Chapter 6 #2
She knew that was true because she had sparred with him and she'd seen Moe take him down.
Not that Moe wasn't an exceptional fighter, but he'd not had a chance, and that meant he wouldn't have a chance with many of those that the warden's fought against. Lottie wasn't sure what Damon's plan was for this outing.
Maybe he just wanted to see what Darren could do, or maybe he just wanted Darren to understand the kind of work that wardens did.
It wasn't like Darren could do much to help the wardens.
He wasn't a pack alpha or a Councilman. She didn't see how he would ever be either of those things or even want to be.
It wasn't long before Harry flashed away and got back on her case.
Harry had cleaned up her spot, but the rest of them cleaned up their spot and helped a little bit more so that Liza wouldn't have to work so hard.
The girls had been learning how to take care of themselves and clean up after themselves.
They cleaned up their area automatically, then went into the living room to resume their schoolwork.
She had to admit that they were very good girls, and they seemed willing to do whatever was asked of them.
They did their schoolwork, and what they did was right.
They had a few questions and seemed to learn without effort.
Darren was lucky, given all they had been through, that they did so well.
They worked hard until supper time, and they seemed to be getting ahead on their schoolwork even further than they had been before.
It made her wonder why they worked so hard and didn't ask for more time off.
At some point, she would talk to Adele about what she wanted to do in the future and why she worked so hard on her schoolwork.
As the oldest, Adele was the one she needed to plan for first. Once she figured out Adele's plan, she would work with Ellis.
Being a nanny/teacher/guard was a hard job, and she wanted to see those girls get the best of everything.
Lottie had to admit she was attached to them and beginning to get attached to their father.
He confused her, but at least the relationship she had with them was clear.
They finished what they were doing, and it was time for supper. The girls will be cared for by Flo and Carlos tomorrow.
“I thought we’d take the girls to see the Big Cats in Blue Eye tomorrow,” Flo mentioned.
“You’ll be careful?” Darren asked.
“We’ll have extra protection, and Harry’s assistant witch is coming along too,” Carlos explained.
“I’m sure they’ll have fun,” Darren observed.
The girls began to giggle and chatter among themselves.
It was clear they were excited about tomorrow's plans.
It looked like everyone was going to have an exciting day.
Lottie was looking forward to spending time with Harry.
Once supper was over and everything cleaned up.
Everyone went their separate ways. The girls were allowed to watch an hour of TV, then sent to bed.
Lottie worked on her computer and then went to bed around 10 PM.
Sleep came quickly, but it wasn’t uninterrupted.
A nightmare woke her, and it took her a while to fall back asleep.
When she woke in the morning, she was tired, but Lottie was sure she would wake up once Harry appeared.
Once she went downstairs, she saw breakfast was ready, and Harry had arrived.
“This is a perfect breakfast!” Harry offered.
It was too. There were several kinds of pancakes, including potato pancakes and others with different fruit fillings.
A plate of sausage was also on the table.
Harry already had her plate stacked high.
Lottie thought a big meal would give her the energy she needed.
She had also heard stories about Harry on the job, and she planned to pack some snacks for herself.
Harry ran on her stomach, or so Lottie had heard.
Harry filled another plate with food, but Lottie couldn’t eat more than one heaped plate.
“Looks like breakfast is done. Thank you. Lottie and I will clean up our spots, and we must go.” Harry offered.
They cleaned up, and then Harry grabbed her hand, and they flashed away. They landed somewhere, but Lottie couldn't say exactly where.
“I'll explain about what we're doing. We are at the edge of Springfield, MO, and we are about to take down a suspect that I have already investigated and determined is guilty of two murders.
His name is Blaney Dimton, and he lives with a mid-level witch named Cheryl.
I know her and have known her since we were 10.
She deserves so much better, but I'm not sure how she will handle him being taken away in cuffs. That is why you are with me.”
“Can she really believe that he is worth attacking a friend for?” Lottie asked.
“I've been surprised before, and I don't want to be surprised again.”
“I understand. Is it this house in front of us?”
“Yes, the pumpkin colored one.” Harry pointed to it.
“How dangerous is this guy?”
“Not at all dangerous to a witch who is watching for him.”
Lottie knew what she meant, and she would be ready for anything.
Harry was counting on her. The house had protective spells on it, but even she could get through these spells, and Harry would blow right through them.
Instead, Harry knocked, and someone opened the door.
Like Harry, the girl was young and extremely timid.
Her face lit up when she saw that Harry was standing there.
“I've not seen you in a while, and I wondered when you would drop by,” Cheryl admitted.
“I'm so sorry, Cheryl. I've come for Blaney.”
“He’s not here.”
“You could never lie worth a damn. Stay here while I go arrest him.”
Lottie took that to mean that she should wait.
With the girl, it was about 5 minutes, and Harry came out with a struggling guy who looked like a complete bum.
It was hard to see what Cheryl saw in the guy, because he didn't look attractive and he wasn't even clean.
What was clear was that she had seen something, as evidenced by her crying.
“Do something, you dumb bitch! Are you just going to let them take me? What the hell do I waste my time with you for if you can't even protect me?” Blaney screamed.
Cheryl just started crying harder. “Maybe if you wasn’t a criminal, things would be better.”
“I'll be back this weekend, and we'll go out with friends and find you somebody decent,” Harry promised.
She grabbed Lottie's hand, and they flashed away. They went straight to the warden's office, where Cage was doing paperwork, but she had a feeling he was waiting for them as well.
“I'm glad to see you had no problems with this one. I don't suppose you could clean him up a little bit because he smells horrible, and I'm going to have to work with him.” Cage asked.
This was something Lottie could do, and she snapped her fingers, and he was much cleaner. He almost looked like a regular person, except for the shaggy hair she couldn't do anything with and the dirty clothing, which was clean now but still looked old and worn out.
“Thanks. That will make my job a lot easier.”
“What did they do to me? I feel different.” Blaney screeched.
“They cleaned you up. Something you’ll learn to do in jail.” Cage informed.
“Why don't we go out for lunch. That worked out much better than I expected it to.” Harry suggested.
They flashed away to a barbecue joint. She had no idea where it was, but she suspected that they weren't near the location they'd been in before.
“This is Bubba’s, and it's in Eureka Springs. You'll love it, and they have a sampler platter that has all their best stuff on it, maybe not all their best stuff, but most of it.”
“OK, tell me what to order so I only get the good stuff,” Lottie suggested.
“I doubt there's anything bad here that we'll each take a sampler platter and share some loaded fries.”
The waitress wrote down the order, then asked what they wanted to drink.
Once they told her, she hurried away. The drinks came back quickly, then she brought the fries, and they looked good.
They were handmade and tasted delicious.
This was someplace she would come back to, just for the fries.
When the rest of the food arrived, she decided she would come back for it all.
She let Harry have most of the fries even though she liked them, but she had no problem eating her whole meal.
Harry had no problem eating the meal either, and then she ordered dessert.
Lottie could only eat half of her dessert, and Harry was helpful and finished it for her.
“Was I right? Didn't you love it here?” Harry asked.
“I did. I'll need to get you to take me to more places, so I know what's good.”
“Don't worry about that. All the white wolves know good places to go. You can ask Ariel for a book that will tell you all about it.”
“I don't know Ariel. Can't you just get me a book?” Lottie asked.
“I didn't think you were shy. Maybe we'll go to see Ariel for supper, and I can introduce you to her.
For now, we'll go back to my house so I can teach you a little bit of magic.
I must admit that the best way to learn is by doing and by expanding your limits by trying things you haven't done before.
You do have to be careful when you're doing this and not try to do something that can be dangerous.”
Harry grabbed her hand, and away they went. Lottie couldn't understand how she could feel so hot even though she had eaten a large meal. The average witch wouldn't be able to do much flashing at all.
“Here we are. What do you think?” Harry asked.
“It has a great deal of personality. The kitchen is a dream.”
It was a cook’s dream, with large appliances, old hardwood floors, beautiful cabinets obviously made by a craftsman, and granite countertops.