Lottie knew what she meant, and she would be ready for anything.Harry was counting on her.The house had protective spells on it, but even she could get through these spells, and Harry would blow right through them.Instead, Harry knocked, and someone opened the door.Like Harry, the girl was young and extremely timid.Her face lit up when she saw that Harry was standing there.
“I've not seen you in a while, and I wondered when you would drop by,” Cheryl admitted.
“I'm so sorry, Cheryl.I've come for Blaney.”
“He’s not here.”
“You could never lie worth a damn.Stay here while I go arrest him.”
Lottie took that to mean that she should wait.With the girl, it was about 5 minutes, and Harry came out with a struggling guy who looked like a complete bum.It was hard to see what Cheryl saw in the guy, because he didn't look attractive and he wasn't even clean.What was clear was that she had seen something, as evidenced by her crying.
“Do something, you dumb bitch!Are you just going to let them take me?What the hell do I waste my time with you for if you can't even protect me?”Blaney screamed.
Cheryl just started crying harder.“Maybe if you wasn’t a criminal, things would be better.”
“I'll be back this weekend, and we'll go out with friends and find you somebody decent,” Harry promised.
She grabbed Lottie's hand, and they flashed away.They went straight to the warden's office, where Cage was doing paperwork, but she had a feeling he was waiting for them as well.
“I'm glad to see you had no problems with this one.I don't suppose you could clean him up a little bit because he smells horrible, and I'm going to have to work with him.”Cage asked.
This was something Lottie could do, and she snapped her fingers, and he was much cleaner.He almost looked like a regular person, except for the shaggy hair she couldn't do anything with and the dirty clothing, which was clean now but still looked old and worn out.
“Thanks.That will make my job a lot easier.”
“What did they do to me?I feel different.”Blaney screeched.
“They cleaned you up.Something you’ll learn to do in jail.”Cage informed.
“Why don't we go out for lunch.That worked out much better than I expected it to.”Harry suggested.
They flashed away to a barbecue joint.She had no idea where it was, but she suspected that they weren't near the location they'd been in before.
“This is Bubba’s, and it's in Eureka Springs.You'll love it, and they have a sampler platter that has all their best stuff on it, maybe not all their best stuff, but most of it.”
“OK, tell me what to order so I only get the good stuff,” Lottie suggested.
“I doubt there's anything bad here that we'll each take a sampler platter and share some loaded fries.”
The waitress wrote down the order, then asked what they wanted to drink.Once they told her, she hurried away.The drinks came back quickly, then she brought the fries, and they looked good.They were handmade and tasted delicious.This was someplace she would come back to, just for the fries.When the rest of the food arrived, she decided she would come back for it all.She let Harry have most of the fries even though she liked them, but she had no problem eating her whole meal.Harry had no problem eating the meal either, and then she ordered dessert.Lottie could only eat half of her dessert, and Harry was helpful and finished it for her.
“Was I right?Didn't you love it here?”Harry asked.
“I did.I'll need to get you to take me to more places, so I know what's good.”
“Don't worry about that.All the white wolves know good places to go.You can ask Ariel for a book that will tell you all about it.”
“I don't know Ariel.Can't you just get me a book?”Lottie asked.
“I didn't think you were shy.Maybe we'll go to see Ariel for supper, and I can introduce you to her.For now, we'll go back to my house so I can teach you a little bit of magic.I must admit that the best way to learn is by doing and by expanding your limits by trying things you haven't done before.You do have to be careful when you're doing this and not try to do something that can be dangerous.”
Harry grabbed her hand, and away they went.Lottie couldn't understand how she could feel so hot even though she had eaten a large meal.The average witch wouldn't be able to do much flashing at all.
“Here we are.What do you think?”Harry asked.
“It has a great deal of personality.The kitchen is a dream.”
It was a cook’s dream, with large appliances, old hardwood floors, beautiful cabinets obviously made by a craftsman, and granite countertops.
