First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association) by D.L. Carter

She was a computer programmer. Much more satisfying. She wrote the code and the computer did what she said. Most of the time.
    Admit it. It worked most of the time.
    Magic – she had to take a lot of it on faith. Wait and sometime later there might be a change in the universe, maybe.
    No. It wasn’t that bad. When she’d practiced magic she’d done very well except for anything that involved meditation.
    Now, of course, she couldn’t dodge reality.
    Smoke was fully expecting her to just drop into a trance and go and chat with eternal entities on the assumption she both knew where they were and had done so before.
    Mm hmm. It was like he was assuming she knew Rick Springsteen’s cell phone number.
    Hard to get hold of and only given to real good friends.
    “Uh, Smoke,” said Amber. “What if the Elementals won’t come near me for the same reason the house didn’t want me to come in?”
    “You’re going to have to convince them,” said Smoke.
    “I … don’t know if I want to risk going out of body right now. After what happened, being pulled out, I might … it might be difficult to get back in.”
    Smoke shot her a narrow-eyed stare. “You’ll be prepared.”
    “Uh …”
    “What is wrong with you?
    “Uh …” She searched for a believable evasion. A way to delay this particular inevitability. There wasn’t one. If she wanted to avoid this particular trip she’d have to use the truth. Or part of it. “I’ve never been attacked on the Ethereal before.”
    Smoke frowned. “Good point. Unfortunately no one can offer to keep you company. We all enter the Ethereal from our own minds so no one can join your particular path. Sorry, Amber, you’re on your own. But,” he squeezed her shoulder, “we’ll stand guard over your body here.”
    “Comforting,” said Amber.
    “Delay is not going to help,” said Rust. “Tell us what you want and we’ll take it out to the great circle.”
    “Great.” Amber stared out of the window for a moment then shook her head. “No, I can’t do this in the great circle. I don’t dare leave the house. There’s no guarantee that it will let me back in again.”
    The cousins started talking at once, denying the possibility, then paused.
    “You’re right,” said Smoke.
    “If that is the case, and I can’t leave the library … will the house let me do magic in here?”
    “In the library?” Smoke rubbed his chin. “The last, actually, the only ritual that was conducted in here was the one that ritually joined the new building to the rest of the house. Set up the protections for the books. I suppose, if you gotta there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to.”
    They both waited and watched the ceiling. Nothing fell. No book banning their actions, and worse in Amber’s point of view, nothing supporting it either.
    Well, given all the counts against her the cousins wouldn’t be surprised if she told them that she couldn’t get into soul-flight, or that the Elementals didn’t appear. All she had to do was lie on the floor, wait for a while, and tell them it didn’t work. Then if she were lucky, Smoke would back down on the no-contact-with-the-WWWRAPC and they’d either solve the problem or have useful suggestions.
    “Okay. We’ll work from in here.” Smoke considered that then nodded. “Just keep in mind you aren’t at your best today. The general rule is not to attempt anything beyond your body’s ability to tolerate.”
    “I won’t go far.” That at least was the truth.
    Smoke gave her a suspicious stare.
    “And I … I’ll be careful,” she continued.
    “See that you are.”
    Setting up a magical circle could take as little or as much complexity as the practitioner desired. Given her current state of exhaustion Amber elected for “little” relying on the house wards to keep her safe. Safer.
    Smoke sent the cousins to collect her requested magical equipment. The plan must have had the house’s approval since the door to Aunt Lucinda’s