Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful Read Online Free PDF Page B

hadn’t been there a moment before, eating a lemon cookie from a plate I didn’t see arrive, and drinking Lapsang Souchong from a cup that appeared when Ophelia reached for it. Just for the record, I didn’t feel better at all. I felt as if I’d taken a step that wasn’t there, or perhaps failed to take one that was: out of balance, out of place, out of control.
    Kim, restless as a cat, was snooping around among the long tables.
    “What’s with the flying fish?” she asked.
    “They’re for Rachel’s new experiment,” said Ophelia. “She thinks she can bring the dead to life again.”
    “You better let me tell it, Ophie,” Rachel said. “I don’t want Mrs. Gordon thinking I’m some kind of mad scientist.”
    In fact, I wasn’t thinking at all, except that I was in way over my head.
    “I’m working on animating extinct species,” Rachel said. “I’m particularly interested in dodos and passenger pigeons, but eventually, I’d like to work up to bison and maybe woolly mammoths.”
    “Won’t that create ecological problems?” Kim objected. “I mean, they’re way big, and we don’t know much about their habits or what they ate or anything.”
    There was a silence while Rachel and Ophelia traded family-joke smiles.
    “That’s why we need you,” Rachel said.
    Kim looked as though she’d been given the pony she’d been agitating for since fourth grade. Her jaw dropped. Her eyes sparkled. And I lost it.
    “Will somebody please tell me what the hell you’re talking about?” I said. “I’ve been patient. I followed your pal Rodney through more rooms than Versailles and I didn’t run screaming, and believe me when I tell you I wanted to. I’ve drunk your tea and listened to your so-called explanations, and I still don’t know what’s going on.”
    Kim turned to me with a look of blank astonishment. “Come on, Mom. I can’t believe you don’t know that Ophelia and Rachel are witches. It’s perfectly obvious.”
    “We prefer not to use the W-word,” Rachel said. “Like most labels, it’s misleading and inaccurate. We’re just people with natural scientific ability who have been trained to ask the right questions.”
    Ophelia nodded. “We learn to ask the things themselves. They always know. Do you see?”
    “No,” I said. “All I see is a roomful of junk and a garden that doesn’t care what season it is.”
    “Very well,” said Rachel, and rose from her chair. “If you’ll just come over here, Mrs. Gordon, I’ll try to clear everything up.”
    At the table of the flying fish, Ophelia arranged us in a semi-circle, with Rachel in a teacherly position beside the exhibits. These seemed to be A) the fish and B) one of those Japanese good-luck cats with one paw curled up by its ear and a bright enameled bib.
    “As you know,” Rachel said, “my field is artificial intelligence. What that means, essentially, is that I can animate the inanimate. Observe.” She caressed the porcelain cat between its ears. For two breaths, nothing happened. Then the cat lowered its paw and stretched itself luxuriously. The light glinted off its bulging sides; its curly red mouth and wide painted eyes were expressionless.
    “Sweet,” Kim breathed.
    “It’s not really alive,” Rachel said, stroking the cat’s shiny back. “It’s still porcelain. If it jumps off the table, it’ll break.”
    “Can I pet it?” Kim asked.
    “No!” Rachel and I said in firm and perfect unison.
    “Why not?”
    “Because I’d like you to help me with an experiment.” Rachel looked me straight in the eye. “I’m not really comfortable with words,” she said. “I prefer demonstrations. What I’m going to do is hold Kim’s hand and touch the fish. That’s all.”
    “And what happens then?” Kim asked eagerly.
    Rachel smiled at her. “Well, we’ll see, won’t we? Are you okay with this, Mrs. Gordon?”
    It sounded harmless enough, and Kim was already reaching for Rachel’s hand. “Go ahead,” I