by Sarah Noffke
She unrolled it, confused. “Wait, there isn’t anything on this. It’s blank.”
Rory nodded. “Go to find this person right after work today. Once you set off, the address will appear on the paper.”
“Oh, like magic?” Liv asked with a laugh.
Rory didn’t appear amused. “And in the meantime, stay away from electronics.”
Liv gawked at him. “Um, how am I supposed to do that? I work in an electronic repair shop?”
Rory looked at the tools teetering toward the edge of the table, about to jump over the side. “I’ll tell John that you’re in the back office working on accounts today.”
Liv brightened. “We are behind on filing and stuff.”
“Yeah, paper is fine,” Rory said. “Just don’t go near anything electronic. It thrives on unharnessed magic.”
Liv nodded, backing toward the office crammed with past-due invoices and accounts-payable receipts. When she was almost to the door, she paused. “Oh, and this person I’m meeting later… What’s their name?”
Rory looked down at the floor uncertainly. “I’ll tell them to expect you. They can make their own introduction.”
Chapter Sixteen
For the rest of the day, Liv didn’t leave the office. To her relief, no other strange mishaps occurred related to her magic. As a bonus, Liv found a rebate that John had forgotten to cash in, as well as three clients they hadn’t billed. The found money more than covered the damage she’d done to the shop. It didn’t make her feel completely better, but it softened the guilt slightly.
When Liv left the back office, she was relieved to find the area where the scorch marks had been from the heater was now pristine. Sitting on the table next to a row of neatly arranged tools was the heater, looking as good as new. Liv didn’t dare get any closer to the workstation. Instead, she backed toward the exit.
“I’m heading out, John,” Liv called to the front.
“See you tomorrow,” he replied, poking his head through the swinging door. “Oh, and good news. They caught the hoodlums already.”
“What?” Liv asked, pausing in the doorway.
John nodded proudly. “They deny breaking in here but admitted to a lot of other disturbances in the area. The police say our report put them on their trail, so good going today.”
Liv nodded, plastering a fake smile on her face. “That’s great. Well, we’re off for the day. Take care, and don’t stay here all night.”
“Oh, I don’t have to work late at all tonight,” John stated, striding in Liv’s direction “Rory cleaned up for me when I went to grab lunch. By the time I got back, the place was spotless. I actually don’t want to do anything in the front, I’m so afraid that I’ll mess it up.”
Liv laughed. “Yeah, keep it clean as long as possible.”
“And the appliances Rory brought me were all in pristine condition,” John continued, “which made my job easy. I just put them on the retail shelf, and they all sold in no time.”
Liv smiled for real this time. “Well, then it wasn’t such a bad day after all.”
“Best one I’ve had in a while, actually,” John told her.
“That’s wonderful.” Liv beamed. “And the back office is clean, and I found some overdue accounts. The report is on your desk.”
John peeked into his office, his face brightening, which made him look younger. “Oh, well, looky there. The top of my desk is light tan. I haven’t seen it in so long that I’d forgotten. I can’t believe you made so much progress today.”
Liv looked down at Plato. “I had help.”
John chuckled, picking up the report on the corner of his desk. His eyes widened when he read the bottom line. “Is this right?”
Liv nodded. “Yes, and it was just money sitting around waiting to be claimed.”
“Well, I’ll be,” John declared, laughing harder. “It’s like my luck has changed. Maybe I’ll renovate your apartment with some of this money.”
Liv shook her head. “No, please don’t. I like my apartment the way it is. But the shop could use a better sign.”
John agreed with a nod. “A new sign it is.”
Liv waved to John as she and Plato went out the back of the shop into the cluttered alley. Maybe that would be her job tomorrow: to clean up the old boxes and junk they threw back there. Anything to keep her away from electronics and from making another mess for John. However, so far, no real harm had come out of the incident that morning. Quite the opposite. And hopefully, whoever Rory was sending Liv to would help her so that she never lost control of her magic again.
Shoveling a spoonful of macaroni and cheese into her mouth, Liv stared at the piece of paper Rory had given her. It was still blank.
“When is it going to give me the address?” Liv asked, eating over the kitchen counter, which doubled as her desk and dining area. She didn’t mind the small apartment, because she could clean the whole thing in under fifteen minutes. Also, she only had to walk ten feet from her bed to the sink to grab a drink of water in the middle of the night.
“He said that the address will appear when you set off for the place,” Plato said, also eating at the kitchen counter, his bowl of food nearly gone.
“Yes, but how do I know which way to go?” Liv asked.
“I’d vote for going the more rural route to avoid setting off electronics by accident,” Plato advised.
Liv looked down at the cabinet where she’d stuck most of her appliances upon entering her studio apartment. “That’s probably a good plan.”
She stuffed the last bite of macaroni into her mouth, feeling much hungrier than usual. To her surprise, after eating an entire box of macaroni and cheese, she was still starving.
Liv opened her refrigerator and scanned the pathetic options: three cheese sticks, a bag of carrots, and a jar of pickles.
“I seriously need to go shopping,” she grumbled, slamming the refrigerator door closed and opening the pantry.
“And you’re going to do that when? After you’ve had your magic lesson today, but before your first shift as a Warrior for the House of Seven?” Plato asked, finishing his bowl of food and looking quite satisfied.
Liv opened the pantry, a smile popping onto her face. She grabbed the bag of Doritos with delight. “Score! I thought I’d eaten these already.”
Plato licked his chops, cleaning himself after his dinner. “Why does most of your diet consist of cheese?”
Liv opened the bag, inhaling the lovely scent of powdered dairy and spices. “I’m a cheesetarian.”
“That’s not a thing,” Plato said dryly.
“You’re not a thing,” Liv fired back through a mouthful of crumbs.
“Back to talking about your schedule and lack of time to properly shop,” Plato began.
Liv crammed three chips into her mouth at once, pinching the sides of her mouth in the process to make them all fit.
“I think you might need to reconsider your responsibilities.”
“You’re just afraid I won’t have time to pick up kitty food,” Liv teased.
Plato shook his head. “It might surprise you to know that I’m not dependent on you to feed me. It’s just sort of a thing I let you do.”
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Liv said, licking her fingers. “You magically appear on a regular basis and avoid telling me where you’ve been, and you know things that most magicians I grew up with don’t even know. I’m certain you can feed yourself as well as do many other things you haven’t shared with me.”
“I trade stocks when you’re sleeping,” Plato admitted. “There, are you happy? I shared a secret about me.”
Liv laughed. “I don’t think for a second that you’re lying about trading stocks, but I fear that only scratches the surface of your mysterious façade.”
“So, back to your workload,” Plato said. “Working cases as a Warrior will take up large chunks of your nights, and possibly the days.”
Liv looked into the once-full bag of Doritos
to find only a few chips in the bottom. Where had they all gone so fast? She frowned, looking at the cat. “Yeah, so?”
“And you’re going to need to train during the day as well,” Plato reasoned.
Liv pinched up the crumbs at the bottom of the bag. “Again, so?”
“So, you might want to consider cutting your hours at the electronics shop or quitting altogether.”
Liv gawked at the feline. “Well, it looks like I’ve accidentally poisoned your food and the result is that you’ve lost your damn mind.”
Plato shook his head. “I think it’s worth considering.”
Liv wadded up the empty chip bag, still feeling strangely hungry. She grabbed a mug from the washboard and filled it under the tap. “I’m not quitting on John. Besides, I need that job.”
“You don’t, actually,” Plato argued. “You might not have signed any formal HR agreement with the House, but Warriors make a comfortable living. You turned down the perk of living at the House of Seven, but you’ll still make a handsome wage for the cases you work.”
Liv rolled her eyes. “Living at the House of Seven isn’t a perk. It’s full of stuffy magicians who think they are better than everyone else.” She looked around fondly at her tiny studio apartment, decorated with watercolor paintings and acrylics she’d bought from street vendors. Her sofa and coffee table were secondhand from the Native American man who used to live below her. The sofa was in great condition, covered in fabric with a pattern of pastel feathers.
The coffee table looked brand new, and on the surface was a dream catcher. Under that were the words: “You are born free to be anything you dream to be.”
The man had sold the furniture to Liv for a pint of cookies and cream ice cream and a bag of fruit rollups. It was all she had to pay him with, but he probably would have given it to her for free, wanting to unload the furniture before his unexpected move. However, Liv didn’t take handouts, so she had insisted she pay him with something.
She sort of wished she still had that pint of ice cream now, but she definitely loved her sofa, which folded out into a lumpy bed.
“Besides, the House doesn’t have the same charm and character as my place,” Liv went on.
“There’s a giant black chasm and a hall with a secret language,” Plato argued. “I’d say it’s got plenty of character.”
“And no matter how much I make as a Warrior, I do still need the job working for John,” Liv insisted. “It grounds me, and makes me feel like I have a place where I belong.”
“You’re a Warrior for the House of Seven now, the most prestigious organization of magicians in the world,” Plato said. “I’d say you have a place to belong.”
“They are a governing body, just like a bunch of politicians in some stuffy capitol building,” Liv said, taking a sip of water.
“You’re not quitting your job, then?” Plato asked, but there was something different in his eyes suddenly—possibly a spark of mischief.
“Absolutely not,” Liv stated. “I’ll just have to make it all work.”
“I figured you’d say that,” Plato said, jumping down from the countertop.
Liv’s mouth popped open. “Then why did you ask?”
“Just to see if the magic was going to your head yet.” Plato looked back at her from the front door. “Well, are we going or not? We shouldn’t keep this mystery trainer waiting.”
Liv shook her head at the cat and grabbed the blank piece of paper. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
Chapter Seventeen
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Liv said, reading the address on the small bit of paper.
“Is it far?” Plato asked, looking up at her from the ground.
She shook her head and flashed him a look at the paper.
“I can’t see it,” Plato stated.
“Oh, well, it’s—”
“Don’t speak the address,” he warned, cutting her off. “There’s a charm on the paper that makes it so only the person it was given to can read it. If they share the address, they automatically forget it.”
Liv’s brow furrowed. “I’ve never heard of magic like that.”
Plato nodded. “The giants and other magical creatures have a different way of using their magic. It’s tied to enchanting objects.”
“Well, I hope whoever Rory is sending me to knows about magician magic,” Liv stated, striding down the sidewalk, following the map in her head. She’d spent the last five years exploring this city and falling in love with most of its oddities. She’d hadn’t been from a specific place when living at the House of Seven, since it wasn’t a part of anywhere, but rather its own location, like a self-sustaining city. Once she had gotten out of there, it had been nice to explore Los Angeles and find her identity in the many strange neighborhoods.
Liv turned a corner and paused. The street was dark and tall trees lined the sidewalk, casting most of the area in shadow. She looked up at the burned-out street lamps, wishing they were lit. Down the road, homeless people shuffled around, pushing carts or making camp for the night next to various buildings.
“You’re not scared, are you?” Plato asked in a whisper.
Liv scoffed at him. “Speak for yourself, scaredy cat.”
“Ha-ha.”
From behind one of the trees, a figure staggered out—a man wearing entirely too many clothes and a stocking cap that obscured one of his eyes. In one hand, he held a bottle of liquor, and the other reached out for Liv. “Hey, darlin’. What brings you down here? Looking for some fun?”
Liv jumped back several feet.
The homeless man didn’t take the hint, coming at her faster.
Liv halted, throwing her hand up to stop him. “Dude, if you come any closer, I’m going to roundhouse-kick you in the face.”
She didn’t really know how to pull off such an attack, but she knew how to talk shit. That was better than knowing how to fight, she reasoned.
“Awe, I’m just trying to be friendly with you, honey,” the man said with a thick laugh.
“Take your friendly behavior somewhere else,” Liv said, heat starting to build in her chest.
“Oh, fellas, we got a feisty one here,” the man sang.
Behind him, more figures shifted before coming into view: two men, who looked similar to the first in their baggy, dirty clothes, wearing hungry expressions.
Damn it to hell, Liv thought, taking another step back. She looked around for Plato and was unsurprised to find he’d disappeared. Must be nice.
“Now, come over here, darlin’ and tell me what a nice girl like you is doing down here?” the man suggested before taking a long sip from his bottle. He handed it to the man beside him and lurched in Liv’s direction.
She ducked down, sliding to the side as the bum dove for her and he stumbled, falling to the pavement from the momentum. One of the other men reached for her, but she spun to the side faster than him and rammed her shoulder hard into his, knocking him into the third. When they collided, the bottle dropped from the man’s hands, shattering on the ground.
The homeless man who had fallen to the pavement pushed up, his expression full of anger. He bent over and picked up a piece of the broken bottle, brandishing it at Liv.
“Now look what you’ve done,” he said hotly. “You’re going to have to pay for that.”
The three men crowded around Liv, boxing her in with the trees and buildings behind her.
She held up her fists, ready to punch the first man in his good eye if he took another step forward.
From the shadows came a loud growl, as if a giant lion was hiding in the dark.
The men all froze, looking at one another.
“What was that?” the middle man asked.
Again the growl sounded, this time louder than before. One man stumbled back. Another clapped his hands to his ears to try to block out the sound of danger. The ringleader jerked around and ran for the corner where the streetlamps still worked, the others right behind him.
Liv
let out a breath of relief, grateful she didn’t have to bruise her hands on those men’s faces. She would have done it, and maybe she would have lost, but she wouldn’t have backed down.
Turning to the shadow, Liv crossed her arms over her chest. “And here I thought you had abandoned me.”
Strolling out of the dark with a smug look on his face was Plato. “I would never. I just thought I’d be more helpful to you if I wasn’t seen.”
“Thank you. And smart thinking,” Liv said, glancing around. She pointed to a tiny house down the block. “I think that’s the place.”
“How charming,” Plato said, looking the building over. It was nestled between an abandoned convenience store and a rusty warehouse.
The house had held onto its claim in this mostly industrial area while the rest of the neighborhood had been overrun with buildings that looked like they were close to falling over. Although the small cottage had probably been cute back in the day, right now it was in need of fresh paint, and half of the porch looked ready to collapse. The street outside the cottage was dark, but light shone from the house, each window illuminated.
Liv gazed at Plato tentatively. “Well, Hansel, ready to potentially become pie?”
“Sure, and don’t worry, I won’t let that happen,” he replied calmly. “I’ve got your back.” Plato’s form flickered and he disappeared.
Liv sighed. “Thanks, but it would make me feel better if you had stuck around after making that statement.”
Although Plato didn’t answer, Liv knew he was there.
She paused, looking up at the strangely ordinary house in its bizarre location. Okay, here goes nothing, she thought, suddenly feeling exhausted after the long day. Liv shook that off and climbed up the porch carefully, afraid she might fall through.
Her hand was raised to knock on the door when it popped open a few inches and a green eye partially framed by curly brown hair looked down at her from up high.
Rory pulled the door back all the way to reveal his large form, which was hunkered down to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. He looked out past Liv and shook his head. “Wayne and his friends are harmless. You didn’t have to frighten them off.”