“I thought I had a year before I had to retest for Level Four. Why did they move up the test?” Mia sighed and closed out her computer. Obviously she wasn’t going to get anything else done today. She might as well head home.
“The test isn’t to move up. It’s your original test. They’re making you retake it because people have been complaining about the results.”
“That’s just stupid. I didn’t cheat. You know that. What good does retesting do?” Mia pulled on her coat and grabbed her keys out of her bag. It had been a horrible day. Grans and Dorian fighting. Trent’s news. And now she had to retest to prove she could be a witch?What else could go wrong. “What happens if I don’t retest?”
“Don’t even joke about that,” Grans said. “Anyway, I need you home. They’ve taken the protection of your sealing off. They see this as a total redo. With the power you have, everyone’s going to be watching. I tried to get the coven to keep the protection seal on, but Cleo said it’s impossible. Once you go back in for a retest, the spell comes off automatically. You’re in danger. Again.”
“Great. Trent’s stuck in his house and I’ll be quarantined to mine. This isn’t good on a relationship.” Mia locked her office and headed out to the parking lot. At least her boss would understand when she told her the real reason she couldn’t work at the Lodge this week. If Blake was human, Mia would have to make up some contagious disease.
“I’m more worried about your life than your happily ever after dreams,” Grans said before hanging up.
CHAPTER2
As she walked to her car, Mia called Blake Sandburg, her boss at the Lodge, to explain her inability to be at the office until this testing fiasco was dealt with.
After Mia finished telling her about the new examiner coming into town, Blake let out a big sigh. “The coven does what it wants to and the rest of us are just pawns. I still need you to be available by phone at all times. I’m sure you can video chat with your staff in the planning processes. We have holiday parties scheduled throughout the month. I’ll tell everyone you have the measles.”
“They’re going to believe that?” Mia had been vaccinated against all of the normal human childhood diseases as a kid and the witchy ailments, like dragon breath, this year. Grans hadn’t insisted that Mia’s mother do the extra immunizations because at that time, everyone thought her mom would be the next kitchen witch.
Except, Mia thought, Gloria. She’d known long before her mother had broken the news to Grans that she was abdicating. Mia wondered if her mom thought she might turn away from the craft as well. Especially when Mia had her own life and goals to work in food service.
She tuned back into Blake’s reciting of all the parties in the next month, even though Mia knew the schedule because she’d been the one to develop it. “Blake, I’ll do all I can from home. I just can’t step in and fix something on-site. I’ll need you or one of the other department heads to deal with any emergencies that needs someone in person to fix.”
“Okay, I guess we’ll just have to deal with it, won’t we? You’re lucky I understand how fickle being part of the coven can be when you’re trying to be as normal as possible. Most members either work for a coven-owned business or are self-employed.”
Mia could hear Blake typing as they talked. She was already in her car and pulling up to the academy. As she got closer, she could feel the protective wards surrounding her. She hadn’t noticed her angst until she arrived home and it started to ease. “One more thing, my retesting is Friday, so I’ll be unavailable by phone that day.”
A loud sigh came over the phone’s speaker.
“Fine, I’ll cancel my weekend plans for the spa treatments in Sun Valley. I should have guessed that something like this would happen. I never get time to just relax,” Blake said before ending the call.
As Mia tucked her phone into her tote and headed to the academy building, she heard chirping in the treebehind her. She looked back and saw Buddy watching her.
“Hey, I thought you all were stuck at home.” Mia walked over and reached out to rub the baby dragon on the nose. He leaned into the affection, then held out a bouquet of flowers with a note attached. Several of the blooms had been crushed, but it was the thought that counted, right?
Trent must already know about the retesting. She opened the card and read his message aloud. “You did it once, you can do it again. Teach them a lesson and test out higher. Level four, here you come!”
Buddy chirped his agreement with the message. She could swear the purple dragon was smiling.
“Tell Trent thank you. And be careful flying home. No letting yourself be seen by any humans.” She gave him a hug. She was going to miss Buddy and Cerby almost as much as Trent.
He chattered something, as she felt his wing curve around her body, gently patting her back. He was going to miss her too. Mia’s eyes teared up. How could she have fallen in love with a dragon as quickly as she had? Buddy was part of the family now.
Wow, had her life changed since she left Boise and moved to Magic Springs.
She heard footsteps behind her, and when Buddy released her, she turned to see Abigail standing and watching them.
She felt the wind as Buddy headed to the sky, but as she turned to look, he’d already turned invisible. “Bye, Buddy.”
Abigail put her arm around Mia and they walked together back to the front door. “Six weeks will fly by, and next week we’ll have this silly retesting done and you’ll be too busy to even think about Trent and the zoo being stuck at the house.”
“I’m that predictable, am I?” Mia wiped away the tears that had fallen during Abigail’s pep talk. “It’s stupid, but when Buddy showed up with flowers, the emotions just bubbled up to the top and out my eyes. I hate crying.”
“Most strong women do, but you get those emotions out. How did Blake take your forced confinement?”
Mia shrugged. “Better than I’d expected. Frank would have tried to fire me. At least I don’t have to worry about that. And with Dorian, no, Damien, here, it’s probably a good idea.”
“Just a heads-up, he has a construction crew on the second floor, so the place is a madhouse.” Abigail pointed out the truck and construction van Mia had missed driving in due to her distraction with seeing Buddy. “Maybe it’s best that we don’t have a dragon or a hell-hound wandering around the property this week.”
