Shadow Duel (Prof Croft Book 9)

annoyed I’d interrupted her itinerary. “But when it comes to someone as tall, strong, and spontaneous as Enzo, a girl never really knows.”
“Enzo,” Bree-yark repeated dismissively.
A smile spread over Gretchen’s glossed lips. She’d gotten the reaction she wanted. “Well, wish me and my new beau the best,” she called.
Tabitha made a sour face. “I think we all just wish you’d fu—”
A starburst of colors flashed, causing everyone to flinch back, and Gretchen was gone.
“Whoa. How’d she do that?” Tony asked, the lights lingering in his eyes.
“We’re going to need to set some ground rules with her,” Vega said, returning with Bree-yark’s shot of liquor.
“Yeah, no kidding,” I agreed. “You all right, man?” I asked Bree-yark.
He tilted the shot back and wiped his lips with a leathery forearm of corded muscles.
“I’m fine, guys,” he said, noticing we were all watching him. “That happens sometimes.”
“Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?” Mae reached over to feel his ridged brow. “I can fix you some soup.”
He took her hand and folded his around it, in control once more. “I’m grand, Mae. But I really do have to be going. Call you later?” He kissed her cheek and made for the door. “I owe you a pair of pants, Everson.”
“Consider them payment for the help,” I said.
Mae’s concerned gaze lingered as the door closed behind him. “Anything I should be worried about?”
I shook my head. “Nah, he and Gretchen are history.”
“I don’t care about that mess of a woman,” she said, waving a hand. “I mean Bree-yark. I’ve never seen him behave like that. Even before she turned up he was acting like he couldn’t get out of here fast enough.”
“Can you blame him?” Tabitha grumbled.
“You spent the morning with him,” Mae said to me. “Did he say anything?”
Besides that he’s planning on proposing? I thought, but I’d pledged my silence.
“Say anything?” I repeated.
Buster returned and climbed onto Mae’s shoulder. She stroked his head absently, making his mouth tentacles wriggle, as she awaited my response. Vega crossed her arms, a questioning smile slanting her lips.
“Well, nothing stands out,” I said. “But he did get into it with a garbage monster, and he was breathing all that foul air. I wouldn’t doubt some combination of the two knocked him off his game.”
“Maybe,” Mae allowed, but her frown suggested she wasn’t convinced.
I checked my watch. “Shoot, guys. I’ve gotta get to the college.”
“I should be going too,” Vega said. She stepped into the halo of my sparkling clean scent, courtesy of Gretchen’s spell, and kissed me. “You can tell me what’s really going on later,” she whispered.
Damn.

4
I couldn’t help but smile as I strolled down the bustling main hall of Midtown College.
Having spent more than fifteen years here, first as a student, then an adjunct professor, and now fully tenured, it had become as much a part of me as my occult lab back home. Wizarding may have been in my blood, but academia competed hard for those corpuscles. When I was away for any length of time, such as the few weeks between the end of spring term and the start of summer, I felt incomplete. I missed the students and the outdated library and the tedious hours of research.
Hell, I even missed the departmental back-biting.
“Professor Croft?” someone called from behind me.
But if there was one thing I would never, ever miss, it was hearing that voice. For as long as I lived.
I turned to find Professor Snodgrass struggling against the current of student traffic. The diminutive head of my department was wearing a tweed suit, complete with one of his signature bow ties. Beneath his strenuously parted hair, his face was pink and exasperated. He arrived in front of me, out of breath.
“Might want to pace yourself there,” I said. “It’s only the first day.”
“Yes, very amusing,” he panted, “but you never submitted your lesson plans. They were due two weeks ago. They need to be approved.”
“The course syllabus? I submitted it last month.”
He shook his head emphatically. “No, no, the lesson plans.”
“All right, calm down. Since when do we submit those?”
“Since I instituted the requirement. I have standards to uphold in our department and will be signing off on all plans henceforth. And they’re to be structured plans. No more extemporaneous story-telling.” His eyes narrowed up at me.
Great, we were back to this.
“So you want me to submit a plan for every class I’ll be teaching for the next six weeks?” I asked, incredulous.
“That’s the new requirement, yes.”
“Well, I never got the memo.” I resumed my stroll, refusing to let Snodgrass dampen my mood.
He adjusted his oval glasses as he struggled to keep up. “I posted it to our online forum as a priority announcement.”
“Ah, there you go. I don’t use computers, remember? My magic doesn’t play well with anything more complex than a flip phone. Next time print it off and stick it in my mail slot. Problem solved.”
“I can’t make exceptions for you,” he hissed. “Magic or not, you’re no different than the other members of our faculty.”
“Not even when your cable’s out?” I asked innocently.
I was referring to the time he’d hired me to reroute a ley line from his cable box so he and his wife could watch their regency romance serial.
“Well, yes, but that was an isolated—”
“How is Miriam, by the way?” I asked, while he was still on his back heel.
His wife was a wealthy socialite who also happened to be a big fan of mine, even more so after I’d solved their cable issue. To say she wore the pants in the household was putting it mildly. On multiple occasions, I’d observed her using said pants to flog her husband’s self-esteem into the turf. I felt a little guilty playing that card now, but if Snodgrass was going to go full dick on day one…
“She’s fine,” he replied thinly.
“Come to think of it, she mentioned getting together for dinner again. Should we schedule that now, or…?” I let the question linger.
“Have your lesson