Witch for Hire (22 page)

Running cleared my head. Panic of losing my fledgling career clarified. Carls could try to fire me, but that didn't mean I'd lose this job, or the rest of my clients. I'd done everything I could, and there was documentation to prove they hadn't used the magic I'd provided effectively. I had three days to fix the troll problem, and was confident I'd prove my worth.
 

The other big thing on my mind was my father. It was taking time to come to terms with having a father. He loved me, wanted to be there for me, but I didn't feel like he'd fought to be in my life. It was hard to see us having a normal father-daughter relationship, but we were making progress. He was trying to be around, and was determined to help me with the class. Time would help the relationship feel more natural.
 

Then there was my date with Andrew. It had been wonderful, but very convenient. I'd seldom dated other witches. To have the perfect guy appear, happy to date a clanless witch, right after my father had come in to my life, was more serendipitous than I trusted. I needed to call Andrew, and find a way to test him.
 

After my run, I hurried to shower. We'd moved dinner an hour earlier so I could drive to work and they could drive home. None of us wanted to drive in snow.

Water was falling and I had lights reflecting around the shower. Still feeling stressed, I spelled harp music and enjoyed my shower. I couldn't justify doing this in a hotel. The spells were small and shouldn't cause any problems, but my bathroom, well, all of my rooms, were spelled to contain magic. The containment spells had been necessary when I moved in; no one wanted a spell gone wrong leaking out. I couldn't count on a hotel room having containment spells, nor could I spare the energy to spell them myself.
 

Reluctantly, I turned the water off. Even more reluctantly, I pushed back the curtain, letting the cooler air swirl around me.
 

"Sweet bones of Narzel." I scrambled back, slipped, and was falling before my brain had a chance to remind me that running backwards in the shower was a bad idea. Thumping onto the floor, I scrambled into a sitting position as I watched a green vine creep over the edge of the tub. The vine wasn't the only thing that had changed. The cute little flower was now two feet across and occupying most of a wall.
 

Admittedly, the lavender petals with blue streaks livened up the wall, but the thing hadn't been a full two inches across yesterday. Looking at the way the plant had expanded over the bathroom, I didn't think it was after me. Its shoots had headed for the areas with the most moisture and I was sitting in a damp tub.

Now that I didn't feel endangered, I noticed the aching hip, wrist, and cut shin where I must have hit the faucet. "I hope Narzel eats you, you stupid elf," I muttered as I stood up, finding more bruises, and started extracting my towel from a tangle of plant parts.
 

My bathroom had been transformed into a jungle by one tiny flower growing exponentially, sending vines all over the room. I'd left the plant on the counter next to the sink, where it now occupied most of the wall between the sink and tub. The vines had snaked across the sink, winding through the hand towels, over to the towel rack and around my bath towel.
 

Slipping out of my bathroom, I closed the door, hoping to prevent the vine from spreading. Clothing was picked hastily. I brushed my hair, not worried about how it would dry and went in search of Landa. I couldn't rearrange my evening for a plant, or a stupid elf.
 

"Landa?" Nothing. "Landa!" I yelled again.
 

"Kitchen."
 

With great effort I refrained from stomping as I stormed into the kitchen. "You, or the elf, need to deal with the flower eating my bathroom."

She set down the knife, leaving potatoes uncut. "Flower?"

"The stupid, stupid elf gave me a flower. He said to leave somewhere moist, so I stuck it in the bathroom. Now, the entire bathroom is covered with bits of that flower. I don't have time to deal with this. I have dinner with the girls before I'm driving to work."

"Wait, child, what did the flower do?"

"It exploded all over my bathroom."

She realized how aggravated I was and her expression softened. "I'll deal with it, child."

"Thank you."
 

"Go have fun. This will be dealt with when you return."
 

"Landa, you're the best." She squeezed my hand, sending me off to have dinner with the girls.
 

The clock on my dash told me I was ten minutes late when I parked. Running inside, the music hit me, as did the warmth and warm bread smell. Amber waved to me from a booth, and I slid in across from her.
 

"How are you?" I asked.
 

"I'm good. Tiffany went to the bathroom. She should be back soon."

"Did you order yet?"

"Nope, we were waiting for you."
 

Tiffany sat next to Amber. "Hi, slow poke."

I blushed. "I'm sorry."

"You can make it up to me by agreeing to split a pesto pizza with us." Tiffany said.

"As long as we get garlic knots as an appetizer."
 

"Done."

The waiter arrived in time to hear the bargaining. "A large pesto pizza and garlic knots?" She asked.
 

We nodded, as I added, "Could I get a sweet tea?"

"Sure. Do ya'll need anything else to drink?" Amber and Tiffany shook their heads. "I'll have that out in a few minutes."
 

"How was the date with Mark?" I asked.

"Good. We've actually had two dates. Both were lovely. Tomorrow we are having dinner in the park."

"Oh, that'll be fun!" Tiffany beamed at her.
 

Amber nodded. "Everything is good. Nothing to report on this end. How have the two of you been?"

"Same cheating spouse, different day. It doesn't help that the love life is as barren as always." Tiffany sighed dramatically. "Michelle, please tell me you have something to talk about?"
 

"She had a date," Amber added.
 

"Spill."

"Slow down, girls. I had a date with a witch from Fannin County. We had coffee in Ellijay a few days ago. It was fun. He was very charming an polite. At the end of the date he gave me his number." I quickly summed up the date.

"Did you call him?" Tiffany asked.

"Yes, I called him and left a message. He hasn't called me back yet."

"Poo. I don't like him." Tiffany stuck out her tongue.
 

"Tiffany! He works. I work. I don't have time for a second date anyway." Not wanting to spend any more time on Andrew, I changed the subject. "I don't know how to say this, but I met my father." From the mouths ajar, I figured I should explain while they recovered from the shock. "I dropped by Mom's house the other day, and he was there. It was rather awkward, but he wants to be in my life. He even agreed to help me teach a class to hedge-practitioners."
 

The pizza arrived while they were trying to form questions, and the rest of the discussion was broken up by pizza and garlic knots. Dinner flew by all too quickly, but by the end, we had decided my parents were weird, I should try to have a good relationship with my father, and gelato was a necessary part of the evening.
 

After hugs, and promises to do this again soon, we headed out. The sky was cloudy when I started the drive. The weather worsened the longer I was in the car. Halfway to Forsyth, the first flurries tumbled out of the sky.

Two hours, later I was curled up in a hotel bed a few blocks from the police station. With the television off, the quiet was oppressive. No cars were out; the hotel was nearly empty, but through the window I could see two kids dancing. They scuffed, scooped, and mounded what was on the ground into a snowman in between dancing in circles. Smiling, I watched them dash across the parking lot, tumbling to the ground before making snow angels.
 

One car rolled through the red light at the other end of the block. Idiot, I thought. Even the police were crawling through this weather.
 

Turning away from the window I adjusted the heat, not wanting to be cold. My hand was leaving the temperature knob when a screech drifted through the window. Jerking up I saw the same car fishtailing down the road, headed for the curb guarding the hotel. The kids had stopped perfecting their snow angels, but didn't see the car because of a hedge. The same hedge blocked the driver's view.
 

It swerved again, and I thought it would miss the parking lot, continuing down the road, but with another lurch it lined up to run down the children. The two of them were standing up, but would never have enough time to move.
 

With the car barreling through the hedge, I ran out of time. Throwing my hand out I willed the strongest shield wall I could summon into existence. The car smashed into the wall, the backlash hitting me, landing me on my butt. I shook my head, trying to clear the dazed feeling.
 

I yanked myself up, uncertain if I'd saved the kids. The children weren't in the parking lot, but the car was crumpled, smoking, and stopped only feet from where I'd thrown the shield. My breath rushed out as I sank back on the floor. The unscarred cell phone was next to me. It must have fallen out of my pocket.

Mashing the speed dial I waited for him to pick up. "Jones, I need a few units, an ambulance, and you at my hotel."
 

"Are you okay?"

"I think so."
 

"What happened?"

"I broke a car." Dumping the phone in my pocket I threw on a jacket and boots, hearing the sirens as I started down the stairs. Jones was going to be mad at me.
 

The first policeman arrived the same time I did. I waved them away from the footprints and car tracks, trying not to contaminate the scene. Until Jones arrived, the tracks couldn't be preserved. I could've preserved them, but it was frowned upon since I'd been involved in the accident.
 

The clouds parted long enough for the full moon to wash the accident in a surreal silver light. Seconds later the moon was gone, hidden behind the snow filled clouds. Red and blue lights flashed over the parking lot as the reinforcements arrived. The paramedics ran straight for the car.
 

I introduced myself to the officers; working with a police department didn't mean I knew everyone. Officer Tusca took my statement, while the guy in the car was hauled into an ambulance. Officer Tusca finished questioning me before intercepting Jones, who needed to check the magical residue before speaking with me.
 

Two hours later I'd finished my reports, but was still at the police station sipping coffee to stay awake. Jerry was never going to let me hear the end of this. Breaking a car was something he'd torment me with for years. As if summoned by my thoughts, he walked through the door.
 

"Before you say anything, I've finished the preliminary paperwork. We can talk about everything." He swung a chair around, sitting on it backwards. "How are you feeling?"
 

"Lightheaded, empty." Normally, I could feel energy inside me, rippling across my skin. Right now I felt a drop, rather than a river of power. "I pulled some of the power out of the charms I was wearing or I'd be in worse shape."

He studied me, trying to find something in my face. "You saved those kids."
 

I shrugged, worried about the driver.
 

"The driver has a concussion. He's being kept overnight for observation. Even if he'd missed the kids, he would've hit the hotel. We're charging him with reckless endangerment."
 

"Good. I was worried I'd killed him." I didn't want to carry the death of a soul around for the rest of my life.

"If you care, he's actually a drunk, juiced-up dwarf. The lab's working on what transformed him to human size."
 

"Seriously?" I'd never heard of a drug that could do that.
 

"Yup. You did the right thing." He paused, "You look exhausted. I'll drive you back to the hotel. You need to rest if we're going to catch trolls tomorrow."
 

I set the cup on the table before I dropped it. "Thanks. I'll feel better in the morning."

As he guided me out of the room, I could see from the twist of his mouth that he had more to say. "You better be. We can't just leave those people-eating trolls out there. It isn't kosher."

Michelle

"Michelle." Someone shook my gently.
 

I flailed at their hand and cuddled back into bed.
 

"Michelle, you need to get up." I was shaken again, a little less gently.
 

"Go away," I mumbled into my pillow. The muffled voices behind me talked about something for a while before they all quieted down. Grateful, I drifted off.
 

I shrieked, leaping out of the bed. With a heaving chest, I blinked rapidly, trying to get the water out of my eyes as it dripped off my hair. I spied Jones in my room. "What, in the name of Narzel, are you doing?"
 

"Nice outfit, Oaks."

"Deal with it. I didn't feel like putting on clothes last night." I was standing in my now wet sports bra and panties. "Why did you throw water on me?"

"It seemed like a good way to get you out of bed."

"And why are you in me room?" I asked.

"I got worried. We had planned to meet at nine. I gave you another hour to show up. It's nearly eleven." He was looking at the wall behind me.
 

I grabbed a sheet off the bed, wrapping myself. "Did you bring me tea?"

He handed me a warm mug. "It's your energy-building brew."

"Good." I sipped, feeling the warmth seep through me. "Now go away and let me dress." I watched him walk out of the room and close the door.