The Hacker Pushes Her Luck

by Heather Horrocks

  The woman motioned toward Sugar. “I was so glad to see that at least one of us escaped, but I was afraid she’d gotten hurt when she fell. I didn’t expect her to be here, though. Was she hired, as well?”

  Everybody looked between Walter, the woman claiming to be Jade Monroe, and Sugar, trying to understand this new turn of events.

  “The witches can find out if she’s telling the truth,” Ty said.

  “Or we can just see if she has hacking skills,” Jareth said. “It should be simple enough to disprove her claim. Not everyone can hack like Sugar.”

  The woman in green smiled and the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. “If you have my laptop, I can access my software and do any work you’d like in order to prove what I can do.”

  “All right,” Walter said. He glanced at Sugar, who looked scared. His wolf was angry at this green-eyed woman, but, as director, Walter needed to know which one of them was the real Jade Monroe.

  They followed Jareth into the IT room. Sugar trailed behind, looking smaller than normal.

  They set Sugar’s laptop in front of Jade Monroe, who booted it up — and immediately logged in. “What would you like me to do?”

  “I’m going to send you a copy of some code that we debugged and see if you can find the problem.”

  The woman nodded. A moment later, she began working, fingers flying and keys clacking. After ten minutes, she stopped. “There it is.”

  Walter leaned in. He wasn’t familiar with the code, but the pattern on the screen looked familiar. It looked like the screen Sugar had shown him.

  Jareth checked it and looked at Walter. “She found it.”

  She’d found it — and looked much more like a real hacker than Sugar ever had. Sugar had somehow managed to find all of those glitches by coincidence, which explained her odd way of working. No. Magic.

  He thought back to the egg, and to the way she’d found the glitches, and wished with all his heart that she was magical rather than just a lucky human, though his nose said otherwise. And it hadn’t failed him yet.

  Walter looked from the real Jade Monroe to Sugar.

  “You’ve pretended to be Jade for days now,” he accused. His wolf was angry with him and he was angry that there was yet another problem. And that it involved his Sugar. Mine.

  Yes, Wolf, I know you think she’s yours. Now shut up and let me think!

  He didn’t know what to believe. Even quick-thinking Ty just stood there, looking back and forth between the two women.

  Sugar shook her head, looking anguished. But she straightened her shoulders, and protested. “You’re the one who told me I was Jade Monroe. You told me that. After you rescued me.”

  “Do you even have amnesia?” His voice was cold and his voice shook with anger.

  She stared at him, a mixture of hurt and anger in her expression. “Can you really even ask that?”

  Ty put a hand on Walter’s shoulder. “We did tell her that her name was Jade Monroe, Walter. When she couldn’t remember.”

  Walter looked back and forth between the two women, trying to make the pieces fit.

  “You were both kidnapped? Who would have kidnapped you both, and why? Jade, had you ever met her before the incident?”

  Jade Monroe stood. “So I’ve proven myself?”

  “Yes,” Jareth said, sounding unhappy.

  Jade took two steps toward Sugar and lifted a hand to touch her arm. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

  Sugar jumped back, fear on her face.

  His wolf bit him squarely on the behind. Ow.

  Feeling betrayed and confused, he needed some time to think about this entire situation and separate emotion from facts. “Let’s all go home and meet back here in the morning. The first thing on our agenda will be finding out who’s kidnapping people, and why.”

  He went back to his office. He’d talk with Sugar tonight. They needed to get some things straight between them.

  She was right — he and Ty had told her she was Jade Monroe. And Jade’s story proved that Sugar hadn’t intentionally done anything. She’d been a victim just like Jade had.

  He came out to find the others in the lobby. “Where’s Sugar?”

  Ginnie looked at him with accusing eyes. “She left. And Jade left, too. We decided we’d wait for you.”

  Panic hit him and his wolf wanted to howl. He didn’t know how he knew, but something bad was about to happen. They had to protect Sugar!

  He pushed out the door and looked around. He couldn’t see either of them but he could scent them both. He gave his nose over to his wolf and started to follow Sugar’s trail. After a few hundred yards, he noticed that he still smelled both women. They’d taken the exact same path.

  Why was that?

  Sugar ran, picking up speed as she went.

  She looked back at the office — and saw the door open. At first, she thought — maybe even hoped — that Walter was following her, but then she saw that it was Jade coming out of the door.

  Sugar couldn’t remember her, but some part of her remembered that she was terrified of the woman. And she was even more terrified when she realized that Jade was searching around, sniffing the air, and looking in every direction.

  But Sugar had, at least, gotten a head start and plunged deep into Town Square. Keeping the food booths between her and Jade, she raced straight for Jingle’s cart.

  By the time she reached Craved Ice, she was panting.

  Jingle looked up and her eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”

  “I need help. Someone’s after me. Several someones, maybe.”

  “Quick. In here.” Jingle opened the half door on the side of her booth. “Who’s after you?”

  “A tall woman in green with freaky green eyes.”

  Jingle handed her a small block of ice. “Hold this. Don’t let go with both hands at once, no matter how cold it gets. I’ll keep you safe.”

  Sugar leaned back against the counter, holding onto the ice. Yeah. It was cold.

  A moment later, she heard Jade’s reptilian voice. “I’m looking for a woman who just came this way. Shorter than me, auburn hair, gray eyes ...?”

  “Yes. She did go by here.”

  The voice grew slimier, if that was possible. “Her scent stops here.”

  Below the counter, Jingle made a tiny finger motion to tell Sugar to stay put. Then Jingle told Jade, “She decided to ride one of the bicycles here in the park. So you won’t pick up her scent again until you find either her or the bike.”

  Jingle’s voice had taken on a tougher edge. Sugar wondered what kind of paranormal creature she was, because obviously she was one. Otherwise, she would have answered differently when Jade talked about picking up the scent. Humans don’t converse about picking up someone else’s scent — not unless that someone else is drenched in perfume.

  “I think she’s still here. In your booth.”

  Again, below the counter, Jingle’s hand moved. This time, Sugar felt a tingle roll over her skin. Then Jingle shrugged and said dismissively, “Look over the edge if you don’t believe me. But make it quick. I have a business to run here, and you’re holding up the line.”

  Terrified, Sugar watched as Jade’s face peered over the edge of the counter above her, looked all around — and then directly at her!

  Then, without stopping, she scanned the booth again, huffed, and leaned back. “I don’t know how you did that, missy.”

  “Jingle’s the name. Snow cones are my game.” Jingle’s voice grew colder yet. “You’re holding up the line. Either buy a snow cone or move on and look for that bicycle.”

  After a moment, Sugar heard a young girl’s voice. “I’d like a snow cone, please.”

  Jingle sweetly served the child and her mother. Then, without looking down at Sugar, she said, “She’s gone, but she keeps looking back so stay down. You can put the ice down now.”

  Her hands were freezing, so Sugar did just that. She whispered. “How did you do that, missy?’
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  Jingle smiled. “We snow pixies have a few tricks up our sleeves. I can’t raise or lower the temperature, but I can play around with anything cold. You were holding the ice, so your hands were cold, and I was able to cast a Shiver No See spell over you that hid you from view, but just for a few minutes. That’s why I told her to be quick about it. You’re still invisible, by the way, for about five more minutes. But she’s got something that can sense you, so stay low.”

  Sugar whispered back, “Okay.”

  “Oh, hot icicles!” Jingle hissed.

  “What? Is she coming back?”

  “No. It’s Walter with a pack of creatures trailing after him.”

  “Oh, great.”

  “Stay down.”

  Her heart pounding, Sugar did as instructed. A moment later, she heard Walter’s voice. “Jingle Bell Noel, I come as the director of the new Council, asking to speak with Sugar. I don’t know her last name. I thought it was Monroe.”

  “She will not speak with you now, Dr. Clemmons, Director of the Council. She has asked for sanctuary and I have granted it.”

  “What?” Walter sounded surprised.

  “Sanctuary, wolf. Where one is provided refuge.”

  “I know what sanctuary is, Jingle. I demand to see her.”

  “You have one chance and that is now. Look over the edge.”

  His face appeared above hers, just as Jade’s had. He looked and sniffed and growled. Leaning back, he said, “I am her guardian.”

  “I am aware that no one in this town has received official guardian status since the troll Henry Scorchbottom. She has requested sanctuary and I have granted it,” Jingle repeated and smiled. “Per Section 23 of the Code.”

  “Don’t quote Code to me, Jingle,” Walter said, exasperated. “And you’re off by one number. It’s Section 24.”

  “So you do know the code. I must now ask you to stop trying to circumvent the Code you will be sworn in to support, Director Clemmons. I must ask you to desist from trying to contact Sugar. If you wish to speak with her, I will allow you to visit my home tomorrow at two. Be neither early nor late, and bring no one with you.” Jingle called out to the others, who’d followed him. “Did you hear that? No one else.”

  There were voices of assent.

  Walter huffed, then spoke to the air. To her. “Sugar, I will talk with you tomorrow.”

  She stayed silent.

  A few minutes later, Jingle said, “They’re gone. I think I’m going to call Nicholas and have him bring some reinforcements with him to get you safely to our house.” She looked down at Sugar. “He’s a Moonchuckle Bay deputy.”

  Sugar nodded and wondered if it was wrong of her to want to see Walter again.

  Jingle sang while her little fox approached and let Sugar pet her.

  Jingle laughed. “I have a feeling things are about to get very interesting, Miss Sugar.”

  “I think I like sleepovers,” Jingle said from her perch on her couch. She sat cross-legged in light blue pajamas with snowflakes on them.

  Nicholas was on the computer in their office.

  Sugar sat on the couch beside Jingle wearing another pair of Jingle’s pajamas, these from the movie Frozen. Appropriate.

  They’d been having a good, old-fashioned sleepover party.

  When they’d first reached her home — amid deputy escort — Jingle had said, “I’ve never had a sleepover.”

  Sugar had frowned and looked at her feet. “I don’t remember if I have.”

  Then they’d watched a movie and eaten popcorn and gotten to know each other better.

  Sugar now knew that Jingle had escaped from her wicked uncle in Snowville and that Nick had been the bounty hunter who was supposed to take her back to an unwanted, arranged marriage to a much older pixie. Nick had fallen in love with her and brought her back to Moonchuckle Bay to keep her safe.

  And Jingle now knew nothing about Sugar except what had happened since she arrived in town, since Sugar didn’t remember anything about herself.

  “So Nick did bring me home for a wedding,” Jingle laughed, “but it was here to Moonchuckle Bay to marry him. And we’ve been together happily ever since.”

  “How long have you been married?”

  “Five years.”

  “So you’ve been in Moonchuckle Bay for five years, too?”

  “Yes. I love it here. You will, too. I just have that feeling.”

  “I’m going to have to get a different job. I’m pretty sure the council won’t want to let me work on computers now that they’ve realized I’m not really the person they hired.” She sighed.

  Jingle said, “You’re going to remember everything. When the time is right.”

  “I didn’t enjoy the computer work. It was more like I found things coincidentally.”

  Jingle’s eyes lit up with delight. “You’re not human, are you?”

  She shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know what I am or what I can do. Except cook. I seem to have an ability to cook and bake.”

  “Hey, I heard that Elvis’s pastry chef is a no-show and he’s going to have to hire another one for his new diner, Elvis Sightings. Maybe you could get a job there.”

  “That actually sounds kind of fun, though I don’t have any credentials to show him, or a resume.”

  “Make your food be your resume. Cook something for him. If he likes it, maybe he’ll hire you.”

  “So this is an Elvis impersonator?”

  “No. This is the actual Elvis Presley, though he goes by his mother’s maiden name now. Elvis Smith.”

  “When’s it opening?”

  “I’ll check. Their website is up.” Jingle pulled up her phone, and then read, “The opening date is on August 16, the anniversary of his “death” in 1977.”

  “Two months from now.”

  “They’re working in there now, though, getting things ready, and he had already hired someone. Maybe we should go visit Mr. Smith.”

  “I’d actually like that. Even if I don’t get hired, I could see Elvis Presley.” She smiled. “Does he ever sing?”

  “His wife, Charlie, is opening The Siren Song, a karaoke bar for paranormals. They’ll both be singing there. It’s really quite romantic. They’d both sworn to never sing again, and now they’ll be singing together.”

  That was definitely romantic.

  Still staring at her phone, Jingle said, “Hey, you could enter the Miss Paranormal Pageant. It’s only happens every ten years, and it’s coming up next month. And applications are being accepted up until the end of June.”

  “I could be Miss Paranormal? Wouldn’t I need to know for sure if I actually am a paranormal first?”

  “Actually, I think they have a specialized witch who can sense out those kinds of things. At the pageant. If you don’t remember before then, maybe the witch can tell you.”

  “I’d really like to know. It’s hard not remembering anything. It was hard thinking I was Jade Monroe, but at least then I had an identity. Now I’m a paranormal Jane Doe.”

  Jingle put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “You’re going to be okay, Sugar. I feel it. And my feelings are almost always right.”

  “Almost always?”

  “Well, 100% is almost always, right?”

  They laughed, and put on another movie. The 2005 remake of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden. Jingle shook her head. “We may have to watch the Colin Firth version tomorrow because I really like him in this movie.”

  Sugar agreed.

  It made her sad that she could remember Colin Firth and not her own self.

  She Kind Of Gives Me The Creeps

  A KNOCK ON HIS OFFICE door startled Walter out of his reflections. He straightened in his chair. “Come in.”

  Jareth opened the door and came in, with Ginnie following right behind him.

  “What’s up?” he asked them.

  “You asked for a report on how Ms. Monroe is doing,” Ginnie said.

 
Walter glanced at the clock. Sure enough, he’d asked them to come in at 12:30, after a late lunch.

  He’d eaten an apple for lunch even though he hadn’t even felt like eating that much. He felt like an idiot, and his stomach was all worked up over seeing Sugar in an hour and a half. Two was the magic hour. “And ...?” he prompted.

  “She’s doing great,” Jareth said. “She really knows her way around a computer. She knows how to use the sophisticated software and doesn’t hesitate like Sugar did.”

  Ginnie sighed. “We miss Sugar. Jade’s efficient, but not nearly as nice.”

  Walter nodded in agreement. He missed Sugar, too. So did his wolf.

  After a long moment of silence, Ginnie asked, “Have you apologized yet, boss?”

  “You know what I wish, Miss Ginnie the Genie?” Walter said.

  “Don’t use the W-word around me, boss.” Ginnie grimaced. “And I know what you wish — that you hadn’t been such an idiot yesterday.”

  Jareth snorted. “Yeah.”

  Walter nodded again, and repeated, “Yeah.”

  “Apologize, boss. She’s a really nice lady, and you like her. She likes you, too. She doesn’t even know who she is, but she knows she likes you. Go figure.”

  “I don’t even know if she’s married.”

  “There’s no ring,” Ginnie said. “Or a tan line around where a ring would have been.”

  Walter couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed that. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” Ginnie shook her head. “For the smartest guy in the known paranormal universe, you’re kind of dense in the interpersonal relationship department.”

  Jareth added his unwanted two cents’ worth in. “You definitely overreacted.”

  “How did we go from discussing how Ms. Monroe is doing to abusing me?”

  “Ms. Monroe is very competent, boss,” Ginnie said. “Though she kind of gives me the creeps.”

  “That’s probably because she’s a croc shifter,” Jareth said. “They trigger our fear and gross-out buttons, kind of like sharks.”