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I tapped my finger against the table as I thought about it. The only relief at the moment was that Tristan had once again disappeared with the help of Minerva.
“So, we move onto the situation of the school,” Jasper continued, my eyes squeezing shut as I fought against rolling them.
“Sorry I’m late, everyone, I had to run to the clinic for a quick errand. Did I miss anything?”
My eyes ripped open at the sound of my mother’s voice and I nearly leaped into the air with joy as Jasper gave a respectful nod and took his seat.
“Not at all,” he said. “I just finished the lesson on the financial duties he will take over in the fall.”
Mom smirked at me, my eyes narrowing as I saw her clear amusement. She knew exactly how torturous Jasper’s lessons were, no matter the subject. Her clear amusement told me that she took some pleasure in the torture.
“Wonderful, I’ll be sure to quiz him on it later. So, I suppose we are moving onto the school then?”
“Yes,” Jasper replied.
Mom walked around the round table and took her seat beside me before opening her bag to produce her notes and papers.
“Alright, so I’ve been working with Roberto on lesson plans for the children to integrate some of the wolf pups into the specialty program.”
“Why would we need to do that? That class is for the children with magic to learn their specialties. I’m all for the pups understanding spell work, but why would they need to be involved in a class that takes magic use?”
Mom smiled slyly. “As you all know, Orion and I took a visit to see the moon witches in Montana. While we were there, we made an interesting discovery within the wolf pack that is joining with their coven there.”
I leaned forward in my seat at the same moment as the others at the table. This was the first I was hearing of my parents’ trip, and I was surprised to know that the Moon witches were joining up with a wolf pack. Especially given the history of their coven and werewolf curses.
“Some of their pups have gifts. It seems that they were dormant, but recently the gifts have been unlocking. Pure shifter children were now suddenly able to use magic, though only specific kinds of magic.”
Shocked chatter echoed through the room at the bombshell my mother had dropped. It was unheard of for shifters to be able to use magic. At least not pure shifters, and even with hybrids, we knew very little. Lib and I were the first two and all the other hybrids in the world were babies, so there was no telling if they would be more witch like me or shifter like Lib.
“How is that possible?” Lucille asked. “In all my studies, I’ve never once heard of a shifter having a gift.”
“It could be their bloodline, or it could be something that all shifters are capable of. While speaking with the youngest daughter of the Moon Witches, it was revealed to me that the ancient witch Hathor had mentioned shifters once upon a time being able to freely use their gifts. Since then, the pack’s children have been developing specialties. Her own mate is capable of speaking to and controlling natural and unnatural animals.”
“Unnatural?” I asked.
“He can control animals and shifters,” Mom clarified. “However, he expresses a distaste for the control aspect of his gift.”
More chatter erupted in the room, and I stared at Mom in amazement as she waited for the others to calm down enough for her to continue.
“So, with that all said, I want to open the class up to the pups. We will hold periodic tests to see if any of the pups show a spark of some kind of gift first. If they do, they will be participating in the class along with the coven children.” She shuffled her papers and smiled. “Does anyone have anything else to add on the subject of the school?”
“When will Roberto be taking over as headmaster?”
“In the fall. Any other questions or suggestions? No? Okay, then next, I see that Marlin has a report to make?”
I turned lazily to Marlin, the large man standing as he straightened his glasses on his nose. “I discovered books in the coven’s catacombs that mention the witch Minerva. I believe they may reveal who she is.”
At the mention of the witch’s name, I sat up, my attention now fully on the brutish-looking librarian.
“Go on,” Mom encouraged.
Marlin cleared his throat before producing a large leather-bound book. “This book speaks of her and her spells that infect magic users with the dark magic of her lover. I thought at first that the translation had been misprinted, but your revelation of the shifters using magic leads me to believe that they had fallen victim to her as much as witches.”
“Does it say who her lover is?” I asked quickly as I reached across the table for the book.
Marlin shook his head. “Sadly, it does not. It merely says that she wanders from place to place in search of her heart’s longing desire and the source of her magic. She is said to be a Doom Bringer and that anywhere she is seen, disaster is imminent to those who choose to follow her.”
I snorted. “Well, that’s obvious.” I thought about Xander and his father and the doom that befell the old man and broke my best friend’s heart.
