She was downstairs in twenty minutes after feeding both Mr. Darcy and Muffy and explaining to Grans what was happening. She might have made it sooner if Damien hadn’t been so chatty about the books the library had provided.
Christina was sitting on the couch, waiting for her.
“Sorry. I’ll grab a coat and we can leave. Had to check in with Grans and Damien.” Mia grabbed her coat and watched Christina stand and slip on her pink designer puffer jacket. She wore fuzzy Ugg boots and her hair was pulled back with a pink hair band. “You look adorable.”
“I’m in need of some major retail therapy. Levi doesn’t get it. He wants to talk out all our emotions. I guess in this situation I learned from my mother. Buying is more fun than talking all the time.” Christina unlocked the Land Rover. “Besides, you need some new clothes. Those boots are a mess.”
“I love my boots. I’ll take them in and get them resoled after winter’s over. You know, talking isn’t a bad thing. Especially with the guy you’re going to marry in less than a year.” Mia snuggled into the warmed leather seats. She loved Christina’s car. Her beater car was on its last legs and barely had a working defrost setting, but it had snow tires and would get her through until she had the money for a better one. Not one as nice as Christina’s, but better.
“I know, but this magic thing is just normal for him. He doesn’t understand why I’m freaked out about it. My mom instilled in me a fear of magic. She told me many times that it was bad, probably her way of trying to keep me from exploring my birth parents’ talents. Now I know why she had such a fit during my Goth stage. I just wanted to wear black for a while because she kept buying me pink.”
“You love pink.” Mia looked out the window as they pulled onto the highway down the mountain. Now was the time of day deer would be out, looking for snacks.
“Not as a sixteen-year-old who wanted to be anything but her mother.” Christina turned down the music. “Even though I knew I was adopted, I was scared to death that I’d turn into a mini mom. You were the one female role model I had that made me think I could bemy own person and still be loved, or whatever it was my brother called love. Trent is so much better for you. He listens when you talk. You should see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one’s watching. It’s fire and ice.”
“Fire, I understand. Ice?”
“Solid, and desperately in love,” Christina explained. “Anyway, I want to know what you think about me training and eventually testing for a level. Am I too old? Should I just let the magic be part of my history?”
“You could do both. Exploring who you are on the magic level gives you options later. If you want to expand that part of your life, you can. If, like Sarah, you want to step back for a few years, you can as well. Except she’s been coming back into the fray ever since the Goddess gave her and Mark, Em—that’s what they’re calling the baby now. Cute, huh? I think Em getting a hellhound is a warning that we are going to need protection in the next few years. But what do I know? At least if you train, you can fly in the mist with me, and we can ignore what’s going on.”
Christina was quiet for a few miles; then she spoke. “Mom wants me to walk away from Magic Springs and all the magic stuff. She says it’s like my Goth stage, just another way to not grow up. Of course, my first reaction is to go deeper, just to spite her, but this decision is too big to make just because I’m rebelling. With me marrying Levi, and into the Majors family, magic is always going to be there. If there’s a war coming, I don’t want to be the frail human wife who Levi has to protect from harm. Not that I want to be a warrior. I just don’t want to be a burden.”
Proud of her friend’s growth over the years, Mia smiled at her. “You’ve grown up into this amazing woman. Do you have tissues? I’m so proud of you, I think I’m going to cry.”
“Shut up.” Christina laughed but handed Mia a box she had stashed just in case. “So you think my logic is sound?”
“I do. What’s the harm in learning something? If you step away later, that’s your call. Right now, you can’t make the call because you don’t know what making it means. I’m not sure what your magic gift is, but I’d bet it’s related to your ability to make people feel welcome. Your hospitality career fits right into your strongest magical skill. Like my cooking. I’m a kitchen witch and a healer. I take care of others, which is why I was drawn to buying the biggest building in Magic Springs for my upstart catering company. If I’d been using human logic, I would have found a small, cute old house and just made the garage into a commercial kitchen. Instead, I have a three-story monstrosity filled with humans, creatures, and ghosts. I was worried I’d be lonely with you moving out, but people came right in and took your space.”
“Hopefully not my space as your BFF?” They were down off the mountain now and driving into the flatter area where the Snake River had carved a deep canyon so many eons ago. Evel Knievel had once tried to jump it. Christina increased her speed as she drove toward the freeway and town.
Some enterprising humans had built the Perrine Bridge spanning the 1500 feet across the river. Mia always felt queasy as she went over it. The power of thewater called to her senses. A pedestrian bridge lined the side of the vehicle area, but Mia couldn’t even imagine trying to walk the distance.
The river was like the dividing line between the magic in the mountains and the agricultural community on the other side. Maybe the world would have been better off if the bridge had never been built.
CHAPTER7
At the mall, the friends walked through several stores. Christina tried on outfits, then purchased several pieces. Mia found herself looking for underwear and a new pair of casual flats that would replace her current pair. Instead of throwing the old shoes away, she’d move them down to the first floor so she would have footwear if she needed to take out Muffy or Cerby. Dogs didn’t wait for you to run up two flights of stairs to get ready before going out. That was how accidents happened.
As they shopped, they talked about little things. The apartment in Portland. Levi’s new job. The box of books Abigail, who had taken on the role of Christina’s teacher, had sent. “I was a fairy-tale junkie as a kid. Poor Isaac had to read ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Snow White’ anytime the folks were out for the night, which was a lot.”
“I’m sure he got over it.” Mia smiled as she looked through a rack of tops.
Christina glanced at Mia. “You seem like you’re okay about what happened between you and Isaac. I would kill Levi if I found him with another woman.”
“I’m beginning to think I wasn’t as much in love with him as I thought I was. With Trent, it’s different. I haven’t seen him in almost a week and he’s living with three women—four, counting Buddy—and I miss him, but I also trust him.” As she said those words, she realized it was true. They had a bond and a little time or distance wasn’t going to break that.
Christina thought about what Mia said before answering. “I think you’re better off without Isaac. I love my brother, but he’s self-centered. Poor Jessica’s always running around to get him the right suit or dress shirt. And if she doesn’t get a reservation for the exact time he wanted to eat? She hears about it. She’s more of a slave than a wife.”
Mia laughed. “He never got that royal treatment from me, and neither does Trent. He’s lucky if I remember we’re going out. My mind has been on a million things in the last few years. He keeps coming back, so I think we’re good. Don’t worry about me. Let’s talk about the wedding and the move. I’m worried about you. With this new magic factor thrown in, is it too much?”
Christina stopped to admire a pile of cashmere sweaters. As she ran her hand over the fluff, she shook her head. “I don’t think so. I needed to understand why I was choosing to add more on to a busy year, but we put that to rest. I am not just doing this to upset mymother. That’s a plus. The thing is, I’ve been thinking a lot. I’m not sure us moving right now is a good thing.”
Mia looked up from admiring the sweaters she couldn’t afford. They were pretty and soft to the touch. “What do you mean?”
“If there’s a conflict, maybe Levi and I need to be here. Not in Portland.” She looked around, but no one was close. “Is there any way we can nail down a time frame?”
“For a magical conflict we aren’t sure is coming?” Mia shook her head. Unusual signs had appeared, including her rapid advancement in the levels and the arrival of two hellhounds in Magic Springs within a year, not to mention Buddy. Having a dragon flying around town wasn’t normal. But she wouldn’t be fighting age for at least a year. The pups were still in training, as were Finn and Christina. Maybe this was the preparation phase. Or maybe she was just overthinking. The coven might adjust to the new magic in the world versus their limited one-family-member-per-generation rule. But then, why had Suzanne Parker had such a fit about her testing? She paused her ruminating. “I’ve thought it all out, but I can’t tell you one way or the other. I just don’t know.”
