[Praise, Warm]

  “Rose, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for Opal and I, but next week after Samhain we need to move on. Opal is still in danger and will be so until she hits her twentieth birthday. We can’t expect Opal to remain locked up in the tower for the next nine years. It just wouldn’t be fair to her. You know I’m right. Juliet invited us to her World but I’d really like to stay in Emain Ablach if it’s possible. Which if we keep moving every few months, I think it will be. We’re going to miss you and Lu terribly but I have to do what I think is best for Opal. You can see that can’t you?”

  “Yes, I can see that you have to do what you think is best for Opal. But if I could figure out a way that you and Opal could stay here in Wyldwood. Would you stay? You don’t need money here, you have the tower, which provides food and shelter. Anything else you want or need I can author for you. Please say you’ll stay if I can find a way, Please?”

  “Yes, we’d love to stay but I don’t see how you can change fey law.”

  “There’s always a loop hole and I’ll find it.”

  ***

  “There is no loophole, Rose. The law is the law, she must be apprenticed by the time she hits ten years old. She’s already committing a crime just by being here. Ruby is right if they want to remain in Emain Ablach, they’ll need to keep moving. Anything longer than a few months and people will wonder why she isn’t with her master.”

  “Then we find her a master here in Wyldwood. What are the requirements of the master? Why can’t I be her master?”

  “You are barely an apprentice, we don’t even have a formal contract. By Fey law you have no legal standing in magic. At this point if they classified you at all, you’d be classed as wild magic and if you had sufficient power then they might require you to serve a formal apprenticeship yourself. The last thing you want to do is entangle yourself in the fey magic legal system. It won’t go well for you.”

  “Hmm there must be a master here in Wyldwood we could get for her. This is a large town, I’ll try and find one today. You don’t know any do you?”

  “No, there are no Grandmasters here. Grandmasters are usually snobby and want to be right at the heart of the realm, so almost all reside in Quintessence. Just face it Rose unless she wants to go into a book, they’re just going to have to keep running at least every few months. But they could circle back around Wyldwood in a few years for a couple of months.”

  “Sparky, you’re no help. I have to find a way. What do I have to do to become a Grandmaster? I’ll just do that and then they can stay.”

  “You have to complete a formal apprenticeship. Then be tested by three Grandmasters for proficiency. Formal apprenticeships are seven years under a recognized Grandmaster.”

  “Well then you do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Duh what are we talking about?”

  “You want to become a Grandmaster.”

  “No, I want you to take on Opal as an apprentice.”

  “I already have an apprentice who doesn’t do what I say. Now you want me to take on another. No. She’s too young, I don’t want to have to deal with all that drama. Gods, you’re bad enough, but at least you’re slightly mature. No, No, No.”

  “I’ll help, I’ll deal with all the drama, you deal with the magic, what do you say, do we have a deal?”

  “Can’t do it Rose, you and Lu plan on getting out of here in a few months, then I will be stuck with Miss Teen Angst for another six years and ten months. Nope. I said no and you are not going to change my mind. No means no Rose. Have you learned nothing from your past mistakes? Juliet, you have to let him ravish you.”

  “But Sparky…”

  “No means no.”

  “What if I signed a formal apprenticeship?”

  “What?”

  “Would you change your mind if I signed a formal apprenticeship?”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “So that you also take Opal as a formal apprentice.”

  “No, I don't think so. You’d just be sacrificing yourself for the girl. In the end you would resent her and me for forcing you into that position and you’d never work hard under those conditions. No, I’m sorry but I won't let you do it.”

  “Please Sparky, I promise you, I could never resent her, they are like the little sisters, I never had, but always wanted. Let me go talk to Lu, ask her if she’d stay with me before I sign, please Sparky. You won’t regret it. I’ll work hard and Opal is a good girl. I doubt there will be much angst, and if there is, that's my job to deal with it.”

  “Go talk to Lu, I’ll think about, I’m not promising, I’ll think about. Besides, Lu probably wants to go back to Tranquility. Then I won’t even have to decide. Yeah you go talk to Lu, I’ll think about it.”

  “Thanks Sparky, you won’t regret this you’ll see.”

  “Get going and don’t dawdle, I have experiments to get to.”

  “OK, bye, this is going to be great, bye.”

  So for once Sparky actually got the better of Rose. He’d asked her for months to sign a formal apprenticeship. Now he’d gotten her to ask him if she could sign. He sighed this was probably the last time he’d get the better of her too and to make things worse he’d soon have a hormonal fey witch to deal with too. But if he really wanted to hone Rose into the greatest wizard of her age, then it’d all be worth it. Wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it? Maybe he hadn’t gotten the best of her, Gods. Maybe she had gotten the best of him again.

  ***

  Rose rushed into the Jack in the Green, Lu was up on stage doing the Bakery Song, Lily was bound to be busy this afternoon. The magic woven into the song just naturally pushed customers her way.

  Rose went up to the bar and ordered a cider from Ruby who’d been working part time as a bar maid for a month.

  “Ruby, don’t quit yet. I have to talk to Lu but I think I may have figured out a way you can stay. But I’ll let you know all the details after I talk to Lu. OK, just hang tight.”

  Once the song had finished, a few hungry patrons left for Madd Maggies. Lu came down off stage to talk to Rose.

  “Rose, this is a pleasant surprise but is everything alright?”

  “Oh yes, Lu, everything is fine I just need to talk to you, can we take a walk to the town square.”

  “Sure Rose”

  “Ever since I learned about your informant network and Beth coming here because of what Paula said in a bar, I just don’t want our conversation overheard and reported back to someone.”

  “Let’s sit here by the fountain in the square. Remember that’s what Paula and X did when they didn’t want to be overheard.”

  “You and Paula should open a Detective Agency, you both have the skills for it. Did you hear from Ruby that they want to move on.”

  “Yeah, she told me on the way to work today. I feel awful, I know we both loved having them here with us. Is that what this is about?”

  “Yes, kinda. I asked Sparky if he’d take Opal on as an apprentice. He said he would but only if I sign up as well. If I sign up, it’ll mean seven more years here in Wyldwood. I won’t do it if you’d rather live somewhere else.”

  “Rose, I want to live where you live. If you want to go to the moon, I say let’s go. Although you’d have to deal with a werewolf every day instead of once a month. If we lived on the moon the moon would be full everyday. Besides I love Wyldwood, I have a decent job. We have great friends, book club. The tower is so convenient when I wolf out. You ask like it’d be a sacrifice but I think we have a pretty great life.”

  “Lu I was hoping you’d say it was OK, I love you and I want to live where you want to live. I guess it’s a really good thing we both want to live in the same place. Now all I have to do is convince Ruby.”

  “Well Rose, one of Ruby’s concerns is that she feels like they have been imposing on us. Just point out we’re in the tower because you are an apprentice, if Opal signs up to be an apprentice she’d have as much right as we do right.”

  “Lu you are a genius, I love you, let’s go back. I’ll talk to Ruby over a cider.”

  “I love you too, let's go back.”

  ***

  “Ruby, could I have another cider and a word with you?”

  “Sure Rose, coming right up. What’s up”

  “Ruby, I have a way for you and Opal to stay here. Opal will get trained as a fey witch during the day and you’ll still be together, living in the tower. Nothing has to change, all you have to do is say yes. Please?”

  “What have you done, Rose?”

  “I asked Sparky to agree to be Opal's Grandmaster and mine. We’d both sign up together and be here for the next seven years.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “He agreed to that?”

  “He said maybe, but I know that's a yes. I already spoke to Lu about it and she wants us, you and Opal to stay.”

  “I feel like we already imposed on you for too long.”

  “But that’s the beauty of it, you wouldn’t be imposing. Opal would be an apprentice, she’d have every bit as much right to live in the tower as I do. What do you say?”

  “Well I know that Opal would be thrilled to stay, and I could look for a full time job, but are you and Lu sure about this, are you really OK being here in Wyldwood for the next seven years.”

  “Yes absolutely, we still own a cottage in the woods, if we need a night away, we’re only a portal muffin away. OK if it’s alright with you I’ll go tell Sparky we’re signing up. Want to do it tomorrow morning, I think you should be there to get her over any jitters she might have. I’ll ask Lu to come to watch me sign. I should probably pop home and tell my Mom and granny. Oh, I’m so happy you are staying.”

  ***

  “Hello Mom, Granny”

  “We’re in the kitchen sweetheart.”

  Rose hurries to the kitchen hugging them.

  “I have some news, I’m going to sign official apprentice papers with Sparky, so we’re going to be staying in Wyldwood for another seven years. But you two are always welcome to move into the tower with us. Of course if you don’t we'll still be coming for our weekly visits.”

  “What made you change your mind dear?”

  “Opal and her sister were planning to leave, go on the run from the magical police. Sparky wouldn’t take Opal as an apprentice unless I signed up too. Was I difficult as a teenager Mom?”

  “No I don’t think so, we had our fights, you were growing up. We were bound to disagree on things. But in general you were very mature and level headed. Maybe you worked through a lot of your issues by writing. Somedays you’d run in from school give me a kiss, then write till dinner. We’d have supper and chat. Then after we got done cleaning up the dishes you’d be right back to writing till bed time. That’s the only thing we seriously argued about. Trying to get you into bed at a decent hour.”

  “Really I don't remember that at all, the fighting about bedtime I mean. The rest I remember of course.”

  “Yeah, I remember one night in particular, I was headed into bed and I said to you. Time to get to bed Rose. You said yes ma, just as soon as I finished this paragraph. I got up to use the privy a couple hours later and you were still scratching away. I threatened to take away your pencils and paper. You acted like I’d murdered somebody.”

  “I think I vaguely remember that. I think Juliet was telling me about a boy she had a crush on. It was the first time that she confided in me.”

  “Oh that’s right you'd had an imaginary friend named Juliet.”

  “No Ma, Juliet is real. That’s why I have to be a Bibliomancer apprentice for the next seven years. I used to think I was crazy, talking to someone I made up and she was just in my head. Sparky taught me how to extract her from her story and bring her into our world. Granny, would you like to meet her?”

  “Sure, why don’t you bring her next time you come.”

  “I’ll get her right now. Juliet, Juliet, could you come out please.”

  “What, Rose, I was in the middle of something.”

  “Could you just come out for five minutes please. I want you to meet my Mom and granny. Five minutes, promise.”

  “Fine, I'm fighting with my dad.”

  “What are you fighting about?”

  “He wants to leave the farm, to Sebastian. I’ve been running it for the past five years, the five most profitable years in the history of the farm. While he sits in his office. Doing whatever he does.”

  “Alright, I’ll talk to you later, we’ll figure this out. You and Ivy can have your own farm if you want. I have to go to my Mom and Granny who already think I’m crazy.”

  “Nope, I’m coming right now.”

  “Juliet you don’t have to.”

  “I know Rose, but I’ve wanted to meet them for a long time. Now that you’ve given me the opportunity, I’m not going to squander this chance.”

  Juliet pops into the kitchen.

  “Oh my dear, how did you just appear?”

  “Rose pulled me out of her novel. Hello Mrs Ryding, it is such a pleasure to meet you, Rose has told me so much about you over the years and you must be Granny. It's so nice to meet you as well. Everyday while we were chatting Rose would tell me about your lovely cottage. It was so nice of you to give it to Rose and Lu. You always knew Lu was a werewolf, didn’t you? I’m sorry where are my manners. I am just so excited to meet you both. My name is Juliet, I’m the main character from Rose’s novel. Would you like to meet my wife Ivy, Rose can bring her out of the story.”

  Granny just laughed, but my Ma looked like she was ready to pass out.

  “Ma are you all right? You look a little pale, please sit down at the table with Granny for a minute, I’ll put on some tea.”

  “But I thought you were imaginary, how can you be here?”

  “Well Mrs Ryding, Rose will never sing her own praises, but she is a powerful Bibliomancer who brought me and my whole village to life and has helped us defend it too. She’s like the sister I never had. Granny, how do you like living in town after all those years at the cottage?”

  “Very well Juliet, the privy is a little farther away which is a bit of a negative when you get to be my age but the rest is just lovely. Do you live in a town or the country, Juliet?”

  “My family and wife live on a large farm, we also have some tenant farmers, which really helps as we can share resources and workers as needed.”

  My Ma looked like she was getting her color back gradually. She reached over to touch Juliet to make sure she was real, not a hallucination.

  “I’m quite real Mrs Ryding. Another girl from my village lives in Wyldwood with friends of Rose. Rose saved her from some very evil men, church men no less, a preacher and the head deacon.”

  “I don’t have any commerce with religion.”

  “Neither do I Granny, never did, never will.”

  “It’s good to hear that Rose is doing great things in the city and it’s true I always knew that Lu was a werewolf.”

  “Granny, how come you never told me?”

  “There wasn’t no point. I knew she wasn’t dangerous, at least to you. She was cow eyed when she looked at you and you at her. I knew the two of you would figure it out, you're no dummy and you didn’t need an old lady telling you what to do.”

  I went over and hugged Granny and gave everyone tea and biscuits.

  “Rose, could you not tell me that your imaginary friend was real for all these years?”

  “Ma, I couldn’t bring Juliet out of the book, until after I met Sparky. Before that we just chatted in my head. Once Sparky told me I could bring Juliet out, all of a sudden I knew just how to do it.”

  “That’s not all Mrs. Ryding, Rose can take you inside any book, once inside you can talk to the characters, she does that for our whole book club. It’s really quite something.”

  “Rose, my darling girl, I should have listened better to what you were saying. You were trying to tell me. But now that I think about it, I think I was afraid. But that’s just an excuse. I’m so sorry Rose. Juliet, it was very nice to meet you and learn what an amazing daughter I have.”

  Granny cackled. “I could have told you that.”

  “Juliet, do you want me to go with you and talk to your father about what a mistake he’d be making or I could make you the exact same farm on the other side of that village for you and Ivy.”

  “No, thank you Rose, I want my family farm. I worked hard on it these past five years. I don’t want my father handing down the farm to Sebastian to watch him run it into the ground. Even if it was exactly the same, it wouldn’t be the home I grew up in. I have to stand up to my father on my own, I can’t have the author come in to save the day. But I might need to brainstorm ideas with you so I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Mrs Ryding, Granny it was lovely to meet thanks for having me and for the tea. Goodbye.”

  Pop. Juliet returned to the book.

  Granny laughed again. “I always knew you were something special, Rose Ryding, just look at that Tower you live in.”

  “Well I better get going, to. I just wanted you both to know that I’ll be in Wyldwood longer than I had expected. If you change your mind, you are welcome in the tower, we have two new girls that will be living there with us for the next seven years. They’re sisters Ruby, she's eighteen and her sister Opal is eleven. Opal is going to be an apprentice like me. But you know how big the tower is. There will always be room for you. I love you both.”

  I gave them each a quick kiss. Grabbed a portal muffin, called the demon and portaled back home.

  ***

  The next morning shortly before the bells started ringing Opal and I entered Enigmatic Parchments with Lu and Ruby. Sparky sat behind the counter looking solemn for once.

  “I take it you two are here to sign your apprentice agreements. Very well let's proceed. Opal please step forward young lady. Do you promise to obey your master and work as hard as possible to become the very best, the very kindest fey witch in the realm?”

  “Yes, Grandmaster Brightspark.”

  “Good now sign this agreement, here and the copy here. When the ink dries I’ll give you your copy please step to the side Opal. Rose please step forward. Do you promise to obey your master and work as hard as possible to become the greatest, kindest Bibliomancer in the realm.”

  “Yes, Grandmaster Brightspark”

  “Step forward and sign the agreement here and here. When the ink dries I’ll give you your copy.”

  “SURPRISE”

  Lily, Paula and Salome popped out of the back room where they were hiding with a cake and candles. Then Juliet and Ivy jumped in.

  Juliet said “This is just like our first book club, this is where we held it and there is our star main character. I’m so glad we jumped into your book Paula.”

  “Thanks Juliet and thank you Rose for noticing the easter egg.”

  “Which I thought was a dinosaur egg.” said Salome

  “Congraulations to Opal and Rose we’re all so happy that you’ll be staying here with us for the next seven years.”

  “Do you plan on cutting that cake and passing out slices soon or are you all just going to stand around thanking and congratulating each other.”

  “Yes Snarky, I’ll cut it as a senior apprentice and the junior apprentice gets the first slice with the most frosting.”

  “Technically Rose, Opal signed her apprenticeship papers first so she’s the senior apprentice, your now my junior apprentice.”

  “Fine, as the junior apprentice, I’ll cut the cake and the senior apprentice gets the first slice with the most frosting. Happy now.”

  Then everyone was eating cake and I made tea, a junior apprentices work is never done. I saw Ruby and Salome with their heads together in the corner. Plotting something, whatever it is I’m sure it’ll be interesting. But it was over too fast as everyone had to get back to work. But it was a lovely surprise and I hoped it would be a sign that the next seven years were going to be happy years for both Opal and I. We were surrounded by family and friends, friends as close as families.