Read Online Single Witch's Survival Guide by Mindy Klasky - Free Book Online Page A

realize he was relaxed again. Comfortable. Hopeful for the lake’s future.
    The lake that was distinctly lower than usual, if the water markings on the dock indicated anything. Or maybe I just didn’t know how to read the signs. I’d never spent a summer out here at the farm. “What’s up with the water level?” I asked.
    “Drought. Three years running now. There should be four creeks feeding in, but one is already dry. Two more will go by the middle of July, and the last will be pretty much mud by August.”
    A fish jumped, as if to defy the bad news. Ripples made their slow way toward us. “It doesn’t seem that bad.”
    “Not yet. But when the water level drops, the whole lake heats up. Plants die off. Algae blooms. It’s a mess.”
    The osprey called again from the edge of its nest, and its mate answered from somewhere on the edge of the shoreline. “But they’ll be okay?” I nodded toward the raptor I could see.
    “The parents should be. The chicks…” He shrugged. “Only twenty percent live in a good year.”
    But I had seen these chicks. I had watched the parents feeding this trio of young. The strongest fledgling was going to try flying any day now.
    As if I’d spoken aloud, David grimaced. “I should do more to protect them.”
    “Climate change is above your pay grade.”
    There was that grunt again, the one that meant everything and nothing at all. He didn’t accept my pronouncement, but he wasn’t going to challenge me outright. I pulled his hand into my lap and traced the length of his fingers with my own.
    I longed to have the power to fix the lake. It would take some incredibly complicated workings, interweaving earth and air, fire and water. There were countless living creatures to take into account. A real coven harnessing the power of dozens of witches might be able to work the necessary changes over a period of years. But me? Standing alone, outside every tradition of witchcraft? Who was I fooling? I couldn’t even harness a simple wind spell with a couple of students.
    I swallowed galling disappointment as I looked out at the southern end of the lake. If David sold the timber on that land, the ecological problems would only be compounded. Without the tree canopy, animals would suffer. There’d be erosion. More earth running into the lake.
    All for a magicarium that had no guarantee of success. No real hope for success if the morning’s working was any sign.
    “Don’t even think it,” David said. He kept his voice low, but his note of warning was very real.
    “Think what?” I pretended innocence.
    “You’re not giving up on the Academy now. Not before you’ve even begun.”
    “I wasn’t—”
    He laughed and bent down to kiss me. The touch of his lips was easy, gentle, as if we had all the time in the world to stay together. “Don’t lie to me, witch. I’m your warder. I always know.”
    I settled my palm against his chest. “And I know things, too. I know you don’t want to sell the lake. We can find another way. Promise me you won’t do anything right away.”
    His fingertips were warm against my throat, settling over the pulse point just below my ear. He kissed me again, harder this time.
    My belly flipped at the unspoken urgency in his touch, but I wriggled away. “I’m serious, David.” And I was, even though my breath caught in my throat. “Promise.”
    “Hmmm,” he murmured while his nimble fingers did distracting things with the buttons on my blouse.
    “David,” I whispered, and his name was half a moan.
    “I promise,” he breathed against my lips.
    I rewarded him by sliding my hand around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. His arms folded around me, pulling me back to lie beside him on the dock. The sun-drenched wood radiated heat into my back, almost as warm as the hard body beside me. David nudged his left leg between mine and the pressure made my breath come fast. I reached down to his waist, and my fingers trembled as I pulled his shirt