“Could you explain why, please?” Hazel said.
Phoebe shoved to her feet with a dark look in Hazel’s direction.
“Because I don’t have one,” she said.
A ripple of confused murmurs drifted through the classroom. A witch with no familiar was rare, especially in Wildemoor. It was one thing if a witch lived in the outside world where an animal might be perceived as a pet. But Wildemoor was full to bursting with magic. Familiars were everywhere, ready and willing to bond with a witch or warlock.
Phoebe flounced into her seat again, having nothing further to say.
“Why not?” Hazel said.
At first, Phoebe didn’t respond. Her gaze shifted away from Hazel and she crossed her arms.
“Mama left before I was old enough for her to get me one,” Phoebe admitted.
“What about your father?”
Phoebe pressed her lips together at the mention of Nick. But Hazel pushed on.
“Has he forbidden you to have one?” she said.
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
Phoebe sighed and slouched in her seat, the brim of her witch’s hat nearly concealing her face from Hazel’s view.
“He doesn’t understand,” Phoebe said. “He thinks I don’t need one. That my wand is good enough for casting magic.”
A common misconception among humans. Hazel would have to clarify the situation with Nick—a conversation she was not looking forward to.
***
When Nick arrived at the school house at the end of the day, Hazel was waiting with Phoebe. It would be the first time she’d spoken to Nick since breaking off their almost-relationship and she didn’t know where they stood. Would he be angry? Would he turn a cold shoulder against her?
It didn’t matter how he reacted to her, she told herself. She’d handled frosty responses from parents before. Parents didn’t like it when their child was accused of misconduct or poor behavior and they pinned the blame on Hazel all the time for not being patient enough, not doing her job properly.
But this was different. This was about Hazel and Nick on a personal level. It was harder to remain unaffected when she had exposed her heart in a way she knew better than to do. There was a reason she kept her personal life separate from her school house and this was it.
Phoebe went barreling up to Nick and launched into his arms.
“Hey, sweetie,” he said with a surprised laugh. “How was your day at school?”
“Awful,” Phoebe mumbled into his neck.
Nick’s gaze flicked up to Hazel with a questioning look as if to say, is everything okay?
“We need to talk, Mr. Butler,” Hazel said.
Nick studied her for a moment then nodded. He set Phoebe on the ground, despite her protesting whimpers and chucked her under the chin.
“I picked up some fresh cinnamon roll bread from the bakery on my way over here,” he said. “It’s in the truck. Go grab yourself a slice. But no more than that or you’ll ruin your dinner!” he added as Phoebe took off at a dead run for the truck.
Nick turned back to Hazel but she could detect no animosity in his posture. He looked…a little trapped, if she was honest. Like he wasn’t sure how to handle this situation any more than she did.
“Did Phoebe act up again?” Nick said.
“Well, she hasn’t been doing her lessons,” Hazel replied. “Which will be a problem in the very near future. But what I wanted to discuss was her lack of familiar.”
Nick released a low breath of relief. “Oh. Well, I just don’t really see the point of a pet right now. She’s not responsible enough for that.”
“It’s not a pet. A familiar is a guide for her magic. It keeps her stable. Especially since she doesn’t have an immediate magic-user in the family, it would be a good idea for her to obtain a familiar.”
Nick raised his eyebrows. “I had no idea. How do I…do that? Find a familiar for her?”
“Pagan Posies will have a new litter of kittens weaned and ready to go next week at the Mabon celebration,” Hazel offered. “Cats are a popular choice among witches. They’re versatile and flexible.”
Nick nodded. “And if she doesn’t like cats?”
“Aiden Hall’s occult shop, Spellbound, has a brooding raven. The eggs should be due to hatch any day now. Check with Aiden to see if you can put an early claim on one of the chicks. The younger the familiar, the better for bonding. Tell him I sent you, that it’s part of Phoebe’s school supplies, and he’ll give you a discount.”
Nick continued to nod. But Hazel could see the glazed look of panic in his eyes. He was overwhelmed, out of his depth with his little girl.
“I’ll look into it,” he said. “Thank you, Miss Aven.”
“My pleasure,” she replied.
But Nick didn’t move. He tucked his hands in his pockets and hesitated.
“I probably have no right to ask this but…would you consider helping out?” he said. “With Phoebe and finding a familiar for her.”
Hazel opened her mouth to protest but Nick held up a hand.
“It would be in a strictly professional capacity,” he said. “I just don’t know any other witches or warlocks to ask about this. And you seem to understand what Phoebe needs more than what I can grasp. I’m trying my best to figure all this out but…”
He trailed off with a helpless gesture.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Hazel finished for him.
Nick sighed. “That’s an understatement.”
Hazel considered for a moment. But she already knew her answer. As Phoebe’s teacher, it was Hazel’s job to guide Phoebe, to instruct her in everything related to magic. And that included choosing a familiar to bond with.
“All right,” Hazel said. “We’ll start with the cats at the Mabon celebration next week. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.”
Nick cast a small smile of appreciation at her.
“Thank you, Miss Aven,” he said. “I owe you a great deal.”
“But only in a professional sense.”
“Of course.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mabon arrived, welcoming the autumnal equinox with a flurry of color and a sharp chill in the air. Pagan Posies was buzzing with activity, brimming with dozens of smells, from tea to fresh candy to hot pastries.
Baskets of apples and mushrooms were scattered across buffet tables. Fresh bushels of herbs from Bryony’s greenhouses were stuffed in old jars for vases and blooming with late autumn seed heads. Everyone brought a little something to share, to spread the abundant harvest around with friends and family.
Hazel was busy in the orchard with her Windywings students, instructing them how to plant their magical trees that they’d been growing for the past month.
Phoebe’s pot remained empty, still not using magic in her lessons. But she was willing to help Seline plant her tree at the edge of the orchard.
Hazel watched them playing together, laughing.
“Seline is good for her,” Bryony said, coming up to stand at Hazel’s side. “Don’t tell Seline I said that. It’ll go straight to her head.”
Hazel smiled. “Seline doesn’t have a shy bone in her body. She simply sweeps Phoebe up into her whirlwind.”
“That’s the Torres way,” Bryony replied with a grin.
Sky came down the hill, bouncing baby Kaleb on one hip. It seemed he got chubbier by the day. But Sky was beaming from ear to ear, every time she got to baby-sit him for her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Bianca.
“Look who I have for the day,” she declared, toying with Kaleb’s little fist. “I told Bianca she needed some rest and the Mabon celebration would be the perfect way to spend an evening with Keegan.”
Bryony pressed a wet, noisy kiss to Kaleb’s cheek. He shrieked with laughter.
“Does Aiden know you’ve found another date for tonight’s festivities?” she said.
Sky hitched Kaleb a little higher on her hip. “Aiden loves Kaleb just as much as I do, you know
that. Don’t you go trying to get me into trouble.”
Bryony cackled.
Just past Sky’s shoulder, movement caught Hazel’s attention. Nick stood at the top of the hill, looking lost. Hazel touched Bryony’s arm.
She’d explained everything to Bryony last week about Phoebe’s need for a familiar and Bryony was more than happy to offer up a fresh kitten.
“Do you think we could look at those kittens now?” Hazel said.
“Sure,” Bryony replied. “They’re in the kitchen. I’ll get Phoebe and meet you there.”
She set off for the house. Hazel raised her arm and waved to get Nick’s attention. He spotted her and hurried down the hill.
“Hey,” he said, a little breathless. “I hope I didn’t make you wait too long. I had a customer stop by the garage at the last minute. Tried to get it finished up as quickly as I could.”
Hazel shook her head. “We just finished planting trees that the students have been growing for the past month. We’re meeting Bryony in the kitchen for those kittens.”
Nick fell into step beside her as they made their way through the orchard, toward Bryony’s house.
“How’s Phoebe holding up?” he said.
“She’s doing better,” Hazel admitted. “A little less sullen. But I think that could be the promise of a new kitten.”
“And her magic? Is she doing her lessons?”
Hazel cast him an apologetic look. “I’m afraid not. If she doesn’t start performing magic within another month or two, I’ll have to hold her back. She won’t be thrilled about having me for a teacher again but I can’t force her to do magic if she doesn’t want to do it.”
Nick sighed. “We talk about it every night. I think magic reminds her of her mother. It’s still a sore spot.”
Hazel nodded. “That’s understandable.”
The door of Bryony’s house opened and Phoebe clattered onto the porch in her brown lace-up boots. She waved both hands frantically in the air.
“Daddy! Daddy! Come quick! There are so many kittens and you have to see them!” she said.
“I’m on my way,” Nick called back. He cast a glance at Hazel. “It seems a cat will be the choice of familiar. You were right.”
Hazel smiled. “I’m partial to them myself.”
Hazel and Nick climbed up the porch steps and found themselves tucked close together in Bryony’s cozy, warm kitchen. Hazel tugged her black scarf off from around her neck to make herself comfortable.
Phoebe sat on the kitchen floor, kittens piled in her lap. She had the biggest smile on her face Hazel had ever seen. Phoebe went around to each kitten, patting their little heads, brushing their tiny tails that stuck straight up.
Hazel crouched down beside her and picked up a tortoise-shell kitten with white mitten paws.
“Do you have one you like?” she said.
Phoebe shook her head. “All of them. They’re so tiny and fuzzy!”
Nick settled on the ground beside Phoebe and scratched behind the ears of a gray kitten that looked like a toddling cotton ball. But he wasn’t looking at the kittens. He was watching Phoebe, seeing the joy light up in her eyes, just like Hazel was.
“Hold on a minute,” Bryony said. She bent over to a basket in the corner of the kitchen, tucked between the stove and the broom closet. She pulled out a black kitten, smaller than the others, with sky-blue eyes and a white heart-shaped dot on the tip of its nose.
Magic sparked at the tips of Phoebe’s fingers for the first time in weeks. She held out her hands and accepted the kitten as if it was as delicate as a feather.
“I think we have a winner,” Bryony said.
The kitten reached up and batted at Phoebe’s pigtails. She kissed the top of the kitten’s head with a hum of contentment.
“This one,” she said, matter-of-fact. “I like this one.”
“What about a name?” Nick said.
Phoebe studied the kitten, head tilted to the side in thought.
“Luna,” she said with a nod of finality. “’Cause it looks like she has a little moon on the tip of her nose.”
Nick glanced up at Hazel with a soft smile of gratitude.
Thank you, he mouthed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Phoebe carried Luna around for hours during the Mabon celebration. She wrapped Luna in her scarf, emptied an apple basket, and tucked her inside it.
Nick was hesitant at first, worried that Phoebe might trip or accidentally hurt such a small creature. But Hazel reassured him that Phoebe knew what she was doing.
And yet he wouldn’t stop hovering, keeping an eye on Phoebe and Luna, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice.
Hazel finally retrieved two cups of spiced cider from the buffet table and pressed one of the steaming cups into his hand.
“Let’s go for a walk,” she said.
Nick cast a wary glance at Phoebe, looking like he might protest further. But Hazel took him by the elbow and turned him away.
“She’ll be fine,” Hazel said. “Bryony and Sky are keeping tabs on the children. Phoebe included. Besides, this is her bonding time with her familiar. The first day is the most crucial for developing a lasting relationship that will nurture Phoebe’s magic. That’s exactly what she needs right now.”
Reluctantly, Nick allowed Hazel to guide him into the orchard. The leaves were laced with crisp autumn colors—brilliant golds and blushing crimsons—with fat apples hanging ripe and ready for the picking on low branches. A few baskets sat nestled at the base of trees here and there, half filled with apples or lying empty, waiting to be used for the harvest.
Hazel and Nick walked in silence for a while, apart from the sounds of their boots crunching in the autumn leaves scattered on the orchard floor.
“You’ve done Phoebe a world of good, you know,” Nick said. “She doesn’t show it but she really does admire you.”
“Me?” Hazel said in surprise. “I’m afraid I have a hard time believing that. She refuses to do nearly everything I ask of her. I’ve been waiting for some revenge magic ever since the fire.”
Nick winced in sympathy. “I know she’s a bit of a handful. It takes a while to crack through that ice but once you get to her, she’ll shower you with affection and she won’t stop chattering.”
Hazel laughed softly and ducked her head. “I’d like to see that. Phoebe always seems so sparing with her words.”
“I think you’re getting there. Your idea for the familiar seems to have broken down a very big, very stubborn wall.”
“Well, that’s part of my job. When my students need help, I do everything I can to make sure they don’t struggle alone. She’s a very gifted witch, though. Her natural abilities are remarkable and if she applied herself, she could be at the top of the class in no time.”
Hazel studied the smooth dark surface of her cider, trying to ignore how her steps continually drifted ever closer to Nick’s side of the path, despite her best attempts to keep him at a distance.
She’d never had this problem before—drawn to a man despite breaking it off, knowing she couldn’t have him. Even if a few years had passed and Phoebe moved on to another classroom, Hazel would still be the head of the school. Phoebe would be under her jurisdiction.
And she couldn’t expect Nick to wait after Phoebe had graduated. That was twelve years from now.
In the past, when she broke off a relationship, Hazel had moved on quickly. She barely even gave it a second thought, apart from a sense of relief that she could now focus more attention on her students where she felt at home.
It wasn’t like that with Nick. She caught herself gravitating back to him over and over again.
A burst of laughter in the distance made Hazel glance up.
Phoebe sat beneath a large oak tree with Seline, watching Luna playing with a sunshine yellow leaf. Luna rolled onto her back, biting at the leaf, only to scramble to her feet and dart beneath Phoebe’s witch hat that lay on the ground at her knee.
“It’s b
een a long time since I heard her laugh like that,” Nick said quietly.
Silence settled between the two of them as they watched Phoebe and Luna. Magic twinkled like stars at Phoebe’s fingers, making her face shine with a soft glow. It was a happy sort of magic, one that spilled out of her and made everything around her lighter, touched with joy. It wasn’t an angry, sparking magic like it had been before when she’d set the school house on fire.
But Nick was human and he couldn’t see it, the way Hazel could.
Hazel reached out and placed her hand on his forearm, temporarily allowing her magical vision to wash over him and grant him a glimpse of what she saw in Phoebe.
And the realization shown in his eyes. A slow smile touched his lips.
Then he looked down at Hazel’s hand on his arm. She snatched her hand away, fiddling with her cup of cider.
“Sorry, I…” She trailed off when she realized how stiff and rigid Nick had become. He wouldn’t meet her gaze either, wouldn’t even look in her direction.
“It’s late,” Nick mumbled. “I should get Phoebe to bed.”
He walked away and didn’t look back, leaving Hazel in the orchard, standing there alone.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Hazel replayed the image of Nick walking away from her over and over. She couldn’t stop kicking herself for the whole thing. She was the one who’d broken it off. She was the one who turned him down.
And then she’d let her hand linger on his forearm like that—a voluntary act of intimacy that she shouldn’t have instigated, sending all sorts of confusing signals in Nick’s direction.
The change that had come over Nick had been painful to witness. How stiff and rigid he was. How distant and cold his voice had been when he’d spoken.
Hazel sighed as she climbed the steps of her house, opened the door and stepped in. She had stayed at the Mabon celebration until well after midnight, if only to serve as a distraction.
But now she was home, alone in the dark, and she couldn’t escape the memory of that moment she dreaded.
Hazel tucked her broom in the stand by the door, shrugged out of her coat and hung it up. Her large black cat, Belladonna, came stalking out of the shadowy hallway to twine around Hazel’s ankles.
A Charmed Life (Coven Corner #3) Page 5