Hollywood Demon (The Collegium Book 6) by Jenny Schwartz Read Free Book Online Page B

he was smart and respected, whereas she was—as the chief geomage, Neville Schuster had grudgingly phrased it—“well-meaning”.
    “But you didn’t tell me, Jeremy? You didn’t think I’d be interested?” Doris collected her mug and Clancy’s, and rinsed them both at the sink. Her stance, in her turquoise velour sweat suit, was very straight and indignant.
    “You’re close to Clancy. I reasoned that she’d tell you herself.” Jeremy paused. “Have you told Mom and Dad?”
    Clancy made a face. “Not yet.”
    “Do that,” he ordered.
    “I will.” She’d send them a text and turn off her phone. She winced at her own cowardice. Her parents loved her, but their inevitable disappointment and how they’d worry that her presence here would make Jeremy’s life harder made her reluctant to talk with them.
    He paced the length of the small kitchen, spinning in the doorway to the living room, and returning. Restless, as always. It was as if he couldn’t bear to be still, as if he was making up for his childhood of lassitude and limits that fighting leukemia had imposed.
    The reminder of all he’d survived deepened her guilt. “I just want to be home, Jeremy. I didn’t intend to use my magic and cause trouble for you.”
    “You never do.”
    She flinched, but leaned forward earnestly. “No, I mean it. This morning…” She glanced at Doris who stood drying her hands on a tea towel. Clancy went with a truth, if not the complete truth. “Coming home, coming here to the estate, my magic reached out to make a connection. I stopped it as soon as I realized what was happening.” As soon as she’d felt the Earth’s grumbling response.
    A thoughtful frown creased Doris’s face as she rehung the tea towel. “You were always sensitive to the chamber.”
    Jeremy muttered something under his breath.
    “More sensitive than Kennett.” Their grandma directed her words at him. Kennett had been Jeremy’s predecessor, the Collegium-sanctioned geomage responsible for California and its active geology. “Clancy, does it still talk to you?”
    “It’s geology, Grandma,” Jeremy burst out. “It doesn’t ‘talk’.” He air-quoted the word, loading it with scorn. “You did Clancy no favors in allowing her to imagine that her magic made the Earth sentient.”
    “I knew it never really spoke to me,” Clancy defended herself. She didn’t go on to add how reassuring the grumbling power of the Earth had been when she’d connected with it via the chamber during a childhood in which she’d often been scared. Not as scared, and not as brave as Jeremy undergoing treatment for his leukemia, but she’d been scared he’d die, and scared by her parents’ fear and preoccupation. Aware that her small interests and adventures weren’t important in comparison to Jeremy’s battle that had naturally absorbed her parents’ energy, she’d found comfort in her magic. Unlike most magic talents, her magic hadn’t increased substantially at puberty. Her low level abilities, her sensitivity to the Earth’s moods, had always existed.
    “Are you staying for lunch, Jeremy?” Doris asked.
    He immediately got out his phone, checked it, and entered something. “No.” Tap, tap, tap, head bent over the screen. “I can’t, today, Grandma. Too busy.” Then, belatedly, with a swift smile that showed his white teeth. “But soon. Maybe this weekend. I’ll call you.”
    It was Tuesday. Doris watched him leave, noncommittal through the good-byes.
    Since she was listening for it, Clancy heard his car start up and purr away. It was quiet, probably an ecologically-conscious choice.
    “He won’t phone,” Doris said.
    Clancy tried to smile. Somehow, after talking with Jeremy, smiling wasn’t so easy. However, he hadn’t set rules for her staying in California. Perhaps he believed she could suppress her magic. And I will. “He’s busy. There’s his work at the university, research, teaching, and work for the Collegium. It’s