"What's up, guys?" Jay asked. He couldn't ignore his curiosity as to why his roommates were rushing out of their room.

"Jay, there you are, man," Kevin said. "It's gnomes.

There's like an army of girl gnomes, and they're fighting over who gets to clean our toilets and wash our clothes.

They even threw out yesterday's pizza, and I was going to have that for breakfast." Kevin crossed his arms and pouted like a five-year-old.

"It's three in the afternoon," Jaynell said, looking at his roommates.

"And?" Kevin said with a glare.

"Sorry, Kev," Jaynell said. "I just bonded a few gnomes to clean our rooms. There should only be two in there."

"Dude, you bonded gnomes? That so rocks," Devin said with a smile. He was the most dressed one of the bunch. His hair was a little tousled, but he had his shirt and jeans mostly on. A second look made Jaynell revise the thought. Devin's pants were probably supposed to be like that.

Dan spoke up. "But there's like eight gnomes in 58 *

there."

"Eight? I only bonded two for our house." Jay looked at the dorm door. There were definite sounds of a fight. "I'll take care of this. You guys go and get some breakfast."

"They threw out my breakfast," Kevin said in a disgruntled tone.

"Here." Jay gave Kevin a wad of cash. "Take everyone out on me. I'll talk to the gnomes."

Kevin's eyes went wide. "Cool. I'll bring you back the change, man." As he walked away with the triplets, Jaynell heard him say. "Gorgeous, loaded, and powerful.

It's just not fair."

The triplets made noises of agreement as Jay opened the door.

"He's a good kisser," he heard Dean mutter on the way out.

Maybe his roommate wasn't as heterosexual as Jaynell had thought.

Jay opened the door and walked into chaos. If chaos could be a dorm room cleaned within an inch of its life.

However,' the pristine room wasn't the problem. It was the 59 *

plethora of gnomes. Kevin was right. There were eight gnomes there. The two gnomes Jay had bonded and six other gnomes that were complete strangers.

The two bonded gnomes faced the other six, and it looked like a battle was about to begin.

"What is going on here?" Jay demanded. He made sure he put the note of command he'd heard in his father's voice more than once when addressing unwanted intruders.

Eight sets of eyes turned to stare at him.

Calla and Tulip dipped him curtsies. "Master, welcome home," they said in unison.

It was kind of freaky, but Jaynell didn't let that show on his face. "Afternoon, Calla and Tulip. Who are your friends?"

"These aren't any friends of mine," Calla said with a defiant toss of her head. "They're intruders, and with your permission, I'll toss them out."

Jay looked over the six gnomes standing politely at attention. "What are you doing here?"

The boldest of the six was a pixie-tailed blonde with a blue dress. She looked about eight but was probably closer to eight hundred. He could never tell with gnomes.

She dipped Jaynell a curtsey. "I'm Dahlia. We heard you were looking for gnomes, and we've come to apply.

We were giving a sample of our cleaning when these two 60 *

jumped in and started with the attitude."

"He bonded with us, not you," Calla said with a snarl. There was a whistling noise, and the pixie-tailed blonde ducked as a broom sailed through the air at her head.

Dahlia screamed in anger and jumped at Calla. Only Jaynell's grip on the back of her dress stopped her leap.

"Settle down. I'll not hire any gnomes who can't behave."

Immediately, the crowd settled down. Jaynell noticed for the first time that all the gnomes were females.

"Weren't any male gnomes interested in coming?"

The gnomes looked amongst themselves. Finally Dahlia spoke. "The men folk like gardening over housework."

Jaynell nodded. It made sense that the male gnomes might not be interested in cleaning houses, but he didn't realize there was such a division between the sexes.

"I'll need some yard work done also."

Calla smiled. "Is it for your boyfriend's pack?"

"Yes. I'm sure it's a lot of work to keep the grounds up. Tell the men that I'll provide power for up to six of them if they're interested in working for a werepack house.

Anyone with prejudice against werekin or gay males isn't invited."

61.

Tulip laughed. "With as much power as you carry around, Master, they're not going to care who you sleep with."

There was a general consensus of murmuring amongst the group until Dahlia spoke up.

"Does that mean you don't need us?"

"I don't need you for this dorm. However, I could use you at my boyfriend's house."

"And we can bring our husbands?" Dahlia asked.

Her smile was so wide it almost split her face.

"Yes. I can support you and your husbands, but that is probably it until I can bind you to the land and make you self-sustaining."

The gnomes gave Jaynell a look he was becoming quite familiar with. "Yes, it is possible to link you with the land directly, and yes, I have the ability to do that.

However, you have to be able to live on the land for at least a month."

"But we would be bound to the land and not a person?" Dahlia asked. The other gnomes looked just as puzzled.

"Yes. But at first you'd have to be bound to me."

"We'll take it," Dahlia said, holding out her wrist.

A few minutes later, Jaynell had bound six more gnomes, and deep down, where he felt the truth of things, 62 *

he just knew this was going to come back and bite him in the ass.

Jaynell walked into his advanced magical theory class and was surprised to see only four kids in attendance.

"Where's the rest of the class?" he asked a thin blond boy.

"This is it," the blond said with a sniff. "They don't let just anyone in here." He looked Jaynell up and down.

"Though, it looks like they've lowered their standards."

"Not if he's Jaynell." A dark-haired girl jumped up out of her seat. "I'm Mallory, but you can call me Mal. I'm a water wizard. That's Frank." She pointed to the rude blond. "He's a fire wizard, and that's Jax and Amy." She indicated a boy and girl sitting together. "They're both part earth troll."

The pair had dirt-colored skin and craggy brows that looked like they were made out of stone. "Nice to meet you."

They nodded in a friendly manner but didn't speak.

"What do you mean about fire wizard or earth wizard? I don't understand those designations." Jaynell knew he had gaps in his studies, but sometimes the basic stuff completely eluded him.

"It means, numbskull, that I am superior in fire and 63 *

she's superior in water. You, apparently, are inferior in everything."

Jay was contemplating how far he would bury the snotty bastard when the instructor walked in. According to his schedule, this was Professor Firestorm.

The wizard was tall with fiery red hair and an easy smile. Jaynell saw him looking over the class and focusing on Frank. "Frank, I would ask that you choose your opponents more wisely," the professor said with a chiding tone. "Jaynell has been on campus three days and, during that time, has been awarded wizard class potion teaching, mated with a werewolf, and bonded with enough gnomes the headmaster is starting to feel inferior. I live in anticipation of what he will do for the rest of the week.

Please be seated, Mr. Marley."

Jaynell bowed slightly to the professor and took a seat next to the friendly girl.

Frank slunk down in his chair, but Jaynell knew this wasn't the end of it. Some people just liked to be difficult.

"Now, students, I'd like you to turn to page fifty of your magical studies book." A textbook appeared on Jaynell's desk and flipped to the correct page. "Who can tell me the five theories of magic?"

The class went on forever. Jaynell didn't answer any questions unless asked directly. For an advanced class, the 64 *

work was really remedial. Finally, the lecture part was over, and they were led over to the lab.

"Here is where you separate the wizards from the weenies," Frank sneered. He kept his voice down so the professor didn't hear him.

Jay took a deep breath and told himself that his father wouldn't have approved of Jay snapping the kid's neck, but it did help to know that Thomas would not only have helped, he'd applaud him afterwards. He did have a bloodthirsty boyfriend.

"Today, we are going to do a much anticipated spell. We are going to find your avatar."

Jay already knew what his avatar was. Avatars were born from a wizard's magic, and everyone had one that showed their magical essence. Jay glanced nervously around the room, hoping the desks were stronger than they looked.

"Frank, why don't you start?"

Frank closed his eyes and started a low chant that Jay couldn't hear. What the hell was he chanting for? All you needed to call your avatar was a focus ball and your will. Deciding it was going to be a long class, Jay settled comfortably in a chair beside the wall.

Mallory sat beside him. "Frank can't perform any spells without trying to make it look fancy. Everyone 65 *

knows you just need a focus ball and your will."

"Thank you," Jay said. "I thought it was another one of those things that I did differently."

Mallory gave him a friendly smile. "Nope. Frank's just an ass."

After a lot of chanting, a small ball of fire unfurled and a respectably sized phoenix landed on Frank's shoulder.

"Nice," Jay said. He didn't clap because it looked like Frank was having difficulty keeping control of the creature. After a few minutes of sweat dotting the man's brow, the fiery animal vanished.

Professor Firestorm gave an approving smile.

"Good first time, Frank. Not everyone can call their avatar.

Now, Mallory, if you don't mind?"

Mallory's avatar was an enormous jellyfish. It floated through the air with an eerie grace until she finally banished it.

Considering how much damage it could do if it stung, Jaynell was impressed and told her so.

Mallory flushed with the praise.

The earth wizards called up a pair of powerful Rock creatures that each stood five feet high.