“That’s right,” I added. “You didn’t actually try to steal Amy’s exam, that was just an unfortunate side effect. You just wanted to punish the one elf in your classes that didn’t treat her like a total outcast.”
The two elves looked at each other, and I could have sworn that they were going to try and fight us, but after a second, Regindir just sighed.
“You’re right. We did it. We honestly didn’t mean to take the witch’s exam. We had planned it all beforehand; we would wait until Ungordir was finished the test, then go and hand ours in together immediately afterward so that his would be on the top of the pile. Portindir would distract Filmordir while I grabbed the exam. After all, one exam going missing could simply be chalked up to carelessness.”
“But there was a problem,” Portindir chimed in. “As soon as Ungordir got up, so did two other elves. They got there before we did, so Ungordir’s test was already in the pile. I distracted Filmordir as I was supposed to, but Regindir had to just grab a few exams and hope that Ungordir’s was one of them. We genuinely didn’t realize the witch’s was one until we looked at them after we had left.”
“Amy was the first student to finish, though,” I said. “Shouldn’t her exam have been on the bottom of the pile?”
Regindir shrugged. “I guess Filmordir must have had a look at it first to see how she did, and then just put it on top when he was finished with it.”
I shared a glance with Kyran. “So if he’d already looked at it, he didn’t have to fail her.”
Kyran sighed. “Well, for a bunch of elves who are so convinced about the superiority of our race, you’ve certainly acted terribly. You’re an embarrassment to our species.”
“Says the elf who’s openly dating a witch,” Regindir replied with a derisive snort.
“Seriously? You literally just got caught after stealing multiple exam papers to punish the one elf who seems to understand that things in the world are changing, and you think I’m the embarrassment?” Kyran said, raising his eyebrows. “Well, we’ll see which one of us Chief Enforcer King thinks is more embarrassing.”
“Wait,” Portindir said, holding a hand out. “Please don’t tell her it was us. We can’t have a criminal record. If that happens, we’ll get kicked out of the lawyer education program.”
“You know, I think I’m ok with that,” I replied dryly.
“Look, we know what we did was wrong. Please let us fix this some other way.”
Kyran looked at me. “You know, I think we’re the wrong people to ask.”
Amy was so grateful the exams were given back to Filmordir—who promptly scored them and gave Amy a perfect mark—that she agreed not to tell Chief Enforcer King who had stolen them. She was simply told that they had appeared anonymously on our doorstep. However, in the interests of justice, Amy ordered the two elves to volunteer for various paranormal organizations that were not staffed by elves for at least two hours a week for a year.
I thought it was a good compromise; hopefully interacting with plenty of other paranormals would make the two realize that elves weren’t the superior race they seemed to believe them to be.
As for myself, life soon settled back to normal. There were a few weeks where I was the center of attention in the entire paranormal world, which I wasn’t particularly familiar with or fond of. Sara gave me a crash course in giving interviews without sounding like a crazy person, but sure enough, eventually the news of Titan’s death gave way to the next big story in the paranormal world: a wizard in England had accidentally cast a spell that turned the sky in the human world green for a day, and the entire paranormal world had to scramble to come up with a reason for it that the humans would believe.
Tora was a miracle worker at The Witching Flour, which was fast becoming a huge success and even won an award for the best bakery in the Pacific Northwest by the Paranormal Organization of Pâtissiers. I joked to Ellie that the award was a piece of POOP, given the organization’s initials, but the reality was I was insanely proud of her, and I knew it was just one award of many that were sure to come.
One unseasonably warm day in late September, Kyran and I were sitting by the lake in the Coven Gardens, enjoying what I was sure would be our last picnic here before winter set in, with the weather forecasting rain and cold starting the following day. But for now, the leaves were just starting to turn, and I was still comfortably warm in a sweater, eating a BLT and sharing a basket of fries with Kyran as he munched on a chicken Caesar wrap.
“It’s nice to have things finally settling down,” I said, looking out over the lake.
“Absolutely. And on the bright side, no one has been murdered here in almost six weeks.”
“I’m very ok with that,” I said. “I knew I was going to be busy studying to be the witch equivalent of a vet, but I didn’t realize just how busy I was going to be. I don’t think I’d have time to stick my nose in yet another investigation.”
“Well, let’s hope for everyone’s sake that things stay like this,” Kyran replied.
“Yes,” I said, gazing over at him. Here I was, sitting in the most perfect place in the world, with the most perfect elf in the world, knowing I was going to go home to the best friends on the planet. I couldn’t have asked for a better life.
Also by Samantha Silver
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
About the Author
Thank you so much for reading! I loved writing this series and I hope you enjoyed the characters’ happy endings. Please help other readers find this book so they can enjoy it, too.
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You can check out my other books, as well. I highly recommend the Pacific Cove series, which is set in the same world as Western Woods and features a crossover including these characters in the first book:
Dark Chocolate and Death (Book 1)
White Chocolate and Wands (Book 2)
Chocolate Truffles and Trouble (Book 3)
Or you can discover any of the other series I write by clicking the links below:
Pacific North Witches Mysteries
Enchanted Enclave Mysteries (coming late January 2020)
Willow Bay Witches Mysteries
Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Pacific Cove Mysteries
California Witching Mysteries
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Ruby Bay Mysteries
Behind the Eight Spell Page 13
