Witches Under Way by Debora Geary Read Free Book Online Page B

the little burned bits on the edges.
    She’d set the table nicely and walked to the store for orange juice while the muffins were in the oven.  It wasn’t biscuits, but it was an acceptable breakfast for her first baking attempt.  And it might make up for the disaster of a dinner she’d tried to serve the night before.  Good intentions weren’t always edible, especially when served with undercooked chicken.
    Hearing Lizard’s clomping on the stairs, she grabbed two—very hot!—muffins and put them on the pretty green plates she’d also found at the store.  She looked up as her roommate blew into the kitchen.  “Good morning.  I made breakfast for you—I hope you like banana muffins.”
    “Gotta run.”  Lizard swooped a muffin off the counter and dropped it on the floor.  “Shit! These are still hot.”
    Elsie looked at her breakfast table for two in dismay.  “They’ll be cool in just a minute.  I was hoping we’d have a chance to eat together.”  She took a closer look at Lizard, currently tossing a muffin hand to hand.  “You look tired—did you have trouble sleeping?”
    “Yeah.  Essays and neighborhood maps kind of get in the way of the whole shutting-your-eyes thing.”
    “You were up late?”  Her roommate really did look exhausted, with big circles under her eyes and the kind of zippy edginess that came from too much coffee.
    Lizard snorted.  “Dunno.  Is 4 a.m. late?”  She shoved the muffin in her bag.  “More sleep than I got the night before, though.  Thanks for the food.”
    Elsie stared at the suddenly empty kitchen doorway, feeling bereft.  She turned around, looking at her now-sad table and its two slightly burned muffins. 
    She jumped as the front door slammed, and backed up in surprise as Lizard torpedoed into the kitchen.  “Sorry, I forgot about the music thing.  Do you have your computer?”
    Elsie pointed at the counter—Caro had emailed her the muffin recipe. 
    “Pandora.”  Lizard pulled up a website on Elsie’s laptop.  “It’s a music site that starts with a song you like, and then plays songs that are related.”  Soft sounds began streaming out of the computer.  “You just need to thumbs up or down here when you love or hate something, and it will learn your preferences.”
    Elsie moved in, fascinated.
    Lizard looked up and grinned.  “Perfect for someone who doesn’t know squat about music.”
    Elsie frowned, catching strains of the music.  “What’s playing now?  I like that.”
    “Dude named Leonard Cohen.”  Lizard increased the volume.  “This song’s the closest real-music thing I know to opera.  Lots of people sing it, but he wrote it, so I started with the original.”
    The music tugged on Elsie.  Such a deep voice, wise and sad.  And then the chorus hit, and she grabbed the counter to hold herself up, totally staggered.
    Lizard grinned and clicked on the thumbs-up button.  “I seeded some other songs in here to get you started.  Once you figure out what you like, then we can put it on your iPod.”
    Words finally penetrated Elsie’s musical haze.  “You worked on this?  Last night, when you were up so late?”
    “No big.”  Lizard shrugged.  “My eyes were kind of bleeding from reading anyhow.”
    Elsie stared for a moment—and then grabbed her roommate’s arm.  “Sit.  Take two minutes for breakfast.”  It wasn’t a gift like the music, but her banana muffins didn’t look all that bad.  And the green plates were pretty.  “I have orange juice, too.”
    Lizard dropped into a chair.  “How come you’re getting all domestic?”
    Until that moment, she hadn’t been exactly sure.  Elsie smiled.  “Someone needs to make sure we have something to eat around here.”  She nodded, pleased with her forming idea.  “Summer school is for five weeks, right?  You study, and I’ll try to learn how to cook for us a little.”
    “Deal.”  Lizard guzzled her orange juice and stood up, pocketing