“It’s freezing out here. May I come inside?” Cleo didn’t look like the snow had even touched her woolen cape, hat, or black boots.
“Of course, sorry. Would you like some tea? Or coffee?” Mia held open the door as the caretaker for the coven’s headquarters came inside.
“I’d love some tea. May we take it in the library?”
“Upstairs? My library?” Mia was flummoxed.
Cleo looked amused. “Does the academy have a second library?”
“No, I mean, I keep some books in my apartment and in the potions lab, but no, there’s only one library. I have to warn you, it’s haunted and unpredictable.” Mia followed Cleo, who was already on the stairs.
“Of course it is, dear. It’s the academy’s library. It’s been haunted for years. Good thing you rescued the building from being torn down. Who knows what would have happened to the ghosts and all of the knowledge if the building was destroyed. I guess I would have had to move the books to headquarters, but that could be problematic when leadership changes policies.” She paused on the second-floor landing. “The remodeling seems to be going well. Having Dorian’s books here will be an asset to the building, and to your society. Knowledge is always power. You just need to make sure it stays readable.”
It wasn’t lost on Mia that Cleo had used Dorian’s real name and not the cover name of Damien. When they reached the third floor, Mia opened her apartment door. “Do you want to come in while I make tea?”
“Just give me the library key. I’ll wait in there. I’ll do some looking around while I wait. It’s been a while since I visited. Is Buttercup still there?”
Buttercup was a yellow cat who liked to sleep in the sunlight. She was also a ghost. Mia smiled as she gave Cleo the key. “Yes, she was there the last time I visited.”
“Go make the tea and don’t worry about me. I can entertain myself for a few minutes.” Cleo took the key and headed toward the library.
Mia set the water on to boil, then got out a tray and her good tea service. She set sugar and cream in the matching bowls, along with cups, saucers, and spoons. Then she put her basket of tea on the tray and waited for the water to boil.
Gloria giggled at her sigh.
“I know a watched pot doesn’t boil,” Mia spoke the old adage, but just then, the whistle went off. Somehow, the water had boiled quickly. She looked at her kitchen witch. “Thank you. I hate to keep Cleo waiting.”
She checked the tray after filling the tea kettle with hot water and added a couple of cloth napkins and the cookies that Christina hadn’t devoured before heading to an early bedtime. It wasn’t fancy, but tea was ready.
As she walked into the library, she saw the ghost of a young girl sitting at the table. Buttercup was lying on Cleo’s lap as she read a book. The girl looked up and smiled before disappearing as Mia brought in the tea.
“Mrs. Julide would be horrified that we are having tea in the library. She was the librarian when I attended the academy so many years ago. I just think it’s more civilized to have conversations like the one we’ll be having with a nice spot of tea. Besides, the weather is horrible. I bet your dragon is loving the cooler weather.”
“You know about Buddy? Of course you do.” Mia took out an oolong packet and handed the basket to Cleo. “I forget that there are no secrets in Magic Springs.”Mia got the tea bag ready and then poured water in her cup and in Cleo’s, as she’d chosen the same tea.
“That’s where you’re wrong. There are a lot of secrets in Magic Springs, just not that many that I don’t know about. So, you’re looking for information about Suzanne Parker? This book outlines all but her last life.”
Mia took the book that Cleo handed to her. “That’s helpful, but I’m really looking for information about this life.” She didn’t want to look stupid and ask the obvious question screaming in her head: How did Suzanne Parker have more than one life?
“A person’s book isn’t written until the life they’re living ends. I thought you would have known that. How could we judge you at twenty when you were in a relationship with a mortal and working in what you thought was the apex in your career? Now, even without knowing the ins and outs of your magic level, you’re so much more than you were then. If we’d written the book back then, it would be wrong. Just like if we wrote it today without taking in the woman you’re going to become.” Cleo sipped her tea. “Do you understand?”
What Mia understood was, she wasn’t getting any closer to finding out who killed Suzanne Parker than she had been that morning. “Okay, the book isn’t written yet. Can you tell me how you knew Suzanne?”
“I’ll limit it to this life, but of course. We’ve been friends for ages. Literally. Before she took the job at the National Office, she threw the most wonderful parties. She was the local It girl in the sixties. Whatever Suzanne did, everyone wanted to follow. I never gotinto the miniskirts, though. My butt always felt a draft. But that’s not what you want to hear. Her house had been in her possession since she bought it, and she kept it warded so the locals wouldn’t realize she’d been living there for several generations. I always thought that was her mistake. She didn’t change enough from one life to another. When the testing position opened, she moved to Boston. She majored in education through several degrees and thought our leveling process should have a more standardized testing.” Cleo took a look at Mia, then sipped her tea again. “You surprised her.”
“I never met her before the day of the test.” Mia frowned, tapping her nails on the table. “I’m sure I hadn’t.”
“I don’t believe you had, but a kitchen witch testing out as a level three? It’s never been done since we started the testing process. Everyone was talking about you. Suzanne got it in her head that somehow, you cheated the test. When someone from the coven asked for a retest, she asked to be the second tester. I felt how hard the test was that Tuesday. No wonder you tested better. The test you got wasn’t for a new witch, it was for an experienced one, so your intuition leveled up. You need to know that you’re remarkable. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t go up a level or two at your three-year testing.”
“It’s not what I want.” Mia spoke frankly. “I just want to take on Grans’s duties so she can retire and relax someday. I don’t want to be part of leadership.”
Cleo took a cookie and broke it in half, smelling it and then setting it down again. “I adore sweets, but this tea is going to keep me up for hours without even eating that cookie.” She looked back at Mia, suddenly serious. “My mom always had a saying. ‘You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.’ Sorry, Mia, but this is your destiny. Why do you think you have an elder as a familiar? She’s less a familiar and more of a counselor. You are Goddess chosen. Something we all dream of but never dare to hope for.”
Mia sipped her tea, deep in thought. She’d had a feeling that Gloria was more than a familiar for a while now. She was part of Mia’s circle of trust. Her own personal coven of spell casters. But she couldn’t even imagine her future as what Cleo called “Goddess chosen.” She’d have to believe that she was more than just Mia.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do with what you just told me, so can we go back to talking about Suzanne Parker?” When Cleo smiled in agreement, Mia went back to the story. “She left Magic Springs for Boston but kept her house here for weekend trips now and then.”
“She’s been home a lot more this year. When I asked her about it, she said something was brewing. A change. She didn’t know when or how, but she needed to know that she was on the side of good. The side the Goddess would bless. The problem was, she didn’t know which side that would be. You were flying under her radar until the test. I don’t think she had a clue how powerful you were, or that your academy society was going to be the side the Goddess blessed.”
