Magical Probi (The Federal Witch Book 2) Read online

  “Was it? I’d forgotten.” I could only smile at her. She has never forgotten anything in her whole life.

  Her car was in the main parking lot waiting for her when we arrived. Like when I was a child the car looked the same with the chauffeur standing by to drive her.

  “He hasn’t been here the whole time has he?”

  “No, he went into town to wait. I called him on my phone.”She held up a cell phone.

  “Grandmother is has been wonderful having you here.”

  She gave me a hug. “Agatha dear it was my pleasure to come. Now off you go. Finish your studies and reach your goal in life. Remember to trust yourself.” We said our final goodbyes, and I watched as she drove away. I started to walk off the parking lot when I spotted Chuck and some of his friends. They were loading cages onto a storage van. I gave him a wave and called out his name.

  “Hey, Aggy! We caught some!” I peeked into the truck and could see about a dozen very angry Jackalopes in cages. They were pawing at the cage mesh and trying to ram through with their horns.

  “Did you get both males and females?”

  “We did. Catching them live was a real challenge. I can fix my car now!”

  “That’s great Chuck. What about your friends?”

  “I’ve got that covered. There is enough money to fix the car and have a big party. Not all the Jack’s survived the hunt, so we’re having a big barbecue tonight!”

  I had to laugh. Chuck had a real thing for smoke and fire. I was surprised he didn’t become a firefighter instead of a Government agent.

  “I’ll catch you later grill master. I need to go catch Director Mills before she leaves for the day.” I jogged off the parking lot and headed toward the admin building. I still had not received my fourth- year assignment.

  The blond receptionist wasn’t in her bunker as I entered the building. It must have been her day off. It was too bad; I had a fresh insult all ready for her. After the problems of previous years, we actually had some detente going on. Our relationship had devolved to giving each other creative insults whenever we saw each other. It was fun.

  I knocked on the door and heard “Come.”

  “Director?” I peered into her office.

  “Agatha? Did your grandmother enjoy the tour?”

  “She did. It gave us time to have a nice talk. She enjoyed herself.”

  “Excellent. Hopefully, she tells the Witches Council how well we have been treating you. Now, what can I do for you?”

  “I haven’t gotten my assignment for the fourth year yet. I thought I would ask you about it?”

  “They didn’t tell you? I know I made the memo.” She scrabbled on her desk for a moment. “I’m sorry Agatha. It’s right here. I must have missed giving it to the B’s. Normally we would send you to a pool of new agents to train with for whatever assignment comes up but given your skill-set we are jumping the line so to speak. The Bureau has a Magical Crimes investigator that troubleshoots anything that comes up. We are assigning you to him for the year. He will be your new partner Probationary Agent Blackmore.”

  “What? Are you making me a Probi? This soon?”

  “As I said. You are a special case. Normally he works with the hired help. But he will teach you what you need to know about investigative work and how your magic can help. He’s a mundane but the best we have for this sort of thing. There are big plans at work with the higher-ups in relation to you and your abilities. All I know is they want you assigned to Magical Crimes for your fourth-year internship.”

  “Wow. OK. When do I meet the Agent-in-charge?”

  “The last message I had was he was on his way. You should expect him sometime this week, I think.”

  “Thanks Director.”

  “You’re welcome, Agatha. Hopefully, you learn what you need to know.” She smiled at me as I left her office. I practically ran to the dorm. Just wait until I tell Cat and Chuck!

  Chapter 3

  Chuck’s massive beer and barbecue extravaganza got a bit out of hand, and the Marine MP’s showed up when the music could be heard across the campus. Both Cat and I missed most of that excitement. We ate our Jack sandwiches, and each took a beer up to our room. My question is this how can people drink this stuff? I can’t legally buy it but does it always taste so bad?

  “Yuck!” It was all I could do to swallow my mouthful of beer. Cat sat on her bed with a beer in her hand laughing at me.

  “The look on your face! Haven’t you had alcohol before?”

  “I’ve had wine and mead before. They are a sacrament in our solstice ceremonies. None of them tasted this bad!” I was smacking my lips trying to get the taste off my tongue. “How can you drink that?” She took another sip while I watched.

  “It tastes pretty bad to me too, but my brother once told me that if you wanted to like something you needed to drink or eat it a lot to acquire the taste.”

  “Well, stop, please. It’s making me sick just thinking about it. Besides, I know you want a clear head tomorrow for your new assignment.”

  “I do, thanks.” She set the beer down and took a sip of her soda. “I’m jealous of you.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “You get to leave and go off on a special internship. The rest of us have to wait until someone needs help. It will get boring around here without you Aggy.”

  “I’m sorry you can’t come with me Cat, I really am. This whole thing is a surprise to me too. The Director told me this guy coming is special. He’s the one that goes to all the magical crimes and tries to solve what the regular agents can’t. I didn’t even know we had a Magical Crimes division.”

  “Yeah, Chuck told me he saw it on the Division list, but thought they dissolved it years ago. I can’t see how a mundane is able to solve anything, though.”

  “He could be from a magical family. That happens sometimes. I have at least one cousin who never showed any trace of powers. Last I heard he was a dentist in Portland. He stopped coming to the gathers.”

  “That’s sad. It happens in Weres too. It’s pretty rare for to happen to Cats but the Wolves have that problem.”

  “They do? That wasn’t discussed in class!”

  “It’s not a secret, but nobody likes to mention it. It only happens when we mate outside the species. I have a classmate from elementary school who mated with a regular human. He just had a few kits. None of them were human, but the whole clan was holding its breath.”

  “Could they have problems later?”

  “Only if they mate with humans. Then their children might not shift. My community still accepts them, though. We don’t exile someone because of who their parents loved.”

  “Has that happened?”

  “It has. Dad told me about the last time. It was very messy. It makes me glad that I won’t have a traditional pack or clan because I’m FBI. A few is all I want to deal with right now.”

  “You never know Cat, you might want to settle down with a mate one day?”

  Cat gave me a funny look. “Settle down? Are you nuts? You and I are going places!”

  I laughed at her expression. “You bet we are. Do you want to help me pack up tonight or tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow of course. Tonight we are watching movies and hanging out. I’m so going to miss you, Aggy.” Cat stood and came over to give me a hug.

  “Cat, we are friends and pack together. I will always be able to feel you. I’m just a phone call away. Feel free to call, OK?”

  She nodded and began to pull movies off the shelf making a small pile.

  “We are watching all those?”

  “Maybe?”

  “Let me pop some popcorn then.” I stepped over to the microwave and fiddled with the controls. I heard Fergus come out of his house. “Mooo.”

  “Hey, Fergus. What’s up?”

  “I heard the word popcorn. You’re making me some right?”

  “No. This is for Cat and I. You have hay, I put some fresh in your stall not an hour ago.”

 
“Maybe I want some popcorn instead?”

  I shook my head. Unicorns. “What have you done to deserve it lately?”

  “I’ve been good.”

  I looked at his mournful face. “Fine. You can have some. Are you ready for the new assignment?”

  “What new assignment?”

  “We talked about this. We leave tomorrow for our new assignment.”

  “Where are we going, and how do we get there?”

  “No idea. Doesn’t it sound fun?”

  “No.” He turned and went back into his barn.

  I looked over at Cat and shrugged my shoulders. She just shook her head at me. The corn finished popping so I put a handful outside Fergus’s door.

  We spent the evening and most of the night watching chick-flicks and laughing.

  ~~~~~~~

  Morning came far too early for my taste. It wasn’t that I was hung-over, but when you go to sleep at four and get up at six-thirty, it can be a shock to the system. I hoped I would get a chance for a nap sometime today. I knew a small stay awake cantrip spell that Grandmother taught me, so I included it in my morning ritual. I honor the Gods as part of my daily observances. I say a prayer to start the day off right almost every morning if I am able. It is how I honor the traditions I was raised in. Ever since my meeting with Hecate last year I have felt closer to the Divine spirit. It gave me funny chills sometimes.

  I started the job of packing up my clothing and spell supplies for my internship. I assumed that I would be able to come back from time to time to gather more supplies, so I had set the automatic watering systems at my lab yesterday. I hoped that the warning notices the military placed around my lab would keep out trespassers. I would hate to make a special trip back here to release an idiot who got too close.

  Breakfast this morning was very subdued. Most of our class was still in bed somewhere. We sat down at our usual table and Jacob, one of Chuck’s buddies sat down with us.

  “It’s a good thing you two left when you did.”

  “Why, what happened?”

  “We got raided by the MP’s and campus security. One of the junior’s thought it was a good idea to put a live Jack inside the MP’s Humvee.”

  Cat giggled and covered her mouth. “What idiot did that?”

  “I don’t know his real name. We all call him Mongo.”

  I smiled. “I’ve met him. One of the Werebears? He’s this big goofy guy; he was in my shooting class. He might be a bit slow, but he’s a master when he has a rifle in his hands.”

  “Right. He’s the guy. They caught him, and he spilled about the party. Fortunately for us, we were out of beer when they showed up. They wrote us up on intoxicated in public and open containers. They were all empties, so they just have the drunk charges. Campus security told us not to worry too much about that. Those MP’s don’t have jurisdiction here on campus. They are still pissed about the Jacks.”

  “Yeah, the Director told me the Marines were unhappy.”

  “They may not like them, but we sure do! Free meat!”

  I shook my head. Guys. “They were an accident.”

  “Sure they were. We know better.” He laughed as he stood up. Giving us a wave he wandered over to another table.

  I looked at Cat. “Do they really think I made those critters on purpose?”

  Cat turned at looked at Jacob. “They do. Before you get upset, remember they don’t know much about Witches. Nobody does. The clans and packs don’t have very much contact outside of the reservations with other paranormals. You all are a big mystery to many of us. Dad has told us much about the others, and my uncle has a wizard on the payroll. But that is a rarity. Most of these others only know stories or bad things that happened to a pack member. Remember the looks you got the first year?”

  I thought back to the some of the trouble I had over the past couple of years. I slowly nodded my head. “OK, I can see what you mean. But the magical community isn’t that scary, at least not anymore.”

  “Agatha you forget that the only way most Weres come in contact with your kind is through investigations or those Russian guys. They don’t know any better. Forget about them. You can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

  We finished eating and put all our dishes in the dish station. I considered walking over to the Admin building, but figured they would call me when the Magical crimes guy arrived. I went back to our room to double check everything.

  Our door was open when we reached the hallway. I tensed up suspecting the worse, but Cat just nudged me and motioned for us to go on. I heard Chuck’s voice and knew it was OK.

  “… that sucks little guy! So it’s back to Unicorn food for you then, no more pizza?”

  “Yeah, she told me I might get a salad now and then. She doesn’t even know where we are going! How am I going to watch my shows?”

  I pushed the door open and yelled at my Unicorn. “Fergus quit whining to Chuck. Think of it as a road trip.” I smiled at Chuck and gave him a big hug. “Hey, don’t let short and grumpy here convince you to feed him. He’s getting porky with all the pizza.”

  “I do not look like a pig!” The Unicorn twisted his head back and forth trying to look at his backside.

  “Hey, don’t look at me. Those pizza parties were all his idea. I just went along for the free food. I’m a guy.”

  “Of course you are. Are you excited to be going to forensic school?”

  “Some. I’d like to do the investigating thing with you and Cat, but it should be pretty cool. I found out I’m supposed to be helping the mobile group this term. Maybe I’ll meet that Vampire you told me about.”

  “Anastasia? I’ve got her number I could call and ask if you like.”

  “No, no don’t do that. I want fate to be my guide. You said she was hot right?”

  “For a Vampire she was. She’s also really nice so don’t be a guy and hit on her all the time.”

  “I’ll be cool, I promise.” He tried to look the part by sucking in his gut and puffing out his chest. It made him look like Popeye.

  “Sure you will. Give a hug big guy.” He squeezed the life out of me for a moment. “You have my number so feel free to text or call me. I can’t do much long distance, but I can try. OK?”

  “Sure. Thanks, Aggy.”

  “It’s not forever; we will see each other around. The Bureau isn’t that big.”

  My phone made a noise, and I could feel the vibration. Pulling it out of my pocket I saw that I had a text from the Director. “Hey, my new assignment is here! Director Mills says he’s in the main parking lot.”

  I scooped Fergus up and ignoring his protests put him in my pocket. With Chuck helping we grabbed my bags and headed down to the main lot. I was excited this was the start of my new career.

  ~~~~~~~

  Cat and I practically ran all the way to the main parking lot. The staff all parked on the left side, but many of them weren’t here today. The front spaces were all full as well as the visitor lot. Other than a ratty looking class C camper there weren’t any new cars out here. I peered left and right looking for the typical black suburban that many Agents seemed to drive. Or at least they did on the task force last year. I sat down on the steps in front of the school.