Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?
By: A J
Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.
Chapter 6
'Highway to Hell'
Susan woke with a groan. Last night's headache never had faded away. Rolling over, she thumped a hand on the empty side of her bed. Dean was out of town at a history symposium, about whatever he intended to teach about next semester, and he wanted to add the newest information unearthed to his class' curriculum. While she could applaud the man's devotion to teaching, she was mad as #&][ that he was gone just when she needed him.
"Maybe it's for the best," she sighed to herself. It meant she and Will could concentrate on each other, and getting through the next few days together. Maybe they'd even find their mother/daughter common ground, which had been missing these last couple hectic years in Heatherfield.
Sue was halfway through her second cup of coffee when Will finally appeared in the kitchen. "Mrng, Mmmm," Will mumbled through a yawn, digging a diet cola out of the fridge.
"Good morning to you too, honey," Susan laughed. Will flopped into the chair facing her, opened her soda, and drank the whole can in one go. Her mother watched with a faint smile, and pushed the other half of her bagel across the table.
Will's eyes lit up at the sight of food, and she took a large bite without thinking about it. Her eyes went wide and watered. "H-H-Himerish's holy robes, Mom," she gasped. "What's ON this?"
"It's just an everything bagel with garlic cream cheese," Susan answered blithely, finishing her coffee. She went to get herself ready while Will was still trying to wash the taste away with a second soda.
w.i.t.c.h.
They were on the road to Fadden Hills an hour later, a disgruntled Martin Vandom driving behind them in his rented Mercedes. Sue had wanted her car accessible, regardless of what her overbearing brother-in-law said, and had gotten behind the wheel of her Accord without one argumentative word in his direction. Without any word, now that she looked back, and smiled with pride. She spared a glance back at the dark Mercedes mini-limo in her rearview mirror, and sighed.
For the life of her, she didn't know why he bothered with the ostentatious gas-guzzler. She already knew his family was rich; Tony had become a financial whiz managing his chunk of the family holdings originally. She supposed once they got to the funeral parlor, it would stand out a lot less in the procession to the graveyard than her British-racing-green ricer. She sighed with a smirk, and looked over at her daughter, who was busily texting away on her phone.
"Who are you talking with, honey? Aren't the other girls still in school?"
"Yeah, they are, but I caught 'em between classes," Will said distractedly. Her mom didn't need to know that between their various Elemental gifts, the members of W.i.t.c.h.e. and their boyfriends could keep in near-constant communication. The others were actually still in class, three of the gang currently sitting through the torture of Dean Collin's substitute history teacher, Elyon's mother Eleanor Miriadel Brown.
In an effort to improve their cover lives on Earth, both the Browns had gone back to school. Miriadel, a former Captain in the Meridian Army, had gotten a degree in military history, and a teaching certificate. It had come in handy over the years, as she could substitute at Sheffield in order to keep an eye on her adoptive daughter and monarch, Elyon.
Alborn, a.k.a. Thomas Brown, had joined the police force, taking advantage of his years in the Royal Guard and his passing friendship with Guardian Irma Lair's father. Another Thomas, Officer Lair welcomed his daughter's friend's father onto the force, and after Alborn's six months as a rookie were through, the two became partners. Officer Brown was using Alborn as his middle name on Earth anyway, and since Tom Lair had been on the force for years, all the other officers now called him 'Al'.
Al was who Will was actually texting with at the moment, having him do a surreptitious background check on Martin Vandom to see what the story was with her mysterious uncle.
YEAH, was his reply, after the computers in the station had had time to digest the query and spit out a response. BIG-TIME MONEY-MOVER OUT OF THE NEW YORK AREA. HAS AN AUNT IN POUGHKEEPSIE, EVELYN FLAUMEL, AND A SISTER NAMED CHANCE IN A PRIVATE BOARDING SCHOOL IN WESTCHESTER. NOTHING ABOUT HIS FATHER RANDOM OR TONY MENTIONED. WILL, THE STATE OF THESE RECORDS LOOKS A LITTLE FAMILIAR. LIKE THEY WERE MADE, LIKE OURS. Will knew he meant Alborn and Miriadel's whole Earthly existence, magically cobbled together when they had arrived from Meridian fifteen years ago.
SOMEHOW, NOT TOO SURPRISED, she sent back, remembering her mystical conversation with Grandpa Random last night, and huffing her bangs out of her eyes. She should have grabbed a couple of pins to keep her hair out of the way for the day. Then she spied her mother's collection of spare paperclips, chained together around the rearview mirror, and nabbed a couple with a grin. Susan caught her daughter's emergency hair-care act out of the corner of her eye, and smiled as well.
"Keep that look up, and we'll turn you into a cubical-monkey yet," she teased.
Will harrumphed good-naturedly. With the amount of extracurricular activities her system had gotten used to over the last three years, there was no way she could ever settle down into the life of an office flunkie. As was, she could understand why even seventy-year-old Yan Lin was capable of the hectic day-to-day running of a restaurant. It let her stay active.
KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN, GUARDIAN, Al typed to her next. WE SEND OUR CONDOLENCES , BUT WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE THE SERVICE. CONSIDER CALEB OUR GOOD-WILL AMBASSADOR FOR THE EVENING.
WE'LL MISS YOU THREE, THANKS. Will hung up, and settled back with a sigh.
"What is it, Will?" Susan asked, after a few moments' silence.
"Elyon can't make it; something came up with her folks," Will said, staring out the window. 'Sending Caleb' meant the Browns had to go back to Meridian for something important. It just reminded Will that their universe didn't leave time for grieving.
"Hmm, well I hope it's not too bad, they've had enough problems, haven't they?" Sue murmured. Even without knowing the real story, she knew that something had been very wrong at the Browns' the first year she and Will had been in Heatherfield.
"Me either, Mom," Will replied tersely, apparently concentrating on the scenery flowing past at seventy miles an hour. 'Me either.' They were both silent the rest of the ride.