Damsel Under Stress

by Shanna Swendson

  “I’ll have someone else take on your more administrative and clerical duties. Anyone can take notes in a meeting, but you’ve proved you have the special skills for this task.” There was an edge of finality to his voice, like what he’d said had been carved into stone tablets on top of a mountain.

  “That’ll be a big help, sir,” I said.

  The meeting adjourned, and Owen caught my elbow as we left Merlin’s office. “Maybe we should strategize for a while. Are you free now?” He said it with a totally straight face and no hint of a blush, so I got the impression that he wasn’t finding a convenient cover for other kinds of activities. I suspected that while we were in the office, it would be strictly business between us, and that was fine with me, even though my elbow was already tingling from his touch. I’d never dated someone I worked that closely with, and had never worked this closely with someone I was dating. It seemed that the boss didn’t mind our personal relationship, but I wished there was a handy rule book for how to make this sort of thing work.

  “Your office or mine?” I asked.

  “Would you mind going to mine? I have more whiteboard space for thinking.”

  “No problem,” I replied. As we passed Trix’s desk, I said, “I’m going to be down in R and D for a while.”

  She gave us a sidelong look that said she thought she knew what we’d be doing down in R&D. “Okay. Want me to forward calls or send them to voice mail?”

  “You can forward them, if I even get any calls. Thanks.” I didn’t bother correcting her assumption about us because I had a feeling that would only fluster Owen, and the more I protested, the more convinced she’d be.

  Owen ran the theoretical magic lab in R&D. His job was finding old magic texts, translating the spells, figuring out what they did, testing them to see if they actually worked, and then finding a way to apply those spells to modern situations. His lab was full of old books, most of them shelved around the perimeters of the room, but a good number of them scattered around on tables, chairs, and even the floor. A couple of whiteboards on wheels were covered in textbook-perfect handwriting that was still unreadable because almost none of it was in English. Owen’s office, which opened off the lab, looked like it belonged in an English manor house. Being in his office always gave me an overwhelming craving for hot tea.

  When we reached the lab, he erased one of the whiteboards and picked up a marker. I boosted myself up to sit on the big wooden table that filled the center of the room. “I guess we should start with what we already know,” he said. “I know Idris well enough to know some of his habits and patterns. You know something of Ari, and you know her friends. Let’s each see what we can come up with to analyze places where they might go or be found.” He wrote “Ari” on the top of one side of the board and turned to me.

  “Well, let’s see,” I said, thinking out loud. “She’s kind of boy crazy and will chase just about anyone, but I think she’s in it more for the conquest than for any real romantic leanings. In fact, she seems to lose interest as soon as she catches one, but she manages to spin it so she’s the wounded party and she has an excuse for revenge. She has a lot of stamina when it comes to fun, knows all the hot spots and stays out all night. She never seems to go home alone after an evening out.”

  He stared at me, his mouth hanging open. “What?” I asked. “That’s what women talk about. We tend not to get into our world domination plans on your typical girls’ night out or office lunch. Sorry, that’s all I’ve got.”

  “No, I was actually surprised you knew that much. I’ve known Rod since I was little, and I don’t think I know quite that much about him.”

  “That’s because you’re guys. You talk about things, not how you feel about things. I take it, then, you don’t have a lot of scoop on Idris.”

  “Not like you’ve got on Ari. I usually tried to avoid talking to him about anything, if I could help it. I know he likes testing the limits to see what he can get away with. He never liked taking the accepted path. If he’d been willing to stay away from darker magic, he could have been a real asset here, but he got bored easily by the usual things and wanted to try something as different as possible.”

  “Sounds like Ari and men,” I quipped. “They’re a match made in heaven.”

  “Why do you think she’s with him?” From the expression on his face, I couldn’t tell if he was baffled by Ari being with Idris, or by Idris being with Ari.

  “It’s hard to say. I can’t be sure how much of what she told me was real and how much was part of her act all along. I suspect he gives her an outlet for her less admirable qualities. She can take revenge and use people, and he considers it a good thing. I doubt she set out to find him and join the side of evil. He probably recruited her gradually, and then she got in too deep.”

  “Which might mean we could recruit her back. She’s sure to have a falling-out with him, if what you’ve observed about her dating patterns is accurate.”

  “If we could find her. Which brings us back to the initial problem. Idris was worried about her and didn’t know she was free. I think he might actually like her, when he isn’t being distracted by something else. He took off pretty quickly when he found out she was free, so he might have had an idea where she’d be. Meanwhile, who’s that other person who may or may not be working with Idris? Think about who he was close to when he worked here. I know he and Gregor were tight. Anyone else?”

  He looked intensely uncomfortable, and when he spoke, he dropped his voice to little above a whisper. “He got along really well with my boss.”

  “You mean the frog guy?” I asked, barely remembering to keep my own voice low. The head of R&D had been turned into a frog in an “industrial accident” years ago and seldom left his office. “You know, there are a lot of industrial accidents in this department, what with the frog thing and Gregor’s ogre problem.” Gregor, now head of Verification, wasn’t always an ogre, but he tended to turn green and sprout horns and fangs when he was angry. That actually made him easier to deal with than my boss at my old job, who didn’t have such obvious physical clues when she was in evil mode.

  “They used to take a lot of risks in experimentation under the former management.”

  “Do you mean former as in before Merlin?”

  He nodded. “But I never got the sense of anything dark from it, just pushing the envelope.”

  “What happened to the former boss?”

  “He retired. I don’t recall any hint of scandal associated with him.” I took that statement with a large grain of salt. Owen was so clueless about the company rumor mill, they could have tarred and feathered the former CEO and chased him out of the building with the staff brandishing pitchforks and torches, and he might not have noticed. Until he found himself the point man in the fight against Idris, he’d apparently stayed hidden away in his lab, happily translating ancient spells and oblivious to anything happening elsewhere in the company.

  On the other hand, I’d been picking up a lot of the corporate grapevine, thanks to my last task of finding a mole, so I was sure I’d have heard about it if there had been any breath of scandal associated with the former boss. It was yet another dead end.

  “You didn’t recognize the magical fingerprints, did you?”

  He shook his head wearily. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work. You can only figure out who did a spell if you have a basis for comparison. I guess it works like real fingerprints—just finding one doesn’t solve the crime unless you have a copy of the criminal’s prints and can put the two together. All I can say is it wasn’t someone whose magic style I’ve worked with before.”

  “Can people change their style, kind of like wearing gloves hides fingerprints?”

  “It would take some effort, almost like learning magic all over again, and even so, there would still be hints if you knew where to look.”

  “I guess if you didn’t recognize the style, it can’t be someone who works here.”

  “I don’t work closel
y enough with everyone in the company to recognize each person on sight. But I am working on a process to compare the style against what we have on record. It’ll just take time.”

  “It sounds like we’ve got the makings of a plan,” I said with a mock salute. “Now I’d better get back to my office and get things as settled as possible before the boss sends someone to fill in.”

  But I realized as soon as I got upstairs that my temporary replacement was already there. Kim, the overly ambitious verifier I’d met when I first joined the company, the one who had made no effort to hide the fact that she wanted the job I’d been given, was sitting at my desk like she owned it.

  It looked like I’d better solve this case quickly or I might find myself backstabbed out of a job.

  Four

  K im gave me a smug smile. “I thought it would be easier for me to pick up your tasks if I worked from your office. You don’t mind, do you? I assumed you’d be officing with your little task force, or whatever it is that you’ll be doing.”

  “We hadn’t really talked about moving my office,” I said, trying to catch up with the situation. There was some sense to her working in this general office suite, since she would be handling my clerical tasks and would need easy access to Merlin and Trix. But did she have to sit at my desk to do it?

  “Well, it wouldn’t be moved permanently, but I have to work somewhere, don’t I?” This was more chipper than I’d ever seen Kim in the short time we’d worked together. She didn’t really do cheerful. She was aggressive, focused, and determined, but never chipper. That made me nervous and suspicious, but there wasn’t much I could say, given that all of her arguments made total sense, in a way.

  “I guess I could take my computer and some of my things down to R and D,” I said.

  “I probably need your computer. I don’t have one of my own, and don’t a lot of the appointment requests come through your e-mail?”

  That was one step too far. My desk I could take or leave, but I didn’t want her having access to my e-mail. If she took my computer and e-mail account, she’d be one step away from becoming the office version of Single White Female and stealing my entire life. “I’m sure we can set you up with a computer, and I’ll forward you any e-mails that are pertinent to your duties.” I mentally scored a point for myself. I thought I’d handled that situation rather professionally.

  She glared at me, but it would have been unreasonable for her to insist on taking my computer, so there wasn’t much she could say. “I put all of your other things together here, so I wouldn’t get them mixed up with my stuff,” she said. My desk calendar, planner, and coffee mug had all been shoved to one corner of my desk. She already had a potted plant and a few photos set up on the bookcase. I got the feeling that the paint color would be different the next time I dropped by.

  “Oh, thanks,” I said halfheartedly. “Let me get those out of your way.” I disconnected my laptop from the network and closed it, then put the rest of my things in my tote bag, grabbed my coat, and hauled everything out of the office. “I’ll probably be working out of Owen’s lab for the time being,” I told Trix as I passed her desk.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” she said. “She didn’t waste much time, did she? I can’t believe you’re letting her kick you out of your own office.”

  “Who would you rather share an office with, Kim or Owen?”

  “You’ve got a point there.”

  The intercom on Trix’s desk buzzed, and Kim’s voice said, “I need you to get IT to bring me a computer right away, and I’d like some coffee.”

  Trix rolled her eyes. “Her majesty calls. She’s lucky she’s immune to magic, or I’d be tempted to put a good curse on her.”

  As I lugged my belongings down to R&D, I reflected that what I really needed was a fairy godmother for work. True, my love life wasn’t always spectacularly successful, but I didn’t necessarily have the skills, experience, or raw material to be a love goddess. When it came to work, though, you’d think I’d know how to handle myself. I’d started more or less running a business when I was still a teenager, I had a business degree, and I’d survived in the New York City business world for more than a year, but I still felt out of my element when office politics came into play.

  Why was it that you could only get a fairy godmother to help you snag Prince Charming with a glass slipper? Where was the benevolent soul who provided the killer presentation, the perfect thing to say to the office backstabber, and the fabulous Armani suit to wear to the crucial meeting? Of course, you’d probably have to make sure you got out of the meeting before the stroke of five, or else that Armani suit would turn into polyester separates from JCPenney and your high-end laptop with the killer presentation would revert to being an Etch-a-Sketch.

  If Ethelinda really wanted to help me, she wouldn’t be meddling in my relationship with Owen. She’d help me find a way to hang on to my job and my place in the company without making unnecessary enemies while I worked on what I hoped would be a temporary and one-time-only project. I wondered what she’d say if I told her she needed to update her fairy godmother duties for the twenty-first century now that women had a lot more on their minds than finding a good husband to provide for them.

  The door to R&D swung open as I approached, which meant Owen was expecting me. I still had an access crystal Merlin had given me while I worked on my last assignment, but since my hands were full, I was glad for the touch of magical chivalry.

  Owen’s eyes widened when I entered his lab with all my worldly office goods. “You’re planning to stay awhile?” he asked.

  I set the laptop down on one of the lab tables, let my tote bag fall at my feet, and threw my coat over the back of the nearest chair. “Apparently Kim’s been assigned to handle my administrative and clerical tasks, and she’s already taken over my office. I figure since we’re supposed to be working together, I might as well work down here. Otherwise, it could get ugly.”

  “Did you talk to Mr. Mervyn about it?”

  I hadn’t even thought of that. I was the youngest child in my family, so I should have honed the tattletale instinct to perfection. “No,” I admitted. “But it does make sense, even if I’m not crazy about her appropriating my desk so quickly. She’s even got a plant and pictures.”

  He gestured around the lab. “Well, if you can handle the mess, you’re welcome to claim a spot as yours for the duration. Just don’t rearrange anything.” Owen’s one of those people who looks disorganized but who has everything sorted into piles only he can understand.

  “Don’t worry about that. I can’t read half of what you’ve got in here, and I’m not sure I want to know everything you’re working on.”

  He looked around the room, as if seeing his own clutter for the first time and suddenly realizing that there was no spot I could take at any of the tables without disturbing his piles, then he waved his hand. A desk appeared in one corner of the lab. “I think there’s a network connection near there. And let’s see, you’ll need walls.” He pushed a wheeled freestanding whiteboard over to shield the desk from the rest of the room. “Anything else?”

  It wasn’t as nice as my real office, the one Kim had usurped, but I reminded myself that my office mate more than made up for the difference. The only amenity missing was a phone, and I didn’t mind that so much. It meant I was less likely to be disturbed. “It looks great. Thanks.”

  I set up my computer, arranged my few office belongings on the desk, and hung my coat on the top corner of the whiteboard. I’d just settled in when Owen stuck his head around the whiteboard. “Telephone call for you.”

  Surprised, I went to his office and took the phone from him. “This is Katie,” I said.

  “I thought I’d find you there,” Trix’s voice said in my ear. “I’ve got a call for you. I’ll put it right through.”

  A second later, Marcia’s voice said, “Katie?”

  “Yeah. What’s up?”

  “Do you have any plans for Christmas?” />
  “Nothing set in stone yet. I was planning to tag along with whatever y’all came up with.”

  “Well, I just found this insane bargain airfare to Dallas, in case you want to go home. The catch is you have to leave tomorrow and come back Christmas day, but it’s less than half the usual cost. Gemma and I decided to surprise our parents, so we thought we’d let you know in case you wanted to get in on it, too.”

  “I’m not sure I could do it,” I said.

  “If money’s the problem, I could loan you the cost of the ticket, and you could pay me back.”

  “It’s more time than money that’s the issue. I’m not sure I could leave as early as tomorrow. I’m working on a project I just got assigned today, and getting to the airport on Christmas would eat up most of the day.”

  “Uh-huh, I know exactly what you need time for: that gorgeous guy you’ve landed. Go back to Texas for a few days and you run the risk of him getting away.”

  “That’s not it at all,” I insisted, looking through the office doorway to the lab, where Owen stood in front of the whiteboard, thoughtfully chewing on the end of a dry-erase marker. I lowered my voice and added, “He’s going to his parents’ house for the holiday, anyway.” It occurred to me that if Gemma and Marcia went home for Christmas, I’d be left all alone in the city. Owen would be gone, and Connie’d said her in-laws were coming over. For a moment, I was tempted. How much work would we get done in the next couple of days? But for all I knew, that was when Idris and Ari would wreak havoc.

  “Thanks for letting me know,” I said firmly, more to convince myself than to convince her, “but I really don’t think I can make it.”

  “You don’t mind if we leave you alone, do you?”

  “Are you kidding? It’ll be the longest I’ve had the place to myself since I moved in. I may even change the locks while you’re gone.”