Introduction: This is another story in the Cynthia Chronicles series. Other stories in the series are An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part I, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part II, Charli and the Girl Cave, Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling, Randi and the College Professor, Adam and the Three Wishes, Lisa and the Culinary Quest (aka Howard and the Completed pass), Cynthia and the Solicitous Sisters-in-Law, Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight, and Cynthia and the Dropped Ball. The time frame of this story follows about three to four years after Charli and the Girl Cave. This story takes place a little more than a year after Bobbie Anderson wins the (British) Open and about ten years after Simoné and the Second Time Around.

Marti and Lanu find out quite a bit about their respective families. They also find out Rhonda, their counselor is more than they expected. They bring The Wizard in on what Marti has found out. He is as surprised as they are. Apparently, his group had never considered Samoa as a harborer of magic.

Marti let it sink in for a while. Lanu was obviously surprised by what had been revealed. For that matter, so was Marti. It was just that she was beginning to have an inkling of what she would see when Lanu showed her the pictures on her phone.

“Wow! You know what this means,” Lanu said when she finally got her emotions under control.”

“Yeah, cousin, long time no see.” There was a very emotional hug that lasted not a little while.

“Tell me about your brothers and sisters,” Marti asked.

“They’re all older than I am. My brothers are married with families. My sister is 22. She has a boyfriend and they are very fond of each other. I imagine they’ll get married after they graduate college.

“I just thought of something. Falaniko is a direct descendant of Great Gramma’s. He is descended through my aunts. That means if they have children, the girls might be witches. The odds are a bit against it, like one in sixteen.”

“How many girls did your Great Gramma have?”

“Three, and they all had at least one girl. I have a bunch of aunts.”

“I’ll bet the odds are more like three out of sixteen; however, I’ll let Aunt Myrna figure that out. She’s the geneticist of the group. For that matter, your great, great whatever uncles would have carried the magic gene and passed it on to their daughters. There might be all sorts of carriers out there. I’m definitely going to have to get Aunt Myrna involved.”

“She’s a witch, too?”

“Unfortunately, no; however, she and her husband are very close to us. I imagine The Wizard will work something out for them one of these days. He’s very good about that.

“Like your mother, my mother was adopted. Mom had thought about trying to find to find out her origin, but she never got around to it. I have four brothers and sisters. Who knows, Mom might have more, but I doubt it. Cindy, my oldest sister, is very powerful. She’s a psychiatrist she runs a clinic along with her best friend Bobbie Anderson. You might know who Bobbie is. She’s just the greatest female golfer of all time, and for that matter one of the greatest golfers of all time.”

“I know who she is. I remember when she won those last two tournaments. I remember the news showed an old Sports Illustrated cover of her and another girl in swim suits.”

“That was Cindy.”

“Wow, she certainly is pretty.”

“I don’t know if you are aware of it, Lanu, but you are drop dead gorgeous.”

“Thank you. You are too, you know.”

“Okay, my oldest brother is Tom,” Marti said getting the conversation back on track. “He’s a naturalist and still a bachelor. Then there’s Randi. She’s probably the most powerful of any witch I’ve ever known. That’s her standing next to Mom. Randi has a PhD in chemistry. She used to get into a lot of trouble for doing some real wild things. They still haven’t figured out how she does some things. She just does them. The tall fellow next to her is her husband, Frank. They have two children. Betty’s the oldest. She’s adopted, then there’s Linda who’s just about out of diapers, and they have another on the way, but they haven’t picked out a name for her, yet. Stan, Jr. is 19 and going to college. He’s interning with the Fish & Wildlife Service. I think he likes Charli, Don’s sister.

“Look, we’ve two weeks to plan everything out, but we’re going to have one heck of a family reunion later this year. His Wisdom promised not to interfere, but we’re going to need his help eventually. I find it hard to believe that he didn’t know about you; however, we know he’s not infallible. He and the group he works for have made mistakes in the past, big mistakes.

“What are we going to do about our four roommates?” Marti said changing the subject.

“I don’t think we should force anything. We need to talk to Tamesha and Tonya. They’re not going to be a problem; however we’re going to need their cooperation.

“If I remember our introduction meeting we’re supposed to go to the meals as a group. Our counsellor is supposed to lead us to all our formations. This is a bit like the military according to Randi. They have to keep everyone under control.”

“Your sister was in the military? You said she had a PhD. She doesn’t look old enough for that.”

“She 23. Look, this is very complicated. When she arrived in this universe a little more than 24 years ago she was a badly damaged and fatally ill ex-airman. He died in hospice in our home. We don’t really know how ‘they’ do it but they put her spirit in the embryo mom was carrying. Cindy and Bobby talk about how wonderful it was when they found out that the person they had thought so much of was back.”

“You mean they can transfer spirits!”

“Oh yes, and much more. I’m going to have so much fun bringing you up to date. I just can’t believe that The Wizard never contacted all of you.

“We’d better get going. I see our counselor looking this way.

Rhonda McKenzie wasn’t much older than her charges. She was a high school graduate, certified life guard, and getting ready to enter college on a soccer scholarship. She had explained a bit of the routine earlier in the afternoon, and was now leading the girls to the first meal with everyone present. They passed through the cafeteria style serving line where Marti was surprised at the number of options and the quality of the food.

After dinner it was back to their cabin to go over more of the rules before they went to the evening comp fire. The first campfire was primarily and introduction of the staff and an overview of what the main events of the two weeks would be. The camp nurse reminded everyone of the importance to keep hydrated, use sun screen and take it easy until they became acclimated to the altitude. There were also the admonitions about rattle snakes, ticks, and scorpions. They were above the poison oak region. The weather was another thing to worry about. It would depend on the flow of the monsoon air. If it moved to the west, there was a definite possibility of thunderstorms. If that were the case many of the outdoor activities might have to be curtailed; especially the hike to San Gorgonio Peak.

Rhonda approached Lanu and Marti before they headed for the showers. They were the last group that first night to have the shower. “I need to talk to you. Wait in the dressing area. We’ll talk after the rest leave for the cabin.”

“I wonder what that’s about?” Lanu said as she washed her hair.

“I have a feeling I know,” Marti responded. “I wonder how she found out.”

Rhonda returned to the shower after the other four girls had left for the cabin. “Do you know what I need to talk to you about?” she asked.

“I have a good idea,” Marti responded. “What I’d like to know is how you found out. I know you’re not a witch, but there is something about you that is a bit different.”

“You are right about not being a witch. My mother is, though. My father isn’t a carrier, but I am. My boyfriend is a carrier and I know he’s the one. We won’t be married for a while. My mother cast a little spell that makes me immune to a lot of spells; not the big ones, but the little ones like spells of silence and covering spells. I also know who is magic. I’m very lucky in that regard.

“It was easy for me to get a copy of each session’s attendees. I send them to Mom and she runs it against the data base. Of course Marti’s name came out immediately. You’re quite famous you know. Your family has done a great deal to help our cause. It’s really a pleasure to get to meet you. Bobbie’s grandmother is the past president of our coven. She has told us so much about what you’ve done and she holds your sister in the highest regard. Marti is the only witch that was listed. So, it was quite a surprise when Lanu turned up. I haven’t told anyone, yet, but we need to know. Marti, you did very well with getting everyone to ignore what happened.”

“Thank you, I was as surprised as you were. I knew I had to keep Lanu calm. I knew she didn’t expect to see me or any other witch.

“I have a feeling that you have something else you want to talk about.”

“Yes, what you did for Wanda was very nice, and I suspect you did something for Lily. I’m not sure what, though.”

“I cured her chlamydia. She was already experiencing some damage, and I fixed it. You saw what I did for Wanda. Obviously, you saw through the covering spell.

“We suspect there’d be a problem with them. Marti limited their vocabulary a bit. We’re going to do some more encouraging over the next week or so.”

“What are you going to do about Wanda’s family and friends? Your dermatology miracle will surely be noticed.”

“I realized that when you asked us to meet you. I told His Wisdom I’d call him if I needed help, and I think the time is now.

“Lanu, do you want me to tell him about you?”

“You probably should.”

It took only seconds for Marti to reach The Wizard and tell him what was going on. “Your Wisdom, this is Lanu’ese’ese Vaeaolesau. She goes by Lanu.”

“Oh my,” The Wizard said, “we didn’t know about her.”

“Here is another surprise. Take a look at this picture. This is Lanu’s mother.”

“Impossible. Where is this? Where is she?”

“American Samoa.

“Now, who is this?”

“Oh my goodness. You haven’t told them, have you?”

“No, but that’s what I meant when I asked you to let me work this out. I want to make this a big event, but I’m going to have to ask you to watch over us a bit. This is really big.

“By the way, how’s Myrna doing with the DNA analysis?”

“She said she will have it done tomorrow.”

“Since we’ve made this revelation, it’s moot about the results. Have Myrna give you the details,” Marti said. “You do realize the other implication in this?” Marti added.

“I certainly do. This is tremendous news for everyone concerned. I’ll have our people on it immediately.” The excitement in The Wizard’s voice was obvious.

“What is your mother’s name Dear One?” The Wizard asked Lanu.

“Elizabeth, but she goes by Beth most of the time.

“Rhonda, thank you for your help. I’ll clean up those little oversights. No big problems there. I’ll let the three of you figure out what to do with Lily and Wanda. Just let me know if you need any help. Don’t forget to tell the girls about the other thing.”

“That I will. It was the last thing on my list. Nice to talk to you again.” The image on their phones of The Wizard disappeared. He’d signed off; leaving the girls to figure out what to do.

“What’s that ‘other thing’?” Marti asked.

“Your wall of silence. I can’t imagine a cabin with four girls in it not making a sound. I recognized the spell right away, thanks to Mom’s help. You probably should have created some ambient ‘girl noise’. The silence cued me to the fact something was going on. I had no idea, though, of what was going on. You are going to have your hands full.”

Well, now to get down to some of the more mundane aspects of summer camp. It won’t be that dull, though. Marti, Lanu and Rhonda work on how to help Wanda and Lily.