Page 27 of Seven Secret Spellcasters
When she got down to the front door, Trent was carrying a bouquet of flowers into the storage room. The reception area was filled with the ones that they’d moved out of the kitchen so they could cook.
The room smelled like a greenhouse garden. Mia didn’t wear perfume mostly because it interfered with her sense of smell while she was cooking. As she came down the stairs today, though, she felt like she’d waded into a vat of floral scents.
Trent smiled. “At least we won’t have to do any centerpieces for the event on Friday. We have enough, and Fred from the florist shop said you have a couple more deliveries they were still working on when he left.”
“Can we have him deliver the rest of the flowers directly to some place that needs them? Like the local nursing home? I’m sure we can get one per room if we move some of these we’ve already received. Since Abigail said I can’t respond to thank anyone, there’s no reason for them to come here first.” Mia waited for the van to leave the parking lot before opening the door for Muffy and Cerby.
“Great idea! I’ll call Fred in a few minutes after Mom picks out what she wants for Friday. Then the rest will go to the nursing home. When that’s full, maybe we should think about sending some to the children’s hospital in Twin? Or a nursing home in another town?” Trent stood near her, watching the dogs climb all over Buddy.
“Either one. Hopefully we won’t be dealing with this long.” With the great flower flood finally dealt with, Mia could deal with her day. Or she could have if she wasn’t getting a headache from the overwhelming floral scents. She headed to the kitchen.
Everyone was at a station, focused on their tasks. Here, the smells filling the air were from bacon and sugar and something tart. She grabbed an apron and moved to Abigail for her assignment. As soon as she came in the door, though, Abigail shook her head. She’d been watching for her.
“Not today. We’ve got this handled. You need to go up and play in your lab. Your grandmother put a list of projects there you need to complete.” Abigail pointed to the door. She glanced over at Finn to see if she was listening. “You need to do the work or you’ll never level up.”
“I’m beginning to believe that leveling up isn’t in my best interest.” Mia glanced around the happy kitchen. This was where she belonged. Cooking food for others. That’s why she loved the idea of being a kitchen witch—it played on her strengths. Now she was managing events and doing the forecasting for both the Lodge and Mia’s Morsels. Not making cookies. She missed baking freaking cookies. “Trent’s taking the flowers to the nursing home. You need to choose what you want for Friday.”
“I’ll do that.” Christina grabbed her tray and put it in the refrigerator. “I was going to start a new batch of cookies. Mia, we’ve got this handled. Go work.”
Finn glanced up, questions in her eyes, but at least she didn’t ask. Mia gave her a smile and nodded. “I told Grans I’d grab her for lunch, so don’t forget to come get us.”
Mia avoided mentioning the library in mixed groups. If Finn was a reader, she’d love to go visit a home library to see what books were there, maybe grab a few to read while she was staying here. The problem was, their library wasn’t like that. It was more specialized, and humans weren’t welcome.
Mia sighed and left the kitchen, hanging her apron back on the hook. “Okay, then, bake sweet.”
As she walked through the reception area, she saw the table was filled with books. She stopped because she was sure they hadn’t been there before. A white card in front of the books said,Finn. The library must have overheard her thoughts and brought down a selection of books that it thought would be appropriate for Finn’s reading pleasure.
Mia looked upward and whispered, “Thank you.” As she scanned the pile of books, she saw some romances and some paranormal mysteries. And quite a few of the fairy-tale books Mia had read during her studies to be a kitchen witch. The books served dual purposes, as instructional tales for young witches as well as entertaining stories for humans.
She patted the table. Finn would find them when she left the kitchen. Mia would make sure of that at lunch. Mia loved it when the academy worked with her. That hadn’t always been the case. Trent wanted to move to a regular house when they made their relationship permanent. What was he thinking?
Her phone rang. It was Baldwin.
“Got time for coffee this morning?”
“Sure. I’m at the house.” Mia hurried upstairs to grab a jacket and her wallet. “Where do you want to meet?”
“I’m parked at the greenbelt opening down the street from your house. I don’t want anyone seeing us together, so can you go out to the walkway and head south?”
“Okay.” Mia wasn’t sure why Baldwin wanted to meet in secret, but it was either this or working in the potions lab. Alone. “Give me ten minutes.”
As she walked past the tree where Buddy was perched, he chirped a good morning. Or at least a greeting. Mia guessed she needed to learn dragon language. “I’m heading to meet with our human police chief, so don’t go scaring him,” she told him.
Buddy sank back into the tree, probably trying to show her that he could hide from any human eyes.
“Good job, stay here. Trent will bring Cerby out to play soon,” Mia called back as she went through the gate that led to the greenbelt.
She heard the answering chortle clearly. Buddy loved Cerby.
As much as she loved living in the apartment at the school, she knew it wasn’t the best place to try to keep a growing dragon and an untrained hellhound in Maltese clothing. The school was too close to town and prying eyes. She didn’t even know what the coven would think about Buddy. This reminded her to tell Trent to take Buddy and Cerby home before the coven’s party on Friday. He probably had already thought of that. Or Abigail had. At least she hoped. So many spinning plates, and she had no idea how half of them had started spinning in the first place.
She climbed into the cab of Mark’s truck, and he handed her a travel mug. “Coffee, black. Right?”
“Perfect. So, why the secrecy?” She looked around at the forest surrounding them. “I have to admit, this is a great place for coffee.”
“The coven said they were turning the investigation over to me, but then I got a call from the mayor yesterday wondering why I was investigating a natural death. I threw the unattended death regulation at him, and he shut up, but he did ask me to make the investigation quick.” Mark turned to focus on her. “So, who was this guy?”
“He works for the National Society, I think. I’ve already told you he was here to see why the Goddess gave Cerby to Trent.” Mia sipped her coffee, but it was too hot, so she set it down in the beverage carrier. “I’m beginning to think whoever called in the tip on Cerby and Trent might also be the killer. Howard wasn’t supposed to be here until yesterday. But instead, he dropped into the school on Thursday to introduce himself.”
