Page 32 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

“Not without the father’s input,” said Shelly. “That would just berude.”

“Right, because you’re never rude,” she laughed. “Let’s just finish the questionnaire so we can turn it in tomorrow. I guess there’s no harm in submittingit.”

Shelly rolled her eyes but quietly went back to filling out the personalitytest.

Later that evening, Tara decided to ask Carol what she thought about the whole college thing versus this company that would offer on-the-jobtraining.

As they sat for dinner, Tara found herself feeling a bit lighter because Carol was actually home. She’d been working the late shift a lot lately, and Tara hadn’t realized how much she missed her fostermom.

“It’s so nice to be home and get to eat dinner with you,” Carol said as if she’d read Tara’smind.

Tara nodded. “You’ve been working alot.”

“Short-staffed but not short on patients,” she said. “Makes it tough to do our jobs. But those people need someone to care for them. I can’t in good conscience leave them when they are inneed.”

And that was one of many reasons Carol was an exceptional person. She cared so much for other people. More often than not, she put others before herself. It also meant she often wore herself out. Tara hoped Carol would get a couple of days off torecuperate.

“How’s school been?” Carolasked.

“It’s been fine,” Tara answered. “We had a job fair today. And there were colleges there, too, and tradeschools.”

Carol perked up a bit as she leaned forward. “Oh? Did you find anything you want to do? We haven’t talked much about it. I’ve been giving you time to think without me bombarding you with mythoughts.”

Tara appreciated that. She was well aware of the fact that she needed to make a decision—should have already made one by now. “There were some interesting choices. Even the military recruiters were there. Though I don’t think I’m militarymaterial.”

Carol laughed. “I think you’d be doing a lot of push-ups or whatever it was they did to punish insubordinatepeople.”

Tara knew her foster mom was aware of the fact that it wouldn’t be the officers over her that would be the problem. She had respect for authority. It would be those around her who would be the issue. Her parents’ deaths had really done a number on her ability to build meaningful relationships, and it was all because of fear. Granted, she also didn’t like stupid people, and there seemed to be an awful lot of those in theworld.

“There was this one company that caught my attention,” Tara said.“It’s called Tellus Geological Testing andExtraction.”

“Wow, that’s quite amouthful.”

Tara nodded. “They call it TGTE forshort.”

“Still a mouthful. What does this company do? With the word geological, I take that to mean it has something to do with nature,” she said with a smile. Carol was well aware of how much Tara enjoyed beingoutside.

“The recruiter said they study the elements to try and find ways they can be used to enhance the quality of human life.” Tara repeated what Jax had said and what had been on the front page of thewebsite.

“That sounds interesting,” Carol said. “What kind of education do theyrequire?”

“It’s on-the-job training. They don’t require any college. From what I could find on their website, they have their own training program, and it was kind of like a college set up. New employees live in dorms and attend classes, and it’s all to teach you how to do what they do. The company is based out ofAsia.”

“You sound excited about it. Is this what you’ve decidedon?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s drilled into your head that you should go to college, get a degree, and even a master’s degree. Would I be making a mistake if I didn't dothat?”

Carol swallowed the food she’d been chewing and put down her fork. She rested her forearms on the edge of the table and clasped her hands together. “I think that not everyone is cut from the same cloth. Not everyone’s path leads them to college. If what you want to do doesn’t require a college degree, then why waste your time and money? I think you need to decide what’s right for you and not worry about what the rest of the world is doing or pressing upon you todo.”

“Okay,” Tara said, feeling better about her desire to know more about TGTE. And it had nothing to do with Elias Creed. Absolutely nothing. “Tomorrow, Shelly and I are going to turn in the forms they gave us to complete. They weren’t applications. They were personalitytests.”

“The hospital gave me one of those when I applied for a nursing position. They said it was to help put us in the best working environment for our personality type. For some, that meant patient care. For others, that meant dealing with insurances and making sure charts were kept up-to-date.”

So, maybe it wasn’t bizarre that Jax had given them a personality test. Tara would be sure to point out that information to Shelly, as if it had been her BFFF that had been having any reservations about the company with attractive employees and equally attractivenames.

Chapter 10

Elias stood across the street from Buffalo High and used a simple spell to disguise himself to those who might look his way. All they would see was a tall tree with a large trunk. He’d managed, with the assistance of the tree, to make himself completely camouflaged to those without the ability to see the elementalworld.

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