Page 7 of The Hive Queen

I lean past the shelf to stare at my young apprentice. “Slater knows how to use the stove?”

Reese grins. “In fairness to him, it sounded like a spell to turn water into liquor.”

I’ve met Slater, and that claim fills me with skepticism. “Did it, though?”

Xander, his older brother, shakes his head. “It was one of our earlier translations, and he was already tipsy when he ran out of booze and wanted more, but couldn’t drive somewhere to get it.”

“How’s the new name search going?” Reese asks.

I glance down at my familiar. “What do you think of Tildy?”

She lets out a sharp bark.

“Tabitha?” I try.

Her ears pin back and she growls.

“Tanny?” I whisper.

She paws at her nose in disgust.

“Not well,” I inform Reese. “I’m beginning to worry we’ll be stuck with Anny.”

Zero reaction from my familiar.

I stare down at her. “Anny.”

She turns her back to me and shows me her ass.

Xander snorts. “Anny’s not bad.”

“It is if you know how she got that name.” Pen used it as a shortened version ofAnnoying, and I refuse to accept it.

But all my efforts to find a better name have ended in rejection.

Xander checks his watch. “I need to head to my class. We’re focusing on the way things communicate in nature.”

“I still think you should have brought in an ant farm,” Reese tells him. “It would have made a good visual.”

“You only want me to use ants because you’re currently obsessed with pheromones.” Xander leans closer to me. “He and Tally have been doing some reading.”

“I don’t want to know.” I shoo him away. “Off you go, Headmaster.”

“Mushrooms are boring!” Reese yells as his brother leaves. “And everyone already knows about tree roots!”

“People who still refuse to teach classes don’t get a say in the curriculum!” Xander yells back.

When he leaves, I crook a finger at Reese and pat the stool his brother abandoned.

Reese joins me and perches on it, hanging his head like a kid called to the principal’s office. “I know.”

“Then what’s the holdup?” I shelve more books and make a note of where to find them in the future. “I thought you had a plan.”

Reese’s method of magic is outside the box, so it’s harder to teach than Xander’s book-based method. But we’d built a blast-proof building away from the school just for Reese to run his experiments in.

“What if someone gets hurt?” An ocean of worry fills the question. “When it’s just me, it’s not as scary.”

I lift another book and study the worn edges. “You know, there’s actually aWater to Winespell that works. And you can turn iron into gold. Alchemy is a lot like what you do, but has preset rules and instructions like how Xander teaches.” I hold out the book. “Maybe you should start with that before diving into trying to teach kids to come up with new spells.”

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