“With a little less mortal peril?” Dani suggested.
“Yeah.”
Dani looked pointedly at Charlie. “I believe I said I will if you will?”
Charlie nodded, still looking somewhat stunned. He swallowed hard. “Yeah, you did.” With that, he headed over to Jon too and turned in his badge.
When he was done, we all headed back home.
~~~***~~~
As the days and weeks went by, we settled into a routine together. Thomas kept working the night shift, but without having to spend extra time on call or make up for hours lost responding to calls, he had a lot more free time. He was always home well before I went to bed, sometimes earlier enough for dinner. I hadn’t realized how stressful it was to stay up at night, worrying while he was in the field. It was so nice and such a relief, to know he would come home safe after every shift.
TS was content to stay a field agent, which was generally considered to be safer, since they weren’t supposed to engage without backup from agents. Although, he said he was considering switching to some other field work; it seemed Thomas was much more concerned about him when he wasn’t one of the agents on call. However, we all took comfort that Thomas could sense him and always knew when he was coming home unharmed.
Once a week I had coffee with my mother, Lynn, and five days a week I drove into the office with Charlie, Ember, and Mariana. Without stopping to worry about blood casters or missing people, I was able to actually focus on my internship and was quickly catching up to where I should have been. Most days after work they joined me at home or we went to Dani and Charlie’s house, which was finally unpacked and turning into a home.
One rare evening while TS was at work it was just me and Thomas at home. Charlie and Ember had gone on a road trip to Arizona to pick up their horses, while Dani took the opportunity to drop in on his family in Michigan. Shannon was considering applying for the next round of MES internships and was home studying, in the apartment she had started renting with Charlotte.
“I have a present for you,” Thomas announced, sitting down on the couch next to me.
Rak lifted his head curiously out of his basket.
“What’s the occasion?” I teased.
“Do you realize it’s been one year since you moved up here?”
My jaw dropped a little; I hadn’t realized it! I shook my head.
“Granted,” Thomas said with a sad smile, “I missed most of it… but I thought it was worth noting.”
“Let’s try to have a better year,” I said.
“Yeah, let’s.” He pulled out an envelope and handed it to me.
I opened it and found a bunch of official looking paperwork. “What is all this?”
“Permit approvals,” Thomas said softly, “for Rachel and Emily.” I sucked in a sharp breath and looked at him in shock. “No truth potion necessary. They’re approved. You can tell them whenever you want, you just need a permit officer from MES to administer a truth potion to them for the initial observation period.”
“Oh my god…”
“By the way, it seems I’ve been tapped to fill in for Fletcher,” he spat the name, “since I’m no longer an agent and he was the permit officer so… literally whenever you want to tell them…”
I threw my arms around him as my eyes brimmed with tears. I could tell Rachel and Emily. I could actually, finally, tell them the truth.
“Thomas, thank you,” I choked. “I don’t know what to say.” I kissed him, hard, and then jumped up. “I have to call Rachel and invite them up so I can… wow, I’m so nervous…”
“You just defeated an arcanist,” he teased. “but this is what makes you nervous.”
I rolled my eyes and started off, then I turned and rushed back to him, jumping the last few feet. He easily caught me and pulled me tightly against him. Instead of getting up, I relaxed in his arms with a content sigh.
“I can’t believe it,” I said. “We actually did it… I can tell my family… you’re finally back home… It’s just surreal.”
“We’re back home,” he corrected with a smile. “and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.”
I sighed again and listened to the sound of his hearts beating. “You have no idea.”
~~~***~~~
The End
See where it all began in Semester Aboard, More than Magic #1
Read on for a taste of Chapter one!
Sun, sand, and… stakes?
From USA Today Best-Selling author, Elizabeth Kirke, comes a tale of magic on the open sea!
Jen Maddox knew a summer study abroad, with a cruise ship as her campus, would expand her horizons. But she could never have fathomed how life altering the sea would be.
With seagulls cawing overhead and whitecaps crashing against the hull, Jen catches a glimpse of something not humanly possible. She would have believed it to be a dream, had certain enigmatic passengers not gone out of their way to cover it up.
Determined to discover the truth, Jen finds herself face-to-face with a nightmarish creature prowling the ship on the hunt for its next victim. Can she learn to tap into the newfound energy swirling around her in time to save all those aboard? Or will the vessel sink under a tidal wave of looming darkness?
Also available on Audiobook!
About the Author
In spite of having neither magic nor a clone, Elizabeth manages to write, format books, and dabble in design, all while wrangling two young sons, a dog, and a husband. She’s the author of the award-winning, urban fantasy More than Magic series, the award-winning and USA Today Best-Selling, paranormal romance Curse Collectors series, and usually has a few more projects up her sleeves.
When she isn’t writing or designing, Elizabeth can be found knitting, gardening, baking, or looking for lost sippy cups. A few highlights from her bucket list include visiting Wales, Easter Island, and Japan; learning a second language; and coming across a total stranger reading one of her books.
Follow me on BookBub to get email alerts whenever I release a new book!
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Join the More than Magic Patreon community and get behind the scenes info, see new covers and extras first, read exclusive stories, get swag, and more!
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Also by Elizabeth Kirke:
The More than Magic Series
Upper Young Adult Urban Fantasy/Paranormal (Suggested Ages 15+)
Semester Aboard (Book One)
Snow Bound (Book Two)
Soul Choice (Book Three)
More than Magic: Rise of the Arcanist, A Serial Series
Magic Betrayed (Book One)
Magic Vanished (Book Two)
Magic Awakened (Book Three)
Magic Conquered (Book Four)
Magic Unveiled (Book Five)
Magic Sacrificed (Book Six)
The Curse Collectors
New Adult Paranormal Romance (18+)
Carved in Cherry (Book One)
Wrought-Iron Roses (Book Two)
Witchy is the New Forty
Clean Paranormal Chick Lit
Bewitching the Baker (Book One)
Standalones
Saint’s Grove – Racing Time (18+)
Book Four of a Multi-Author Adult Paranormal Romance Series
Danio’s Prelude (18+)
Adult Short Story Collection from More than Magic – (suggested) Book 2.5
Looking for something a little different?
Try Elizabeth Kirke’s Paranormal Romance Series,
The Curse Collectors
Carved in Cherry
One thing set Lydia Shaw and her store apart from the other antique shops in town…
Lydia’s collection was plagued by curses, and it was her duty to break them.
Rachel, Angie, and Jo knew nothing about their aunt’s secret life. In fact, they didn’t even know she owned an antique shop, unti
l they inherited it. Unfortunately for them, Lydia passed down more than just her store. The sisters are the proud new owners of countless deadly curses, buried under centuries of dust.
Lydia also left behind her apprentice, Peter. He does everything he can to protect the girls, as they explore their new store, unaware of the dangers it hides. In spite of his efforts, Rachel finds herself obsessed with opening a strange trunk, Angie has vivid dreams, haunted by a man who claims he needs her help, and Jo’s imagination starts to run wild.
When one of them falls victim to a curse, it’s up to Peter and her sisters to save her. But, if Peter can’t teach them to wield a magic, that he barely understands himself, she’ll be the first one to die.
Get it here!
Go back to where it all began, five years ago, with
Semester Aboard, More than Magic Book One
Chapter One
A taxicab raced down the dock, came to a stop, and a girl laden with shopping bags flew out. Everyone at the rails of the ship yelled as she rushed toward the gangway. She was a 'runner', one of the students who pushed the all-aboard time to the limit. She vanished into the ship to a mix of boos and cheers.
"She's going to be cleaning tables tomorrow," my roommate, Laurie, snickered.
Most of us had taken the all-aboard time and subsequent punishments for being late seriously, and had been on the ship for over an hour. The majority of the people watching the runners were already changed into pajama bottoms or sweatshirts with Semester Aboard-Study Abroad written on them. We were students on a cruise ship that had been turned into a floating campus. Instead of studying abroad for a summer in one country, we were traveling down the western coast of Latin America. Our ship had classrooms, a dining hall, dorm rooms, even a workout room and a pool.
"Look, there's another!" called Dani. He pointed to another cab speeding down the dock.
Even though it had been ten days since our voyage started, I still didn't know half of the 307 students. I just met Dani earlier today. We ended up next to each other on a bus that took us on a tour of Acapulco. Every country had a bunch of trips to choose from, and you never knew who else on the ship would end up with you. It turned out that Dani and I were just four rooms apart and had never seen each other before today! I wasn't entirely sure how I'd missed him. He was really tall with short hair and tan, olive skin. His hair looked black on the bus, but once I saw it in the sun, I was pretty sure that he dyed it midnight blue. And he was drop-dead gorgeous with a personality to match. He was incredibly friendly and outgoing. We spent the entire bus ride chatting, and when I mentioned that I didn't recognize anybody else on the bus, he offered to stick around so I'd have somebody to talk to. We ended up spending the entire tour together.
"Dani!" someone called. We both turned to see a boy winding his way between people and tables toward us. He had wavy, red hair and looked like he'd gotten sunburned in Mexico. I was pretty sure he could pull off the natural redhead look, but I could see streaks where the red dye, which was a bit too bright to be natural, had faded to orange and blonde. It gave his head an almost flaming appearance, which I had a feeling applied to more than just his hair. He was in one of my classes, and I racked my brain for his name. He didn't sit next to me, but we'd talked a bit before our class started.
"Hey, Charlie," Dani said.
"How was the city?" he asked, joining us at the rail. I noticed that he wasn't much taller than me. He was sort of stocky, but not overweight.
"It was fun." Dani gestured to me. "Jen, here, was with me."
"See anything good?"
"The fort was pretty splashy," Dani said. "How was your mountain biking?"
"Toasty. I saw like a dozen Chupacabras."
"No, you didn't," Dani laughed.
"Yes, I did!"
I laughed and turned my attention back to the runners while they argued. The last of the late students climbed aboard, and dockworkers started undoing the mooring lines. By now just about everyone, including faculty, was gathered on the deck. Mexico was our first port, and we were inside for orientation the first time the ship left a dock. We cheered as the ship started to pull away.
"Adios, Mexico!" someone yelled.
"Vaya con dios!"
We waved at the scattered people on the dock until we were too far away to see them in the dark. The wind started to pick up as the ship cruised along passed the lights of the buildings on the edges of the bay. People gradually started to disperse.
"Class in the morning," Laurie reminded me with a groan.
"Ugh." We had classes every day we were at sea, and the first one started bright and early at eight.
We wove our way through the crowd, back inside the ship, and joined the scattered people going down to their rooms. After we reached the fourth deck, we turned off the stairway and into a brightly lit, long corridor that spanned the entire length of the ship. Doors to our cabins lined both sides of it. Long railings ran along the walls, but so far, I hadn't needed to use them. As Laurie and I walked down the hall, I spotted two familiar faces. Charlie was leaning against the outside wall, laughing, while Dani swiped his ID card over and over on a door.
"Would you stop laughing?" Dani grumbled.
"I told you not to put it in the same pocket as your phone," Charlie said.
"Are you locked out again?" cried a voice behind me.
I turned to see a girl striding down the hall toward us. I’d seen her around the ship before; she looked like a supermodel. She was tall with thick, wavy, blonde hair that looked like it had green streaks in it. She had a figure that women paid thousands for and eyes so blue they probably made mine look gray. I noticed that she wore a t-shirt that said Marlins Swim Team, which explained her green hair. She was probably a great swimmer; she definitely had the body for it.
"How else am I going to carry it? It's not like I have a purse!" Dani said.
"Get your ID punched and put it on that lanyard they gave us," the blonde sighed. She shoved Dani out of the way, swiped her ID, and opened the door. Halfway in, she turned back to Dani with a condescending look. "If you get locked out one more time, I'm not letting you back in."
Dani had to lunge forward to catch the door as it closed. Charlie laughed and followed them in. Wait ... the blonde girl and Dani were roommates? With the exception of some of the professors and staff who brought their families, all of the rooms on the ship were single-sex. I knew for a fact Dani was a student.
"Are they roommates?" I asked Laurie.
"Yeah, that's Mariana and Dani. They're married."
"What? Seriously?" It actually wasn't that hard to believe. Dani was probably the hottest guy on the ship, and Mariana could easily be the most beautiful girl. If anyone on the ship would be married to one of them, it would clearly be the other.
Laurie nodded. "I heard Mariana telling somebody that this is like their honeymoon or something. She said they had to fax their marriage certificate the second they got it so that they'd be allowed to share a room."
"Wow." It sounded pretty cool, but I wasn’t sure I’d want to take classes on my honeymoon.
We continued down the hall to our room. Even though I had only slept there for a few nights before we arrived in Mexico, it already felt like home, and it was nice to be back. It wasn't a very big room, but it was cozy. A narrow alcove separated our room from the door. Just by standing in one spot and turning, I could close our door, open the bathroom door, open the closet, and reach my hand into the bedroom. Our beds were so close together that our nightstands were sandwiched between them, without enough room for even a pencil to roll off. I could have reached out and touched Laurie's bed from mine. We each had a chair and a little desk at the foot of our beds. Aside from some drawers built into the wall and a small TV, there was nothing else in our room.
After brushing my teeth, I climbed happily into bed. It didn’t take long for the motion of the ship and hum of the engines to lull me to sleep.
All too soon, my alarm rang for my
morning class. By the time I got out of the shower, Laurie had returned from her daily trip up to the gym. I stepped out of the bathroom and was dressed before I heard the shower turn on. I smiled at how easily we got back into routine after five days in port. I went up to breakfast and chose a random table. A couple of girls I hadn’t met yet, and a professor and her two little boys sat there. We exchanged introductions and ate.
I found Laurie after breakfast, and we made our way to the huge room that served as the Latin American History classroom. It was the first class of the day and was mandatory for everyone, even the faculty. Across the room, I spotted Charlie’s bright hair and noticed that he was sitting with Dani and Mariana. After class, I joined the shuffle of students heading to other classrooms. My next class, Plant Use in Latin American Culture, was the one that Charlie was in too.
"Hey, Jen!" Carrie greeted me as we entered the classroom. "The in-port project isn’t due today right?"
"No, it’s due tomorrow," Charlie answered. He was sitting at the desk closest to the door.
"What a relief!" Carrie said. "I did that algae the Aztecs grew. What about you guys?"
"I wrote mine on tomatoes," I said.
"Chilies," Charlie said.
"Ugh!" Carrie wrinkled her nose. "I can’t stand spicy stuff."
"You won’t like me, then," Charlie said and winked at her.
We laughed and took our seats across the room.
"He’s cute, but he sets off my gaydar like whoa," she whispered to me.
"Mine too," I giggled.
After class ended, I had half an hour to kill. I swung by the dining room on Deck Five and grabbed a quick lunch. Like my Plant Use class, my next class was uneventful. When it was over, I passed Dani in the hall on the way to Spanish for Travelers.
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 77