A Little Witch in Training (Sample)

A Little Witch in Training Copyright © 2013 by Michael Romano All rights reserved. No part of this book may bereproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informationstorage and retrieval system, without the writtenpermission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages. ISBN-13: 978-1490945903 ISBN-10: 1490945903

TABLE OF CONTENTSYou see. ... I was going to name each and everychapter with a snappy title, but I got so into thebook, that I just kept writing till I got sleepy again. I get many of my ideas around 2:38 in themorning and have only a short window of time towrite before the sleep fairy hits me pretty hard andoff, back to bed I go. I'm hoping that these chapters fly byholding your interest and great curiosity more thanenough to forgive me for not putting any sillynames at the beginning of each couple of pages. Please enjoy and tell me of your likes, askingme questions that you may have about Isabel byposting on ... www.storiesbymikeromano.com Perhaps a few suggestions for the up andcoming Little Witch books in the series. The topthree suggestions will be posted and get a freebook mailed to them. Look on my web page forcontest rules and dates.Enjoy...Michael

And.....we start.I bring to you stories of the adventures of Isabel,the great, great and pretty far forward of theoriginal Isabel Cartwright, who was the head ofher extended family, the “Sisters of Nature fromthe 1600's, Salem Massachusetts. These 13 members were called “Witches.” Forsuch a long while, were accepted as a great help tothe community in healing and their wellbeing. A small jealous, rich and powerful group,descendants who still live there today, did theirbest to sway the people away. I found that these folks were just as you and Ibut with the ability to see Nature in a brighterlight. There can only be hope that you will seethese Sisters...and Brothers of Nature, as a goodthat is needed. Enjoy Isabel and her adventures in all thepages that will ever follow. Mike



Isabel, an inquisitive and daring eight year old wasmoving, with her newly single Mom from herhome in bustling New York City, to thecountryside in Massachusetts ... Salem to be exact!The flat they are leaving has all the most modernconveniences: up-to-date appliances and most ofall, cable TV and high-speed computer hook up!

CHAPTER IMom only said that the home she acquired wascharming, beautifully adorned with all kinds ofantiques and the “such”. It was the “such” that made me worry. Never having taken many trips outside NewYork and none to any real countryside, I decided toprepare myself for an exciting adventure. More than I had bargained for was waitingfor me in this old house! The drive felt like we were in slow motionand the anticipation was making me bite my nailscloser than ever before. Out of the city, into the countryside didn'tseem too bad, and I was getting a bit calmer. Well,I stopped biting my nails anyway. Good thing, I'dhave nothing left to paint when mom and I beautyshop each other on Friday night. After what seemed like forever, severaldriving games and writing down all the other statelicense plates mom and I saw, a nap seemed a goodidea.

Going in and out of a half sleep, I felt the carslowing, then stop. Okay, here we go. I sat up and looked around.All I saw was this big wooden thing. Mom asked, “How do you like it, honey?” I could feel my eyes go back and forth from thehouse to Mom to the house more than severaltimes. I squeezed a smile and said “Seems like agreat adventure.” This pleased Mom to no end. By the way, “a great adventure” is kid talkfor…“Oh my Gosh!” Mom never makes mistakes and I believe inher, so I kept telling myself this as we walked upthe creaky stairs to the long covered porch. The front door was a mix of glass like we had inour church windows and the dungeon door I sawin a late night monster movie Mom and I stayed upto watch once. It scared me then … and now wasn’t any better. “Okay, let’s get a hold of yourself…this is goingto be cool,” I told myself as I gulped loudly enoughfor Mom to ask, “Said something honey?” “No Mom, just looking around.” Mom unlocked the door, and with a grandgesture, swung it open to the sounds of creeks andsqueaks. “Well?” Oh my Gosh … the door opened into aballroom bigger than our whole apartment in NewYork! Two curved wooden stairways, one up each

side of the house, led to a grand platform whichthen went up to a to a third story! Carved statues of … I don’t know what, wereall the way up the banisters, sitting there and Ithink … staring at me. This can’t be where we’re going to live. It lookslike something from a scary movie! Then I hear Mom’s voice saying…. “With a little Spring cleaning, this will be asplendid home!” I know she didn’t see me roll my eyes, Iquickly said, “I’ll get the mop and bucket and getright on it.” With a gulp, we started to search out therooms. After a bit and getting over the hugeness ofthe place, it seemed … well…sort of a neat, but abit scary, place. Never knowing what was behind the next doorwas kind of like a treasure hunt. Some interesting but still freaky statues, floor toceiling mirrors, and a few things that will takeexplaining, cause I didn’t have a clue as to whatthey were. But this was starting to get cool. Yeah, this house is going to be fine.

CHAPTER II Mom was in high gear cleaning mode and Iwanted to show her that a little ....well, a lot ofwork, couldn't scare me. She loaded me up with a small vacuum, rolls ofpaper towels and a spray bottle of super cleaner.“We're armed now. Nothing left but elbow greaseand soon this house will be our home.” That speech brought a wonderful smile to herface....”annnnnd now we're off!” First thing, I opened windows so I wouldn'tchoke to death in the giant poofs of dust thathappened when just sitting down on theoverstuffed chair in my bedroom corner. Work seemed to fly by. Next thing, I could hearMom calling me to dinner. I hadn't even noticedthat it had gotten dark outside. I stopped and looked around. “Wow!” Thebedroom was spotless. My new bedroom wasspotless! I went to go down the stairs when Inoticed something I'd missed. There was this beautiful brass grate in the wall;I think Mom said that these were called heatregisters, where the warmth from the downstairs

oil heater was. Well, anything this lovely was goingto shine! But maybe after dinner. I sat down, stuffed my face, and never evenknew what I was eating. My mind was on myroom and how to set things up ... and that curiousbrass grate on the wall. I wondered what thatdesign on it meant, seven stars in the shape of acrescent moon? “Mom, I'm done. Going back up to my room tofinish up.” “See you later dear,” Mom answered. Up the stairs I shot - Funny, they didn'tseem so high this time - into the door and rightaway to that over-stuffed arm chair in the corner.Just behind, out of sight, was that amazingly ornatebrass thing! With towel and super cleaner in hand, I beganto polish and polish, till I heard Mom say “Time forbed, honey” I had been so hard at work, three hours seemedto pass in an instant! Strange, but I felt excitedabout this place! Falling asleep was just as easy as pie and allwas quiet ... until, without any reason whatsoever,my eyes opened and I turned to the clock. It readboth hands straight up ... Midnight! Shining in through the center stained glasswindow, a beam of moonlight seemed to strikethree of the stars of the crescent moon on the brassgrate.

Now I had to know why, so up and out of bed, Ifind myself kneeling in the corner behind the chair.Touching the top most star, I felt it move undermy finger's pressure. CLICK. I jumped back at thenoise, leaned back, finger pointing at the secondstar. Only a moment's hesitation and CLICK wentthe middle one! Now, the excitement rose to almostmake me scream with anticipation as my fingershook a bit as it touched the third and last lit star. KAA-LICK! The grate popped open, makingme jump back and hit my head on the chair behindme. I was stunned for a moment but rememberedthe grate and grabbed the open edge. I pulled it open to find … a tunnel was hiddenbehind it! Not too big or too small, pretty right forone small person. Clearing the icky cobwebs from my path as Icrawled, I could see a light ahead. As I got closer, the tunnel grew larger till itended at a door, carved with the same design thatwas on the brass grate in my room. Well, I couldn't stop now, so I pulled down thesqueaky claw handle on the door. Unlocked! In Igo! To the left was a tall very thin stained glasswindow that lit the slender room with a warmglow. In it was the same pattern of the starredcrescent moon, repeating itself. The three main stars shone most bright, givinga glow to a tall cabinet against the wall.

There was a note on the ledge of the cabinet;written on a paper I'd never seen before except inold treasure movies. The letters were a bit difficultto read but I did my best and here is what it said... To my sister who finds this, learn anduse to help others. Be not selfish or greedyand we will truly be sisters. Signed, Isabel HEY! That's my name! Turning the key, unlocking the doors andswinging them wide, I saw wondrous things! Alibrary of really old books, glass containers of whoknows what, statues, daggers, wands, it went onand on! On the desk part inside the cabinet was a singlebook separate from all the others. The title read ... 'For a Little Witch In Training' A WHAT?! Isabel was a witch? All through the night, I tried to read the littlewitch handbook but the words and symbols justseemed to be more than I could understand. Getting tired, I got up to stretch and saw alovely round glass globe on the top shelf. Therewas a note on the same old paper stuck to it by apiece of wax, saying ...

Hold me to your heart, close your eyesand open your mind. I felt it was addressed to me. Naw, only anover-tired imagination. Oh well, what have I got to lose? Let's see...hold heart, close eyes, open mind ... “WOW!!!” In my mind, I was suddenly seeing letters andwords, symbols and pictures, songs, chants and afew things I had no clue for, with a speed of atornado! Then, I fell back into the seat. Let me see...Thissign means wind, this means air and this meanswater. I could suddenly understand everything ...well, except some of the bigger words, but I was onmy way! To what, remained to be seen. By now, I was pretty exhausted and figured I'dbetter get some sleep before Mom came and got mefor a day of the fun of cleaning.

I started to crawl back through the tunnel andstopped. Looking back, the glass ball was glowingever so faintly and seemed to ask me to take herwith me... Her? The Crystal is a She??? I scooped her into my hand and startedcrawling back through the tunnel. Although now Ifelt different ... like I belonged ... and things weregoing to be all right from now on. Back to bed and none too soon, as I fell right tosleep. It seemed like just three minutes later, Momcomes banging into the room, saying “Up, sleepyhead, lots to do and I need your help. Oh, by theway, super job on your room. Now, to tackle therest of this old place with the same energy!” Yeah, I thought to myself ... energy. Not a lot inme right now. I sat up on the side of the bedthinking, was that all a dream? Did I really find the ..... then the glow camefrom under my pillow? There she was. Oh yes, it was all true! Hurrying to dress, I flew down the stairs rightinto Mom. She said that she had something to tellme and we should sit down. “I'm very glad you seem to love this home asmuch as I. My first 18 years were spent here withaunt Bessie and I loved every minute of it.” She paused a moment ... and said “When wehad to move to New York for school, then my job, Ialways missed this house. It has been in the family

since 1661 when it was lived in by your … oh Ican't remember how many, back Great Aunts shewas, but it's your Great Aunt Isabel, for whom youare named.” Omigosh! I screamed to myself. That's why Iknew, why I felt the warmth when I walked intothe great bedroom, and most of all why “She ...Great Aunt Isabel herself ... talks to me! Mom stared at me, curious what I was thinking. “Are you alright honey? Cause this is yours andmine now. Aunt Bessie left it to us. All of it!” I couldn't say a word, but the squeal of delightthat shot out of me told my Mom everything wasall right. END CHAPTER II