Caroline's Internship

by Katherine Kim

  Caroline's Internship

  Katherine Kim

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Books by Katherine Kim

  Caroline’s Internship © 2019 Katherine Kim. All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, at katherineukim@gmail.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by Killer Book Covers

  Copyright © 2019 Katherine Kim

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  To my Facebook followers. Seriously, decisions on everything from character names to directions to take the plot were pretty much thanks to you guys.

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  1

  “Do you have everything you need?”

  Caroline squeaked in surprise when Julia poked her head around the corner to ask. Tinkling laughter preceded Julia through the bedroom doorway.

  “You’ll be fine, sweetie. What are you worried about?” Julia perched on the bed, her blonde hair pinned back and her outfit looking sharply professional. If Caroline hadn’t known that her roommate-slash-unofficial-guardian was half elf, she wouldn’t have guessed. Julia was beautiful, but not with that oddly unreal edge to it that Caroline knew to recognize now. Learning how to tell an elf from a human had been almost the first thing she’d done after her adventure in the spring.

  “I don’t know. It’s my first job?” Caroline answered the question and turned back to the mirror where she tried to straighten her blouse. “Even if it’s just an internship technically, I am getting a paycheck. And it’s for a government agency. And I only just graduated high school a month ago. And I got this job when I helped a vampire defeat a corrupt agency chief who was working with an elf supremacy group that had kidnapped both of us and now I’m going to work for the agency in charge of policing those guys?” Caroline heard her voice rising in pitch as the words poured out.

  Julia laughed again and grinned. “I would never have guessed that the calm, polite young woman who moved in here last week would be so flustered by the thought of paperwork and an office.” She stood and came to stand behind Caroline at the mirror. Julia stood tall and slender and if Caroline didn’t know she was an executive at a nearby investment firm, she’d have guessed the woman was a professional dancer with the graceful way she moved.

  Caroline couldn’t help but compare the two of them. Where Julia was tall and slim and graceful, Caroline was… well she wasn’t short particularly, but she was average. A bit on the out of shape side of teenage thin, she knew that if she didn’t work at it, she could skip past the infamous Freshman Fifteen and hit the Freshman Thirty-Or-So. And the very idea of Caroline ever being called graceful… well. She had a brief flashback to her elementary school attempt at ballet lessons and tried not to give in to the urge to hide under her covers forever that memory always provoked.

  Julia was blonde and could almost be described as delicate, even when she had her tough executive hardass face on. Caroline had mousy brown hair and just felt... Well, she’d always felt almost painfully average, but now she’d be a magic-less human in an office full of amazing non-human federal agents. Striving to reach below-average was starting to sound like a life goal at this point.

  “When Darien asked me to let you live here until the dorms opened up, he spent an hour telling me how brave you are, and how you faced down not only armed terrorists but his old boss,” Julia nudged her shoulder. “Then he and Ollie spent the next hour practically ignoring our drinks and being impressed with your academic record. It was the most sober evening I’ve spent at a bar with those guys talking about a girl. Probably because you haven’t dumped either of them, but eh. Details. My point is that you’re smart, and cool in a pinch, and you’re going to do great. Point wouldn’t have pushed to have you on his team if he didn’t believe in you. You’ll do great.”

  Caroline swallowed her knee jerk response. She didn’t feel especially brave. Yes, it was true that she’d met Darien in a pretty bad situation. Being locked in a basement cell was bad enough, but when it turned out that she’d fallen into this whole huge semi-secret world of paranormals that the general population didn’t know about was not the best of times.

  “Can’t dump anyone when you haven’t dated anyone. But school is easy, though. Well, high school was anyway,” Caroline shrugged. “And I didn’t have time to freak out when we were stuck in that mansion. I freaked out plenty later on, in the privacy of my bedroom.”

  Julia frowned. “Did you talk to anyone? I mean, that sort of thing is traumatic enough, but add in the paranormal aspect…”

  “Yeah. Point made sure that the therapist I talked to was an agency approved one so I didn’t have to dance around what actually happened.” That was one point that she could get her head around easily enough. While the existence of small enclaves of elves scattered around the world was generally known, and of course everyone knew about the human mages, very few knew about the larger paranormal world. Apparently, elves were far more populous than most humans knew, and there was an entire hidden world of non-humans out there. Hidden by their own choice, it turns out.

  Both Point and her therapist had explained it to her, and it still felt confusing. Basically, it boiled down to the Mage War in 475 BCE. The Mad Mages had tried to take over Asia and about half of Europe by manipulating and controlling the non-human races, whether they wanted to be involved or not. Caroline didn’t understand about half of what Point had grumbled about— as a troll he’d learned the history slightly differently than her human therapist had— but basically it boiled down to paranormals across the board deciding it was safer to go underground and keep themselves secret from humans who were too dangerous to be trusted.

  Granted, the mages who were the actual problem still knew all about them, but Caroline guessed she’d learn more about the politics of it all as she went along. She was taking a few history of magic classes when she started at the university, and Point had arranged for her to take a couple of non-human history lessons from a trainer in the FPAA.

  “Look,” Julia said and leaned her chin to rest it on Caroline’s shoulder. “I’ve only known you for a few days, but you seem pretty cool, and if Ollie and D both vouch for you that’s enough for me. Darien says you saved his life, and that’s not something to downplay. I know that guy, and he’s tough to keep down, so it must have been bad. Anyone who can do that, who can go through that and come out the other end with their wits mostly intact, is more than capable of dealing with a measly little internship.” Julia’s voice carried sincerity and warmth, and Caroline could tell that she really did have faith that everything would be fine.

  Caroline took a deep breath. “You�
�re right.”

  “And if you decide that it’s not the job for you, no harm done,” Julia grinned. “You can come work for me. I could use a gal Friday who’s not afraid of a little hand-to-hand combat.”

  “What are you investing in over there?” Caroline asked, meeting Julia’s twinkling eyes in the mirror with her own wide-eyed gaze. She made it a whole three seconds before they both dissolved into laughter.

  Caroline sat in the car and gripped the steering wheel till her knuckles turned white. Why going in to start a desk job was more terrifying than being kidnaped she wasn’t sure, but that’s how things worked sometimes. Maybe it was the fact that she hasn’t really had a chance to sit down and think about the kidnapping until after it was over, when she’d thrown up and had nightmares. Starting a job was something she’d seen coming for well over a month.

  Maybe it was that she’d been lying to her parents now for almost half a year. Caroline had never been the sort of kid to hide a lot of things from her parents, and thought of herself as a fairly honest, open person. But her folks didn’t know about the depth of the paranormal world around them. They’d always known about mages, of course, and the small enclaves of elves in most areas were pretty well known, but she couldn’t tell them that the federal agent who helped her escape was a vampire. Or that her new boss was literally a troll.

  She wasn’t used to keeping secrets about her everyday life from her family. Then again, she’d have to keep secrets anyway, wouldn’t she? Apparently, the Federal Paranormal Activities Agency was technically part of the Department of Homeland Security, so there were always going to be things she’d have to hide from them once she started, right?

  With that thought, Caroline took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders, and got out of the car. It didn’t help anyone to start the day doing the mental version of rambling. It was her first day of her first job and she was going to march in there and kick it’s ass.

  And to be completely fair, she was an intern. It’s not like they were going to put her on an anti-terrorist attack squad. Her job would be mainly filing and office work, she figured. No government agency would send an untrained teenage intern out like that, not even a barely regulated one like the FPAA seemed to be.

  The building that she was reporting to was in downtown Stonehaven, and looked pretty much like every other office building in the area. Chief Point had told her on the phone that their agency tried to keep a very low profile, so while they did have an official FPAA office in this building where anyone could find it and complain about this mage or that elf, or whatever was wrong with their life that they thought the FPAA should fix, most of the agency was hidden away on three floors that were labeled as a law firm on the directory.

  The directory she was checking right now while brushing a nervous hand down her blouse—a pencil skirt, white button up blouse, and nice black shoes was the only appropriate outfit to wear, according to her mother, and Caroline hoped she was right. She’d never started a job like this before.

  Finding the floor for the offices of Bryson, Bryson, and Heckers, attorneys at law, she went to the elevator and pushed the button for the 14th floor. The ride up was smooth and she stepped out into a thickly carpeted lobby, she walked up to the reception desk. The room looked exactly like you would expect from an expensive lawyers’ firm: fancy carpet, tasteful art, plush, comfortable chairs to wait in if it was necessary.

  The receptionist was perfectly turned out, every blonde hair swept perfectly into a French roll on the back of her head, diamond studs twinkling in her ears. She wore an expensive, tailored suit that managed to show nothing except her excellent taste and more than adequate paycheck. She watched Caroline’s approach with the politely neutral boredom of the perfect office manager.

  “Um…” Caroline’s voice cracked and she swallowed her nerves back down. “Hello. My name is Caroline Peters. I have an appointment.”

  At the mention of her name, the blonde woman’s face broke into a huge grin, completely destroying the illusion of the consummate professional gatekeeper.

  “You’re the new intern! It’s so great to meet you, Darien and Point have told me all about you. I’m so impressed, you have no idea.” The woman reached her hand over to shake Caroline’s. “My name’s Jeanie. Normally, you’ll just check in with me and then head in through that door there.” She waved at a tasteful but undecorated wooden door to her right, just behind her reception desk. “But this morning you’ll be escorted back to get your badge and everything. Hang on.”

  “Um, okay.” Caroline could hear the open friendliness in the woman’s voice. It was musical like most of the elves that had taken her hostage, but the telltale ears were absent. Another half elf, Caroline wondered idly. Was asking people what they were as rude as it felt?

  “Point’s on his way out. He’s got your ID badge and everything you’ll need for later. I have the feeling that you’ll do great, I can already tell. You can go ahead and wait just inside the door there. He can’t come out, you know. The lawyers have appointments all day, and you never know who might show up early.” She rolled her eyes. “Because you know. It’s not enough for us to have the office as a cover, we have to actually run it too. Oh it’s so nice to finally meet you, I’m so excited! We’ll have to grab lunch sometime, really take a chance to chat. I’ll show you where all the best places to eat are around here.”

  “Um, thanks. It’s nice to meet you too.” Caroline said. The sincerity in Jeanie’s voice went a very long way to soothe her nerves. She smiled and opened the indicated door and slipped into the office, hidden away from public, human eyes.

  2

  “Caroline! Welcome! We’re all pretty excited to have you here.” Point surged through a door on the other side of the short hallway like an elephant in a hurry.

  Caroline blinked at him. He was just under six feet tall, but nearly as broad as the hallway and muscled, and had the typical slate grey skin and lumpy facial features trolls were known for. The button up shirt he wore was working hard to stay buttoned, and in the back of her mind Caroline was impressed that he could find suits that fit at all.

  She’d been prepared to go down to Personnel to fill out paperwork today for her internship and start training. (Human Relations did, well, other things than dealing with employment paperwork and such.) It seemed, however, that Point had other plans.

  “I’m glad to be here,” Caroline answered. “I have to admit that I’m super nervous, though.”

  Point stopped them in the hallway, the sounds of a busy office flowing through the wide doorway just another foot further along their path, and turned to her.

  “I would tell you that there’s nothing to be nervous about, but I’d be lying through my pointy teeth.” He grinned, showing off the teeth in question. Caroline smiled back. Funny how Chief Point was absolutely not even a little scary to her, even with a mouth that a shark would envy.

  “You really know how to reassure a girl,” she said, and Point laughed.

  “Yeah, well. I’m not going to bullshit you,” he said. He dug in his pocket and pulled out an ID card on a lanyard. “There are probably going to be times where you’re in a tight spot. I have every confidence you’ll be fine, though, and I’m never sending you out there alone.” His eyes twinkled for a moment and Caroline found herself somewhat disconcerted. “At least not until you graduate to full agent.

  “Ah,” Caroline said. She looped the lanyard around her neck. Point grinned again and patted her shoulder gently.

  “Come on. Let’s get you in there.” He guided her that last foot and then around into the large room.

  It looked almost like a stage set from a police procedural— desks pushed together in small islands, almost like a kindergarten classroom, worn office chairs and humming computers at each station, though the couldn’t help but notice th number of clear, empty desks scattered around the room. It felt like a theatre during rehearsal— occupied and lively, but not quite where it should be in terms of occupancy
.

  The smell of coffee and something vaguely metallic hung in the air, and the ambient chatter in the room dropped significantly when they entered. Point sighed and stopped with what Caroline felt was a great deal of false reluctance.

  “Folks, everyone listen up! For those of you that haven’t met her yet, this is Caroline Peters, our new intern,” he shouted. By the end of the sentence, the room was silent. “Many of you will remember her from the raid a few months ago. She’ll be here for the next year at least, but if we’re lucky she’ll decide to stay with us for a while. Her hours are dependent on a number of things, not least of which being how badly you all behave. I will say this once, but I mean it. Behave or I will end you, if she doesn’t do it first.” Caroline blinked at him. She could tell that he was very serious about his threat, and she guessed that everyone else in the room knew it because there was a moment of surprised silence before someone started clapping. After a second the room was full of applause and friendly calls of ‘welcome!’ and ‘who’s throwing the good luck— I mean welcome— party?’ and ‘Anyone gives you any trouble, you can call me.’ and ‘I definitely remember how badass she was!’

  Caroline picked out a few faces she recognized from the raid that had rescued her and Darien from the Elf Supremacists and all the aftermath from it. The tall, slim woman with streaks of green in her long black hair smiled and applauded. The blonde man sitting at a desk in the corner who waved and grinned at her while bouncing a red playground ball, and looked for all the world like he hoped they could play together at recess. There was the dark, sharp-looking man near what she thought might be the break room, since he was holding a coffee mug with steam rising from it, who grimly nodded his welcome and turned back into the room beyond.