When he didn’t respond, she simply said, “I’m a zana, it’s sort of a broad term, catch-all for Romanian fae folk. My particular branch of the ‘family’ were forest dwellers in the classic ‘fairy godmother’ vein. They blessed unborn babies, helped lost children get out of the woods, rewarded decent people for their virtues, that sort of thing. Their affection for unborn humans eventually led to midwifery. My several-times-great-grandmother saw the writing on the wall, in terms of the old world versus new, and how people were intruding on the forest. She adopted a common last name, learned human ways, and made her way to America in the 1830s. Somehow, she ended up in Tennessee. It seemed a better long-term plan than cursing an entire population of woodcutters.”

She smiled warmly at Leonard, as if prompting him–again–to take his turn. But his mouth had turned dry, staring at her lovely little face. He swallowed heavily. It wasn’t so much her fae nature, but the casual way she’d talked of throwing curses around made him nervous.

Charlotte was an unknown quantity and Leonard’s reaction to that made him feel like a grade-A jackass. Her being born with special abilities was no more her fault than being born with a curse was his fault. Her being beautiful and interesting and kind had his hormones in over-drive, which was the real complication in the situation. He was practically tied in knots, he was so nervous. And that was never a good thing.

He couldn’t move, which was probably for the best, because he would probably trip if he tried to get up and fall out of the first-story window to his death. And even if he managed to make it out of the room unscathed, he didn’t want to hurt this woman’s feelings because of his own irrational issues. So he sat there quietly, mulling over the possibility of time travel, so he could go back to visit the O’Donnell ancestor that started this mess and kick his ass.

Sonja apparently picked up on Leonard’s inward meltdown because she quickly moved the agenda along to the next department head meeting. They chatted about the various departments and how Charlotte might need to interact with them. She was warned about Adam McTeague and his tendency to dominate meetings with his overblown opinions regarding his own economics research. Leonard didn’t contribute much to the conversation, and was grateful to Sonja and Will for making up for his silence.

As the conversation wound down, Sonja handed Charlotte a manila envelope. “Now comes the thing that the League likes best.”

“Paperwork?” Charlotte guessed.