Four days later, Vasil followed Conrad into his room.

  “I’m sorry about this,” Darius said.

  “It’s fine—” Conrad started to say.

  “It isn’t. They know that you were indispensable. Hell, you’re the one that killed Aubert! I don’t know what they’re hoping to accomplish.”

  “I knew what would happen when I chose to join you. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before.”

  The two of them crossed over to Conrad’s desk. The wolfman leaned down and jerked on the stubborn second drawer. He took out a folder and started flipping through the paperwork.

  “Besides,” Conrad said, “I think their complaint is less about me being there and more about the amount of property damage I caused.”

  “A magician wouldn’t have caused any less.”

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  “But that would have been authorized. I hear there’s less paperwork—not that I would know.”

  Bauer flipped through five pages before Darius said softly, “Do you ever think about going home?”

  The wolfman paused with his fingers still between the wafting papers. Seconds passed.

  “Not yet,” he said.

  He resumed his search.

  “Conrad, what is this thing?”

  Conrad glanced up. Darius was holding a stuffed animal. Its form was slightly clumsy, and it had been sewn from a heart-dotted knit fabric.

  “It’s an otter,” Conrad said. “I’ve been told his name is PJ.”

  “It looks like some kind of long bear.”

  “No, it’s an otter. See the tail?”

  “Ah. What’s it doing on your desk?”

  “I don’t know. Sitting around doing nothing as far as I can tell.”

  Darius’s eyes moved from PJ, to the wolfman, then back to PJ. “What a little freeloader. Should I get rid of him?” When Conrad didn’t answer, the count added, “I doubt Emerra would mind. She probably gave it to you as a joke.”

  Conrad shrugged. “He seems happy here. Why ruin it?”

  Darius looked at the sewn smile. “He does seem happy.”

  “Found it.” Conrad pulled out a sheet of paper and laid it on his desk.

  While he put the rest back in the drawer, Darius returned the otter to his home in the corner of the desk.

  The two left PJ to grin idiotically over his uncontested domain.

  lot to get it to the form that you've just finished reading. Two complete overhauls of the plot, major rewrite after major rewrite—it was enough to drive me to despair. But each morning, when I checked in and discovered that people were actually reading it, that drip-feed of encouragement and happiness put me back on my feet. Thank you.

  If you want more of the Noctis crew, allow me to assure you that there will be more books in the series. I'm already writing book two—working title: The Psychic Academy—and book three is finished.

  It...uh, it's been a weird series. [cough]

  Book three doesn't have a title yet, because—ugh. Titles. But it's a Christmas novel, so I'm determined to finish putting out book two in time to release book three during December. If you'd like to keep reading, consider following me so you'll know when the first chapters hit the site.

  Lastly, if you did enjoy this book, please consider leaving a rating or review to let me know that you liked it.

  Have a wonderful day, and I hope to see you again at the next book.