They return from their day at the beach. A day that might have been a bit more emotional than either Cindy or Donna expected. Randi continues to amaze everyone with her advanced talents. The Wizard tells Cindy that Andy and Donna need to know about him and their magical abilities. The Wizard also gives the impression that Donna is very important. Cindy and Maddy give rather impressive demonstrations of their powers.

If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy and how she arrived where she is now, you should probably read them. Start with “An Incremental Journey”, “Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend”, “Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver”, and “Cynthia and the Moment of Truth.” “Cynthia and the Christmas Gift” is looked at from a slightly different perspective in this story. That’s a few chapters from now and there are some interesting revelations of what went on behind the scenes.

This story is a bit longer than the previous ones in this series. It is 13 chapters and 34,000 words long. The High School Years, Part 2 is partly written, but nowhere near ready to post. I will post Chapter 6 in a few days.

I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations.

Once again, Holly has taken time out of her busy and hectic schedule to correct my many and grievous errors. Thank you so much!

This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

Chapter 5

They sat in silence for a long time, keeping each other warm against the wind.

“Okay guys, we need to get back. What happened? Did we walk too fast for you?”

“No, Donna and I had some things to talk about. Yeah, we’d better get back or Mom or Dad will be calling."

They returned in plenty of time, and Stan and Marissa had no problems with the four teenagers looking after the other two Lewis’s children. Bobbie returned before Cindy’s parents left, and Andy and Donna got there shortly afterwards. It was starting to spit rain, and the weather was probably a precursor to what would be a nasty winter.

Cindy had gone upstairs to check on her little brother and little sister. The latter was at her computer and chatting with The Wizard. Maddy was draped over her shoulder, and turned as her friend entered the room.

“Cindy,” Maddy said in her cute little voice. “His Wisdom says it is time for Randi to have an associate. He also says that Bobbie is long overdue finding one. He says we need to go to the county animal shelter tomorrow.”

Cindy looked over her little sister’s shoulder, and watched The Wizard as he was demonstrating how to cut up four leaf clovers to make a good luck potion. The Wizard looked up at her as he continued to mince the leaves. “Cindy, they will be waiting for you. Take Maddy. Just tell them, if anyone questions you, that you need to make sure that they will get along with her. It shouldn’t take too much persuasion. The arrangements have been made, so you just need to get there.

“Now there are a couple of other things. There shouldn’t be any problems with Bobbie telling Andy about you two. I’ve checked the time lines and there aren’t any reasons not to tell him. Also, there are a couple of things I need to talk to Bobbie about. Ask her to come up when she get’s a chance, and she can bring Andy.

“Okay, young lady, that’s it for tonight. It’s time for bed and be sure to brush your teeth. Also, ask your mother before you practice with the clover. Be sure it’s clover, and not shamrocks. All the shamrocks will do is summon a bunch of ill-tempered leprechauns.”

Randi ran off to take care of things. The Wizard continued to busy with some things on his counter. “So how is Donna doing? Is she okay? She’s certainly had a rough time of it.”

“You know about Donna?”

“Of course I do, I’m a ….”

“ … Wizard,” Cindy chimed in. “I think I like her a lot. I’ve only known her for a short time, but I think she’s a good person who has had some really shitty luck. I think I would like to get to know her better.”

“Maybe you should. Make sure you send Bobbie and Andy up here. I need to go over a few things with them.”

Randi returned to the bedroom. She raced to her dresser, found a nightie to her liking, and quickly donned it. She ran over to the computer screen, reached through it grabbing The Wizard around his neck, and gave him a goodnight kiss. Cindy shook her head in disbelief. Her little sister wasn’t waiting for puberty to exhibit some of her powers.

Cindy kissed her sister goodnight, turned off the computer, and went to her own room to her computer. She could see that The Wizard was still online. “Your Wisdom, were you aware she could do that, or did you teach her?”

“I must say, she caught me completely off guard. That takes some special ability, and I don’t think anyone expected her to be developing so soon.

“How is she doing with the old memories? They’re not overwhelming her are they?”

“She’s doing fine. She says she just puts them in her scrap book, and she can find them if she wants. She enjoys life so much. She is going to be a real heart breaker; she’s already a consummate flirt.

“I guess I shouldn’t second guess you, but do you think it’s wise for Andy to find out about you?”

“It will be fine. He will need to find out some day, anyway.”

“Oh.”

“Take care of Donna. It’s very important. The reason will become apparent after a while. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Cindy returned to the family room. Her other brother had just come back from hanging out with some friends and was watching the movie along with Andy, Bobbie and Donna. He was thirteen and starting to sprout. He seemed to take most of the goings on of his family in stride. He knew about The Wizard and the fact that his sisters seemed to have some special powers. He didn’t tell his friends about the strange things they could do, nor did he tell them that his sister had a talking cat. If he had friends over, they never seemed to notice anything unusual.

Maddy bounced up on the couch next to Donna and sniffed at her a bit. Her upper lips curled up and her mouth was slightly open. “Donna, this is Maddy. She’s been part of this household for seven years.”

“Well, Maddy, you are certainly a beautiful little cat,” Donna said as she reached out and stroked Maddy’s chin and lower jaw.

“Thank you Donna, you are very pretty, too.”

Donna turned to Cindy, “Wow! you are some ventriloquist. Where did you learn to do that?”

Cindy’s jaws dropped. The Schmedlaps knew Maddy could talk, as did Cindy’s family. Bobbie’s grandparents also knew, but they hadn’t told Bobbie’s mother and father. There was a problem there that still hadn’t been resolved. Now Donna could hear her as well.

“Er, Donna, I’m not a ventriloquist.”

“Well, who is: Bobbie, Andy, Tom?”

“I’m afraid,” Cindy said carefully, “none of us are. Maddy do you want to explain yourself?

“Uh, Bobbie, His Wisdom wants to talk to you and Andy. He’s waiting.”

Andy was also startled by what he too thought was a ventriloquist’s trick. “What’s going on, and who is this wisdom character?”

“I think I’ll let Bobbie explain that to you. It will all become very apparent soon enough.

“Tom, why don’t you go upstairs and play games on your computer. Apparently, Maddy and I have some things to explain to Donna.

“So Maddy, what do we do now?”

“I guess we tell her everything. If she can understand me, then that is the only logical thing to do.”

Donna shook her head. “This is getting weirder and weirder. What did you guys do, put some sort of drug in my Coke? I have to be hallucinating.”

“There’re no drugs. I certainly didn’t expect this to happen; however, I guess you’re meant to know what’s going on.” Cindy took a deep breath. “We’re witches; Bobbie, Randi, and I are witches. Maddy’s my familiar; although, that is an oversimplification. Maddy is very magical, and she helps me focus our powers.

“Bobbie and Andy are talking to The Wizard right now, and I guess he and Bobbie are explaining the same thing to Andy.”

“Right, and I’m Ellen Degeneres.”

“Maddy, how’s the holographics going?”

“Fine, what do you want me to do?”

“Well, since she mentioned it, why don’t you put an image of Ellen up over there? We’ll let Donna make up her own mind.”

Maddy hissed something unintelligible, and there was a sparkle of an image coming in and out of focus. The image suddenly solidified as much as a holographic image could. It walked over to Donna, who wasn’t sure what to do, whether to run or laugh.

“Hi, Donna, I just wanted to tell you that Cindy and Bobbie are witches, and I’m, er, Maddy is the most beautiful and intelligent cat in the world.” The lip synching was perfect and Maddy had done a pretty good imitation of Ellen’s voice.

“Sorry about the voice thing. I still have some practice to do on that. His Wisdom’s always after me. He says that a little slip up can mess up the whole effect.” The image of Ellen blinked out.

“This is unreal. I mean witches and talking cats. I suppose the next thing you will do is cast a spell on me and have me strip naked and dance on the dining room table.”

“I don’t cast spells on people without reason, and I never cast spells on my friends unless there is an emergency. We’re just learning witchcraft and The Wizard wants us to take it slowly. My little sister is somewhat of a prodigy, though.”

“So, are your father and brothers sorcerers or something like that?”

“No, they don’t seem to have any magical powers as near as we can tell. It seems that the sort of magic we have is passed down through the girls’ side of the family. I’m doing some study on that. I’ll show it to you sometime. I’m still trying to figure out The Wizard thing though. I haven’t figured out what happens there. There are also sorcerers, but I’ve never met one of them.”

“You are serious aren’t you? You are really trying to tell me you are a witch, that that image thing wasn’t just a parlor trick.”

“Donna, would you let me try something? I promise I won’t hurt you. There won’t be any fire or knives, or anything like that. Just stand there and relax.”

“Sure, I have nothing to lose.”

“Donna, if this doesn’t work, I think I have everything to lose.

"[Maddy, I’m going to need your help. I want to levitate her. We’ll pick her up and move her over in front of the fireplace. Any problems with that?]”

“[I think we can do it. We’ve practiced enough]”

They formed the correct sequences in their minds and Maddy focused on Donna. Donna’s eyes widened as a sense of weightlessness overtook her. She gently rose off the floor.

“Holy shit!” She wasn’t terrified, just surprised. She looked around and passed her hand over her head to see if there were any wires somehow supporting her. They gently placed her in front of the hearth.

“I guess we could do some more, if you want. Need any more demonstrations?”

“That was fucking amazing. No, I think you’ve shown me enough for now. Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because it feels right, and The Wizard indicated I should. I think he wants me to tell you many things.”

“Maddy, besides being exceptionally beautiful and intelligent, what do you do?”

“I kill cockroaches. I also kill starlings and Norwegian rats. I talk to dogs and wolves. The Wizard’s companion is Wolf, and we’re real good friends. The Wizard lets me be a mountain lion sometimes when we go out in the woods and play. I was a real good friend with Bobbie’s dog, Einstein, but he died last year. He told me he was coming back as a border collie next time. He was hoping he could come back here. That’s the fun stuff.” Maddy became a bit less self important. “I saved Cindy’s life once,” she added quietly.

“Actually she saved my life more than once, although the first time, neither of us understood what was going on,” Cindy reminisced about the tiny kitten struggling on the ice. That had been so long ago.

The sound of footsteps descending the main stairway into the entry hall diverted their attention for a moment. Andy and Bobbie entered the family room. She had her arm around his waist. He had a wide-eyed look of incredulity.

“If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it. There really are wizards, and sweet, not so little Bobbie is a witch: fucking amazing. I think I’m just beginning to understand what’s so special about her.

“Donna, did they tell you? Can you believe it?”

“I believe it. They gave me a rather convincing demonstration.”

“Maddy, would you entertain Donna and Andy for a moment? Bobbie and I have something we need to talk about.”

“Sure, the usual parlor tricks?”

“Why not; just show them a little of what you can do.”

Cindy led Bobbie to the kitchen just as her parents were coming in from the garage. “Hi Mom, Dad: Andy and Donna are in the family room. Maddy is showing them some tricks.”

“You mean they … ?”

“Yeah, they know. The Wizard said we should tell them. I guess there are some important reasons, but he hasn’t told us what they are.”

“Did you tell them about you and Bobbie?” her dad asked.

“No, and that’s why Bobbie and I are back here. I wanted to find out what The Wizard had to say to her.”

“He told me that it wasn’t time, but that it would be soon,” Bobbie said. “He felt that there was no reason to inundate them with too much at one time.

“You’re going to like Donna, she’s sweet.”

Next: The two couples and Randi go to the County Animal Shelter. As they near the shelter, Bobbie, Cindy and Randi hear the young kittens calling for their mother. Maddy assures them everything will be alright. They meet two witches who bring the two kittens to them. They get their shots and Maddy leads the way. Randi continues to demonstrate her developing powers. We’re expecting more snow here. I might put up the next chapter on Friday. We’ll see.