COMING THIS MAY BOOK 3 OF THE DANGER GIRL SERIES "A WICKED GAME OF WITCHERY"

 

 

Chapter 2: Mom’s Shocking Secret

 

One thing I know for sure! Mom’s got secrets about what happened to Dad, and she’s hasn’t been talking-- until now! I know there’s more to her life than she’s willing to tell me-- that is, before today.  She set up a family meeting, just the two of us, a family meeting-without my snot-nosed grandmother, Witch Viola’s prying eyes. Besides, since the little old next door neighbor, Mrs. Vivian Pennypiece  (really Witch Viola in disguise) and her make-believe husband, Doc Pennypiece, up-and-left Puddledock Road,in the middle of the night, I knew right away that I needed to be very careful. Because, Dear Grandma (I’m being sarcastic here) shows up, under the most unusual circumstances.  But—it’s always for one purpose-- to hurt Mom with her disrespectful tone and her foul mouth!

 

Newsflash: I’m onto your games, Grandma Witch Viola!

 

I plan to tell my best friends, Lils and Jamal, what’s going on with my Grandmother and my  Dad, when I meet Mom in her writing sanctuary, or as I now call it, Mom’s voodoo sanctuary. That’s where the magic takes place.

 

And Mom, I find out, is writing her memoirs, not the mystery-type story she’s famous for. Have I given you enough time to look up memoirs? Well, here’s the deal: a memoir is a historical account or biography written from one’s own personal viewpoint.  Mom wanted me to sit and read the Memoirs of a Lost Love, that’s the title-- first,  and then ask her questions. “It’s really,” says Mom, “a love-story for the ages, of a mortal and a warlock. And the nasty and cruel way they were separated!”  True love and all…blah…blah…blah is all I can think of to say about true love! I’m kidding! It was very beautiful and touching, and I learned maybe more than I should have about true love.

 

I read it! Mom is an amazing writer and this is a memoir, dedicated to all ‘lost loves’-- and then there’s a sentence in the dedication, about how proud she hopes her daughter, Veronica Danger Powers will be when she learns her true story, one that has been “denied you for too long”. But it’s a really beautiful story, and it makes me cry. Remember? I don’t cry often, and there’s got to be a really good reason for crying. There is.

 

And to think I could actually think all those sarcastic thoughts about a woman grieving the unnecessary loss of her husband, my father! All because Mom was a mortal and Dad, Lord Talon Powers, was a warlock. My grandmother objected vehemently, and with the rage of a thousand thunder-bolts, reigning down terror on Mom. Turns out, that’s why we moved so much, and that’s why Mom said nothing. Mom, despite her fate, of losing her one true love, was trying her best to take care of Witch Viola by moving back to Puddledock Town, where the Powers family had resided for generations, and where Mom and Dad fell in love.

 

And that’s why nasty Witch Viola was in-and-out, literally, of our lives. She was keeping tabs on me, to see if I had magical powers and how strong they were. And I do have powers that rival hers, and I’m only twelve. My powers must be strong, or Viola wouldn’t bother with us.  And I’m angry at that snotty old Witch Viola for her vile and hurtful ways.

 

Mom and I spend hours talking. It feels right. We are honest with one another. I feel strong and centered. I know who I am—I’m Danger-Girl! Jamal is right! Mom tells me she’ll help us –of course I’m including my two best friends. Why wouldn’t I? Mom is ready to help, in as many ways as a mortal possibly can. She says “My powers are undeniably powerful.” That’s the word she used before she cried buckets of tears. I hug her and tell her that I am strong and powerful enough to break the spell.

 

Newsflash: Truthfully? I had my fingers crossed behind my back, just in case I couldn’t deliver on a promise to defeat a mean and ugly witch by freeing Dad and returning him home safe and sound to Mom and me!

 

I am a genius, and I have strong friends who will help me rescue my father! Mom smiles and sighs, and I know she knows my powers are strong.

 

“Veronica Danger Powers, don’t you just love that name. It rolls off the tongue like—magic!” I’m used to hearing –like music! I hug her. I do love my name, now! And I promise to protect Mom!

 

“Are you going to publish your memoir novel?” I ask her. I’m not sure that she will or that it’s a personal family book-- for me and Dad.

 

“Well,” she hesitates, “ it hasn’t been written quite yet!”

 

“It looks done,” I say. I’m shocked!

 

“This dangerous adventure hasn’t even begun yet, my dear Veronica. The struggle is real. The outcome is uncertain. It’s really about what you can become—the power of you!  It’s the struggle between good and evil. Grandma Witch Viola will try to shut you down at every turn.  She’s had a lifetime of experience from which to engage.

 

You will need to be stronger, smarter, and somehow connect with your dad.  And rely on magic! That is stronger… . You might even need to use your witch’s powers to cancel out
her powers, like a game of chess, looking to check-mate her and destroy her hold on us. Are you prepared to use your genius to protect and extract your dad from the ripples in-between time to which he is forever bound, and cast your spells to end this madness?”

 

“Yes, Mom.” I say no more.

 

“Witch Viola is willing to play an evil game of cat and mouse, to test your magic, let you believe you are ahead of this wicked game. She is strong-willed and determined to keep us apart.” Mom is serious, and holds me close to her.

 

“This is a cruel and senseless game of power.  But this is her Game, Veronica, a Wicked Game of Witchery in which my husband, your father, will die a slow death in this power struggle once it begins.

 

You will have three chances to find him. Each failure will be considered a win for Viola and your father’s life will be slowly and painfully snuffed out with each of the three tries given you by Witch Viola, until…” Mom can’t say the words, ‘until he dies’.

 

Don’t feel bad if the ending is not what we both want, Veronica. Without your help, right now,  there would be absolutely no hope that your father would ever be found in that ripple in-between time. So I have great hope!”

 

Mom leans over and whispers in my ear. “I have seen notes from your father, of fantastical worlds of terror and torture that he has been subjected to by his own mother  in-between ripples in time. These portals are short bursts of slanted yellow light that escape through the ripples as random time seepages. It has given me hope.

 

Your dad has signaled me,  through these auroras, or lights in the night skies over Puddledock Pond. -- These portals or slivers of light are constructed where blackness is at its thickest but least deadly, at natural crossroads in the universe. He is always on the lookout for seepages into which he slips messages to me, asking about you. Out of darkness, there comes light.   That light gives me hope.

 

I am still silent. For it is my time to listen and plan and figure out what I have heard.  And then I hear something that I don’t want to hear…. Something that I know can’t happen. Something that I won’t let happen. Something that destroys my faith in my grandmother.

 

“The nature of these other worlds caught in the ripples where your father is tossed, are varied. They don’t comply with the conventions of our world. They are different and deadly. Be careful and know that in this wicked game of witchery your grandmother is playing, there can be only  one winner and one loser. It must be so.

 

Your family is counting on you to find, and bring your father home to us. There is no other option. Are you willing to die for your family, Veronica Danger Powers?” Mom can be direct-- I’ve told you that before. But at that moment, I realize the danger I am about to face. And my answer is….”