“Man, if only Serenity and Keelan were here,” Neil sighed sadly.
Zoe stood and hugged Neil tightly. “We’ll all be together again someday. Then we can travel and do all the cool things we talked about growing up.”
“We’ll have to bring Micah along, he mated Serenity,” Nigel reminded her.
She nodded. “Of course! I heard she had mated, but since the council banished her, I lost any opportunity to meet him. Do you think they’ll come here to visit any time soon?”
Neil whipped out his phone. “Micah is gonna hate me,” he said, chuckling. “Too bad,” he added in a singsong voice.
Zoe giggled. “I still have work to do in fixing the lights and Kendrick’s lessons, but other than that, I’m free.”
Zoe watched as the one Kendrick called Kincaid edged forward. “Could I take some of those lessons too?”
“Arrrgh!” Kendrick groaned and rested his head on the table.
“Serves you right, old man. That’s what you get for hiding away amongst your books all these years,” Thane teased.
Kendrick’s head popped up, and he glared at Thane. “I’ll have you know that I have been keeping an eye on these children for years.” Sighing, he looked at Kincaid, and his eyes softened. “You, of course, are welcome to any additional lessons, especially as they will be fire in nature.”
Zoe smiled at Kincaid. “You’re a fire witch too?”
He shook his head sheepishly. “Not exactly.”
Neil pointed to the abashed witch. “He’s like a combination of you and us. He’s fire and earth.”
Kincaid nodded. “And my magic doesn’t work quite right either, so you’re not alone in that.”
She felt her eyes widen. “You set fires too?”
He waved his hands in front of him, shaking his head. “No, worse. Most times, nothing happens, or if it does, it’s not something I intended.”
“Kendrick, besides a space to teach, do you require anything else for our young friends?” the queen asked.
“No, everything else I need, I have with me,” he replied, holding up a small satchel.
“I want witch lessons too,” Meryn announced.
“Me too!” an adorable, dark-headed young man beside Meryn said, chiming in.
“What? Why? Your innate empathy isn’t at all like elemental magic,” Kendrick asked, looking confused. He turned to the young man. “And Pip, you’re a vampire, for gods’ sake!”
“Cuz I wanna,” Meryn replied.
“Yeah,” Pip echoed.
“Meryn…” Aiden started.
Meryn glared up at her mate. “Why can’t I expand my horizons? The twins are going,” she said, looking in their direction.
“The twins are witches,” Aiden pointed out, smiling.
Zoe recognized the determined look in Meryn’s eyes and the set of her shoulders. Mikel always had the exact same look when he dug his heels in. “I don’t think it would hurt anything if she wanted to sit in on the lessons.”
“Yeah, she and Pip can stay with us if they want to,” Neil added.
Kendrick simply stared at them.
“You know, it may not be a bad idea to open up the lessons to any unit witch that wishes to attend,” Aiden said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.