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 10

Dinner and Emotion

"I can't help but wonder why Matt didn't want to come to dinner with us," Sue voiced as she pulled her Accord into the Viscount lot.

"He, err … wanted to save his suit for tomorrow. It's his only one," Will muttered, flushing. Sue noticed.

"So now you'll be going to bed thinking about him lazing about in practically nothing for the night, hmm?" she chuckled.

"MO-OM!?" Will squealed, hiding her flaming face in her hands.

The valets opened their doors, and Will practically fled to the dubious safety of the dining hall and her new-met family.

"There're our girls," Flora chirped as Susan followed Will through the gilt doors. "What kept you? We've been back from the hospital long enough to order." She motioned to her plate of parmesan chicken.

"Will and Matt took their time at goodbyes," Susan teased, while Will took a seat as far from her mother as the gathered Amberites had allowed, between blond Flora and Luke opposite Carl.

"Guaranteeing he won't be … availing himself of the services?" her Great-aunt razzed. Will hid her flaming cheeks with one of the fancy linen napkins with a groan.

"Great, now she's got teasing reinforcements," the red-haired girl griped.

"Just think of us as … leveling the playing field, oh fellow red-haired one," Luke said from her other side.

"Speaking of reinforcements …" Will muttered softly his way, "What's up with the Caine sitch?"

"Sitch?" He looked blank for a moment, then grinned. "Ooh, Julia will love that one. Very Val, my dear, but I digress, and … I think that may be best left for after dinner."

"Oh, right …" She looked up just as the waitress came back to get her and her mother's orders, and Will in a fit of pique ordered the chicken Alfredo, just to see what the deal was.

Inconsequential dinner chatter surrounded them from there on. At one point though, Luke leaned back her way and grinning as he asked in a voice guaranteed to reach Susan's ears, "So … how's the Alfredo?" While the rest of the table laughed, he added just to Will, "Did you remember the deck of Trumps?" She nodded once in the guise of joining the mirth. "Use mine after you get home," he continued.

Will nodded again, this time on the way to another bite full, mumbling, "Mmmm, delish! Thanks for the rec, Uncle Luke," around it to more laughs, and a wild blush from Susan Reynolds. She wondered now just what the story behind that was.

Which Way

Will chuckled as she climbed into bed in her old room; she'd finally gotten the story behind the Alfredo joke out of her mother on the ride from the Viscount. Who knew her parents had once been immature enough to engage in a public food fight? Small wonder the memory had stayed with Luke; it was from the last outing he, Susan, Tony, and mystery-girl Gail had been on together.

Settling back, she opened her mind searching for the familiar psychic presence of her boyfriend. She wasn't sure if the distance to the motel was too great or not. After an interminable mental search she found Matt … and immediately retreated again, blushing and giggling. He was already asleep, and those kinds of dreams didn't need her active participation.

She waited a few moments for her own feelings – and hormones! – to recover, then drew the chilly deck of cards from under her pillow. 'Here goes nothin',' she sighed, thumbed through to Luke's and concentrated on his tiny portrait. Contact was slow in coming there, as well. When Luke finally acknowledged her, his reasons for prevarication were obvious, and sent Will's emotions straight back to 'in-need-of-a-cold-shower-town' all over again.

"Sorry," he muttered, obviously having just finished kissing dark-haired Nayda to a flushing faire thee well. "Almost forgot we were expecting you, Wilhelmina."

"That's okay," Will responded, blushing again. At this point she'd be permanently red-cheeked. "And it's just Will, okay?"

"Sure, Will," he chuckled, "So where we stand on … what was it you called it? Ah, the Caine Sitch. The trail is magical, and multi-shadow … Sorry, I guess that'd be multi-dimensional to you, Red. It's a bit of a colloquialism where we're from."

"Anything like Plato's theory of there being only one real anything; and all the rest of the universe, or multi-verse, is just shadows cast by it?"

"We'd better warn Merle early Nayda; this one's smarter than Julia," Luke practically choked, trying not to laugh too triumphantly.

"Nah, not me," Will countered. "I've just got some really bright friends." She grinned briefly, thinking of Taranee, then turned all business again. "Multi-dimensional grave robbing though … it's not much of a prob to anyone still alive, unless the thief's a good enough necromancer to make the taken dead a renewed threat to somebody specific."

"Whoa, don't sell yourself short yet. That's a twist we hadn't thought of, Will." Luke's smile was gone too, now. "Has this happened to you before?"

"You could say that …" Will hedged, thinking of the revival of Cassidy MacLean. "But that particular caster's been dealt with."

"The best necromancers have safe-guards against just that kind of thing, usually …"

"What? You think ..? NO! No, no. She's not dead! Imprisoned! In a jewel. And not getting out. Ever," Will huffed.

"Whoa, I believe you! Wow, what did she do to you," Luke asked.

"She … killed my sister."

"Ouch. I can empathize. WE can empathize," he continued, at an elbow-jog from Nayda.

"Who did she bring back?" Nayda asked through Luke.

"Oh, hey, Nayda. Didn't know how into this mess you were," Will greeted.

"Just about everyone you didn't recognize from the funeral home is one of us. Don't let Random or Merle downplay it; Tony had a big family, and you haven't met half of them yet," the Ty'iga replied. Luke rolled his eyes, and Will chuckled

"I kinda gathered that. So, how important was Caine that his disappearing body could make problems as bad as these sound?"

"Hmm, we swore to let Random tell you the basics here; do you mind if I put you on hold a minute, Will?"

She goggled at him a moment, "I … sure. Didn't know you could do that with magic walkie-talkie cards, but what the Hay-hay." He chuckled at her term for the Trumps, then removed her link to him from his active awareness for a moment to pull out his own Trumps and concentrate on Random's. Quickly bringing the King up to speed; Luke then reopened his contact with Will and added Random their conversation.

"Good even, Granddaughter," Random started.

"Hullo," Will replied after a short pause, where she could feel his calm, concerned regard, "So. The basics … pre-Caine."

"Ah, Luke didn't say exactly why he was adding me in," He took a calming breath and started into a much abbreviated history of the Court of Amber. "… and after he got Corwin loose, Merle's been taking charge in Chaos. We're still not sure what Dara is going to do in retaliation, but this act may be her first new move against us."

"Wow, and I thought the Guardians lead busy lives," Will muttered afterwards, shaking her head. "Hey, is that what that crack about Merlin 'living off the royalties' was really about?" Luke and Nayda laughed, while Random chuckled nastily.

"Guilty as charged, Red," Luke said. "So who are the Guardians, Will?"

"Er, my friends and I are. We were appointed by the Council of Candrakar to protect the sovereignty of the Infinite Dimensions."

"Sounds tedious," Luke drawled, "Like some kind of inter-dimensional U.N. Troop."

"Tedious? We wish! Remind me later to tell you guys - warn you guys, really - about a wizard named Lemagrag." Will turned her attention back to the King of Amber. "So what else should I know before tomorrow, Grandom?" He chortled at her smirk.

"Cute. For now, look through the Trumps so you'll recognize most of the others; we'll give you names to go with the faces tomorrow after the interment."

"Right, the interment …" Will stalled for a moment, then blurted out, "Mom wants me to say … something, but I have no idea of what. Any suggestions?"

"Hmm … if you know you're going to be uncomfortable, you could always cheer yourself up, and regale the crowd at the same time with an embarrassing anecdote only you know about the dearly departed, " Luke told her, then yelped, "Ow, Nay, what was that for?"

"Respect for the recently deceased," the other two heard her tell him.

"You didn't know Tony," he retorted. Random and Will both laughed.

"And that's where I'll call it a night, all. Thanks for the advice, you three," Will said. A second went by, then, "Uh, how do you hang these things up?" The Amberites laughed some more.

Then Luke said, "Just hold your hand over it, and slid it back into the deck with the rest. I'll teach you more about them tomorrow, too. Good night, Red."

"From all of us, Granddaughter," Random added just before she followed the directive.

Flopping back onto her old bed, Will gave a deep sigh. Looking once more at the Unicorn on the back of the Trumps, she wondered aloud, "Did you ever have it this tough?" Putting the deck back into its case, she set it beside her old alarm clock, which she'd nicked out of the spare guest room where it had languished since she'd gotten her new frog clock. "What d'you wanna bet tomorrow's not gonna be any easier?" she yawned. She never knew if it was Random's tale, or an answer from the Unicorn, that filled her dreams with a hunch-backed cackling mad-man, a bleeding lyre bird, and a slab of rock covered in a wavering, glowing line of power.

is W.I.T.C.H.?