Fucking Magic - A Potion Problem Ch. 15

Fucking Magic: A Potion Problem

Part 15 - Off to See the... Witch

"Who is that?" Samara asked, not gushing over in jealousy as my phone rang and she saw the name on the screen, the sexy Latina was laying across my lap when I lifted my phone practically in her face.

"Probably one of his girlfriends," Mom and Aunt Allison weren't exactly taking a shine to Samara, they were being civil but there were little hints of jealousy that I didn't think Samara was picking up on, somehow wasn't making it through from me to her.

"Not a girlfriend." Samara said absently, but she did feel my attraction to Madeline.

"One second." I said into the phone.

I didn't even think about it. Taking Samara by the hand as I got up and went first down the hall, then into the bedroom. Mom and Aunt Allison moved where they could see and probably hear, if we were in the hall, but going all the way to the bedroom was too much. Too obvious. Letting Samara's hand go, I closed the door, hovering my finger over the mute button.

"I'll explain after." I told her, a hint apologetically, she nodded, I was pretty sure the emotion coming through was love. My finger paused on its way to the button, first thinking how insane that was, how much it pleased me, feeling that emotion coming through from Samara. Then right as I hit the button, that it shouldn't be. Not so fast! Or after watching me fuck my sister, and finding out I was fucking my mom and aunt. The other thing was... She stood three feet away where I'd left her, her hands at her sides. I was feeling her at a distance. Pushing all that away I rasped, "Something wrong Madeline?"

"Yes!" The blonde nerd's voice came from my speaker, sounding distraught.

"Should we come over?"

"We? Uh, no. It's... It's my sister, or what she's doing to Jacob." What I was essentially doing to my mom and my aunt rang through my head, thinking how they must feel at how cuddly Samara and I had been. Apparently they were resigned to me fucking around but they clearly were hurt by me 'choosing' the other woman. Over either or BOTH of them. "She... She made him get another job! He's going to be working like eighteen hour days come Monday, to pay off their bills."

"What?" The wind knocked out of me, thinking me messing around inside their heads had done this.

"Yeah, apparently she's had him applying to every job in the area, but no place would take him because of his other job. They finally found a place that was okay with it." I opened and closed my mouth, no way this was me, it had been in the works already. That was good. I felt relieved. If they were desperate for money, I wondered if Marco would be getting a call soon. Or if that would be too big of a card for her to play on Jacob, who didn't know it wasn't his kid. And he would know after paternity tests and child support court cases. "It's because of that potion. My potion. We have to meet tomorrow morning, do you have a vehicle that can go off-road?"

"I can get one." Uncle Perry had one that he broke out in the fall and winter, for hunting and Defluer winters.

"Good, pick me up here at six."

"A.M.?"

"Yeah, it's probably best if we get this solved before Thanksgiving dinner. Or at least get the solution so we can not be balls of nerves for the entire Holiday thinking about how messed up our family is and how..." Realizing she was rambling she let out a puff of air. "We have to get the solution as soon as possible, for both of us, right?"

"Yeah." More family would be here tomorrow, with mom and my aunt giving me longing loving looks that Elaine had mockingly called them out on, that now that I saw I couldn't help but unsee. They threw them my way every minute! Or less. "Sooner the better."

"Oh, then let's do five."

"Okay." It was early but I doubted it would be easy and even if it was, better give them the cure and get them acting more normal than risk one of our relatives seeing the way Mom and Aunt Allison stared at me. Or have them 'come out' with our secret.

"Oh and don't do anything the rest of the night. Save it up, we might need it." Pause. "Not... I mean... That's all... Energy and Magic and... Just save up... Don't do... You understand?"

"I understood." Amused, letting her know I got it from the beginning, I was sure she was blushing.

"Good, see you in the morning." Another pause but much different. "I'm sorry I did this to you."

"It's not your fault, it's hers." I said even though I kept heaping the guilt up on myself.

"Maybe but... It was my stuff that I left out, my notes, and... I wanted her to like me and needed somebody to talk to so... I told her about some, I convinced her it was real."

"Well, we'll fix it tomorrow."

"Or start to. Magic isn't overnight, it's rarely overnight. Sometimes it would be easier to do things the normal way. The only thing that quick, usually, is Bad Magic, Malum Magic. Then it seems easy and..."

"Neither of us wants that kind of solution." I'd read enough fantasy novels to know, seems easy but the price was your soul or somebody else taking the harm in balance.

"Tomorrow."

"Five."

I told Samara everything while we went to Uncle Perry and Aunt Allison's house. Feeling a bit bad about lying to everyone, that this was one of Samara's first big conversations with my family and it was her backing me up in a lie that she didn't quite understand yet. We told them that it had been a friend's girlfriend who called me. He had gotten drunk and driven off, she wanted my help to find him. I knew the potion was fucking mom up when she told me that I'd been hero enough, that I needed to stay. Saying, "You need to stay." in a way that told me she also wanted Samara to leave. But the good thing was that she loved me too much, giving in at my insistence.

After we left Samara peppered me with questions. Good questions, some I could answer, some I had to make a mental list of stuff to ask Madeline. Or... whoever the witch was when we saw her.

The thing that rocked me was halfway there Samara asked, "I... I didn't take the potion, right?"

"No."

"I didn't think so but..." Who the fuck would want that? Neither of us said but the gist of which we both felt.

We got Uncle Perry's winter vehicle, which was about ready to come back on the road anyway, and stayed the night at Samara's. It was weird, feeling her nervousness at being there with me. But we also settled down into a deep sleep. A nice sleep. Well... After she came out in her normal PJs which was just a baggy t-shirt and her panties. That had my dick stirring and if I was to make it through the night, she put on more layers. It wasn't easy after that but... It felt right and whole for the first time in a while, if ever. I woke up five minutes before my alarm went off, very early and very much the opposite of bright.

Samara and I got dressed in relative silence. I'd snuck a change of clothes that suited being out in the cold and possible weather. Samara clearly never thought she'd be anyplace but work and short stints at home, so she made due with layers of regular stuff.

"We need to get some coffee," I told her as we both walked out to the truck.

"Yeah, please." I didn't need it. I actually felt very awake, like when Samara had gotten out of her comfy (excessive) pajamas and deliberated on what to wear, I'd gotten "awake" just from the sight of her in her bra and panties. I was still a third "awake" even now.

"I got it." I told her, feeling her worry over the money, if she should go back in and make a pot.

"I... Okay." Frowning for a moment, then almost smiling.

"You can feel it too, can't you?" I asked her as we got in and on the way.

"You? I can feel you, you mean?" She asked, knowing because of whatever bond was growing between us. Able to ask, despite the insanity of the concept, because of whatever bond was growing between us.

"Yeah, me. I can feel you and you can feel me."

"Emotionally," She clarified with a little smile, her eyes darting to the lump in my pants, not a full erection but obviously noticeable. Then away, "From a distance now."

"Yeah," I wanted to ask her how much, but I was pretty sure I was feeling more of her emotions than she was of mine.

"I don't mind... Anybody else... I would, but you..." She blushed and looked out the window, I nearly steered us off the road staring at her, she was so beautiful lit only by the glow of the streetlights. Five minutes later I was coming out of the coffee shop, the last one in Defluer thanks to us, Samara shaking her head at going in. Too many bad memories. I plopped two of them down in the various cup holders, then handed her hers. "Is that for... her?"

"Huh? Oh... yeah, figured we'd all need a pick me up." I said, once more expecting jealousy for buying "another woman" something but there was none of that.

Madeline was outside as we pulled up. It was clear she had the same problem as Samara, a lack of any reason to go outside in "bad" weather meant she'd had to make due. Must have been her mom's faded pink hooded sweater that was overtop a few other layers, some dark camo pants, and bright red rainboots. I could feel Samara looking at me, knew I should control myself, but I couldn't help but smile. Madeline was so freaking adorable! Turning her eyes up to us, a worried expression on that gorgeous nerdy face, but clearly her mind and heart were set on action.

"Wha... No!" Madeline said as soon as we pulled up, Samara got out and into the back without being asked, the blonde pointing back to the front seat, feeling guilty.

"You gotta navigate," Both Samara and I said at the same time.

"Oh." And then after I moved her cup of coffee into the cup holder closest to her, after she clocked that both Samara and I had one. "Is this for me?"

"Yup." I said as I got going.

"Mmm! How di... It's good." I glanced at her, but whatever expression was on her face she hid with her coffee cup.

"Okay, now where?" I asked after she navigated us out of town, a ways, to a rural area I don't think I'd ever been near before.

"I... I don't..." Tapping the coffee cup to her forehead a few times, then suddenly wondering if she was leaving little coffee soot smudges there, she put it down and rubbed at her forehead. Glancing at me, at Samara, then closed her eyes. "I can't remember. Not... Exactly."

I idled at a Stop sign. Nobody was on either of the roads, so there was no immediate rush. But we were on the road. While I didn't have a line on her emotions like Samara and I did with each other, I knew where she was at. Her face was very expressive (and beautiful) as she tried to remember. As she heard the idling of the engine and knew that seconds were ticking by, stacking up. Nobody else could help, could solve this but her.

"It's annoying as heck! I... It won't..." The fingers on her forehead started slapping down, as if to physically jolt her mind.

"It's okay." Samara's voice low and gentle, leaning forward to give Madeline's arm a squeeze.

"It's not! We need me to remember."

"You'll get it, just... Calm." I could see that Madeline wanted to snap back, but instead she took a deep breath, massaging her temples. She started breathing in a way that naturally made Madeline follow suit, in deep and out slow. I gave Samara a nod, "Don't try and force it, just try and bring it up."

I did feel bad, that Samara was here, she wasn't directly involved but she was out here anyway. We'd talked that this could keep us away from home well into the day, Thanksgiving Day. It was unfair. She had one off for once and here she was, possibly missing it. But she insisted and I was glad. She had good instincts. A sharp mind. It showed continually, but for sure even while we were being attacked by the Grey Ghoul. Which Madeline had learned all about on the ride out. Madeline admitted that she had not studied any 'monsters' but told us her magic mentor had mentioned there were lots in the world, a good amount in the area. Like right in and around Defluer.

"You went out there lots of times right? When you stole your mom's car, you always parked it around here?" Breathing in and out along with them calmed me too, brought the questions.

"No, there was an old farmhouse. It was half burned down, in the beginning I parked around back of the barn. I was afraid of the cops running the plates, or whatever." Since she'd motioned up the road I started that way, she kept talking. "But then some guy, he was a hunter and he said he lived in the area, came across me in the woods. I remember... It was close. Close to The Witch's house, because I was a little freaked out that somebody had gotten so close. The Witch has traps around the Green Cabin. Things that repel but... Also... Worse, dangerous." We breathed for a few more moments, all together, while I rolled onward. "I think there is a path out from there, right out from that burned down farm. I think..." Her eyes scrunched shut hard and I could actually see her trying to force her brain to work. "I think... The Witch's old apprentice used to live in the house."

"The burned down one?" I asked, shaking my head. "That's not creepy."

"No, the apprentice died of old age before the house burned down. I think." Either way she wasn't as worried about that entire idea as I was. Nodding, motioning me up more. "Either way we get to the house, take the path. It'll get us halfway there," Not remembering things was really bothering her, the next couple words coming out again with annoyance. "I think." Then, when we got to the next Stop sign. "No. No! This is too far! The burned down house was... We missed it." Except we missed it again, or she was wrong about this being the road, because we went back after I U turned in the intersection and there was no burned down house. No nothing on this entire chunk of road. Besides woods on one side and field on the other, "Frack! Frack, frack, frack! Turn around! We missed it!"

"What about... Nevermind." Samara backing off whatever she had.

"Go ahead," I told her.

"No, say it." Madeline said at the same time I spoke.

"What if... We find the guy and see if he remembers where he found you?" Samara asked, leaning forward from the backseat. "Finding a fourteen or fifteen year old girl wandering in the woods isn't something he's likely to forget. Do you remember anything about him? He's got to be home, if he's still alive, it's Thanksgiving."

"He was young, not old. Like twenty-five or so, an ex-soldier." Samara nodded, pondered why because she heard farmer she thought old guy, but I had jumped to that conclusion too.

It probably had something to do with the Tellemec or the ring, why I was feeling more of her emotions than she felt of mine. We were both getting most from a distance now. While she felt general emotions, I was starting to pick up on more and more, less because the bond was getting stronger, it seemed to have plateaued, more because I was just learning to parse through the jumble of things coming my way from her.

"Okay, was he from town or..?" Samara tugging at Madeline's memory strings.

"No! No, he told me his farm was just up the road! That... Yes! That he wanted to buy the burned down farmhouse and farm the land, to use the barn." She shrugged, clearly it had been stored far away in her memory banks because she had not found it interesting.

"Okay, we go up the road." We went up the road, back the way we'd come, closer to Defluer. None of us had been paying attention to much of our surroundings until after the Stop sign. I slowed at the first place, "I'm gonna guess this is him? Brown?"

"Yes."

"Emmett Brown?" I joked.

"No, if anybody is the Doc it's the Witch." Madeline came right back, smiling that Madeline hadn't even needed a second to get my reference.

"Or you." I pointed out, which might have annoyed most women.

"I... Well..." Didn't deny it because Madeline liked being compared to a genius. Even an eccentric one.

"Oh at least we don't have to wake him." I said flatly, because not only did the exterior house lights and pole barn lights pop on, but he was standing on the porch. Then unable to help myself, "Mr. Brown, ah. Oh, right! Okay, first test. I will not call you that."

"Well, it's his name. It's not a test." Samara twisting the reference to fit the situation, while Madeline just blinked at us. The woman in the back seat did a cute little laugh, "It's a quote from The Office. An episode from..." As if she thought she had to explain herself, "The Office is on all the time at the home. I thought it was the residents but turns out a couple of the nurses do it. And... Maybe I became one of those nurses."

"I haven't seen..."

"Well we'll introduce you." I promised, for sure a flirt, for sure hinting at making a date for a Netflix and Chill. (Chill-some I guess.)

"Okay, but he's got a shotgun." Madeline stabbing a finger out the front window of the borrowed SUV at the guy on the porch.

"Of course he does." Shaking my head, "Farmers always have shotguns."

"This isn't a movie." The two ladies said at the same time.

I shrugged as if I couldn't be sure, I saw the gun, it made my stomach dance but my brain seemed to be buzzing. Taking things in, recalling things I'd seen or heard. Slowly I stuck my hands out the window after rolling it down. Waited. Neither got shot off, he didn't actually lift the gun, or aim it, but held it ready for action. A five count and I stuck my head out. It was cold but there was no wind, the short trip out of Defluer, away from the highway made the sounds of civilization, even what little there was in a small town, seem far away in this quiet. Which was comforting or scary depending on your point of view. My point of view being of an expressionless stranger with a gun, while I was sitting on his land, hoping that because he had helped a 'lost' girl in the woods once that that meant he wasn't a murderer.

"Hi, do you know who the Witch is?" It was a stupid question, I knew, but I couldn't not ask.

"My mom has been described as that. I had a fiance once back in the forever ago that I call something that sounds like witch. If you're talking the kind that wicked precedes and 'of the east' or 'of the west' follows, then no." Calm, he wasn't at all worried about a SUV full of people pulling into his drive in the early hours of the morning before the sun was up. I'm sure he couldn't see that they were gals, just their shifting shapes through the glass. "What's it to you? You don't look like Vin Diesel."

"What does that mean?" I asked, Madeline and Samara both had rolled windows down some, to hear better.

"The Last Witch Hunter! It's a Vin Diesel movie." Samara gave me a look, I blinked at her, she got embarrassed. "What? I've got a crush on him." I smile as she admitted, "Him and Elijah Wood."

"Is everything movie references nowadays?" Madeline asked, shaking her head.

"No, some are TV, usually The Office references." I told her, by the end my head was out the window again. "No, not Vin Diesel. I have been told I look like Nick Jonas though."

"Don't know who that is." With a very 'on brand' (for a farmer) spit off the porch into the grass.

"Why are you even asking him about the Witch?" Madeline hissed.

I ignored her, "You remember finding a young girl out in the woods, a few years ago?"

"I reckon I might."

"You remember where you came across her at?"

"I reckon I might."

"Would you be able to take us there?"

"I reckon I might."

"I know it's Thanksgiving and..." But he cut me off.

"Why?"

"Why is it Thanksgiving?" I asked, once more knowing it was stupid but unable to help myself.

"Why do you want to go out there?" Both Madeline and Samara put in before the farmer on the porch asked the same question in his slower unphased tone.