I looked at Cassandra. “And you’re here because …?”
She grinned. “Gregory grabbed me on the way out – right in the middle of catering prep, I might add – thinking maybe I could provide some moral support. I can. I hold the lease to Ev’s office and although he may not remember, I’m sure you know it’s up for renewal in two months. He probably doesn’t want to lease space from a devious witch, right?”
“Why are you doing all this?” I sniffled.
“Oh, hell, Amy. First, we’re your friends.” Cassandra reached over to my desk and handed me a tissue from the box I kept there. (I did cry when I wrote mushy scenes.)
“More important, Ev needs to learn a lesson,” Gregory added. “He’s perfectly within his rights to avoid witches in his personal life but given the nature of his business, he can’t not deal with witches.”
“And he also needs to learn that just because you’re now a witch, that’s not going to change who you are and what you do for him,” Sally chimed in.
I sniffled a little more. Cassandra handed me another tissue. “So now what?” I asked.
Gregory chuckled. “I give him less than a week before he comes crawling. You have spoiled him, you know. I’m not sure he knows his bank balances, much less how to do payroll.”
For the first time in a couple of hours I smiled. “Ev has access to my computer and Ed can figure out my systems. However, once Ed tells him how much it’s going to cost for a CPA to do just that part of my job, Ev is going to throw a good tantrum. So, you think he’ll ask me back. Should I go?”
Gregory’s smile widened. “Not at first. Remind him that he thinks witches are devious and you wouldn’t want any suspicion to fall on you for anything.”
“Oooh. We witches can be devious,” Cassandra’s eyes twinkled. “You already have a new job working for me. Witches have to stick together, you know!”
“What? You need help?” I’m sure my eyes were big as saucers.
“I’m kidding,” she said. “I’m fine. But Ev doesn’t have to know that. Make him beg you to come back. I’m hoping he’ll even feel compelled to talk to me about it. He’ll get an earful if he does.”
Everyone knew Ev was an abject failure at the business end of business. That’s why he’d hired me in the first place. It was just a question of how long he’d hold off calling me and how much of a mess I’d have to clean up when I finally agreed to go back.
“Hey, what if he decides to hire someone new?” I asked.
“He won’t,” Gregory answered. “Apart from his love life, he hates change and it appears even the love life is settling down. We just have to hang on until his ego decides to take the blow. Will you be okay waiting this out?”
I nodded. “I have plenty of things to keep me busy and enough money to live on. I’ll be fine. I know Sally doesn’t need to work but what about you?”
“I don’t need to work, either. I’m old enough to have amassed a fair amount of savings and Martin has done an excellent job with my portfolio even in this horrible economy. As we discussed in Atlanta, I do it because of the challenges it presents. You can’t tell me working for Ev isn’t a challenge!”
Cassandra clapped her hands in glee. “You have daytime as well as nighttime, now. I won’t hear any excuse for not studying!” Fudge butted his head against my leg in agreement.
I sighed. “Yes, I know. It really was on this week’s agenda.”
They rose as one. “Well, we will let you get to it, then,” Gregory said as they headed toward the door.
“You have my number. I’m back when you are,” Sally told me.
Maybe a short vacation was a good thing. I could do the studying for Cassandra and start the next book without the interruption of a nine-to-five job.
My stomach rumbled. It was noonish and for the first time in months, I had to make lunch during the week. Quickly changing from my suit to sweats, I put a peanut butter sandwich together and sat down with a novel. Work – whether it be studying or writing – could wait one more day. Fudge turned his nose up at my sandwich and, curling up next to me in the chair, started in on his hourly bath.
Chapter 13
Although technically unemployed, I woke with the sun, my normal routine so ingrained that I couldn’t go back to sleep. It felt strange to have a leisurely weekend morning on a Tuesday.
Once I was ready for work (that thought elicited an internal snort), I flipped a coin to decide whether I’d write or study on this first day of my “vacation”. I sighed. Studying won.
“Read completely through the first book,” Fudge advised. “This is what you need to know to survive in this world.”
I looked down at my cat. I swear, put a pair of glasses on him and he’d have the same expression as my economics professor in college.
“I am not joking, my human. Knowing these laws will keep your head on your shoulders – literally.”
“Why do you always refer to me as ‘my human’? I have a name, you know. And yes, Cassandra explained all that to me on Sunday.”
“Sorry, Amy. Habit. Witches and familiars were not that familiar with each other. For hundreds of years, I was accustomed to being addressed as ‘familiar’ and nothing more. It has only been in the last few centuries that I have been viewed as something akin to a pet and been given a name. It probably started when familiars had to be seen as pets for the witch to live.
“I am aware that the other human – Cassandra – said you needed to know the laws. I really wanted to stress that. The laws the Council have laid down are one thing but how your magic works is the most important part. You really can kill yourself without outside help and I would not like for that to happen.”
Studying. Ugh. I hadn’t done that since college – a lifetime ago. I sighed, refilled my coffee cup and, grabbing the binder that now said “Book One” on the cover, sat down to read.
I skimmed through the first part that I’d already read and committed the essential parts to memory. Well, except for the Council list. I knew if I had contact with them, it’d be them calling me.
Flipping through to the section that started with “Earth”, I took a hard look at the witch’s version of The Vitruvian Man then started reading in earnest:
“Earth practitioners, of all the elements, have the greatest connection to the Mother. Air is thin in a cave deep underground. Water is scant in the desert. Fire can draw but faint energy from the Sun’s reflected light of the Moon. But just as the Mother combines every element to make and sustain life, only Earth can draw strong energy wherever you may be. For even if you are soaring above the clouds or floating upon the ocean, Earth is always beneath you.”
That made sense. I flipped the page.
Oh. My. God. The beginning of a section about geology. My eyes started glazing immediately. Science was never an interest of mine. I only took high school biology because I needed a year of science to get into the college I’d never finished. Descriptions of various types of rock and earth swam before my eyes.
“Pay attention! You would not move five pounds of sand the same way you would a five pound piece of granite, would you? You need to know the difference. Your magic works differently depending on what type of Earth is beneath you.”
“Do I not have any privacy in my own mind anymore?”
“Not when you are doing anything magically-related. As in studying. I try to stay out the rest of the time. Human thoughts are too strange most of the time.”
I snorted. “I suppose I’d be just thrilled with yours if I could read them, huh?”
“Well, of course. I have had well over a thousand of your years of experience in many areas. We could have marvelous philosophical discussions but your human mind would not begin to comprehend the subject matter. Back to studying.”
So, familiars, even in (especially in?) cat form thought they were superior to humans. I snickered and thought of the joke about cats, opposable thumbs and can openers. A metaphoric slap upside my head had me laughing even more
as I turned my attention back to the text.
Well, shit. I really was back in school. I grabbed a pencil and started making notes in the margins.
Three hours later, my brain was about as full of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks and all their stony permutations as it could be. I saw the next section was headed “Ley Lines”, whatever those were. It was definitely time for a break. Since I was going to have to feed myself lunch for an unknown number of days and didn’t want to go anywhere near the deli and its upstairs neighbor, I made a grocery list.
I had just finished putting the groceries away when there was a knock at the door. The peephole told me it was Gregory, so I let him in with, “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d bring you this.” He handed me a small piece of flexible rubber. Just what every girl needs. I raised an eyebrow in inquiry.
“It’s to protect your mobile. I am surprised you haven’t blown it up already.”
“Huh?”
“Your energy spikes can burn up the circuits in some of today’s technology. Your temper tantrum yesterday blew out Sally’s computer monitor. As you usually keep your mobile on you, I’m surprised it’s still working.”
I grabbed my phone out of my purse and looked at it. It still had the same lock screen and signal strength but I noticed the battery was showing low even though I’d put it on the charger when I got home the day before and had only taken it off when I left for the grocery store two hours earlier. I showed it to Gregory.
“Ah, yes. It’s going haywire but not as bad as some. Apparently, you drain batteries. How is your watch?”
Although I wore one, it was because I felt strange without it, not because I looked at it all the time. There were clocks on everything so the watch was more decoration than anything else. I had put it on that morning out of habit but didn’t remember when I’d last consulted it for the time. When I looked down, the second hand wasn’t moving. The battery was dead. I took it off and tossed it on my desk.
“You may as well forget about wearing it unless you want to replace the battery every hour or so. Those don’t hold as much juice as other things.” He fitted the piece of rubber over my cell phone. “This should protect your phone and its battery so you can use it. You will have to charge it more often but it should be good otherwise.”
“What about my computer?” My life was on that thing and if I couldn’t use a computer, I was thoroughly screwed.
“It’s an expensive one, isn’t it?” He asked. “One you can drop and it will still function? One you can spill coffee on and it will work?”
I nodded. I’m a klutz at the best of times. After the third spilled cup of coffee had shorted out a keyboard, I’d splurged on an industrial-strength laptop. (Industrial-strength does not equal pissed-off-vampire-proof. Trust me on this one.)
“Then you should be okay. Those are well-shielded. I would just ensure it’s turned off when you’re doing energy work of any kind.”
“Well, thanks for the present, but what are you really doing here?” I asked him.
Gregory gave a little smile – the one that said he had something up his sleeve. “We’re going to be neighbors for a bit so I thought I’d do the neighborly thing and come introduce myself.”
I think my jaw hit the floor and went straight through it to bedrock. “What? Why? Where?”
“As I no longer work for Ev, I felt it only right to move out of the cottage. I called James and he had an open apartment in the building next to this one. No garden but I know it’s only short term. If everything goes according to plan, I should be back at the cottage and garden within a couple of weeks so I won’t miss spring planting.
“Being next door and unoccupied with other things means I can help you with your studying, if you like. Although we’re different elements, I’ve been around long enough to know the basics of all four.”
I was dumbfounded. He didn’t say as much but I knew I had just acquired yet another babysitter. All I could spit out was, “Why is everyone so bloody concerned about me?”
“Amy, although they’re not unheard of, late bloomers are rare. Powers generally start to manifest at puberty and there is usually a magical relative around to help guide the new witch or wizard. You don’t have that relative. Plus, your powers just blew up instead of easing their way in, rather like a dam that just burst instead of starting to leak. So, we’re all concerned for both you and your environment.”
I screwed up my face at him. “Did you plan all this? Did Mr. Owens kick someone out so you could move in?”
He laughed. “Absolutely not. Like I said, I didn’t expect Ev to fire you. James really did have an empty apartment that he was just about to advertise. It suited both our purposes that I take it for a few weeks. If he finds a suitable tenant before Ev gets his act together, I will just move somewhere else. In the meantime, Cassandra has a deli to run but I’m nearby and at loose ends.”
I mused out loud. “If everyone’s that concerned, why aren’t Elinda and Marge down here badgering me, too?”
“For one thing, they’re both Air, like I am. For another, neither is as old as I am, nor have they traveled much, so they don’t have the body of knowledge I’ve amassed. Lastly, and I’m speculating here, I think they’d rather be the grandmothers who soothe hurt feelings than the teachers who must sometimes be harsh.”
I knew I had to accept my quirky DNA and at least learn enough to not cause a building to collapse when I got mad. Whether I would do anything with it beyond that, I wasn’t sure. I had come to trust Gregory over the years – who wouldn’t after seeing him pull Ev out of some tricky situations? I also knew that Cassandra hadn’t planned on taking time to teach me and was squeezing me in. She had the deli and her new husband to pay attention to. Plus, it felt too weird to have my best friend as a teacher.
“Okay. You can teach. But on my schedule. If I’m not going to the office, I don’t want to study every single minute. I want to have a fair amount of time to write. Deal?”
He nodded. “Deal. It looks like you just went shopping. Do you have enough for lunch for two? I’m hungry.”
Over grilled cheese sandwiches (I did mention I’m the grilled cheese queen, didn’t I?) we set up a schedule. He got three hours in the morning for teaching plus one weekend day. The rest of the time was mine. I finally got around to asking about Ev.
“Haven’t seen him since we argued while I was packing,” Gregory said around a mouthful of Cheddar and Pepper Jack – my favorite combination. “He hasn’t called, either, which suggests his ego is still getting in the way. He probably either called Marianna or took a taxi to work since he doesn’t drive.”
That was fast. “Although you think Ev will come to his senses soon, you knew you’d move?”
“Of course,” a slight chuckle escaped. “You have to remember that Ev is still very much a child in some respects. Standard ogre temper tantrums aside, he needs to learn that not everything goes according to his plan in this world. He’s a likeable person and has played on that but it’s nothing compared to how the magical community sticks together. Leaving the cottage is just another way of telling him I’m on your side, not his.
“I believe Cassandra delivered the non-renewal of the lease this morning. At least she said she was going to. He should be in a right tizzy about now. His ego won’t let him remember how difficult it was to get decent, inexpensive office space in the first place or what a mess things were before you showed up. I suspect there will be a couple of fist-sized holes in the wall that will have to be repaired before Cassandra will give him back the security deposit.”
I knew Ev would have a lot of difficulty managing things in my absence. Hell, the last time I took a few days off mid-week, he was beside himself when I returned. But I also knew his ego. We’d had more than one discussion about how to do things. Rather than get into a shouting match and unforgivably bruise his ego by reminding him what a mess he’d made of the paperwork in the beginning, I’d acquiesc
ed to his methods – on the surface. I kept doing things the most logical way, just rearranged the reports he got so he thought he’d won the argument.
Then I got to thinking about moving the office. He had a cushy deal with Cassandra. The rent was probably thirty percent below market and the office was conveniently located. Then there were the benefits of Cassandra’s wards and food almost immediately at hand. He was going to have to shell out a good deal more money to replicate what he now had anywhere else. Plus, organizing the entire office for a move? I wondered if Marianna would help.
Moving. Packing. “Hey, I didn’t hear any big trucks outside. Did you just magic all your stuff?”
Gregory grinned. “Of course. I keep crates in the garage for the small things and as I’ve moved quite a bit in my life, packing is almost as easy as breathing. It only took me a little over three hours to pack everything. Between me and James, it took about an hour to do the actual moving. That’s one of the reasons I was hungry.”
“So, you’re friends with Mr. Owens?” Curiosity was always my weak point.
“I’m how Ev got you this apartment. James and I have been crossing paths for the better part of a century. I ran into him at a grocery store of all places right after Ev and I moved here. I wouldn’t say we’re bosom buddies but acquaintances who do each other favors, yes.
“Ev told me he had hired you but that you were an out-of-towner. I knew James owned several apartment buildings and called him to see if he had anything available. It was just luck that he had a building with a vacancy in the same neighborhood as the office. I told Ev and the rest you know.”
Even though I’d seen hints of it before, I was beginning to realize just how tightly-knit the magical community was. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. I had to remind myself that I was now a part of it. The thought didn’t thrill me too much. I liked my privacy.
I made a face. “So Mr. Owens now knows about me? How far has the word spread that Amy can do magic?”
Upheaval! Page 14
