Indigo's House of Misfit Witches

Chapter 5: Girls Just Wanna Have Shungite

I run over to the door and open it.

A boy wearing a backpack stands there. "Hello, sorry to disturb you, but do you mind helping me with directions to the post office?"

"Are you a witch?" I ask, my voice frantic.

The boy blinks. "Uh- I- yes? I mean, I'm self-taught, I-"

"Do you know how to heal?!"

"Kind of?"

"Come inside!" I grab him by the wrist and yank him over to Megan. "Sorry for being rough, but I need you to heal this girl."

The boy looks down. Only a tiny hole remains for Megan to breathe, and it's getting tinier by the second. "I'll try my best, ma'am." He takes off his backpack, pulls out a Shungite crystal, and holds it against Megan's heart. His breathing quiets, and I can tell this is taking a toll on him.

Suddenly, the black begins to recede. Megan's face, neck, and upper body clears, and soon her entire body is free of the flower's poison. She takes deep breaths of the air, and throws her arms around me.

"Thank you," I tell the boy.

"It... it was my pleasure." He wipes sweat off of his forehead and holds out his hand. "I'm Adrian."

I shake his hand. "Nice to meet you, Adrian. I'm Indigo."

"Why did you come here?" Tori asks, eyes searching.

Adrian puts the Shungite into his backpack. "I don't know. I felt a pull, I guess. Like... like you guys needed me."

"We did need you," Tori says. "I was praying to Hera that someone would come and heal Megan."

"And we might still need you." I squeeze Megan's hand. "You have an amazing gift. Crystal healing isn't an easy magic to perform; you did it perfectly. Would you like to stay here? With us?"

Adrian sighs. "I'd love to, but... I can't." He slings his backpack over his shoulders. "I've already got a place to stay." He heads towards the door, and stops. "Although if you're looking for another person to stay here, my cousin Beanca would be willing." Adrian pulls out a slip of paper, scribbles something on it, and hands it to me. "She's an aether witch. Here's her number."

And with that, he leaves.

As soon as he's out the door, Tori turns to me. "Okay, is it just me, or was that weirdly convenient?"

I frown. "It's not just you. He seemed to come just in time. Hera's pull must have been very strong for him to feel it that soon."

"And there wasn't a lot of time between me beginning to pray and him showing up, so he must have been close to our house in order to be able to come so fast." Tori taps her chin. "But don't you think we would have seen him before? I don't recall ever running into him."

"It is a small town," I concede. "But maybe he just moved here. After all, he did need directions to the post office."

"Yeah..." Tori slowly sits down on the couch and starts fidgeting with the fabric of her dress.

I shrug, and glance at the paper. He wrote the number in pencil, and it's already begun to smear. I dial it. Someone picks up after the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm Indigo. Uh, your cousin Adrian was just here, and he told me that you'd be willing to come stay with us?"

"Us? Who's 'us?'"

"I live in a house on Emerald Avenue, and I have a bunch of kids that stay with me. They all needed a place to stay, and I offered up my home."

"Oh. Okay. Well, sure - I guess I'll stay with you. What's the house number?"

"7."

"Cool. I'll come over there tomorrow to check the place out. See you then!"

"Okay! Bye, Beanca!" I say, but she's already hung up. I snap my fingers. "She needs a room!"

Tori follows me upstairs. I immediately head to the room at the end of the hall. It's the last vacant room in the house. I push open the door.

The floor and furniture are covered in dust. The bed frame only has a mattress. The walls have ugly rose-patterned wall-paper.

I roll up my sleeves, and Tori does too. "Let's get started," I say.

We gather everyone else, save for Megan, who's resting - Annika, Lara, Alex, Quinn, Renee, Ollie, Lila, and Sal - and some cleaning supplies, and get to work on the room.

Tori makes the bed, delicately tucking in lavender sheets and a soft handmade quilt. Quinn and Alex mop the floors, revealing the shiny brown hardwood underneath the layers of grime. Sal pulls down the wallpaper, and Renee paints the bare walls with a tub of dark purple paint from Lowe's. Lila dusts the desk, chair, dresser, and nightstand. Ollie lovingly places some of his succulents on the windowsill. Annika replaces the heavy gray curtains with gauzy golden ones, to let the warm sun filter through and give the succulents light. Lara and I go shopping for decorations, and strategically put them around the room.

Finally, it's done. We light a blackberry-scented candle to get rid of the artificial lemony smell of the furniture cleaner, and Sal starts to bake a blueberry pie.

I look out the window. The evening sun streams through the glass. "Hey - why don't we have a dance party in the front yard?"

A smile breaks out on Annika's face. "That sounds fun!"

We herd everyone in the room downstairs and out the front door. I get my Death Star-shaped speaker, connect it to my iPhone, and start playing Imagine Dragons songs. We all start dancing.

The late-summer grass is soft underneath my bare feet. It's warm outside, but a cool breeze blows through every once in a while.

It's perfect.

Until I notice Linda.

She's standing out on her front porch, watching us.

When she sees me looking, she crosses her arms. "Having fun?" she says, eyeing me.

"Yeah." I smile uncertainly. Why is she being nice to us?

She glances away for a second. "Mmm."

Isaac tentatively sticks his head out. When Linda doesn't push him back, he comes out further. "Mommy, can I play with them? I love dancing."

Linda "hmm"s and uncrosses her arms. "Sure. Go." She waves him on as he happily races over to us.

"Hi, I've never got to talk to you guys before!" He says in his little-kid voice.

Annika laughs. "I've never gotten to talk to you either. What song do you want to dance to?"

The boy thinks for a minute. "How'bout Bare Nec-ess-ess-ities?" He stutters on the last word.

"Bare Necessities, from The Jungle Book?" I smile. "I love that movie! Sure, we can play that." I search my Music library and begin playing that song.

Isaac immediately begins dancing, glancing over at Linda every once in a while. She's watching us like a vulture watches prey.

When the song is over, Isaac chooses another one, and another one after that. Finally, when the moon has come out, and his eyelids are drooping, Linda swoops in and picks him up.

"Okay, sweetheart," she says, kissing his forehead. "Let's go in. You still need to say your prayers before bed." She glares at me.

"Bye, Isaac!" Calls Annika, waving at him. He waves back before Linda carries him inside of her house and shuts the door.