“All right.” Ruthie blew out a breath. “I can see the need to structure the children’s time. I certainly see the value of their continuing to learn, especially since their school time was interrupted. But Lizzy and Sarah are seven and Robert is nine. Why do I need to order books for the earlier or later grades of school?”

“You need to order them now because they may not be available later,” Vlad said. “Or they may not be easy to obtain.”

Ruthie stared at them. “You’re making this sound like the one-room classrooms in frontier towns that I read about in history books.”

“Yes,” Henry said. “You should think of it that way.”

Watching her, he wondered if they should have brought a chair in the room so that she could sit down. They hadn’t thought they were asking for such a strange thing.

Finally Ruthie nodded. “I would prefer an efficiency apartment to one of these rooms. I’ll need to think about what kind of desk will work best if it has to accommodate younger children and teenagers later. And I’ll see what we can come up with right now with the furniture we have.”

“We’ll clear out one of the apartments that overlook the area behind Howling Good Reads and A Little Bite. Less distraction than the apartments with windows overlooking Crowfield Avenue,” Vlad said.

<Simon?> Henry asked. <Do you agree with this?> The Wolf seemed... twitchy.

<It’s fine. We have to go to HGR. Some of the Elementals want to talk to the Business Association.>

Simon, Henry, and Tess stepped aside, giving Ruthie access to the door, which Vlad opened for her.

“You didn’t tell her that Lieutenant Montgomery’s kin may be bringing offspring,” Vlad said as the four of them left the social center and returned to Howling Good Reads.

“I didn’t think it would matter,” Simon replied. He unlocked the front door of HGR and went inside.

Not good, Henry thought as Earth, Air, Fire, and Water turned to face all of them but focused on Simon.

“Ocean has a question and would like you to help find the answer.”

•••

“Girl talk,” Meg told Nathan before she closed the Private door. Since he didn’t do anything but yawn at her, she wondered if he already knew what the girls needed to discuss.

After Ruth told them about her meeting with the Business Association, Meg looked at the expressions on her friends’ faces.

“Studying in the summertime is strange?” she asked. Unless a girl was truly ill, the cassandra sangue had had lessons every day.