Dominic nodded. “I always check a place out before I bring you to it, to make sure it’s safe for whatever I have planned.”
When he found the section he wanted, he started looking through it more carefully, occasionally lifting his eyes from the book and checking something alongside the trail. Leesa watched him closely, wondering what he was doing.
“Okay, got it,” Dominic said. He closed the book, marking the place he had selected with his finger. “I’m going to teach you a growth spell for plants. Unfortunately, I cannot demonstrate it for you, or the black waziri will sense my magic. When you are ready, we’ll use the book to give you a visual.”
Leesa nodded, wondering what kind of plant growth thing it would be.
“First,” Dominic continued, “I have to teach you the in-cantation. I cannot say the parts all together or they will trigger the spell. So I’ll give it to you in pieces. Once you have them all, you can put them together. Okay?”
“Yeah. I
The next few days passed in a wonderfully boring way. This week’s big activity was a normal college thing—a Valentine’s Day party at Andy’s fraternity tomorrow night. At first Leesa didn’t want to go, but Cali had talked her into it. Once Rave agreed to come along, Leesa was happy. Almost anything she did with Rave was romantic, but being with him at a Valentine’s thing would be extra special. The only problem was she had no idea what she should wear. Once again, Cali had come to the rescue. They were going shopping today at a resale clothes place on campus called Second Time’s A Charm to try to find something “valentiny” as Cali called it. Cali already had her own outfit picked out, but she was keeping it a surprise from everyone, including Leesa.“You ready to go?” Cali asked from Leesa’s doorway. She was wearing her gray jacket with the pink accents, but since it wasn’t all that cold out she was
Cali thought for a moment. “Yeah, that would probably be all right.” She grabbed a pair of black boots from the shelf. “Let’s try your stuff on with these, just to see how it all looks.” They threaded their way between the racks to a row of dressing booths fronted by long purple curtains. “In you go, girl,” Cali said, handing Leesa the boots. Katy Perry was singing “Last Friday Night” as Leesa ducked behind the curtain. She hoped Friday night’s party was not going to be quite as wild as the song. She hung the shirts and leggings on plastic hooks and dropped the boots onto a narrow wooden bench. Feeling just a bit nervous, she took off her jeans and pulled the leggings on, then slipped the silk shirt on over them. Not a whole lot of light filtered in from the top of the dressing booth, but she didn’t think the combination looked too bad, at least not in the grimy dressing booth mirror. She had to admit, the combination of the long shirttails over the tight leg
Josef strolled southward along the side of the highway in north central Vermont, in no real hurry. Twice now, once in Canada and once here in Vermont, a driver had stopped to offer him a lift. He graciously accepted the ride each time. When there were no rides offered, he was content to walk. This stretch of road was not very heavily traveled at night, but dressed all in black as he was, whenever he saw headlights approaching he simply edged farther to the side and let the car pass. There was some snow along the edges of the shoulder, but it had been plowed pretty far back, giving him plenty of room to remain safe. He did not begrudge the tiny delays caused by each passing vehicle.When there were only four of you hunting a man of wisdom and experience who did not want to be found, you learned to be patient. Unless Dominic made a mistake or was forced to employ his magic, they would need to be very lucky to find him. Time was on their side, though. The longer Dominic remained
Friday afternoon at two o’clock, Dominic showed up at Leesa’s room. Since she was going to the Valentine’s Day party tonight, they had agreed to squeeze in some practice beforehand. Leesa had been catching up on some studying while she waited for him to arrive, but was happy for a reason to close her books.As soon as she got up from her desk, she could see that Dominic’s face looked more serious than usual.“What’s the matter?” she asked.Dominic took off his jacket and hung it atop Leesa’s parka in her closet.“What makes you think something is wrong?”“The look on your face. You look concerned.”Dominic smiled. “I didn’t know it showed. You are getting very observant.”Leesa returned his smile. “So? What is it?”“It’s Josef,” Dominic said. “He’s getting closer.”&ld
Leesa stood with her back to her mirror, her head twisted around so she could check out her outfit from the back. The tapered tail of her new black silk shirt was long enough to easily cover her butt, yet the V-cut on the sides revealed plenty of her long legs. The black leather boots and the tight dark red leggings really did make her legs look hot. The diamond pattern on the leggings looked good, too, though Cali was right—hearts really would have been perfect for tonight. Considering that the outfit had cost her less than fifteen dollars—not counting the boots, which she already owned—she certainly couldn’t complain.She turned around and faced the mirror. Her long blond hair curled loosely over her shoulders and she wore just enough blue eye shadow to make her crystal blue eyes really stand out. A bit of mascara lengthened and darkened her lashes.Leesa was amazed at how far she had come since September. She had arrived at Weston a shy, some
The evening air was crisp but not uncomfortable. Leesa, Cali and Rave walked three abreast down the sidewalk with Rave in the middle, heading for Fraternity Row. Streetlights fashioned to look like hundred-year-old gas lamps poured golden light onto the sidewalk and onto the tiny piles of snow along the edge of the street that were all that remained of the big snowstorm.Leesa and Rave held hands while they walked, and since Cali knew about Rave’s volkaane nature, he let out enough of his heat to keep her warm as well.“This is so cool,” Cali said. “It’s like walking with one of those portable quartz heaters beside me.”“Only this heater is touchable,” Leesa said, rubbing up against Rave’s side.They heard the festivities before they even turned the corner onto Fraternity Row. Thumping dance music seemed almost to vibrate the sidewalk, and the tumult of voices and laughter was nearly as loud. No one wo
“You were so into Andy—and those Jager Bomb things—that you never asked me for any details.”Cali grinned. “Speaking of drinks, me and Andy are going to get some. You two want anything?”“Just a bottle of water,” Leesa said. “Unopened,” she added, smiling. At the first party, Cali had warned Leesa about having to watch out for frat guys trying to drug her drinks.“Ha, ha,” Cali laughed. “I’m glad to see you remember your lessons.” She looked at Rave for a moment then turned back to Leesa. “I don’t think you need to worry about any guys messing with you tonight, though. Not with Rave here. Rave, you want anything?”“Water would be great,” Rave said.“Okay, two waters coming up for the wild and crazy partiers,” Cali said. “Don’t go anywhere.”“Don’t worry,” Leesa said. “We
Shortly before eleven o’clock on Saturday morning, Leesa and Dominic checked into a small motel along the side of a two-lane state highway about twenty miles south of Albany, New York. An off and on again drizzle made the drive more taxing than it should have been, forcing Leesa to concentrate more on her driving than usual and to constantly fiddle with the setting on the windshield wipers. At least it was daytime, she thought. Tonight, the water on the roads might freeze into slick patches of ice. The small and very dated motel office was manned by a bored looking guy who appeared to be at least seventy years old, if not older. His face was lined with deep wrinkles and stained with dark liver spots. His bony hands showed even more spots than his face. Still, he flashed a friendly smile when Leesa and Dominic walked in. Leesa guessed the guy was probably happy to see anyone, whether they were customers or not. They selected adjacent rooms, paid for in cash by Dominic