Autumn Calling by T. Lynne Tolles Page A

lips for a breather.
    “I am. Finally I see magic for more than the
doom and gloom of war and defending myself. I can’t tell you how
grateful I am to Aunt Myrtle for doing this. I feel like a whole
new person. I really needed that.”
    “You did and I’m grateful to her too. I
haven’t seen you smile like this in a long time. You’re as radiant
as the sunshine when you smile.”
    She pulled him closer and put her head on
his warm chest.
    “You’re shivering,” he said.
    “Yeah. It’s a little cold up there,” she
admitted.
    “Let’s get you in the house and warmed up,”
he said rubbing her arms and guiding her into the house. “I’ll
start a fire.”

Chapter 11
     
    It seemed to Summer this week was the week
for returns. Hunter would be flying in tomorrow with news from the
east, plus Dr. Stuart wrote and said he was heading back from
vacation the day after. She felt now that she had some magic under
her belt, she could maybe go back to work, part time at least. She
missed office life, and though it could be unpredictable, it also
had its consistencies. A little “same old, same old” would be a
godsend right about now.
    She made sure the glass door had been
repaired, the building power-washed, and had the janitor come in
for a once-over on the inside. It would be good to see Dr. Stuart.
He was more like an uncle that Summer worked for than a boss, and
she had missed his antics and affable ways.
    As for preparations for Hunter? Aunt Myrtle
was taking care of that. Maybe she missed Hunter as much as she had
missed Dr. Stuart. They had become good friends before he’d left
for Japan. Having Hunter back would also give Summer a welcome
reprieve from Morti’s crabbiness, as she assumed they would work
him back into the rotation of lessons.
    Before he had left she had enjoyed her
history class with him. In school, history had been her least-liked
subject, after math, but somehow Hunter made it interesting. Maybe
it was because the history he was teaching was personal;
specifically related to witches, magic, and her new found family.
She wondered if he had missed his following and maybe should have
been a teacher of some sort. Not everyone can teach though. Some do
and probably shouldn’t, but there’s great patience and talent in
teaching and making it fun for those learning. Those were the
teachers Summer had enjoyed in school.
    Some of the nuns had been thrown into
teaching by the church or the father who managed the church, but
not all liked teaching or the subject they were teaching, and it
showed.
    Today had been combat magic with Morti, and
it was exhausting. Morti was like a drill sergeant in the ROTC.
Though his methods did discipline her techniques, it was tough on
her self-confidence. He never gave her a word of praise, and she
wondered if she had any talent whatsoever.
    They had done some blood thurmagy this
afternoon, and the cut on her hand was bothering her. Thankfully
Aunt Myrtle had a poultice of some herbal concoction that took the
pain away and made it heal in record time. Surely Morti could have
offered something to her, unless he was trying to teach character
in pain.
    Summer often relied on Aunt Myrtle’s take on
the lesson to determine if she had done well in Morti’s class. When
working with Myrtle she always knew whether she was doing well or
not; she was good at giving feedback. Aunt Myrtle often said, “I
fear Mortimer has been a cat so long he’s lost his people skills,
my dear.” How very true. That pretty much summed up Morti in one
sentence.
    When Hunter arrived the next day, there were
hugs all around. Aunt Myrtle was giddy as a school girl and all
aflutter with questions of his journeys. He could barely answer the
first question before she was asking another, but Hunter took it in
stride in his calm, cool, and collected manner. He just smiled at
Myrtle’s enthusiasm. When Summer and he got some alone time, he
took her hand and asked, “And how about you, Summer. How