Page 87 of Autumn L.A.W

“I understand,” he said.

Lioness stepped forward; her petite stature and wild blonde mane probably gave her away, but she introduced herself anyway. “Hello, Duke. I'm Lioness.”

He bowed to her slightly. Then nodded at the witch standing next to her. “You must be Magda.”

She stepped forward and said in her Australian accent, “Yeah, I'm Magda. Good on you for figuring that out, since I'm the only Aussie here, and I greeted you with ‘g’d day’.”

He chuckled and said, “Yes, Magda. You're one of the few I could identify.”

Sahara stepped forward. “I'm Sahara.” She didn't say anything else to identify herself, and Duke just said, “Nice to meet you,” to the attractive woman with long, brown hair streaked with reddish-blonde highlights. “I know you are the techie among them.”

Sahara nodded.

“I’m Brianna,” said the unidentified redhead. “I’m the newest member.”

“Yes. Congratulations on joining such an elite force for good.”

Crystal stepped forward. “’ello, luv. I'm Crystal. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The blue-eyed blonde let him hear her English accent.

“Yes, the Brit. Ex-Royal Navy,” Duke said. “The pleasure is mine.”

Joell stepped forward. “And I am Joell. You've heard my voice on the phone.”

“And I recognize it. Thank you for keeping me informed of the situation.” Duke looked around at all of them and said, “You're not exactly as I pictured you, but you’re all beautiful in very different ways, and I can sense your warrior spirits. I'm honored to meet you all.”

“Rayna isn’t here yet, but she’ll be arriving soon,” Joell added.

“I imagine she’s saying goodbye to her pets, who are hiding the weapons as we speak,” Duke said.

“Yes. You certainly know more about us than we know about you,” Sahara said. “Even with my tech skills, I couldn’t find a thing about you online.”

“Good. Then I’m doing my job. But it’s time to remedy that with my favorite witches, starting with Victoria. If you would allow me to see the plant you found, and describe how and where you found it, I’d be most interested.”

He smiled kindly at Victoria and waited. Victoria eagerly complied, taking the plant from her tote bag, then handing it to him to examine.

He carefully inspected it, running his fingers along the petals and marveling at the intricate details of the kaleidoscope pattern. “What a fascinating specimen,” he said. “It must be very rare since I had never even heard of it. I commend you on your find, Victoria.”

He then turned to the rest of the witches and said, “We must do our best to protect this plant. I’m sure it has the potential to unlock secrets. With it, we may be able to answer any number of needs.”

The witches all looked at Magda.

“Then Magda should take charge of it,” Victoria said. “She’s our resident horticulturalist. Meanwhile, will this save me from traipsing all over the world to gather ingredients for the body-switching spell?”

Duke shook his head, sadly. “I doubt it. You still need dirt from Chichen Itza, the woman who switched your bodies, and all the other stuff.”

“Wait. Just her body? Dead or alive?”

Duke coughed. “Alive! What you do to her body will be what you must deal with when you switch back.” Then he changed the subject. “Allow me to take you to the library and show you around,” he said.

Victoria strode into the library, a sense of excitement vibrating through her body. Of course, she hoped a book existed that would help her get her real body back, but to get a look at every occult text in the world, well, it was just beyond!

All around her, books of every age, colored bindings, and size sat on row upon row of sturdy oak shelves. She wondered if they had all been translated into English. Or maybe Duke spoke several languages.

“I will be traveling with you. Me and the library.”

Barely able to contain her swirling thoughts, she asked, “Do you have a book with a spell to help me?”

Duke smiled, already knowing the answer. “Yes, we do. It's right over here.”