Intern: A 13 Covens Magical World Adventure (YA)

by Cassandra

  Theresa slapped his arm.

  “Any other news, Jessica?” Pastor Norman asked expectantly.

  She smirked and knew precisely what his question implied. “No, Pastor Norman. Not exactly. For now, I want to prepare to attend the witch’s academy. Later on, I’ll decide whether I want to be a part of a coven, and which one that will be. Or I may decide I want to join the church as a demon hunter.”

  The pastor nodded. “Fair enough.”

  Theresa beamed. “That sounds like the perfect course of action to me. I’m so proud of you, Jess.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Grandma Ethel stood and raised her glass. “I think a toast is in order.” She frowned momentarily at the iced tea in her glass and then shrugged. “Such a monumental decision deserves something a little better than iced tea, but I guess this will have to do.”

  “Yes, it will have to do.” Mark sounded like he was sure of something for the first time all day. “She might be a witch but she’s still under twenty-one.”

  “Party-pooper,” the old woman chided good-naturedly.

  Frank scoffed. “I’ll tell you who the party-pooper is.” He shot Jessica a glance. “You. Deciding on that academy. Now I’ll have to spend the next few years of my life avoiding certain death. Those damned academy people are always trying to kill imps.”

  “Wait a minute. Weren’t you the one who made fun of me for having never attended a witch’s school?”

  He waved his small hand dismissively. “I only tried to irritate you. I didn’t want to actually convince you to go to that wretched place.”

  “Frank, relax buddy,” Chad crooned. “You’re Jessica’s familiar, which makes you a friend of mine by default. We’ll not let anything happen to you.”

  “Right,” Jessica agreed.

  Frank mumbled to himself.

  “Can we get on with this toast?” Ethel raised her glass and everyone followed suit to clink their glasses together and drink merrily.

  “Oh, Grandma,” Jessica exclaimed after their last guest left. The table had been cleared, the dishes washed, and the cats were allowed to roam the house freely once again.

  Ethel was about to sink into the couch and watch her television program. “What is it, girl?”

  She produced the letter Maximus gave her. “I forgot to give you something.”

  “What in the world is this?” the old lady asked. Her eyes widened when she saw the handwriting on the envelope.

  “Maximus gave it to me when I visited the Academy. I promised I’d give it to you.”

  “And why would you go and do a foolish thing like that?”

  Jessica rolled her eyes. “Grandma, just open it.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Maybe it’s a love letter.”

  “Oh, shut up, you.”

  Jessica giggled and bounced on the balls of her feet. “Open it.”

  “I am. But not in front of the likes of you.” With that, Grandma Ethel dashed up the stairs with the agility of a woman half her age.

  Jessica stared after her, shocked. “Grandma!” she protested. She heard Ethel’s bedroom door slam shut.

  Epilogue

  Ethel tossed the letter on her bed and her hands trembled. How she hated the effect Maximus still had on her after all these years. She knew the old fool couldn’t be trusted. He had always been too sneaky with his words and too conniving with his charm. Without even reading it, she knew the letter would undoubtedly contain something she didn’t want to know.

  She threw her closet door open and rummaged inside until she found the doll she had knitted of Maximus. She knew it would eventually come in handy. Of course, what she did to the doll would depend on what he had written in the letter.

  Her old heart pounded like a schoolgirl’s as she sat on the edge of her bed. She simply stared at the letter for a moment. Finally, she set the doll carefully beside her and with great ceremony, peeled the envelope open.

  His handwriting greeted her like an old friend. She felt a pang in her chest that she didn’t quite want to think about and she swallowed as she read the elaborate script.

  Dear Ethel,

  As the saying goes, it’s better late than never. I want to tell you once and for all that I am truly sorry for putting the coven before you. I was blinded by my emotions. Over the years, I have been forced to see the error of my ways. I hope you accept my sincerest apology. That decision has become my biggest regret.

  I so badly need you to forgive me, especially given the times we are going through and the times that lie ahead.

  Nothing would delight me more than for you to come back to me and the coven. I cannot emphasize how desperately you are needed. Demons are on the rise, and I need my partner back. I need you to help me defeat these vile creatures, just like we did in the good old days. Say what you will about the way things ended, but one thing you can never deny is how well we worked together as a team. You and I, Ethel. We could defeat anything. And if we reunite, I believe we still can.

  Please come by the academy sometime soon so that I can share my latest findings with you. Believe it or not, I think I have found the One. The One you and I spent years hunting. Yet, I already know that I cannot possibly face and defeat it without you by my side.

  Please, pay me a visit, and consider my offer.

  Love always,

  Maximus

  Ethel held her breath while she read the letter. Once she reached the end, she let it all out in one long exhale. Her hands shook when she set the missive on the bed beside her. With trembling hands, she picked up the doll made in Maximus’s likeness and squeezed it. She didn’t crush it in a way to cause pain, but rather applied gentle pressure. It was something more like a hug. A tear rolled down her cheek and a small smile crept onto her lips.

  Back at the academy, Maximus was working at his desk. Out of nowhere, he felt a squeeze around his middle. His smile was immediate.

  He would recognize the feel of Ethel’s hug anywhere. She had read his letter.

  If you loved, 13 Covens try out, Contamination for something a little different, available now at Amazon.

  Humanity has one option.

  Evacuate Earth.

  After a wave of fear crashes over the world in response to a deadly virus. Fear intensifies when it's discovered that the virus is the first wave of attack by an alien race that wants Earth for themselves.

  It's one day before Paige's twenty-first birthday, and the world is turning into the walking dead! Zombie-like people are seeking her out.

  What the hell! Just Paige's luck.

  Can Paige rescue her family and get off the planet before The Wave captures her?

  Author Notes - Hayley Lawson

  March 11, 2019

  Hello guys Hayley here,

  I hope you enjoy the second installment in the 13 Coven series as always Michael and I had a lot of fun creating it.

  I like to keep things fun, I’m typing this author note on the train from New York City after taking my team to the city for team building. We did an escape the room, (if you’ve not tried on you should, they are so much fun!) the theme was the outer space, the captain of the spaceship had disappeared and we need to solve puzzles to get the spaceship working again. We had one hour to escape the room, and if we wanted to be on the leader board, we needed to complete it in 25 minutes and ask for no clues.

  An awesome thing about my team is that we work really well today together, so we were up for the challenge we could easily get on the leader board. (We’d only had a couple of cocktails).

  A young lady told us what would happen then left the room, and the countdown began. We were completely stuck on the first puzzle, this was way harder than we thought, we took 10 minutes to complete the first puzzle. (At this point we didn’t know there were 10 puzzles).

  We carried on with the puzzles, there was one with a grabbing claw to get a rock, like those which you used to get a teddy and you never win. In the edit, we got the rock, but the clock was ticking down we had 20 min
utes left. We were racing to the finishing line not knowing if we’d escape the room.

  We ended up asking for help twice as we knew that we would not be in the top ten, our goal had changed we wanted to get out of the room.

  The clock was ticking down, and it was quickly approaching the hour we were about to final. We didn’t know how many clues we had left but refused to give up.

  We pulled the cords on the wall (the first puzzle we had).

  We did it with one minute to spare!!!

  I’m not sure why I’m sharing this story, other than escape rooms are awesome.

  Bye for now, Hayley

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  March 11, 2019

  THANK YOU for not only reading this story but these Author Notes as well.

  (I think I’ve been good with always opening with “thank you.” If not, I need to edit the other Author Notes!)

  RANDOM (sometimes) THOUGHTS?

  What makes a person do stupid things?

  Well, there is of course the ignorance of youth, and the inability to grasp stuff quite the same as an adult who has either read of watched enough stories (movies) to shout DON’T GO INTO THE BARN WITH ALL OF THE HORRIBLE AXES!

  Or, you know, we see the idiot boy (or girl) that is playing the young person like a fiddle. Why? Because apparently Mother Nature has a filter to limit just how many youth make it to adulthood to procreate.

  Sometimes in stories, our protagonists don’t quite live up to the expectations one might place on them.

  Kind of like me right now with all of the Coke (a cola… not the white stuff) around my hotel room here in London.

  I’m just a few 6-packs of Coke away from being able to roll down the street. I know I don’t need to drink Coke, but I occasionally (read all the damned time) drink it anyway. The problem is Coke is like blue jeans.

  It goes great with everything.

  Pizza? Yup. Hamburgers? Of course. Tex-Mex? OHMYGOODNESSYESITDOESCANIHAVEANOTHERPLEASE?

  Two of my favorite restaurants within walking distance of my home in Vegas are a Tex-Mex (Javier’s in Aria) and Pizza (550 also in Aria) and both sell Coke…

  I’m screwed.

  AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

  One of the interesting (at least to me) aspects of my life is the ability to work from anywhere and at any time. In the future, I hope to re-read my own Author Notes and remember my life as a diary entry.

  Hilton in London, England a little over 1/2 a mile from the conference center.

  Ok, when I said I didn’t want the closer Hilton to the conference center because we could get a larger suite I didn’t know one very important issue.

  My wife (who handles most of the foreign issues, so we are here for her to go ‘do stuff’ and I’m tagging along) is upset because SHE hasn’t been walking enough.

  The other Hilton is only a couple of blocks from the convention center… I could have been ‘walking for health’ from the OTHER Hilton.

  But no, I liked the prices and amenities of THIS Hilton.

  I don’t recall ‘walking to the convention’ being one of the benefits listed on the signup form for this hotel.

  I think they hid it from me. Hilton and my wife are in collusion. Which, when I think about it, seems to be confusion and collision smooshed together.

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  Ad Aeternitatem,

  Michael Anderle

  Other Books from Hayley Lawson

  BOOKS BY HAYLEY LAWSON

  INVASION SURVIVOR

  Contamination (1)

  Inhabitable (2)

  Stowaway (3)

  LIVE FREE OR DIE

  Madness Unleashed (1)

  Madness Rising (2)

  Escaping Madness (3)

  THEY ARE ZILLIONS

  Zapacolypse (1)

  Zurrounded (2)

  THE FOG SERIES

  The Fog (1)

  Beer Run (2)

  Lock In (3)

  Hangover (4)

  The Fog – Omnibus Book 1- 4

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