling," she said quietly. "It's how we recognize each other."

Her hand shook, her head mimicking that action. "How did you…"

Liesl smiled knowingly. "I was young once too. I didn't know what any of it meant. I felt like I was the butt of every joke where everyone else knew the punch line and I had no idea." She lowered her voice and leaned across the table. "I can't say a lot out in open public, so stop me if I get too vague."

"Already there," Madelyn replied, a peculiar smile beginning to warm her face. She couldn't place it yet, but there was something comforting and familiar about Liesl. She decided that she already liked her, even if she wasn't ready to extend any kind of trust. "What is this all about?"

Liesl bit her lip. This was the part she had prepared the most. She remembered what it was like when she was introduced to the idea by her seeker. "This will probably all sound like pandering bullshit to you, but that's not even remotely what it is. You're a talented girl and a perfect candidate for a special kind of education. I've been delegated the opportunity to teach if you want to learn."

Madelyn listened with a cynical ear. A lot was falling between the cracks of Liesl's spare choice of words. "What kind of education?"

"I don't know if you'd believe me unless I showed you and I can't do that here."

A waitress made her way over and offered them menus to peruse. On any other day Madelyn might have been annoyed at the slow service; today she was more annoyed that the waitress was interrupting this peculiar conversation. As soon as the waitress was out of earshot Madelyn spoke. "This is starting to sound like pandering bullshit."

"I knew I was going to like you," Liesl replied, her menu completely untouched. "What I can say is that you're different in the same way that I'm different. There's no one else in this room that shares our talent and that's not an overstatement. The way your hand is tingling, running up into your shoulder and down your spine, that's your body telling you that I'm a friend. And none of this will make sense until I can show you." She was starting to feel inept, blundering her way through this introduction.

Madelyn set her menu down to listen. She hated to admit that Liesl's words were tempting. Her curiosity was roused to a point she couldn't relieve herself. "Is there a safe place you can show me?"

Hope began to flare back into Liesl. There was one place that she knew of in the city, though there were certainly more than just the one. "There's a bookshop a few blocks down. I know the owner."

"Well then, let's go." Madelyn walked beside Liesl with building excitement. The tingle had expanded from her spine, moving outward through the core of her body. It enveloped her, embraced her until she was completely lulled by it.

The bookstore had an unimpressive storefront, but she followed Liesl in all the way to a backroom where only a thin curtain divided the store from the strange world on the other side.

The room was bright and colorful, unlike Madelyn's conceptions of shady backrooms. A window was open to the small alley and the sounds of city traffic flooded the room. Liesl's first task was wrestling the ancient window closed so that they might talk in quiet and privacy.

"I'll just preface this by saying this is my first opportunity to teach. I'm not sure what you'll think or how we'll get on, but I'm so excited that it just has to work."

Madelyn watched as Liesl took a stone bowl from one of the many cupboards and set it into a basin. She filled the bowl with water, not quite to the top and brushed off her hands as if warming them up for the demonstration.

Liesl touched the water in the bowl with her index finger until it rippled outward and over the edge, cascading into the small basin below. She drew the same finger to her lips. "Shhh." The sound of the water tinkling into the basin faded until it no longer made a noise. The drops still hit the clean, white marble but they were doing so silently.

Madelyn's eyes expanded to take in this information, as if opening them more could help her ears to hear the sound again.

"With practice, you'll be able to do this too. And so many other wonderful things that I can't even begin to describe."

Her jaw dropped in response. "I could do that?" She watched as Liesl placed her finger on the edge of the bowl, running it around the entire rim. The water that had dripped into the basin curled back up the sides, drops reversing in mid-flow until all of the water had landed back in the bowl.

"Yes. And the reason why we can both do these things is that we're witches. You just didn't know it until I found you."