Dex smiled. "I admit, the same thing. Wanting to meet your new witch. Quite a rarity."
Veronica leaned forward into Paris' space. "You know, why don't you and I stay here and see what we can figure out about this magic problem. Dex can go see Jade, and I can meet her later. That way she won't have two people bombarding her at once."
"I'm sure she'd appreciate that. Coven life has been a big adjustment for her," Paris said. "She's down in Counter-Magic this morning and could probably take a break." While Paris wasn't sure Jade would appreciate meeting too many new people, it would be good for her to meet witches from outside the Coven. Perhaps she'd get a better sense of what being a witch meant.
Dex stood back up, smoothing out his shirt. "Sounds good. Paris," he said with a smile. "Good to see you again."
"You as well."
Veronica waited for Dex to leave the room, watching him go, before turning back to Paris. "So, what have you got so far on this trouble with your magic?"
#
Back in the Counter-Magic offices after her testing, Jade tried to focus on the problem in front of her. The rest of testing had progressed about the same as her fire spell - embarrassing and public.
This was exactly why she didn't like to hang out with people. When you fucked up on your own, there was nobody but you to see it. Get too cozy with people and you were bound to make an idiot out of yourself in front of them.
No one else had managed to nearly singe off the eyebrows of half the people in the room except for Jade. Fantastic. Although, there were a few green flames, sludgy water spells and one person managed to melt the coins used in the charmed objects test. Unlike Jade's error with her fire, however, from the way their magic felt, it was clear that it was being affected by whatever was wrong with the Coven. Daniel had said that Jade's magic felt 'clean,' whereas everyone else's magic had a sort of dullness or taint to it.
When Jade asked if everyone would have felt that, Daniel hesitated and Jade didn't need him to answer. It was a given now that at least the Counter-Magic Department knew her magic was unaffected. She found herself on the receiving end of a few more hairy eyeballs as they headed back to their offices.
Josef pulled her aside and gave her some workbooks to slog through. Jade liked to call them Magic Train problems. They reminded her of math problems in school; If Train A leaves the station going 50 miles an hour and Train B leaves two hours later going 60 miles an hour, how long until Train B overtakes Train A? Only now, the problems read like: If Thomas works a level 2 water spell with only incantations and Yolanda arrives 4 hours later to find the area flooded, should she use runes, incantation or herb magic to counteract the spell? What is her best choice to counteract the damage done by the spell?
As Jade understood it, part of Counter-Magic was simply becoming familiar with a lot of magic. The best witches in the department weren't the strongest witches. The best witches were the ones that worked with magic regularly enough to be familiar with most of the spells that often went awry. Jade's brain worked well with written and visual input. As long as she kept reading, kept ingesting data, kept learning, she knew she could become one of the best Counter-Magic witches in the Coven.
It was just really boring at the moment. She sighed and resisted the urge to rub at her eyes; she'd just make a mess of her mascara.
She felt a strange sensation in her hip and it took her a second to realize it was her phone buzzing at her.
COFFEE??!!!??
She smiled and started typing back a caps-locked 'A THOUSAND TIMES, YES,' to Henri, including Callie on the text message as well. Callie responded back that she'd grab them a seat in the cafeteria and see them in five. The dungeon where Callie worked was closest to the cafeteria, even though she had to come up the stairs to get there. Callie hated when Jade called it the dungeon, declaring it hadn't been used for that purpose in years and was now simply 'The Library.' It didn't matter what you called it or how many books and candelabra Callie brought in - it was still a former dungeon, left over from when the Covenstead was built. Stone walls, chilled and damp atmosphere, dark corners.
Although if you needed a quiet spot to read, you really couldn't beat it.
The cafeteria, on the other hand, had clearly been some kind of receiving hall or ballroom. It was on the main floor and Jade thought the Coven must have had some extra windows put in because it was more open and airy than she would have expected of a building so old. It had regular cafeteria-style seating - round tables for groups and some smaller ones off to the side - as well as food service. The coffee was quite good, which was a relief. There were no coffee shops close to the Covenstead, not without a car - a thing Jade sorely lacked at the moment.
Jade grabbed her purse and raised an eyebrow at Daniel, miming drinking coffee with one hand. He was taking down an incident report of another magic spell gone awry and she drifted closer to catch sight of the notes he was making. She caught the words 'lingering stench,' 'gelatinous substance,' and 'impervious to soap and cleaning supplies,' before she hightailed it out of there. The last thing she needed was for Daniel to decide he needed 'the rookie,' namely her, to go into another situation that would require a full decontamination shower afterward. She started reading a reply text from Henri, a rant about someone coming to his desk to ask him a 'quick question.' It had the classic typos of someone who was trying to type out a message while hiding their hands under their desk and Jade guffawed out loud at the notion that Henri would 'bee free minuets.'
Just outside the office, she collided with something, someone, hard and sharp, dropping her phone and cursing loudly when the casing broke off in pieces.
"Sorry."
Jade crouched on the ground, gathering up the two halves of her protective case and exhaled in relief when she saw her phone was still working. "I wasn't looking," she replied, snapping the case back on and then standing up to face the person she ran into.
He was taller than her, by quite a bit, which was always surprising to her. At five-foot ten, she was used to seeing people at a certain level and this guy was easily six-foot-two or maybe three. Blond hair, brown eyes, he smiled at her like people who know they are good looking do - confident and casual, knowing their looks make a statement.
He was in her space, crowding close to her, and yeah, she'd run into him, but people normally take a step back after something like that. Jade eyed him warily. He was outright staring at her and it buried the needle on her creep-o-meter.
"Again, apologies," he said, as though she hadn't heard him the first time.
"Yeah, like I said, I wasn't looking, soooo... my bad."
He frowned at her a bit - the kind of look you give someone when you're expecting some kind of input from them - a word or some kind of sign. She frowned right back and then made a move to go past him. He stepped to block her, smiling again. He was the kind of guy who was probably used to his looks getting him out of a lot trouble.
"I'm Dex." He said it like it was meaningful or important.
She half-shrugged her shoulders. "I'm late," she said briskly, moving again to step past him, faking him out by jerking to the left and when he moved that way, she swept around his right side and started down the hall.
"You don't know of me?"
Jade shot him a sideways look. "Should I?" God, he was already on her nerves. Probably one of those guys who thought his reputation preceded him or something. Whatever.
"I'm visiting from one of the other covens. Actually, I was hoping to get a chance to meet with you."
Jade could hear him falling into step beside her, but she didn't turn around. "Why?" she asked, her eyes darting sideways slightly again.
"First witch born outside a coven? Working demon magic to boot? You're quite the rarity."
She stopped and hitched her purse up on her shoulder. Yeah, she was just a special snowflake. His tone was full of charm and she had an image in her head of a snake oil salesman. "So what?"
"So, I'd like to get to know you better."
"Again, why?"
He shrugged. "I just want to be friendly. Find out if you're happy here or maybe if you'd like to join another coven."
"Who are you?" she asked, eyes narrowing.
"I'm Coven Leader, two counties over. Thought I'd pop by for your Coven Ball and meet you."
"Are you here to poach me? Sway me to another coven with the promise of what? Fame? Money?" She started down the grand Covenstead staircase, ponytail swinging as she went.
Dex smiled again, teeth white and perfect, like dominoes lined up, ready to fall. Like Seth. Jade hated creepy smiles. "Nothing quite so nefarious. You're a suspicious one, aren't you?"
"Strange men walking up to me asking to get to know me better? It's weird."
"Surely it's not that weird. You're an attractive woman."
Ugh. God save her from men who thought she should be immediately flattered because they said something about her looks. Her looks were just her looks. You couldn't help how you were born looking and wanting to get to know someone solely based on their looks was just... the opposite of flattering. It made her edgy and nervous.
"Have coffee with me," he cajoled.
She was sure the face she was making was the same one she made when she got the first whiff of sewer water the other day. "No, thanks."
"Come on, it's just coffee."
Her creep-o-meter went off again. She'd said no, and that was the end of that. "I'm late. Excuse me." She made it down the flights of stairs, noting as she came around the corner to the main area that Henri wasn't at his desk. He must not have been as long as he thought and was already on his way to the cafeteria.
Dex was keeping pace beside her. "So, you're working in Counter-Magic."
She made a face. "Read that off the sign on the door?"
He chuckled a bit. "Yes, but I also heard it from Paris."
That sounded... strange. Paris wasn't the type to gossip or share information casually. It probably meant that Dex had asked about her specifically. Even creepier. She passed Henri's desk and headed down the hallway to the cafeteria.
"You like it?" Dex questioned, slightly trailing after her. Damn, she hated the tall ones. They could easily keep up with her stride.
"Like what?"
"Counter-Magic," he offered.
She turned slightly, staring at him unblinking. Jade didn't like his smile with its perfect Californian proportions.
"I guess. Look, it was nice to meet you or whatever. I'm not currently shopping around for a new coven. I'm still trying to figure this one out. So thanks, but no thanks."
Finally at the cafeteria, Jade hit the right-side double door hard, causing it to swing open with a crack. She could leave Dex behind now and he could just... flitter away or whatever it was that really plastic looking people did. She headed straight for the self-serve coffee bar, reading the signs as she approached. Flavored, flavored, flavored... she wasn't opposed to flavored coffee, but Chocolate-Raspberry was a definite 'no.' Maybe she'd do half Pecan Vanilla and half Espresso roast.
"Ah, nice to see the coffee selection is decent."
"Oh my god, learn social cues!" she exclaimed, seeing Dex approach her out of the corner of her eye.
Dex smiled at Jade as though she amused him, grabbing a cup and starting to fill it with Hawaiian Islands Blend. She snatched a paper tumbler off the stack and started her own. Do not engage. That was the key. She just had to ignore him long enough and he would go away.
If not, she was pulling out her fire spells. He may be a witch, a Coven Leader, but she'd managed to best Paris. Okay, so it was just the once and she hadn't really known what she was doing at the time, but still. She felt sure she could handle this Ken-doll.
At the condiment stand, while Jade tried to sort out which container was half and half and which was skim milk, Dex saddled up to her, standing too close to her personal bubble. She had a large personal bubble. He was in it and she didn't like it.
"I bet I know most of the people in this cafeteria."
She sighed loudly and put as much aggravation and distaste as she could into it.
"I probably even know the people you're here to meet. Now, who could it be? Who would you make friends with here?" Dex's voice trailed off as he started looking around the cafeteria and Jade had a sudden horrible thought about whom he could possibly be friendly with.
"Dex!"
Jade cringed at the cheery sound of Callie's voice carrying across the cafeteria. Callie happily jogged up to meet Dex, her face bright with a smile, her blonde hair flapping behind her like a curtain of fine silk. Callie launched herself at Dex and he caught her with a laugh, hugging her fondly. Jade's shoulder blades twitched, an uncomfortable sensation that made her flex her scapula, pulling her shoulders back and cracking her neck a bit. She looked up from her coffee to see Dex watching her even as he hugged Callie.
"It's so good to see you!"
"You too," Dex said with a smile. Jade wanted to roll her eyes but refrained. It was a feat of Herculean strength.
"Oh, you've met Jade?" Callie asked, stepping back from the hug, but still staying well within Dex's personal space.
"I was just getting to know her," Dex said, casting his eyes toward Jade. She stirred her coffee as viciously as you could with a plastic stir-stick.
"You two know each other, I take it," Jade said, popping her stir-stick into her mouth and chewing on it.
"Oh sure! We go way back. He's at his own coven now. For..." Callie trailed off and looked at Dex, her nose wrinkling slightly as she thought.
"Seven years, just about," Dex said and Callie nodded with a smile.
"We were thick as thieves when we were younger," Callie enthused, smiling fondly at Dex. "Oh! I heard Veronica's here too?"
"She is, she's just wrapping up some business with Paris and then she might join us," Dex answered.
Callie turned to Jade. "Veronica's another Coven Leader that used to live here."
Jade managed a small smile. "You guys got a lot of those, huh?"
Callie shrugged. "I guess so. You know, it's not so common for one Coven to have so many powerful witches, there must have be something in the water here!"
"What are you working on these days?" Dex asked Callie, steering the conversation away from himself.
"The Library of course," Callie said easily. Callie loved her library. It was hard not to get caught up with her when she started getting all fond about old-book-smell and how beautiful ancient paper was. While Jade had been interested in the demon grimoires for their spells, Callie had wanted to see them for their book bindings and paper - also checking out the ink weight and calligraphy used in the illustrations and markings. Jade had no doubt the grimoires would end up under Callie's lock and key someday - safely catalogued in her library.
"Come sit with us," Callie cajoled. "Henri, Jade and I were just about to have a coffee break. Do you have time?"
"For you, of course." Dex held his elbow out for Callie and she threaded her own arm through it, turning to head back to the table where Henri was waiting. Just as Dex turned, he winked at Jade, probably hoping to come across as charming and suave.
She thought it looked smarmy and gross. Jade shoved the plastic stir-stick back in her mouth and kept chewing on it. She'd been looking forward to her coffee break with Callie and Henri and now she kind of wished she'd stayed in Counter-Magic, even if Daniel was going to send her back into another sewer.
#
Coffee with Dex was just about as far from a relaxing break as Jade expected it to be. Henri and Callie regaled the table with stories from the Coven's past - laughing and joking, chatting about people they knew. Dex appeared to be a gracious guest, letting Callie and Henri drive the conversation, but Jade didn't like the vibes she got off him. Jade only perked up a bit when they mentioned that right after Paris became Coven Leader he managed to blow out all the windows in the Covenstead with a spell meant to push a heavy rain storm a bit farther south to have the brunt of it pass over th
e nature preserve.
"Glass! Glass everywhere," Callie explained. "Now some of our older windows were stained glass," Callie said, leaning in to give Jade a bit more context. "And there was this one that had a ... well, it was almost... you know, it was a little-"
"It looked like two swans fucking with a stag looking on taking notes," Henri butted in and Jade nearly choked on her coffee. "It did!" Henri exclaimed. "It was supposed to be some kind of homage to nature and the swans and the forest, but honestly, those swans were doing dirty things to each other and the stag was interested, if you know what I mean."
Callie laughed, making a loud snorting sound. For such a delicate looking woman, she could snort like a bull charging a red cape when she laughed.
"I maintain, to this day," Callie finally managed, poking at the table with one of her fingers, "that Paris did that on purpose. He'd always hated that window."
"It was an expensive mistake," Dex added. Some of Jade's interest and mirth died when Dex entered the tale. "Didn't it cost nearly $50,000 to replace all those windows?"
Callie nodded, sipping her coffee. "Oh my god, yes! It was such a disaster. You might be interested, Jade, to know that Counter-Magic keeps them charmed now to keep them from shattering like that again."
Jade nodded but crumpled a bit on the inside. Another thing she hadn't known. She questioned if she was ever going to be able fit in with people who had so much shared history with each other.
Jade felt a touch at her knee and she looked down to see that Dex's chair had moved a little bit closer to her than it had been before. She pushed her own back and got to her feet.
"Speaking of Counter-Magic, I should probably get back."
Dex turned slightly in his seat to look up at her. "I expect your department will see a rise in calls if magic is being affected across the Coven."
Jade narrowed her eyes at Dex. "I guess."
"Paris talked to you?" Callie asked, resting her hand on Dex's arm.
Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2) Page 10