CHAPTERFIFTEEN
“Hey, Sara. What do you think of this spell?” Vera asked, pointing to a page in the old grimoire that she had been searching through.
“Hmmm.” Sara plucked her bejeweled pink eyeglasses that were perched on top of her head and slid them over her eyes, hoping she would finally be able to decipher the tiny fuzzy letters on the yellowed page.
“Yeah. That sure looks like the spell I was talking about. That should do it,” Sara said, glad she could help Vera find the right spell, and she was also glad that Vera had returned shortly after she’d left. Turns out, she wanted to give Rhett and Sara time to talk and had decided picking up some breakfast would be a good way to waste a little time.
“Yay! I’m so excited to try this. Thank you.” Vera beamed up at her.
“You are very welcome. So, now you’re off for the rest of the day?” Sara asked.
“Yes, my boyfriend and I are going out of town. We’ve been looking forward to it for a while now.” Vera beamed, and Sara couldn’t help but wish she had that same kind of peace and love in her relationship with Rhett.
“Have fun. I’ll see you next week.”
She escorted Vera to the front door and then carefully locked it behind her. Having the apprentice with her that morning had soothed her nerves, and she wasn’t looking forward to being alone again, despite what she’d told Rhett, and regardless of how many security cameras were now around her house, that she could look at on her phone app.
She’d barely made it back to the couch when her phone chimed with an alert from the motion detector, and then her doorbell rang. She pulled up the live video feed and saw Barbara was at her doorstep.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Sara asked when she opened the door.
Barbara held up two takeout bags. “I thought I’d bring you some lunch and keep you company.”
Sara heard the unstated and check up on you, but she appreciated it all the same.
“Come on in.”
“You might want to turn your phone on silent,” Barbara said as she walked over to set the bags down on the dining room table.
“Why?”
“Tristan wants to go over the property again, see if he can pick up anything in the daytime that he might have missed at night.”
“Okay.” Sara nodded, pulling out her phone and switching it to silent.
“And Rhett is with him.”
Sara’s eyes flicked to the back window, and she caught sight of the two men walking around back there.
“I hope this is okay with you,” Barbara said, pulling the food out of the bags.
“It's perfectly fine,” Sara assured her.
Once they were seated and had taken their first bites, Barbara asked the question, “So, how are you today?”
Sara shrugged. “I’ve been thinking a lot about who I am. Things like, I always thought I loved the woods and outdoors because my witch nature drank it in, but really, there was a wolf inside who craved it.”
“At least they were compatible with that,” Barbara reasoned.
“Yeah, but maybe if my sleeping wolf had been a little less comfortable, it would have come out sooner and demanded attention.”
“Maybe.” Barbara chewed another bite of the burger before adding, “But I really wouldn’t suggest dwelling on stuff like that. Dealing with the now is going to be a lot more productive and healthier for you.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Sara sighed. “It’s not like I can find any answers from my parents. My mother passed on long ago, so it’s not like I could call her and ask her about why I suddenly shifted into a freaking wolf. And I never knew my dad, so maybe that's where the gene came from.”
“Could be,” Barbara agreed.
“Either way, I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to being up to speed on the knowledge of being a shifter. I am like a middle-aged toddler when it comes to my wolf. It feels like the most ridiculous thing ever when you consider my witch expertise and the fact that I’m a mentor.”