Felicity began flicking her wand here and there, and everything her spells touched turned to tiny, shredded bits of paper which scattered all across the floor. The other two girls giggled as they stood watching from the door.
They heard the creak of a door opening.
“Oh no! Someone is coming!” Jane gasped. “Felicity, make the charm already and get out of there!”
“Oh my, it’s not just someone, you know. It has got to be Lancelot Jones himself,” Alice gasped in a most lovelorn manner. “He’s such a handsome wizard, I almost want him to catch me!”
“You two get out of here, and I’ll follow right after I finish,” said Felicity urgently as she waved her wand in tight circles, working her charm. “This will only take me a few more seconds.”
The two girls ran down the hall and out the open door, and their wands lit up as they took to the sky. The two lights made a mad dash for the woods nearby as quick as a wink.
“I hope she gets out of there all right,” Alice said worriedly when the two of them did not see Felicity following behind. “What do you suppose Master Jones will do if he finds her?”
“I don’t even want to think on it,” said Jane. “But we cannot hang about here all night either way. We must return to our dorm and act as if nothing has happened. You must not speak of this to anyone, no matter what. Understood?”
“Yes, of course,” Alice agreed. The two girls lit up their wands and went quickly back to the school.
FIVE
Inside the Museum, Felicity finished making the charm with just another few strokes of her wand. But when she moved to exit the office she found Lancelot Jones standing right in the middle of the hallway.
“Dammit,” she muttered softly, since the man was blocking her escape. He had been glaring toward the open door, but when he heard her softly spoken expletive he immediately rounded on her instead.
Felicity had never seen the man up close before, though she had often heard of his exploits. Her heart began to hammer in her chest as the famous wizard’s ire was turned upon her.
Perhaps there was something to the notions Alice had been voicing after all. Her first coherent thought was that from where she was standing, the wizard did indeed look intimidating and powerful. But despite that very real fact, it wasn’t his power, but his extraordinary good looks, that held her spellbound.
His long, golden hair fell forward with unruly waves into a pair of fiery green eyes. His sensuous mouth turned down into a menacing frown that still managed to do crazy things to her insides. His tall, muscular frame, well exposed due to the absence of most of his clothes, seemed to be made just to entice the sensibilities of the fairer sex.
Of course, she had very little time to reflect upon these facts at the moment. Because reality just had to intrude, reminding her that she was currently at the end of the wand of a powerful, pissed off wizard.
“Here, what’s this?” he demanded hotly as he stepped towards Felicity.
Gasping with fright, Felicity did the first thing that popped into her head, aiming her wand straight at his as she shouted, “Grunious!”
Lancelot’s eyes widened in surprise when his wand suddenly burst free of his hand and hopped away. In another moment the thing began to ribbit. It became a huge toad and managed to jump three or four times toward the open door.
“What the—?”
Lancelot looked even more annoyed at this turn of events, torn between preventing his wand from escaping, or preventing her. He surged forward to grab Felicity by the wrist and then dragged her along with him as he caught his wand by the leg. The two of them tumbled to the floor, and Felicity attempted to scrabble up his chest to get away.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Lancelot told her, and twisted around so that his body covered hers. She felt the hard, lean muscles of his torso all along her own small frame, and she was sorely tempted to do as Alice had suggested, and simply let him have her. But it was not in Felicity’s nature to give up without a fight.
“Oh!” she gasped with outrage. “Let me go, you great oaf!”
“Who else was with you? Why are you here?” Lancelot demanded as his wand, now turned back to its normal form, pointed straight at her face. The light in its tip shone just brightly enough for the man to get a better look at the young woman he had pinned to the floor.
When the look in his eyes switched from ire to amusement, Felicity cast him an annoyed glance. “What’s so funny?”
“Did you really think a mere slip of a girl like you could get away with stealing from my museum?” he wanted to know.
“For your information, I was not here to steal anything,” she answered haughtily. “I was simply trying to teach Director McTavert a lesson in good manners.”
“A lesson in manners, you say?” he scoffed. “And what lesson might that be?”
“If McTavert cares nothing for stepping on the rights of other people, I thought perhaps if somebody stepped on his own toes, he might change his tune. He must see that the Law of Three would be of great benefit to everyone, and not seek to dismiss it so readily.”
“So, a little political activist, is it?” Lancelot chuckled as he leaned forward enough to whisper the words into her ear. “I wonder what I should do with you now.”
“You can let me up from the floor, for starters,” she scolded, even as she sucked in her breath in surprise. The heat of his breath slid along her sensitive flesh around the ear in which he spoke, and her body became entirely too aware of the fact that he was still pinning her to the cold, marble tiles of the hall.
Never before this had she ever been in such close proximity to any man, and yet instinctively she knew that no other man would have nearly the same affect upon her as this one did now. Her heart fluttered like a caged bird, and her breathing came in short little gasps.
With an amused grin, Lancelot asked, “What’s the matter, my dear, have I taken your breath away? Just tell me who was with you, and I’ll let you up so we can take them over to the Law Enforcement Office as well.”
“I would never betray my friends,” she said between breaths. “And the only thing that is taking my breath away at the moment is the weight of your great, hulking body crushing my lungs. Now let me go before you crush them completely.”
Grasping her by the wrist, Lance grinned as he said, “Your wish is my command.”
With one smooth motion, he got to his feet and brought her along with him. The next thing Felicity knew, he flicked his wand into the air and popped them from the Museum right into the middle of the Law Enforcement Office within the space of a heartbeat.
“Nature of your complaint, sir?” inquired a witch without batting an eye as they suddenly appeared beside her desk.
“I caught this little witch sneaking around Director McTavert’s office inside the Museum,” he explained as he handed her off to the woman. “It would appear I’ll have more than one issue to deal with in the morning.”
“Yes, sir, we’ll take care of it,” the woman said with a nod.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he replied.
As the witch led Felicity toward the door that led to the back, she looked over her shoulder, straight into the eyes of the wizard who had brought her there.
Lancelot Jones had a look on his face that made Felicity’s insides clench in a heat of wanting. His disheveled hair cascaded down his shoulders in a wave of gold. His green eyes held a flame that she could not define but wanted to keep gazing upon forever. And somehow, he’d managed to magically conjure a robe on the way there too.
As the door shut with a click behind her, Felicity turned to see the bars of the holding cell she was about to enter. She spared a thought for her two friends who had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She hoped they’d gotten back to the Academie in one piece, and vowed never to mention the part they’d played.
SIX
The small holding cell that Felicity entered was already occupied by four witches who were all giggling together off in on
e of the corners. The stark white walls glared at her eyes beneath a magically created light source located somewhere above, and the unconcealed toilet mounted in the middle of the room left her stomach even queasier than it already was.
Felicity hung close to the door as it slammed shut behind her, uncertain what to do next. One of the other witches suddenly sprang up and started to dance around in circles as she spoke.
“Well, of course I had to break the Law of Three,” she giggled as she wiggled her hips. “I’ve got me some clients in Mundania who really like what I can do for them. What no bloody Mundane wench can, if you know what I mean. Why, I have this one old rotter with a tiny prick, and he always picks me up because I can make the thing three times its size with just one flick of my wand. Even bigger, if he asks me nicely.”
“Well, I broke the Law of Three as well,” said another witch. “I needed some carrots to put into a stew, and when I asked a Mundane woman if she would spare me some, she actually had the cheek to tell me no.”
“Really?” the others gasped. “What did you do about it? “
“I compelled her, of course. What was I supposed to do, return home to prepare a meal without the ingredients I required? Ridiculous.”
“Well, unlike all of you, I did not break the Law of Three,” the third witch said smugly. “I simply broke my husband’s nose.”
“Here now, what did you do that for?”
“I caught him cheating on me with his secretary.”
“Oh, that’s so sad,” said the last witch. “What was her name, dearie?”
“His name is Ernest,” she replied. “Though it may as well have been Ernestine when I got through with him.”
“Oh,” she said with a little moue of surprise. The cooking witch held back a laugh.
“You ought not to trifle with a man whose called Ernest,” the first witch teased. “They’ve always got way too much to say. Far better to find yourself a Randy, so he’ll fuck you quite nicely and be on his way.”
“Oh, oh, Elsie, you must stop,” tittered one of the other witches with a bit of a cackle. “We appear to have ended up with an innocent in our midst.”
“Why, so we have, my dears, so we have,” she chuckled as they all followed the thumb she had pointed over at Felicity. “Tell us, little miss school girl, whatever did a sweet little thing like you do to get thrown into a nasty place like this? Not working a bit of magic on some old rotter as well, I trust?”
“Ma’am, please,” said Felicity with a crimson blush. “I’ve never even seen a rotter. And even if I did, I don’t believe I know the spell you are referring to. I never even knew there was such a spell.”
“Oh my, but there are quite a few others for a witch who cares to be adventurous enough to learn them,” Elsie told her with a toothy grin.
The other witches cackled some more.
“Ah, didn’t I tell you, Elsie? Pure as the driven snow.”
“I’m only seventeen,” Felicity protested. “I should think I still have plenty of time yet before I need to worry over that sort of thing. In fact, right now my schooling is the most important thing in the world. If I play my cards right, I’ll be Valedictorian at graduation this year.”
“Oh my, and won’t that be quite the little accomplishment?” said the would-be chef with a vacuous smile. “I was the class Valedictorian once. And now look at me, saddled with seven children who need food in their mouths, and a husband who can’t seem to rub more than a few coppers at a time together, no matter how hard he tries. He’s not the most powerful Mage who ever lived, mind you, but at least he’s decent enough to me.”
“I’m certain that you must love your children very much, to end up in here trying to feed the little dears,” Felicity pointed out with a smile. “There’s no greater gift you can give them than the gift of your heart.”
“Well, I wish one or the other of them would gift me with a thank you every now and then,” she complained. “Just wait, my dear. Someday you’ll know exactly what I mean.”
“I should hope not,” Felicity replied.
“Well, little miss Valedictorian, don’t let us disturb your tender sensibilities any further,” Elsie chuckled then. “In fact, I believe that there’s a book to read right over there on the little table. That should keep you occupied till morning, even if sleep does not. Mind that you stay off the top bunk, though, as it belongs to me.”
“Do you always use the same bed when you come in here, then?” the cooking witch inquired.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “This is my home away from home, after all. Do make yourself comfortable, child.”
“Yes, of course. Thank you, ma’am,” Felicity answered with a polite nod, earning another round of laughter as a result.
“You’re very welcome, miss,” Elsie told her with a curtsy.
Felicity did her best to ignore the continued ribaldry of the others as she turned and walked over to retrieve the book the witch had indicated off the table. She brought it with her as she went to lie on the bottom bunk. She didn’t look at the title until she’d plumped up the flat pillow a bit and settled herself down into a reasonably comfortable position.
She was thinking about what the mother witch had just said. She hoped very much that if ever she had any children of her own that she would teach them enough about respect that they would never fail to thank her for things, as those other children did to their mother.
“Bewitching,” she muttered as she read the book’s title aloud, and realized that she was holding a rather spicy romance novel. It wasn’t the kind of fare one ever found at the Academie, and thus she had never had the opportunity to read anything like it, but she was willing to give it a go.
In the middle of the book were a few panels with pictures on them. More than one of these depicted scenes where the characters in the story were kissing or coupling, and with a blush Felicity turned quickly from them to read the book from the start.
As the story progressed, she came to the scene where the witch first met her wizard. She read it through with interest when she realized some of the similarities it had with the way she’d just encountered Lancelot Jones.
For one thing, this man had caught the woman in a place she did not belong, just as Lancelot had caught her. However, rather than carrying her straight off to be judged, as Lancelot had done to her, the wizard had begun a slow seduction instead, kissing the witch with a savage need.
Eyes rounded, Felicity found herself gazing off into nothingness after a time, her mind’s eye clearly focused on the earlier events of the evening. How her heart had lurched the very moment she had first seen the handsome wizard, and how it had not been simply the fright of discovery that had been the cause.
What would it be like to kiss a man like Lancelot Jones? To run her fingers through that silky golden mane? What would it have felt like if he’d been on top of her body like that without any clothes at all, doing the things a man might do to a woman in such a state, whatever those things might be?
Maybe if she read a bit further, she might even discover what some of them were, she reflected, and then she found herself digging about in the chapters in search of just the information she craved.
It wasn’t until dawn that she realized she’d fallen asleep with dreams of Lancelot Jones’ kisses floating about inside her addled head. She realized with a start that she’d been thinking with her body when she should be thinking with her brain.
Very soon now, she would be brought out to be judged for what she’d just done to Dervish’s office. Her accuser, the very man she’d been lusting after all night, surely had formulated what he had to say in the matter by now, while she had allowed herself to sink into the realm of fantasy instead.
Well, she decided, that was no matter. She would simply make up her defense now, in plenty of time for the upcoming event. She spent the greater part of three hours waiting before her name was finally called.
Felicity’s stomach knotted up as she stood and walked over to
the officer who waited for her at the cell door. The woman flicked her wand, and wrist restraints appeared just above Felicity’s hands, making her wince.
“These are hardly necessary, ma’am,” she told her in a conciliatory tone.
“Regulation,” the older witch barked efficiently. “Come with me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she whispered, feeling a bit nervous now.
You must be strong, she told herself. You did nothing wrong, merely attempted to illustrate how wrong the opinions of one wizard were in the face of so many others people.
Felicity stepped out into the huge courtroom filled with three hundred witches and wizards who comprised the Council of Elders, none of whom were less than four hundred years old. She felt a little bit dizzy as she padded further in. The officer who escorted her offered her a steadying hand as she took a seat on the chair in the center of the huge, formidable chamber.
“Now comes Miss Felicity Lake to be heard on the matter set before us,” called out the bailiff, and Felicity watched fervently as Lancelot Jones strode into view.
The wizard looked even more handsome than he had the night before, with the immaculate suit and his hair pulled carefully back. She could well see why the wizard was so well liked simply by the manner of his gait as he strode confidently across the room.
SEVEN
As Felicity sat there taking in all that happened around her, she watched Lancelot explain the situation that had brought them here today. She was disgusted with herself for hanging on the wizard’s every word. She kept hoping he would look in her direction, but he seemed to be avoiding her eyes with great determination.
“Fellow Magi, the case before you now is quite simple,” he explained in a cool, dynamic tone that did queer things to her insides and reminded her very much of how she’d felt while he lay on top of her. “I apprehended this young witch as she exited the office of Dervish McTavert within the Magical Museum. She had others with her, but she herself was the only one I managed to catch.”
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