Adventures of a Witchy Wallflower

By Teresa J. Reasor

For fifty years Madeline Montgomery has taught magic-challenged witches how to cast spells. And she’s good at it. When she loses her job at the college, she’s thrown into an identity crisis. If she can’t teach what will she do?
Broke and desperate, Jake Cunningham has borrowed money from the wrong witches. With a moniker like Jake The Rake floating around, he hasn’t a chance of finding his next mark. Until he’s made an offer he can’t refuse—meet Madeline and he’ll be a hundred thousand dollars richer.

When Jake shows up on Madeline’s doorstep asking for her help, it’s a goddess-send. While she teaches him to spell, he brings a different kind of magic into her life. For the first time she wants to throw caution to the wind and let her heart lead the way. But Jake insists he has a curse and if she gets too close she’ll end up hating him.

But she’s an expert at magic and a curse can be broken. Or can it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teresa J. Reasor
• Release date: Jun 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781940047423

Teresa J. Reasor

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Teresa Reasor was born in Southeastern Kentucky, but grew up a Marine Corps brat. The love of reading instilled in her in Kindergarten at Parris Island, South Carolina made books her friends during the many transfers her father's military career entailed. The transition from reading to writing came easily to her and she penned her first book in second grade. But it wasn’t until 2007 that her first published work was released.After twenty-one years as an Art Teacher and ten years as a part time College Instructor, she’s now retired and living her dream as a full time Writer.Her body of work includes both full-length novels and shorter pieces in many different genres, Military Romantic Suspense, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy Romance, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, and Children’s Books.

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Adventures of a Witchy Wallflower

Teresa J. Reasor

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

COPYRIGHT © 2018 by Teresa J. Reasor

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Tracy Stewart

Edited by Faith Freewoman

Teresa J. Reasor

PO Box 124

Corbin, KY 40702

Publishing History: First Edition 2018

ISBN 13: 978-1-940047-42-3

ISBN 10: 1-940047-42-0

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

More Information and Books by Teresa Reasor

Chapter 1

Scryville, Kentucky

All right, class. Wands up, once more with feeling.

Professor Madeline Montgomery thrust out her wand and aimed it at the flower bulb nestled under the rich, dark earth in a small pot. "Tarda Incrementum!"

She gently pushed her power through the wand, imagining she was blowing it gently through a straw. Her bulb vibrated, then sprouted. Tiny green shoots emerged from the soil and reached for the sunlight. As the flower grew, leaves folded out like the graceful arms of a ballerina while the stem wiggled up. A bud formed, opened, and large orange petals with black spots curled away from a stamen that stood proudly in the center of the lily.

She turned to check on her students, all adults, all struggling with their magic, but several of the group’s bulbs had sprouted, and the leaves were growing nicely.

Harry Walter’s bulb blossomed, but was already wilting, his uncontrolled power forcing the flower through its paces too quickly. It turned brown and crumpled away as she watched. Not good, but not terrible.

Gregor Stephenson’s bulb had exploded into a pulpy mess. Uh-oh!

He was the only pupil in her classes this year who needed to be monitored for magical aggression. She’d cautioned him over and over, and the last time he got snippy. Well, some people needed to learn from their mistakes.

She felt the magical boomerang building, but held it back so she could release the rest of the class before it hit. There was no reason to scare the shit out of the rest of them.

She moved among her students to offer praise and encouragement. For the most part they had done very well. Certainly much better than when the group first started.

Class, I’m very pleased with your progress. Take your pots home, water the flowers, and care for them as though they’re your pets, then bring them back tomorrow. We’ll be doing an even more challenging exercise, and they’ll play a big part in it.

As the rest of the group dispersed, she snagged Gregor and Harry before they could escape. With a wave of her hand, she reassembled the exploded bulb in Gregor’s pot and healed the poor, stressed bulb in Hal’s. She felt the small ache in the palm of her hand, payment for healing the small growing things, and flexed her fingers to relieve it.

She turned her attention to the slightly tubby Gregor with his perpetual angelic smile, but she was wise to his façade. Beneath it was a passive-aggressive asshole with anger issues, and if he didn’t get his magic under control, she’d have to report him to the Council for monitoring.

But today, when she released the magical retribution she was currently blocking, karma would teach Gregor the lesson she’d harped on from day one.

Gregor when you drink a glass of wine, do you gulp it down or sip it?

It depends on my mood. If I’ve had a hard day, I gulp the first glass, then sip the next.

She nodded. "To truly enjoy the wine, you breathe in the essence of the wine, sip it, hold it in your mouth for a moment, then swallow. You savor it.

Magic is very much like enjoying a wonderful, expensive wine. You hold it in your grasp, relish it, then release it very reluctantly, because you want it to last.

She picked a tiny bulb up off the picnic table and placed it in her palm. This bulb is a cocooned plant, but it’s an interconnected part of nature. It breathes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen to keep us alive. It’s our responsibility to treat it with respect.

She waved a finger over the tiny bulb as though caressing it. Notice I’m barely fanning the bulb with my power. It takes so very little to encourage it to grow. A root system wound around her hand and tiny shoots sprouted out the top. As the shoots grew into leaves, a delicate stem thrust up and a purple Dutch iris unfolded atop it.

Madeline unwound the roots from her hand and gently potted the plant.

She turned to face the two male witches. What was the most important thing we learned the first day of class?

That there is a cost for magic, and what we put out there comes back to us threefold.

She saw the moment it dawned on Gregor what was coming. What’s going to happen to me?

I don’t know, Gregor, but you need to learn control before you hurt something bigger than a small bulb, because the bigger the damage, the bigger the price. She handed his pot to him with the reassembled bulb.

Why can’t I have that one? Gregor asked nodding toward the iris.

"Because you need to practice growing your own. Tomorrow when you return with your flower, the price will be steeper, because we’ll be doing stronger magic.

Your performance today wasn’t about control. It was about anger. And taking it out on something defenseless carries a particular edge when payment comes due.

Gregor rocked back and forth like a kindergartener needing to pee. Apparently some of the magical payback was seeping around her wall, and it seemed the boomerang was about to hit.

She turned her attention to Hal. Though he was six foot five and looked like a muscular mountain, he came across as a big, cuddly teddy bear. Eyes wide, his face a little green around the edges, he reached for his pot and cradled it against his chest with a hand the size of a dinner plate. I’ll practice more control at home. I swear I will.

I know you will, Harry. She offered him an encouraging smile. You just rushed things a bit. Best to slow it down a little.

I will.

The two men took quick strides toward the parking lot. She dropped the barrier between the students and the balloon of magical retribution.

Gregor stiffened like he’d been struck by lightning and dropped his pot. He grabbed his crotch, bent at the waist, and tumbled to the ground, where he writhed and squirmed. His screams pierced the air, startling a flock of birds who were actually students practicing shifting. The group went airborne as one and landed in a tree nearby.

After several seconds Gregor stilled, but continued to pant as he recovered from the pain.

Harry leaned down to help him up and all his hair fell out, showering Gregor with pale blond strands. Harry screamed, dropped his pot, and clutched his head. The pot hit Gregor in the stomach, triggering another yelp.

Magical karma is a bitch.

Chapter 2

The moon behind the clouds streaked the sky with purple and pink as Jake Cunningham teleported onto his front lawn from work. The dark Victorian house loomed over him like a Mount Everest of responsibility. Why was he so compelled to hang onto this place? Sure, it had been in his family for generations, but now his mother was gone, he felt less connected to the property.

It was his Gee Gee’s home too, though. She’d be devastated if they lost it. And if they did, where would they live?

Bottom line, the property taxes were due and he didn’t have the money. He had to think of something. Bartending at Howling at the Moon paid well enough to keep the utilities running and food on the table, but little more. Being cursed romantically was bad enough. It turned every woman he got close to against him.

But it seemed owing any woman money was worse. That’s what had gotten him into a world of bat shit with the female witches in Scryville. Or maybe it was both.

But before he spent yet another evening struggling to find a solution, he needed to go check on Gee Gee.

He climbed the steps to the porch, and, with a flick of his wrist, unlocked the dead bolt and the door swung open. After he entered, it closed and locked behind him soundlessly.

A single lamp shone in the entrance foyer. Ah. Gee Gee must have picked up on his attempts to conserve electricity. Had she also guessed how dire things were? He hoped not.

A wide staircase swept up to a landing that branched out toward the two wings of the house. He took the stairs two at a time, and turned left at the landing, eager to see her. Pausing outside the solid door, he pasted on a smile and shielded his emotions so she wouldn’t read the stress that rode him constantly these days. He tapped on the door and stepped in after she bid him to enter.

Propped up in bed in her flannel gown and quilted bed jacket, she looked like an angel…until she smiled. Her mischievous grin was pure devilment. He glanced at the screen and shook his head. A four hundred-year-old witch who loved Supernatural.

It’s my favorite. Love the boys on there. This is one of my favorite episodes.

Since they lost his mom a year ago, Gee Gee’s beautiful features had begun to show some age. He felt a little old himself.

How about I lie here and watch it with you?

Her quick smile was answer enough. He kicked off his shoes, stretched out atop the covers, and tugged a pillow under his head.

After a short while he decided the show was pretty good. Lots of action, and the two main characters could kick some serious paranormal butt, even if it was all stunts. They hammed up all the witchy stuff, but that was the way of the world. If humans ever knew they really existed…

Gee Gee’s energy was flagging, and she was yawning by the end of the show. Another sign of her slow decline.

If anything ever happened to her, he’d have no family left at all. Jake grabbed her hand and held it. How was your day?

The girls and I played bridge today, and got up to just a bit of mischief with Arnold.

Jake scrambled to place Arnold. He’s the vampire professor’s manservant?

Yes, but Arnold is more like his uncle, and he isn’t a vampire. He certainly has a way with the ladies because of those old-school manners. Just like you, Jacob.

If only she knew. You practically raised me, and you’d zap my behind if I didn’t treat the ladies with respect. If she ever discovered what he truly was, a con artist it would kill her. A knot hardened in the pit of his stomach.

Yes, I would.

Now about this mischief…

It was just a small attempt to make his current lady friend jealous.

Exactly what did you do?

We made her think we were interested in having a three-way.

His mouth flew open and he sat up so fast his brain almost sloshed around inside his skull. Gee Gee, do you even know what a three-way is?

Well of course, dear. You don’t really believe your generation invented sex, do you?

Well…no, but…

Relax, dear. We didn’t really do it. We just made her think we were interested so she’d feel a little more territorial.

Sweet Goddess! If you put that in her head, what makes you think she won’t call you up and asking you to participate in…well…

I’ll very politely turn her down. I only did it now and then with your grandfather and a very special witch who shall remain nameless. Now Richard is gone, I don’t really have the desire, or the energy, for bedroom gymnastics with anyone else.

Way too much information!! The images popping into his head threatened to send him into spasms of nausea.

How the hell did they get into this conversation?

Huh. Granddad liked three-ways… Well, what guy didn’t? But still… Didn’t married witches have more to lose by experimenting like that? Male witches seemed to have a tendency to love ’em and leave ’em even more often than human males. And marriage didn’t necessarily eliminate that behavior.

I can tell you’re getting worked up about this, Jacob.

He attempted to squelch his speculations, and nausea, and forced a smile. "No, Gee Gee. I’m glad you’ve had an adventurous life in every way. You only live