Chapter One
Lilith Sternin was awoken to the sound of her phone ringing. She only hoped that it was not loud enough to wake Frederick. She finally woke up enough to answer it. "Dr. Lilith Sternin, and you better have a good reason for calling this late," she said as she flipped on the light next to her bed. She blinked a few times before adjusting to the change from darkness.
"Dr. Sternin, I apologize for waking you," the caller said, "but I have a job offer you can't refuse."
"Thank you, but I have a job here in Boston," Lilith informed the caller.
"Boston?" the caller asked. "Sorry, for some reason I assumed you were local," he continued.
"Local to what?" Lilith asked as she fought the urge to yawn.
"Sunnydale."
Lilith frowned. "I don't believe I have heard of this town."
"In California," the caller added. "Your friend Maggie Walsh used to work here."
Lilith frowned momentarily. "Oh, Maggie," she exclaimed in a slightly loud voice. "How is she?" she asked. She temporarily forgot that she had been woken up at one in the morning. She had not spoken to Maggie since Maggie had moved across the country and became more famous than some other psychiatrists Lilith knew.
"Well, frankly, not so good. She died yesterday," the caller informed her. "That brings me to why I'm calling you." He took a breath and tried to think of how he wanted to phrase this. "You see, Maggie worked as the psychology professor here at the Sunnydale campus of the University of California. Since her death, we were unable to find someone to replace her. However, we stumbled across your name in her address book, and we see that she highly recommends you. We were wondering if you would be interested in teaching her class."
"In California?" Lilith asked.
"Yes, ma'm," the caller said. "You don't have to give us an answer right away. Just call us within the week," he said before rattling off his telephone number. "Just ask for Mark," he added. "Have a nice night."
Lilith blinked again. She could not believe this was happening. She had a job that she loved in Boston. She had Frederick and his wonderful school. She wondered if they could just move across the country. Frederick was ten, almost eleven. Would he really want to move? She would talk to him in the morning. Lilith sighed heavily before falling back asleep. She would think about this more in the morning and discuss it with Frederick at breakfast. For now, she wanted to sleep.
((A/N: I apologize that these chapters are short, but I can promise that I'll do my best to make them longer...))