Someone cleared their throat behind me, and I twisted around to see Rodriguez staring at me.
"What?" I'm sure I sounded annoyed; I hated being watched.
"If you're up to it, we still need to deal with the lions."
"Crap. Alright, help me up." He pulled me up, grabbed the duffel, and guided me back in front of the lions. They were cute, and I doubted they'd cause any trouble in the right hands. Guards like this weren't effective if they tried to eat everyone.
"Could you turn them over to me?"
"What are you thinking, Michelle?"
"These guys aren't really dangerous; they just need to be told boundaries. I can do that." Besides, I could use door guards right now.
He rocked back and forth, thinking it over. "I can sign them over to you, and put in the registration paperwork, but they have to be documented."
"Most of the magical things I own need to be documented. I'm not worried about paperwork." Seriously, I had to be registered as a practicing magic user, and more than a few spell components were regulated.
"Fine, do you need help getting them in your car?"
"Nope." I had a plan.
"Then I'm out of here. See ya later."
"See ya."
He was rolling down the driveway when I approached the lions, which were still stuck in a shield bubble. I snapped my fingers; their eyes focused on me. "The two of you are in my possession now. I'm going to shrink you so I can move you more easily, and you're going to do exactly what I say, ok?" They nodded. "Jera," I said as I circled them with my wand. Stopping the power closed the spell, leaving them knee high. With a flick of my wand, the shield around them vanished. "Nazid." I poked a surge of power to them, and they floated above the ground. With my wand, I shooed them into the back seat of my car where I broke the spell.
On the drive home I cheerfully belted out a few tunes. Now, I had door guards. The lions would be living outside my bedroom door. No more satyrs would be sneaking in for a look. I wished I'd had them when he'd tried, but it was nice to know nothing else was creeping into my room.
At home, I levitated them back to my apartment, and examined them closer. The lions were a basic physical guardian. I enlarged them until they could barely fit on each side of the door. I gave them a few instructions, but prevented them from leaving the area right around the door, feeling far more secure in my apartment defense.
Lunch was fun, and my after lunch e-mail check revealed a few more registrations for the class. I needed to gather supplies and finalize the details. Before I could focus on the classes, I needed to clear up the troll problem. I went back to my research, slowly picking through a pile of books as the afternoon waned.
By dinner I had a short list of ideas to try when I drove up to Forsyth tomorrow. Jones and I had arranged to spend the day trying to find the trolls, since they were threatening both of our jobs.
Heading down to dinner, I was still stumped. There wasn't a good reason why these trolls were so hard to find. None of the trolls had been discovered unless something tragic had occurred; they'd revealed themselves. It was troubling, because trolls weren't subtle creatures. I pushed the issue away, my stomach reminding me that I should be focused on dinner.
Nearing the dining room, I realized I'd yet to tell Landa about my new door guards. I was working on a way to casually mention the lions, but I was distracted by a silver head at the sideboard. "What are you doing back?"
He wasn't supposed to be here. He had left, for good I'd hoped. Why was that Narzel-loving man back?
Elron looked up. "I take it you weren't expecting me?" He said mildly.
"Why do you keep coming back?"
"Haven't you heard of old elves and wanderlust?"
"Then why haven't you wandered far, far away?" Seriously, the man wouldn't leave.
"I'm old. I move slowly. I need a place to stay while I explore."
He winked, and turned back to finish loading his plate. I stood there, my mouth slightly agape. A second or two later I fumbled forward to collect my dinner. By the time I set my food down, I'd collected a small plate of mushroom, spinach, and ricotta pasta salad, as well as a large gingerbread cookie and hunk of chocolate cake.
"Michelle, was there something you wanted to tell me?" Landa glared at me.
"I've acquired two guardians; they're sitting outside my bedroom door." She hadn't stopped glaring. I sighed, "My apologies, Elron. I was rude to have addressed you thusly."
He smiled from next to me. "Accepted, fair one, though I had hoped you would be happy to see me."
I didn't know how he did it, but he was always next to me. It left me wanting to know if he liked being next to me, or if he enjoyed being annoying. "How am I a fair lady? My hair is brown."
The corner of his mouth tilted up. "You misunderstand. Fair wasn't referring to your hair. It's a poor translation of an Elvish term."
"Again, my apologies." I didn't know what else to say.
"No need. The young are often rude."
"I'd prefer to say honest. Is that not a trait valued in young elves?"
"Valued? Yes, but civility is also prized. It's such a shame others don't value common courtesy as well."
"We value civility. We value honestly as well, and don't have as much time to bat words back and forth. You long-lived races make every discussion take ages."
"The young are often foolish, not understanding the value words may have."
"Understanding the value and realizing the impact are different, and not always equal. It's far easier to say words than know their impact."
"Perhaps you are wiser than I'd credited."
I let the conversation drop. I'd had far too much excitement in the past few days, I didn't want to argue. We both munched, and I continued to marvel over my new door guards, and the effectiveness I expected from them.
"Elron, when do you start work?" Landa picked up the lagging conversation.
"Tomorrow. I expect it will be a long day."
"Where are you working?" No one had mentioned this to me. I'd have liked to know what the elf was doing, not because I liked him, but to help me avoid him.
"I'm helping out at a garden. They have several exotic species that need special care." When he didn't elaborate I was at a loss for a legitimate question.
Landa returned to an earlier statement of mine, "What guardians?"
"The lions that are outside my bedroom door."
She glared at me. I dropped my gaze to my plate, knowing I deserved it for being difficult. "Where did you get the guardians? What limitations did you give them?"
"I had a call from the police this morning where a couple had picked these up at an estate sale. One of the lions had bitten the husband, and they were both on guard. They needed some direction, nothing more. I've only allowed them in the doorway of my bedroom and they can't seriously hurt anyone." As far as it went it was true, not the full truth, but true.
"Make sure you didn't leave any loop holes in those orders."
"I'm not careless, Landa." I sighed, "I didn't want a repeat of last night."
Elron nearly swiveled around in his chair. "What happened?"
"I'd rather not discuss it." The last thing I needed was for him to get any bright ideas.
"A former guest broke in to her room. He will not be staying here again." Landa was a wealth of information tonight.
"Many thanks. It's always good to know recent happenings."
I tried not to stab my food viciously as I fumed. He didn't need to know about my problems. The satyr was gone, and wouldn't be returning. There wasn't any reason in the world that little incident should be required gossip.
Finishing my food was the only polite way to get out of this. Eating quickly wasn't something I did much, making it more difficult to be discreet about my escape plan. The conversation flowed around me while I shoveled food into my mouth.
"Michelle, you've been quiet." Elron was annoyingly perceptive.
"Nothing to say." I stuffed
another bite in my mouth.
"Before you run away, I want to give you something." He reached into the pocket of the jacket hanging on the back of his chair and pulled out a small flower. It was lavender, with pointy leaves, blue stripes running down the petals, and a short stem. He set it next to my plate. "It will bloom for weeks if you leave it somewhere moist."
Stunned, I gently stroked a petal. "Thank you."
I was still stunned when I meandered back to my apartment. The little flower was a lovely addition to my bathroom, where it would have steam from the shower. Looking at the contrast between the flower and my mostly white bathroom, I felt like I was missing something important.
Research was slow, especially with the breaks I took to stay awake and the flower to distract me, but through the afternoon I learned a few things. The books left me with a short, potential-filled list. Tomorrow I could put together supplies and outline several spells.
After microwaving my dinner, I sat in front of the television, ready to lose myself in pretend troubles. Halfway through a show about humans who passed off illusions as magic, I realized tomorrow was girls' night out and I couldn't leave for Forsyth until I'd seen them. I couldn't skip—girls' night kept me sane.
Chapter Twelve
Michelle
The clothes were easy to pack. Fitting all the magical supplies in two small bags and a box was more challenging. I flipped on the television for background noise while I shoved the important books in a backpack. The forecast caught my attention.
"Snow is expected over most of northern Georgia tonight. Six inches could fall between midnight and four in the morning."
"Narzel fart," I swore. The last thing I needed was to miss my deadline because of snow. Nothing filled me with as much dread as arguing for my job because of weather. I wanted a chance to prove myself, show my skills.
Contrary to popular belief, witches couldn't change the weather. On a good day I couldn't even influence it much. The best I could do was urge a breeze or cloud along. Moving a storm system or preventing snow was beyond my capabilities.
I muttered all the way down to the dining room, relieved Elron wasn't at the table. If I was lucky, he was at work and wouldn't make an appearance. Landa, on the other hand, was waiting for me.
"I'll get a plate for you, child."
Like a good little girl, I sat down, and waited on her. If she was going through this much trouble there was something she wanted to say to me.
"Here you go."
Sliding in front of me was a lovely plate of pita with hummus and a side of roasted vegetables. The food looked delicious so I started on it, ensuring a full mouth to buy me a few seconds when I had to answer a question.
"Child, what's your problem with Elron?" She was sitting across from me with a cup of hot chocolate.
I slowly chewed what was in my mouth. I had a lot of problems with Elron. "He bothers me."
She glared at me.
I sighed. "For two people who don't get along, he spends a lot of time trying to be close to me."
"Why would you think the two of you don't get along?"
"We argue, bicker, and disagree on almost everything. We've had one civil conversation since we met." Really, what did she think I was going to say?
Her lips tightened into one thin line. "Bickering and disliking one another are different."
"We do both."
"Give it some time. You might change your mind."
Between the stress, worry, and this conversation, my small quantity of patience had been exhausted. "What do you want, Landa?"
"Give him a chance?"
"To do what?"
"Be, live, get to know you."
"What good could that do?" I didn't want to know him better. I wanted him to leave me alone.
"The old have defenses, child. Give them a chance to come down. There is more to him than biting words. It'll take time to see those parts of him." There was a pleading look in her eyes.
Pushing my empty plate away, I looked her in the eye. "I just want him to leave me alone. If I can't have that, I want peace. We found peace last night. I just want to keep that. I need to finish packing." With that I nearly ran out of the dining room. The past few weeks had included far more emotional conversations than I'd want to have in a month or six.
The grandfather clock in the hall chimed as I walked past, reminding me that I should fit a run in before meeting with the girls. The dreary sky, cold weather, and possibility of rain didn't bother me. If snow was coming, I wanted to run while I could.
Running cleared my head. Panic of losing my fledgling career clarified. Carls could try to fire me, but that didn't mean I'd lose this job, or the rest of my clients. I'd done everything I could, and there was documentation to prove they hadn't used the magic I'd provided effectively. I had three days to fix the troll problem, and was confident I'd prove my worth.
The other big thing on my mind was my father. It was taking time to come to terms with having a father. He loved me, wanted to be there for me, but I didn't feel like he'd fought to be in my life. It was hard to see us having a normal father-daughter relationship, but we were making progress. He was trying to be around, and was determined to help me with the class. Time would help the relationship feel more natural.
Then there was my date with Andrew. It had been wonderful, but very convenient. I'd seldom dated other witches. To have the perfect guy appear, happy to date a clanless witch, right after my father had come in to my life, was more serendipitous than I trusted. I needed to call Andrew, and find a way to test him.
After my run, I hurried to shower. We'd moved dinner an hour earlier so I could drive to work and they could drive home. None of us wanted to drive in snow.
Water was falling and I had lights reflecting around the shower. Still feeling stressed, I spelled harp music and enjoyed my shower. I couldn't justify doing this in a hotel. The spells were small and shouldn't cause any problems, but my bathroom, well, all of my rooms, were spelled to contain magic. The containment spells had been necessary when I moved in; no one wanted a spell gone wrong leaking out. I couldn't count on a hotel room having containment spells, nor could I spare the energy to spell them myself.
Reluctantly, I turned the water off. Even more reluctantly, I pushed back the curtain, letting the cooler air swirl around me.
"Sweet bones of Narzel." I scrambled back, slipped, and was falling before my brain had a chance to remind me that running backwards in the shower was a bad idea. Thumping onto the floor, I scrambled into a sitting position as I watched a green vine creep over the edge of the tub. The vine wasn't the only thing that had changed. The cute little flower was now two feet across and occupying most of a wall.
Admittedly, the lavender petals with blue streaks livened up the wall, but the thing hadn't been a full two inches across yesterday. Looking at the way the plant had expanded over the bathroom, I didn't think it was after me. Its shoots had headed for the areas with the most moisture and I was sitting in a damp tub.
Now that I didn't feel endangered, I noticed the aching hip, wrist, and cut shin where I must have hit the faucet. "I hope Narzel eats you, you stupid elf," I muttered as I stood up, finding more bruises, and started extracting my towel from a tangle of plant parts.
My bathroom had been transformed into a jungle by one tiny flower growing exponentially, sending vines all over the room. I'd left the plant on the counter next to the sink, where it now occupied most of the wall between the sink and tub. The vines had snaked across the sink, winding through the hand towels, over to the towel rack and around my bath towel.
Slipping out of my bathroom, I closed the door, hoping to prevent the vine from spreading. Clothing was picked hastily. I brushed my hair, not worried about how it would dry and went in search of Landa. I couldn't rearrange my evening for a plant, or a stupid elf.
"Landa?" Nothing. "Landa!" I yelled again.
"Kitchen."
With great effort I refrained from stomping as I
stormed into the kitchen. "You, or the elf, need to deal with the flower eating my bathroom."
She set down the knife, leaving potatoes uncut. "Flower?"
"The stupid, stupid elf gave me a flower. He said to leave somewhere moist, so I stuck it in the bathroom. Now, the entire bathroom is covered with bits of that flower. I don't have time to deal with this. I have dinner with the girls before I'm driving to work."
"Wait, child, what did the flower do?"
"It exploded all over my bathroom."
She realized how aggravated I was and her expression softened. "I'll deal with it, child."
"Thank you."
"Go have fun. This will be dealt with when you return."
"Landa, you're the best." She squeezed my hand, sending me off to have dinner with the girls.
The clock on my dash told me I was ten minutes late when I parked. Running inside, the music hit me, as did the warmth and warm bread smell. Amber waved to me from a booth, and I slid in across from her.
"How are you?" I asked.
"I'm good. Tiffany went to the bathroom. She should be back soon."
"Did you order yet?"
"Nope, we were waiting for you."
Tiffany sat next to Amber. "Hi, slow poke."
I blushed. "I'm sorry."
"You can make it up to me by agreeing to split a pesto pizza with us." Tiffany said.
"As long as we get garlic knots as an appetizer."
"Done."
The waiter arrived in time to hear the bargaining. "A large pesto pizza and garlic knots?" She asked.
We nodded, as I added, "Could I get a sweet tea?"
"Sure. Do ya'll need anything else to drink?" Amber and Tiffany shook their heads. "I'll have that out in a few minutes."
"How was the date with Mark?" I asked.
"Good. We've actually had two dates. Both were lovely. Tomorrow we are having dinner in the park."
"Oh, that'll be fun!" Tiffany beamed at her.
Amber nodded. "Everything is good. Nothing to report on this end. How have the two of you been?"
"Same cheating spouse, different day. It doesn't help that the love life is as barren as always." Tiffany sighed dramatically. "Michelle, please tell me you have something to talk about?"
Witch for Hire Page 16