Magical Probi (The Federal Witch Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Copyrights

  Author Notes

  More Books by the Author

  Magical Probi

  T S Paul

  Chapter 1

  “Cat have you seen my dress shoes?”

  “Cat?” I pulled my head out from under the bed to see my diminutive roommate sound asleep at her desk. I stood up from beside the bed and crossed the room. Her head was down on one of her textbooks, drool pooling on the page. Smiling, I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket and took a candid shot. It was too good not too! Today was a very big day and if I didn’t get to take a nap neither did she.

  I gave her a shake and spoke into her ear. “Hey, get your ass up! Don’t you want to graduate?”

  She stirred a little, and I could hear a muffled voice. “Go away. I’m taking a power nap here.”

  “You can rest all you like when the ceremony is over. Now, get up.”

  “Don’t wanna!”

  “Don’t make me call Chuck. He can get you up.”

  “Not if I order him not too.”

  “You won’t do that. You like Chuck too much to mess with him like that.” It was true. Chuck was part of our little gang here on campus. He was way too nice to screw around.

  “Fine. Whatever.” She raised her head off the desk and rubbed her face. “Eeeww nasty!” She wiped the drool off onto a towel by the desk.

  I just laughed at her. I would save that picture for blackmail material. You never know when something like that can come in handy. Today was an important day; it was graduation day. The end of the third year was momentous for us wanna-be agents. For non-field agents this was it. The end of their Law Enforcement Training. Specialized training would now start. They would go on to become the power behind the muscle that makes up the Bureau; office staff, trainers, and lab technicians. The rest of us would partner with actual field agents and our last year was on-the-job-training intensified! Cat was scheduled to intern with the behavior analysis unit for her fourth year. The last time I spoke with Chuck, he was going to the forensic field unit. He was very excited. As yet no one had given me my assignment. With any luck, Director Mills will do that after the ceremony.

  Checking the clock I told Cat she had thirty minutes to get ready. Living with the WereCat Alpha, I learned that she was perpetually late, so I always gave her short time limits. “Have you seen my shoes?”

  “Look over by Fergus’s barn. I saw him sleeping in one of them the other day.”

  “What? If that little maniac ruined my shoes, it’ll be back to the shoebox for him!” I stepped over the small table we had set up near the window. His red barn was in the middle of the table, and sure enough, there were my shoes! My shoes were sitting neatly together and lined up perfectly so they could not be seen behind the barn.

  “Fergus!” I opened the barn door to the sound of mooo from the noisemaker on the door. Peering inside there was no sign of him. I reached for one of my shoes, and I could see hay down in the bottom of it. I turned the shoe upside down, and I gave it a shake. Bits of hay and a startled Unicorn hit the top of my desk.

  “I was sleeping!” He looked rattled, but nothing was broken. It takes a lot to break a Unicorn. Just ask Grams cat, Zeus. He bounces Fergus around like a toy ball.

  “Fergus, why are you in my shoe?”

  “I was camping.”

  “In my shoe?”

  “It’s my summer home.”

  “What? How did you even get them up here?”

  “I jumped.”

  “Really? Did you jump carrying my shoes? I’ll bet you got Chuck to put these up here for you.”

  Fergus just stared at me. “If you aren’t going to, believe me. I’ll just go home then.” He walked around to the front of the toy barn and went through the door. The noisemaker made a Mooo sound.

  Unicorns. I shook my head. Just when I think I understand him, he does something that makes me doubt myself. I sat on the bed and slipped my shoes on. I had to take them off again and clean out the hay. Summerhouse indeed.

  “Cat are you ready yet?” I could see movement in the closet, but no tiny roommate had emerged yet.

  “Tell me why we have to go to this thing again?”

  “It’s graduation. At least the schooling part. They did explain it to us. I know you heard it. We finished our three years of coursework and now we specialize for a year. On the job training is what Director Mills called it.”

  “I just want to go back to sleep.”

  “No sleeping for you Missy. Isn’t your father here? I know my grandmother is.”

  “Both mom and dad are here. I’m just afraid to see them. I don’t want them subservient to me because of my Alpha status.”

  “He’s your father. Just keep telling your Cat that and it will be fine. Isn’t this base considered neutral ground?”

  “It is, I keep forgetting that it is. You’re right. My parents came all this way just to see me graduate and take pictures. Come on let’s go.” Cat grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. We passed several of the other graduates and newer residents on our way out, and they all gave us a wide berth. The events of last year and the battle at Fabulous Face leaked to the other students as well as the press. Having most of an entire town be consumed by demons was news. It was almost impossible for the FBI to keep secret that we were involved in it. It just added to the mystique. Both Cat and I shrugged it off. Let them be afraid of us. We were leaving anyway.

  The ceremony was taking place at the soccer field. It was the only place large enough with places for civilians to sit. There were more private areas over on the Marines side, but they weren’t very happy with the FBI at the moment. That’s not completely true. They were upset with me. Personally, I had a not so nice conversation with the director a couple of weeks ago over the whole thing.

  “Agatha I have a bone to pick with you.” The look on the director's face was not a good one. I tried to think about anything I may have done recently.

  “Ma’am if this is about the landscaping on the East lawn I promise I will pay for it.” The look she gave me froze me in place.

  “No, this is about something else, but we will be discussing the East lawn. That explains the crying groundskeeper I had in here this morning. This is about these.” She held up a picture.

  It was all I could do but wince. The picture showed what looked like the Marine Barracks parade ground. It was covered in Jackalopes. The little critters had eaten all of the grass there.

  “Oh, those. If you remember last year before you sent me after that Demon I mentioned those things. They were a tiny accident.”

  The director cocked her head to one side as if thinking. “I sort of remember that conversation. Help me to remember please?”

  “I told you about the spell that went wrong during the last practice with the council’s teacher, Montgomery something or other was his name. I made one of those but later saw a couple more. I did tell you about them.”

  “Nope doesn’t ring-a-bell. These things…”

  “Jackalopes.” I smiled at her.

  She frowned at me. “As I said, these…
Jackalopes have infested the entire forest and the Marine base. I just had the General on the phone screaming at me about them. He just knew it was you. His magical corporate goons told him you were the one that did it. He also said it was illegal and against the Council’s magical laws?”

  “Tampering with animals or people on purpose is against the rules. Accidents, however are not. Especially if you can prove that it was an accident. The Council is aware of the Jacks. Both grandmother and I informed them. I am sorry I didn’t follow up after the demon thing. To be truthful, I forgot about them.”

  “This is a big deal, Agatha! The Marines are really pissed.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and said a prayer to the goddess for strength. “I can try to zap them but every time I have changed an animal I made it magic proof. The squirrels and Fergus are proof of that. Do you want me to try?”

  “Lord no. You might make them giants or something. I suppose we can call in hunters or exterminators.”

  That gave me an idea. “Ma’am what if we allow the Were’s on campus to have a hunt? We can call it the annual Jackalope hunt or something.”

  Director Mills just gave me that look that made me think of kindergarten children. “I better not find out this was a gimmick to let your pack go hunting here. I will look into it.”

  Thus the semi-annual Jackalope hunt was born. The Were’s loved it. Rabbits that fight back? They were in. Lots of contests and barbecue's that weekend. The administration might call it the Jackalope hunt, but the Were’s called it the Jack-Off hunt. Some things I will never live down.

  I could hear the crowd as we approached. We were supposed to gather at the home team side of the field. The Academy provided flimsy caps and gowns. Many of the other students said it was like High School. Never having been to one of those I had no idea. Cat and I slipped the plastic gowns on over our clothes and grabbed a hat. It was kind of hokey to do this, but I could see the benefit. We would be moving on to our specialties and would have little time to come back here to have one of these. Better to have it now. I peered at the crowd in the stands. I had not seen Grams in three years. I could use a friendly face.

  The Director’s assistants, the B’s, seemed to be in charge out here. They managed to get the lot of us lined up into order. No names would be called. We either graduated or we didn’t. We would march out, bow and be presented our diploma. A few speeches and we could break to find our families. Or at least that was what we were told. Hopefully the speeches wouldn’t be long.

  The crowd quieted as the Director stepped up to the podium. She had a nice speaking voice as she began to talk of the code of justice and what graduation meant for all of us. At a prearranged signal we marched out onto the field and stood at the Director’s back as she wrapped up her speech. To this day I can’t be sure what triggered it. It may have been an unsanctioned Were hunt or Mother Nature giving us the finger, but it was a disaster.

  There we stood all in a line about to be awarded our diplomas when a herd or flock of Jackalopes entered the picture. Over fifty of the little buggers came loping through the ceremony. They got confused by all the people and scattered into the crowd and everything. Caps and gowns went flying as we tried to get away from the little horned devils. All I could do was stand there with my hands over my face. Cat who stood beside me began to laugh so hard she fell to the ground. Director Mills stared at the running animals and shrieking family members. She slowly turned and stared at me. I smiled and gave her a little wave. I was in big trouble.

  Chapter 2

  The lecture was not as bad as it could have been. There were too many VIPs and parents on campus for Director Mills to rip me a new one over the Jackalope thing. She wasn’t happy with me. All the good will I had built up with her seemed to vanish overnight because of the Jacks. The graduation procession may have been ruined, but it would be a very memorable graduation in all of our minds. I was helping set chairs aright when I spotted Grams sitting at the back of the parent’s section. I yelled and waved at her.

  Grams gave a big hug. She pulled back from me. “Let me look at you, child.” She nodded her head. “You look more and more like my mother at that age. Remind me to send you some pictures. You’ve grown.”

  “You think so?” I looked down at myself. “I don’t see it.”

  “You have filled out a bit and gained maybe an inch on top. You won’t really notice it in your clothes.” She looked at me sternly. “I assume those were your’s?”

  “The Jackalopes? Yeah. I told you about those, remember? That spell that Montgomery had me do. I did inform the Council about them.”

  “I did as well. You have to be careful Agatha. These and the squirrels were accidents, but someday you may do this on purpose and have to face the consequences. If that happens, I cannot protect you. You choices will be very slim. Be careful, child.”

  I nodded my agreement and took her warning to heart. “Now introduce me to these friends of yours. The day’s a wasting.”

  Taking her hand, I led my grandmother over to where my roommate was.

  Cat’s father was a large man dressed in a business suit. His resemblance to one of my favorite movie stars was striking. I threw a quick glance at Cat. The little stinker purposefully did this to me. She had never once shown me a picture of her father, so I was surprised when he introduced himself. Part of me wanted him to lift me up and tell me I was flying.

  “You must be Agatha, nice to meet you at last.” Cat’s blond father bent and kissed my hand making me blush. He turned toward Grams and bowed. “Milady Blackthorn.”

  Startled by what he called Grams I glanced at her. My grandmother had a mischievous glint in her eye as she inclined her head to the Were. “Consul, it’s been a few years.”

  “That indeed it has Milady. From what I have learned you raised a good one in her.” He was looking in my direction.

  “She takes after her mother, and yes I have great expectations for Agatha. She will do great things.”

  “With luck, so will my daughter. They are a team, are they not?”

  Grandmother nodded to the Were. Both Cat and I were staring at them. There was some sort of conversation going on between them that we just didn’t understand. I looked at Grams and asked. “Um, grandmother do you know Mr. Moore?”

  “We have met before. It was a great many years ago. One day we will talk about how I know of him but today is not the time.” She glanced at her watch. “Are we not supposed to be at some sort of social or something?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. We are. Director Mills has a social gathering set up for the parents and guardians in the main hall; we can show you the way.”

  “Let us be off then.” She gestured toward the main building. I guessed the previous discussion was now over.

  “Agatha, about those creatures, the Jackalopes?” I looked at Cat’s dad.

  “Yes, Sir?”

  “You created them?”

  “Yes, it was sort of an accident. The Council knows all about it, so I’m not in trouble with them. The administration around here aren’t very happy with me, however. I forgot to follow up with them. Well, you saw what happened.”

  “I did indeed. Cat mentioned something about a hunt?”

  “I suggested that the Were’s here on campus be allowed to hunt them to reduce the population. Around here it’s working, not so sure about the rest of the base.”

  “Are they edible?”

  “Oh, yeah. Chuck and his buddies have been having barbecue cook-offs with the ones they catch. The Were’s love them! They say that catching them is a challenge. Rabbits that fight back.”

  “Interesting. Cat? Could you have your classmates catch a few breeding pairs for me? I think they would make a good addition to the reserve back home.”