CHAPTERONE
“Are you sure about this makeup?” Sara asked her new apprentice, Vera.
The young, twenty-something woman beamed at Sara in the mirror. “I’m absolutely sure. You look fabulous.”
Sara couldn’t argue. After her salon day, her grey-streaked, black hair looked brighter and bouncier, and now, after Vera’s makeup job, Sara’s face looked ten years younger.
For her part, Sara had never seen her eyes lined and her lashes thickened, and she’d never applied such a pink shade of lipstick.
But she was about to embark on a new chapter in her life, so she figured, why not allow her new apprentice to glam her up a bit?
“Alright, come on now. Your guests await!” Vera urged Sara toward the door.
Before stepping down the stairs, she took a deep breath. This was her party, and it was just as important as any graduation or sweet-sixteen.
This was the party being held in honor of her transition from a teacher at the witch academy to her new career running a witch Bed and Breakfast and being a local witch mentor.
It was the mid-life change for her kind.
She’d already moved into the huge Victorian home, which had been fully furnished and decorated by the mentor witches who’d occupied it before her. Vera Yang had greeted her, having already started her apprenticeship under the previous witch.
At least that was one thing Sara had. A friend and somewhat of a guide in Vera, though it was Sara who was supposed to be the mentor.
The partnership worked well. Sara would help Vera with her magic, and Vera would help Sara get used to living life outside the academy, which had been the only life Sara had known ever since she’d entered it as a student when she was still just a child.
The crowd of people cheered for Sara as she stepped onto the main floor. Sara smiled and waved, seeing some faces she knew and many she didn’t.
They were the paranormal leaders of nearby town groups, shifters, and other covens.
Audry Ewing, the current academy headmistress, was waiting for her. She waved Sara over. “Well, Sara, here we are! I never thought that we’d see this day when I met you all those years ago.”
Sara hardly did either. She’d figured she would have stayed at the academy forever, moving from teacher to administration as she’d aged out.
But something had called her to take a chance on something different, and when the previous witch who’d lived here passed, Sara saw it as a sign. She needed to try something different.
Audry went on, telling the guests about Sara’s achievements as she introduced her to the new community she’d serve. But Sara could hardly hear her. She was busy looking at all the people she was about to meet, feeling both nervous and excited.
No longer would she live at the academy and be on call twenty-four seven, but now, she would have her own home and be on her own for the first time since before she became a student and then a teacher.
After Audry finished her speech, Sara walked with Vera around the room, shaking hands with everyone.
“Sara, this is Barbara Wolfe,” Vera said, guiding her over to a woman around Sara’s age but with the kindest eyes Sara had ever seen.
She shook hands with Barbara. “I’m the matriarch of the Wolf pack in Blue Creek.”
“Nice to meet you,” Sara said, wishing she had more time to chat with the woman.
Much later in the evening, when she thought the last guest, and even Vera, had left, she spotted Barbara on the couch in the living room.
“You stayed!” Sara said.
“I wanted a chance to talk to you a bit more,” Barbara revealed.
Honestly, Sara didn’t mind because she could see wanting to get to know Barbara, too. Something inside Sara made her feel like she would be a great friend.
“This was a lovely party,” Barbara said.
“Oh, well, I didn’t have much to do with it,” Sara said demurely. “Vera, Audry, and Monet put it all together. All I’d been doing was moving myself from the academy and getting used to my new surroundings.”