“He’s in a meeting—an employee review up in P and L—but he should be back any minute if you want to have a seat.”
She didn’t have to ask me twice. I sank wearily into the overstuffed chair in front of her desk.
“Can I get you some coffee?” she asked.
“How about a margarita?”
She grimaced. “Ouch. Let me guess, Gregor?”
I nodded. “How do people work under him?”
“Don’t ask me, sweetie. I just know there was a resounding sigh of relief when he was reassigned after his ‘accident.’” She made air quote marks with her fingers and smirked. Then she perked up. “I can’t give you a margarita on company time, but a group of us are getting together for a girls’ night out tomorrow. You should come. You’d get to know some of the other women who work here. Let’s face it, there are times when this place is positively medieval when it comes to women in the workplace. It helps for us to all pull together.”
“It sounds like fun,” I said. The more people I knew inside the company, the better I could do my job. There was a nagging thought in my head that there was something I was supposed to remember about that night, but I flipped through my day planner and found nothing written in. “Sure, I’ll come along. The others won’t mind me being there, will they?”
“They’d love to have you along.” She winked at me. “You can tell us if any guys we spot are really cute or just using a cute illusion.”
As if on cue, Rod walked through the door. I hoped he hadn’t heard Isabel’s last comment. Then I wondered if Isabel even knew about his illusion. I tried to imagine how other people saw him. “Katie!” he greeted me, sounding surprised.
“Can I have a word with you?”
“Of course. Come in.” I gathered my jacket, briefcase, and purse and followed him into his office. “How’s your head?” he asked as I settled into a chair.
I touched my temple, just then remembering what had happened the day before. Had it only been one day? It was hard to believe. So much had happened to me in such a short span of time. “It’s fine. I’d even forgotten about it. It’s not all black and blue, is it?”
“It looks pretty nasty. Want me to mask it for you?”
“I thought magic didn’t work on me.”
“An illusion doesn’t have to work on the person who wears it. It’s a spell that follows you around and works on other people.”
“My roommates have already seen it, so it would raise questions if I came home with no lump on my head at all, but thanks for the offer.”
“Oh. Good point.” He sounded truly disappointed. He probably wanted to show off for me, and here I’d gone and dashed his hopes. “I could just make it look not so bad, so they won’t worry too much.”
I couldn’t see much harm in that, so I shrugged and said, “Sure, why not?”
He grinned, a truly delighted smile breaking out across his face in such a way that he looked truly attractive, even with his flaws and lack of grooming. Now I was glad I’d agreed. He rubbed his hands together, then placed one hand just above the knot on my forehead, closed his eyes, and muttered something under his breath. I felt the same charge and sense of pressure in the air that I’d noticed in Owen’s lab, but on a much smaller scale. A second later he opened his eyes and backed away, a satisfied smile on his face. “There you go,” he said. “I set it so it would wear off as the bruise fades away.”
“Thank you,” I said, even though I felt like a character in the fable of the emperor’s new clothes. I wouldn’t be able to tell whether he’d really done anything, so I just had to go along with it and act like he’d done me a favor.
He went around his desk, opened a drawer, and brought out a small hand mirror. “Here, take a look.”
“Remember, immune. I can’t see it.”
He shook his head as he handed the mirror to me. “You can with this. It’s an image checker, so you can see how well your illusion works. Even you should be able to see with this.”
I brought the mirror up to my face, and sure enough, the ugly lump on my head had faded to just a bit of blue and yellow, like a bruise that’s about to go away. Catching a glimpse of Rod peering over my shoulder, I finally had a chance to see him as others did.
Johnny Depp wasn’t a bad comparison. He wasn’t quite as classically handsome as Owen, but he had a slightly dangerous bad-boy allure to him, like he should be wearing a leather jacket and hanging out at a disreputable nightclub, where he’d have to fend off the women throwing themselves at him. He still wasn’t someone who would draw my attention for more than a passing, appreciative glance, but I could see where some women might find him intensely attractive, especially when he threw in a love spell.
Then I turned around, and he was just the Rod I knew, who wouldn’t be half bad if he put the same effort into taking care of himself as he put into his illusions. “Thanks, it does look better. I bet that comes in really handy for covering zits,” I said. Then I couldn’t resist asking, “Does this mean you don’t see your own illusion when you look in an ordinary mirror?”
He shook his head, and there was a dejected look in his eyes. “Unfortunately not. You can see other people’s illusions in a mirror, but not your own. It has something to do with the reflection or refraction of the spell, or something like that. I was never very good with the physics of magic.” Now I had to wonder at his self-esteem. How could he go around acting like he knew he was God’s gift to women when he saw something else entirely in the mirror? Or did he ever look in the mirror at all? I didn’t see how anyone could bear to go through life wearing an entirely different face. It would be weird to me. I’d rather just get my hair done and have plastic surgery, or else find a way to learn to live with myself the way I was. That would be a lot less confusing. Magic might come in handy, but I was starting to see that there were places where it caused more problems than it solved.
“One of those image checkers might be helpful in my line of work, for comparing what really is there against the illusion,” I said, when I realized I’d been silent too long.
“We’ve tried, but haven’t had much luck getting it to work. There’s something about the mirror image that’s distorting when it comes to in-depth image versus reality comparisons.”
“Still, I’d like to get one and tinker with it.”
“I’ll requisition one for you.” He put his mirror back in its drawer and sat behind his desk. “Now, what was it you came to see me about?”
I’d almost forgotten. What with talking to Isabel about a girls’ night out, getting an illusion cast on my bruise, and seeing Rod’s illusion, my anger had faded. But as soon as I thought about it, it came rushing back. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to use a little discretion when dealing with Gregor. He went all ogre on me, and he was seriously ticked that I’d gone behind his back.”
Rod winced. “Sorry about that. I keep forgetting that he’s masking his anger issues, and I can’t get a verifier into any meetings I have with him without having to talk to him in front of his staff. In the future I’ll borrow a verifier from monitoring. He seemed perfectly fine when I was talking to him.”
“Well, I just got an earful, complete with fangs. I don’t want to sound like a diva, but I’m not sure I can keep going back in there. I like it here, really, and I can see where what we’re doing—what I’m doing—is important. But I don’t want to dread this place.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to go back there—not as a permanent office location. You’ll still need to report in from time to time. We decided to use your idea and spread verifiers out to keep an eye out for intruders. You’ll be officing in R and D.”
That made me feel better. I even felt kind of mean for having been so angry. “That should be a nice change of pace,” I said.
“You’ll report to Verification in the morning. It’ll be best for Gregor to be the one to send you up to R and D. Pretend to be surprised.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry. It’ll be an
Oscar-winning performance. I’ll try not to jump up and down with glee when he gives me the news.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
I put on my jacket, gathered my purse and tote bag, and went into the outer office. “See you tomorrow,” Isabel said. “We’ll meet here after work.”
“Okay, see you then.”
I looked around for Owen when I got to the subway station, but he wasn’t there. I was surprised how much I missed him. I hadn’t admitted it to myself, but the sight of him on the subway platform gave me a thrill every time. It looked like I’d developed myself a nice little crush. A pointless crush, from what I could tell.
It was my night to cook, so I changed into jeans and a sweatshirt when I got home and headed to the kitchen to think of something interesting to do with hamburger meat. I was stirring a simple meat and tomato sauce and trying very hard not to daydream about Owen when Gemma came home.
“Mmm, something smells good,” she said. Then she took a second look at me and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong?” I wondered if Rod’s illusion had slipped or gone horribly askew. I didn’t look like I had leprous lesions coming off my forehead, did I?
“I don’t know. You look worried. Don’t tell me you’ve got job problems already.”
I decided against sharing my adventures with armed robbery. If I told that story the day after telling about stopping an intruder, my friends would think I didn’t have a job at all, that I just spent my days on a park bench, then came home and made up wild, imaginative stories about what went on at work. Besides, there was no way I could think of to explain how we’d dealt with the robbery without bringing up magic and Merlin. “No, no job problems. Everything’s going fine at work.”
“Good, because that’s Marcia’s department. Man problems?”
“No.”
“Yep, definitely man problems. That, I can handle. Just let me change clothes. Pour me some wine, could you?”
“Sure.” I poured two glasses of wine and gave my sauce a stir. She came back a few minutes later dressed in low-slung yoga pants and a cropped sweatshirt.
“So, what’s the deal, someone at the new job?” she asked as she sat at the dining table and took a sip of wine. I turned the burner down on the stove and joined her.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.” I suddenly felt like we were back in school, discussing the guys from our classes. “There’s a guy at work I’ve been thinking about a lot since I met him.”
“And you’ve got a thing for him.”
“It’s just a crush, I think,” I said with a shrug. “He’s good-looking and he’s nice to me. He lives near here, so we go to and from work together. When I get used to him, it’ll probably fade. And I don’t think it’ll go anywhere. He isn’t interested in me, I don’t think.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He’s really shy, the kind of guy who doesn’t talk easily to anyone, let alone someone he’s interested in, and he talks to me.”
“You are easy to talk to.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s my curse. But it’s not like he talks to me about anything other than business, not even when we’re on the subway. I couldn’t begin to tell you what he does away from work.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t sound like sparks are flying.” She must have seen my face fall, for she frowned.
I drank some wine, then laughed. “Isn’t that how it always seems to go? The ones you like just want to be friends. Why can’t I seem to break out of high school dating patterns?”
“Because men never really mature.” She put her wineglass down on the table and crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, here’s how I see it. Don’t give up on him. Even if nothing else happens, friends are good to have, and you never know what friendship can grow into. Now, I know just the way to distract you from your problems. Are you going to be able to make it tomorrow night?”
“Tomorrow night?” Then I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. “God, Gem, I’m sorry, I totally forgot about it and said I’d go out with some of the women at work. I knew there was something I was forgetting.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not sure he was right for you anyway. Go out with the work people. But after that, you could use some masculine distraction. When was your last boyfriend?”
I got up to check my sauce so I wouldn’t have to look her in the eye. “Steve Sprague,” I said softly.
“Steve? Junior year Steve? You haven’t had a serious relationship since then?”
I white-knuckled the wooden spoon as I fought to keep my composure. “Well, we made that no boyfriends, no entanglements that will hold us back from taking on the world vow our senior year before y’all left for New York. Then I was stuck in Hicksville for a few years, and there’s no big singles’ scene there. All the guys got married while I was off at college. Since I’ve been in New York, I haven’t dated anyone more than once or twice. I just seem to go on blind dates that don’t go anywhere.” As soon as I said it, I regretted it. She’d worked hard to help me fit in after I got to New York, and I didn’t want her to think I was criticizing her efforts. “The ‘like a sister’ thing has a double effect here,” I added with an attempt at a laugh.
“Okay, no more blind dates just to be dating. We’re looking for a real boyfriend for you.”
A boyfriend, huh? It sounded nice. I’d never been the kind of girl or woman who needed a man in my life to make me feel complete. I was perfectly happy on my own. But I liked the idea of trading dressing up, going out, and meeting guy after guy for having that one special guy. I had a sudden craving for a quiet evening at home, wearing sweats and snuggling on the sofa together, eating takeout and watching an old movie. That wasn’t something you could do on a blind date. It was a definite boyfriend activity.
“That sounds good. Just pick a good one for me.”
“I’ll have to look around. Until now, I haven’t been thinking about long-term prospects when I’ve been arranging things.”
The front door opened and Marcia came in. “Mmm, dinner smells good. Katie must be cooking tonight.”
“Hey!” Gemma protested, but she was grinning. She’d be the first to admit that her favorite recipe was a Chinese delivery menu.
“What’s going on?” Marcia asked as she tucked her briefcase into the end table that also served as her nightstand.
“We’re getting Katie a boyfriend.”
“We are? What brought this on?”
“I’m tired of all the dating,” I said before Gemma could say anything. “I’d like the chance to really get to know someone.”
“You do realize you’ll have to date some in order to find a boyfriend, don’t you?” Gemma teased.
“Does this mean you are or aren’t joining us tomorrow night?” Marcia asked, peering into the pot of tomato sauce and giving it a stir.
“I’m not. But not because of the boyfriend thing. I’m going out with some people from work. I figured it would be a good chance to get the real scoop on the office politics.”
Marcia poured herself a glass of wine. “That’s a very sound strategy.”
I got up and put some water on to boil for the pasta. I felt all warm inside, and not just because the tiny kitchen was hot from the cooking and all the bodies. It felt good to have my friends here and to remember how much they cared for me. That was something I never wanted to lose, no matter how deep I got myself into the magical world.
The next morning, Owen was in his usual spot on the subway platform. I felt a flutter in my stomach when I saw him, then reminded myself to forget about it. He appeared tired and haggard, with dark circles under his eyes, but otherwise he looked much better than the last time I’d seen him.
“How are you feeling?” I asked when I got near him.
“Better, thanks. I’m not looking forward to going through that again.”
“You have to do it again? Can’t someone else?”
“I wouldn’t ask anyone else,�
� he said solemnly as a train screeched to a stop.
We didn’t talk on the way to work. He looked lost in thought, and I was lost in thought, so neither of us minded the relative silence. The subway during rush hour isn’t a prime conversational zone anyway, especially when the topic of conversation involves magic.
I headed straight to the verification office, which took every ounce of will I had in me. I made a show of putting down my bags and draping my jacket across the back of my chair, then was just about to go put my lunch in the refrigerator when Gregor shouted at me. “Yes?” I asked innocently.
“You’ll be officing up in R and D. We’ll send your assignments there.”
“Oh, okay.” I kept my face as blank as I could while I picked my bags and jacket up and left the office. Only when I was safely out in the corridor did I smile in relief. It was going to be a lot easier to come to work from now on.
As it had at my last visit, the R&D door swung open when I approached. Once inside, I wondered where I should go, but I soon heard a flutter of wings and a fairy approached. Those wings might look insubstantial, but it seemed that a fairy could move pretty quickly when she wanted to. I recognized her as the fairy I’d seen on the subway that day last week that had changed my life.
“Hi!” she said cheerfully. “You must be Katie. I’m Ari. They sent me to show you your office.”
“Oh, good. I was wondering where to go.”
“It isn’t far. They want you just inside the entrance so you can spot the bad guys. Good work the other day, by the way.”
“Thanks.”
“And here we are!” She hovered just inside the doorway to a small office with glass walls that overlooked the main corridor. It wasn’t palatial, but it beat the verification pool, and it beat my cubicle at my last job. It even had a door. “We’ve already got the phone set up, and your computer will be delivered this afternoon.”
“A computer?” That was something I hadn’t had back in the pool.
“Yeah, special orders from the boss. Bathroom’s around the corner. We don’t have a coffee room or kitchen, but if you need anything, just grab someone and ask for whatever you want. I’m in the lab across the hall, so yell if you want something. Oh, and yell if you see someone who doesn’t look like they belong, but that goes without saying. Any questions?”
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