Witchy Wishes for Christmas

Chapter 5

White, puffy snowflakes danced outside the window, our small front yard as their almost invisible backdrop. Usually such a scene would have made me happy - who doesn't love a white Christmas?

But today it just made me uncomfortable. Today, the sight of the thick snow crystals spinning through the cold air reminded me too much of the stupid insects I had risked my neck for.

If it hadn't been for Aiden, I don't know how that situation would have turned out.

"Maggie! Come here please," my mother called from somewhere deeper inside the house.

Sighing I gave up my semi-peaceful sentry position at the window and once again braved the colorful and noisy chaos that called itself a Rotfuss family gathering.

Our living room was overflowing with relatives of all ages and relation grades. My grandmother was probably somewhere in the middle of it all, lording over the proceedings, while the adults had gathered into little groups and the kids ran around unsupervised for once. Not just blood-relation but also the extended family of all kinds of spouses had clustered into our living room, guaranteeing a wild mix of personalties and people.

I found my mother next to one of her decorations, a small snowed-in plastic castle that usually glittered with thousand tiny lights. Right now though, the plug had vanished - and I mean completely vanished.

My mother looked up, tucking a strand of straight black hair behind her ear. I had inherited fairly little of her more exotic features, which she possessed thanks to her Korean grandmother. Maybe my eyes were a little tilted and my skin quite pale, but otherwise my father's genes had come through strong.

"Can you take care of this?" She asked me, glancing towards the bustling kitchen. I followed her gaze seeing a clattering knife chasing a bunch of wildly rolling onions across a counter before they disappeared from sight. I fought to suppress a smile. Jo's mother was running wild.

"Your aunt had a little too much wine."

I knelt beside her and started patting the empty floor next to the house. "Sure, don't worry, Mom. I'll also make sure to keep an eye on Finn."

"You're an angel," she told me before disappearing into the throng and fighting her way back to the kitchen. I continued swishing my hands through the seemingly empty air next to the castle - until my fingertips finally brushed the invisible cable. Sighing I picked it up and fumbled around until I managed to get the plug into the socket correctly. The castle started blinking again and one crisis was averted.

"So this is where you disappeared off to."

I looked up at Jo, standing next to me with an empty punch glass in her hand. Just like me she had dressed for the occasion, wearing a champagne-colored velvet dress, a small black purse and stockings. Her crystalline gaze wandered over the small castle, glowing without any apparent electrical assistance.

"Finn?"

"Yeah, probably. Did you see him? I promised to keep an eye on him."

She laughed. "Good luck. You know he won't be found if he doesn't want to be."

I stood up, resisting the impulse to bury my hands in my hair - which for once was tamed into something actually resembling a hairstyle. "I know."

"Here, this will cheer you up." She pulled her cell from her purse, presenting me with the screen after some swiping. Colin grinned back at me from her phone, his skin once again unblemished perfection, a pair of red felt antlers planted in his artfully tussled hair. The message underneath the selfie read 'Happy Holidays'.