Veronica takes the bowl before she can be too embattled by temptation. "You're welcome!"

"With my guardians it wasn't safe to mess up at all. And I never messed up badly enough to set anything on fire."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"It's over now," she says in the tone of voice of someone who is trying harder to convince herself than the other person. 

"That's right," says Veronica, "it's over. Hopefully your foster parents will be wonderful people you get along well with."

"What if they're not?"

"I think there's a way to get different ones but I'm not sure how it works."

"Is there a way to find out?"

"I can make some calls. I'm not sure how good they are about answering questions on the phone, but I can find out."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Of course."

Veronica goes to make some calls.

Anna-Charlotte sits quietly and reads the fashion dictionary. 

Veronica leans in about twenty minutes later and says, "I'm having some trouble with the phone tree but I can try again tomorrow."

"Okay. Thank you. May I keep practicing magic outside as long as I only use the rain and not the lightning?"

"Yes you may. Not on the succulents, they don't like to get too wet - those are on the other side of the house, though."

"What's a succulent?"

"They're related to cactuses. Funny looking desert plants without normal leaves."

"Okay. I'll be careful."

"If you just stay on the kitchen side of the house everything there can be rained on all day no problem."

"Okay. But I'll be careful anyway. I didn't mean to start that fire."

"I know you didn't, Anna-Charlotte."

"I just mean--I didn't think it would happen. So I should be extra careful. Just in case."

Veronica nods. "Sensible when you're dealing with electricity, even the nonmagical kind."

"They had a talk about electrical safety at school but it just covered the stuff in wires, not lightning."

"Lightning's riskier than wires because it's not all wrapped up in rubber."