4
Bevin
Making up with Winter helped a lot. It was something big off my plate. Talking with him even more. It meant everything knowing that he’d gone through the same thing even if not the same circumstances.
Really, it did.
“Your loyalty is commendable, but I have not a single objection to Tracey,” Mrs. Reid told me when she found me after I stormed off. “I was simply shocked because my son is…” She cleared her throat and looked away.
I was glad but also not going to push and try and figure out what else was going on. “Thank you for your help today.” I went into the kitchen and grabbed the flowers I’d purchased for her. “It meant a lot that I could call in for help and you all showed up.”
She didn’t hide her surprise but then beamed at me. “You are such a darling girl. It’s my pleasure more than my duty as a leader in our community who hasn’t done as she should.” She smelled the flowers and winked at me. “They always brighten your day, don’t they?”
“Yeah, they really do.”
“Thank you.” She set them off to the side and moved her hands to my arms. “Let’s see if we can’t fix the situation for the moment while we work on Mr. Green’s plan for a way to turn you solar powered, yes?”
“The blankets,” I surmised.
“Yes, good,” she praised, seeming impressed. She studied me a moment. “What made you think of them?”
I considered my answer carefully a moment. “I need happy vibes to make toys and that’s not where I am. More sessions are stressful because everyone expects more and answers, and even I know high-energy outputs when the… Reactor core is damaged would be stupid.”
“Yes, very. Well done.”
“And right now I need comfort. It’s the easiest way to get this magic out safely until we figure out the nature thing. Though I do think that’s the right answer.” I swallowed loudly.
“Your magic is telling you that?” she hedged.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I would think yes if I wasn’t so close to a reactor core meltdown?”
“Fair enough. Okay, I have things set up at my house again. Let’s head there and just see what happens. It’s next on your schedule anyways.”
I smiled at her, glad everyone was more accepting of my daily schedule now. People had pushed back on it or teased me about not having time to take a shit—mocking me basically.
But it was just a fucking road map. When everything was so chaotic, there was nothing wrong with doing better and trying your best to bring some order to the crazy.
And I was proud of myself for saying that.
I left the flowers for Tracey and then left a note to not touch the last ones that I put in water to give Wyatt later.
Then I went with Mrs. Reid and was touched by how she had everything set up again in her huge party room.
I knew she was paying people on the side to do this because everything was too crazy.
We needed to get things handled better for sure.
“This is a lot more,” I realized when I saw the piles just kept going and going.
“And it’s fine if you never touch them,” she said quickly, giving a half shrug when I glanced at her.
“So what? It will be done later or another time.” She took my hand in both of hers.
“A few of the people who work for Taylor—their families struggle. That was why they went into the military and left bad situations. They needed that steady income and…”
“You hired them for this?”
“No, their siblings,” she sighed. “It’s very complicated and they’re not my stories to tell. I hope Taylor can have some housing for people to protect more than his employees in this community that he’s building. They could work for you and simply be safe and have easy lives.”
“That would be nice. The logistics and getting so much done so fast is just daunting.”
“Yes, but we have magic,” she chuckled. “Another four houses have been built and are almost finished in the time since he hired Kevin Rose and other clean officers. Things will move fast. I believe they’re going to ask you to put in some lovely housing for their familiars.
” She moved one hand to cup my cheek. “Hold on, Bevin. Things will get better even though rough.”
“It will never be easy,” I accepted.
But right then was.
Amazingly so… Even if I felt bad for making Mrs. Reid my personal assistant again. I told her that if the problem was Tracey shining too much, then we need others to shine. More witches.
Sergey’s mom, Nina, was as the manager of the brushes, but it was time to put Kelton’s mom, Rita, into the mix. She’d done an amazing job managing so much with the treat trucks, and now we were going to open actual ice cream trucks.
I would mix the main part, and the machines would basically give pup and kitty cups. Frozen yogurt that normal dogs and cats could have. A short list of other animals, but the bulk of familiars were cats and dogs or we would have been busted a long time ago.
And that got us a lot of them handled faster.
She’d also implemented the way that we didn’t exclude student workers who were on shift during the treat truck times. Sergey had brought it up to Tracey, and Tracey had passed it to Rita. She’d immediately assigned one of her team to handle it with the university and businesses at the university.
That was the one time we were getting the colleges involved.
They verified employment, their familiar type, and the student was allowed a pass to come during any other treat truck time no matter the school or location.
It was that simple as long as people didn’t abuse the system and people worked with us.
Wild idea, right?
Part of me wanted to get updates while I was doing this, but that would take my focus. This was for me to get everything off my chest… But it was hard to do that without the updates?
It made me think of what my witch friend Kate had proposed, and I told Mrs. Reid that I thought it was important that people started looping her in so she could update me.
That sounded a bit redundant, but she could filter it for me.
Give me what I needed for when I needed it so I could use these times to get out and make decisions, not just be bogged down with details.
That was how CEOs did things, right?
When I was thirsty and wanted to stretch, I finished the skein I was working on and took in a deep breath. I blinked out at everything and then met her gaze.
“First, yes, that is how CEOs do things. It’s how Owen works with his aides. They filter and sort massive amounts of reports and information so he can get the brief ideas immediately and dig into what he wants or needs,” she told me. “So, excellent, and we can set that up.”
“That sounds nice,” I accepted. “Also, I want some familiars here when I do this. I think it would be helpful for the familiars who need the comfort, like Cheese and all of Taylor’s people, to hang here while I do this. They could always use the extra comfort.”
She studied me for a moment. “You could be less efficient in your magic if they soak that up.” She chuckled when I shrugged. “Of course you don’t care, I’m simply doing my job and warning you.”
I bounced that around. “Fair. Maybe not just a free-for-all. Once a week or something we rotate them—however it works.”
“Once a month is very generous,” she corrected. She held up her hand when I went to argue. “Now, let me check how we did.”
I knew she wasn’t taking credit for my magic or work by saying “we,” but letting me know I wasn’t alone in what I was feeling. It was nice actually.
Really nice.
“You are at a much better place,” she declared after checking me with her magic.
“You need to de-stress. Heavily. However you do it. Your soaks. Treats. You have to cleanse your mood and stress right now. Your magic requires it, not just your emotional and mental health. So whatever is weighing on you—”
“Easier said than done,” I grumbled.
She snickered. “Yes, I know. Believe me, I know.”
Internally, I winced. Yes, if there was anyone who understood, it was the head of the council’s mate. Fair enough.
“What can you take off your plate? Take today and make that the priority. I will inform others that you are not doing sessions this week because they have weighed too heavily on you with the other traumas. You need to heal your emotional health before we break your magic.”
“That won’t go over well,” I worried.
Anger filled her eyes. “Then the selfish bastards can be cut off from the miracle they are receiving if they won’t appreciate you. We are over the way too many witches are abused.”
I couldn’t hide how touched I was. “Thank you, Laura.”
Her eyes flashed surprise that I used her first name, but she was acting like a protective aunt, not just my mentor. She understood and gave me a hug, kissing my hair.
“Do you have any suggestions?” I wondered.
“Yes. Several actually, but first, time to preen at how amazing you are.”
“How so?” I asked when we parted.
She gestured around the massive party room. “You did a third of them, Bevin.” She chuckled when my mouth dropped open. “Yes, that many. This helped, and I have—I will speak to Tracey. I think I know how to handle this and take fire off of her too. Trust we will do better by you.”
“I do.” I really did. The way she, Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Moon, and especially Mrs. Oliveria threw down for me… They would do anything to protect me.
I knew that now.
I left there in much better spirits and headed home for lunch. I was beyond floored when I already had a message from Mrs. Reid with a list of suggestions.
“That woman doesn’t fuck around,” I mumbled as I walked into the kitchen.
“Tracey? Yeah, she’s impressive. She makes me feel like I’ve just wasted my life, and I worked hard at my job too,” my sister, Clare, grumbled. She’d been doing much better now that she’d been disowned as a Shaw and was a Millen with me as the head of the family, but clearly she struggled.
“No, Mrs. Reid,” I sighed. I explained about the factory and the mess I’d made when she was confused.
“Wow, impressive.”