by R. L. Naquin
I grimaced. “I know. And I don’t care .”
I sat at my desk long after everyone went home, perusing Gordon’s work, reading more articles and interviews, and trying to find some sort of clue to Charlotte’s last name and current whereabouts. None of the articles I read mentioned her .
“Dude, how much could you have loved her if you never talked about her?” I rubbed my eyes and realized the office lights were off. Time to retrieve my belt from the supply room and break some laws in Dr. Marconi’s office .
I shut down my computer and blinked to get used to the darkness of the main office. The supply room light was still on, so I was able to see where I was going, at least. Mostly. Coming around the corner, I banged my upper thigh into the corner of a desk. The pain throbbed, and I had to take a moment to regain my composure .
That would leave a mark .
After a moment of steady breaths, the pain faded, and I hurried into the supply room for my belt. I wouldn’t need any bubbles, but breaking into a doctor’s office after hours would be nearly impossible without the ability to walk through walls and turn invisible .
I stopped short in the doorway .
Polly, my boss, stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her bosom and one eyebrow arched. “Took you longer than I thought. I’ve been waiting for awhile .”
My ears grew hot with embarrassment. “How did you know ?”
She pushed away from the wall and dropped her hands to her sides. “Honey, I hear everything that goes on in this office. I’m an original Muse. I’m everywhere, even if you don’t see me .”
That was disconcerting as hell .
I swallowed hard. “Okay. So, what’s next ?”
“You mean, am I going to punish you ?”
“Something like that.” I braced myself for the worst. I’d been unemployed before. I could do it again .
“What’s next is you turn around and walk out without taking any of my equipment with you to break into this doctor’s office .”
I glanced at the supply closet behind her, then dropped my gaze to the floor. It hadn’t been much of a plan, but it was all I’d had. A bad plan was better than flailing around trying to figure out what to do. “I understand .”
Polly tapped the toe of her shiny white shoe and put her hand on her hip. “Do you? Really ?”
I nodded and made eye contact with her. “Breaking and entering is illegal.” I shrugged. “And I suppose it’s probably shifty as hell to peek at another person’s medical files. HIPPA laws and all that .”
She clucked her tongue and shook her head. “We do the work of the gods, here, Wynter. Human laws and, yes, sometimes even human morality, take a backseat to doing the work the Fates have deemed necessary. I don’t give a gold drachma if you break into your client’s doctor’s office. I do care if you use my equipment to do it .”
“Why would that matter?” I drew my eyebrows together and folded my arms across my chest like a spoiled child .
“Sometimes you have to work for the information you need. I’m not stupid, Wynter. I know where all my equipment is at all times. I know you keep a bottle of bubbles at home, and I know you’ve taken the belt home on several occasions .”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “ You do ?”
One side of her mouth drew up in a half smile. “Of course. And it’s fine. But tonight, it’s not fine. Trust me on this. You need to figure this one out without my magic .”
“So, you think I should still break into the doctor’s office, just not with magic .”
The other half of her mouth curled upward and her half smile became a grin. “I’m not telling you how to do your job. I’m only telling you how not to do it .”
This woman was crazy. The doctor’s office would be closed by the time I got there, and even if someone was still there, how could I get past them fully visible ?
I let out a long, weary sigh. “I’ll come up with another plan, I guess .”
“Suit yourself.” She placed a light hand on my arm and guided me toward the door. “But you have all sorts of resources now that you didn’t have when you first arrived here as a pathetic loser .”
“Ouch .”
Why did people like her think a bright smile and pat on the shoulder made it okay to say such a mean thing? Even if it was true .
Polly flipped off the light and shut the door to the supply room, then walked me out into the hall. “Do what you need to do, Wynter. Think outside the box. Muse magic isn’t a shortcut to everything. It’s time for you to try new ways of doing things. You’ll figure it out.” She closed the door and left me out in the hallway .
I dragged my feet all the way to my car. Everything I did was outside the box. How was I supposed to change it up and do something else ?
What resources did I have now that I wasn’t a pathetic loser ?
By the time I pulled into Mom’s driveway in Lawrence, I thought I had a solution. The resource I had now that I didn’t have then was people. I had friends now. In fact, all this was happening because the Fates department wouldn’t stop messing with me. And I happened to have a friend on the inside .
If I was going to think outside the box in a different way than I usually did, there was only one way to do it .
I needed someone else’s box .
Chapter 10
T he Fates department was at the very top of the Mt. Olympus building—the penthouse, of sorts. I’d never been up there. Long after the fact, I learned that going up to Fates when I didn’t actually work there was a far greater faux pas than talking to Syd the fake homeless guy on my way to and from my car every day. And even more well-known, as rules went. Good thing I didn’t know the rules ahead of time .
The only real hindrance to getting up there was needing the security clearance. But I was the daughter of the queen of the Underworld. Stepdaughter of Hades. My elevator card should get me anywhere .
Even so, my hand shook a little as I slipped the card into the slot and pressed the button with the up arrow on it. For a second, nothing happened, and I thought it didn’t work. Then the doors closed and the elevator whooshed upward so fast my knees tried to buckle and I grabbed at the wall for balance. No one else was in the elevator with me, which was good, since I likely would have grabbed the nearest person if they’d been in range .
The elevator and I travelled for what seemed like an eternity—it was certainly longer than what a normal elevator ride should have been. When I came to a stop and the doors slid open, I suspected I’d passed into yet another realm, much like the Underworld wasn’t exactly in the basement of the Mt. Olympus building .
The first thing that struck me was how blue everything was. The walls, the floor, table and chairs in the waiting area—even the lighting seemed to cast a blue tinge on everything. The entire wall across from the elevator was one giant mural. Whoever had painted it was a gifted artist. The wall pulled me across the small domed atrium for a better look .
As I drew closer, I realized what I’d thought was a realistic mural was actually an aquarium. A ridiculously big aquarium. Seagrass swayed in an invisible current, and anemones dangled their tentacles in expectation of a passing meal. Occasionally, a brightly colored fish zipped past, but the number I spotted was far smaller than I expected in such a controlled environment .
After a few moments, I forced myself to turn away. I had business to tend to—though I’d have to remember to come up here sometime when I was stressed. Aquariums were so soothing .
A sign on the wall listed the different departments—and to my surprise—the floor where each could be found. I turned and checked the bank of elevators. Above the one I’d exited it said Mt. Olympus/Underworld . Above the other two elevators, it said Oceanus .
I had absolutely no idea what that meant. The sign that listed all the departments showed some I knew—Fates and Administration, for example. But there were others I didn’t know. Why would we even need a Chaos department? What was the Music departmen
t and the Creative Writing department—correction, the sign said Creation Writing department—doing up here? Out here. Over here .
This place was a mystery to me. Fortunately, the Mystery department was on the third floor, so I could always go ask, I supposed .
I shook my head. Of all the weird things I’d witnessed and experienced since being hired at Mt. Olympus, this was the strangest .
Movement in the aquarium caught my eye, and I looked in time to see a great white shark glide past. My breath caught in my chest. I’d watched a documentary on great white sharks. They couldn’t survive in captivity. Even the small ones died. And this one had been enormous .
I dropped into one of the blue chairs in the middle of the atrium and tried to catch my breath. Was I under water? Was this place somewhere in the ocean? The weight of a billion gallons of imagined sea water pressed down on me. My head spun .
Hades. Zeus. Poseidon. In the stories, there were three brothers, not two. Hades took the Underworld, Zeus took the Earth, and Poseidon held the seas .
I was raised on Greek mythology. I’d aced the tests on it when I came here. How could I have failed to question the missing third of the puzzle? I knew this .
A flat fish with one eye staring upward swam past the window. A flounder ?
I took a deep breath, exhaled, and stood. Off in the corner, a woman I hadn’t noticed sat at a reception desk typing on a laptop. If she’d noticed me, she was ignoring me now .
As fabulous as my discovery was, I had a purpose in coming here, and finding out about an entirely new realm didn’t change anything. I checked the sign again. Fates Department, Suite 1117 .
I headed for the Oceanus elevator to the eleventh floor. It was time to tempt Fate .
I n Oceanus, which was and also was not at the very top of the Mt. Olympus building, the Fates department was on the top floor. The penthouse at the top of the penthouse, in a way. If I’d paused to think about it, I might have found that to be intimidating. Perhaps foreboding .
I didn’t pause to think. The elevator took me to the top, and I marched out into the middle of the most mysterious and forbidden of the departments before I realized I really wasn’t supposed to be there .
The carpet beneath my feet was plush and pristine white. An empty reception desk, shiny and black, sat directly in front of the elevator, and black leather chairs stood to the side with piles of magazines on the black end tables next to them. A man with silver skin and gill slits in his neck sat in the farthest seat, reading Cat Fancy magazine. He never looked up .
Hallways led in three directions, each with a sign hanging overhead: Headline , Composition , and Deadline .
This was not what I had expected of Fate. I had a vague idea about weaving tapestries and cutting threads. Since none of the sub-departments made sense to me, it didn’t matter which one I chose. Headline seemed like a good place to start, so I moved toward that hallway .
“Excuse me.” A high-pitched, annoyed voice attacked me from behind. “May I see your ID ?”
I spun around, finally understanding that I’d probably wandered into an area I wasn’t supposed to be. But I wasn’t about to let her know I’d figured that out .
I scowled at her—though her mouthful of spiky teeth and her slithering eel tail nearly threw me off my game and back into the elevator. “Finally.” I pointed an accusing finger at her. “My time is valuable. I don’t expect to stand around waiting when I come up here. I was under the impression this desk was supposed to be manned at all times .”
The woman’s black eyes grew wide. “I apologize, ma’am. How may I help you?” Her voice was still high and a little prissy, but she’d definitely moved from offense to defense .
The guy with the gills looked up from his article, smiled, winked at me, and returned his attention to the magazine. He wasn’t fooled a bit .
I pretended to soften a little. “I suppose you probably had good reason for stepping away. I’m sorry I was short. I’m just in a hurry.” I took a chance and flashed my ID badge at her from several feet away. “I’m looking for Trina Faraday. I need to see her immediately .”
The receptionist touched the surface of her shiny black desk with a wickedly taloned finger and it lit up. She typed something directly on it, flipped through several virtual pages, then looked up at me, her smile showing multiple rows of those terrifying teeth. “She’s currently in the Deadline office. I can call up there and ask her to step out here if you’d like .”
I turned toward the Deadline hallway, flicking a hand in the receptionist’s direction. “No need. I’ll only be a moment.” I took off in long, purposeful strides as if I had every right to be there .
“Ma’am? Wait. Ma’am?” Her voice dwindled behind me, and I kept moving. I was in the clear .
The hallway took a sharp right at another wall of glass separating me from the ocean. A mermaid swam past with a package under one arm and a messenger bag floating behind her. She waved at me with her free hand, and I waved back .
The hallway ended at a pair of swinging glass doors that said Deadline: Please Recycle. I pushed through the doors and stood in place, looking for Trina .
To my disappointment, Fate was just another cubicle farm. For all the wonder of being in another world, seeing a mermaid, and finding the one place in three realms I didn’t have the security clearance to be, I’d expected something more than rows of people hunched over laptops .
I had approximately ten seconds to scan the room for Trina before I was swarmed. A large woman with frizzy, over-bleached hair came flying out of an office straight for me. Her eyes were narrowed to slits, and both hands were tightly fisted .
Before she reached me, a lanky man with a mole on his cheek and a tall woman in a lime-green jumpsuit arrived, their anger equally apparent. They surrounded me on three sides and stepped forward, as if they thought the invasion of personal space would force me to back up .
I held my ground. I didn’t feel at all intimidated. It might have been because I was the daughter of a goddess and the stepdaughter of one of the most powerful of all the gods. It might have been because I’d grown and was finally confident in who I was as a person .
Most likely, though, it was because I’d spent the majority of my life as a screw up, and I’d experienced this sort of bullying from boss-types in the past—usually right before I quit in a huff of righteous indignation—and it had stopped bothering me long ago .
The woman in the jumpsuit pressed closer to me, her boobs nearly touching mine. “You absolutely cannot be in here.” Her breath smelled like horseradish and sour cream. I wondered what the hell she’d eaten for breakfast that could smell that foul .
I leaned closer to her, and she backed off before we touched, which would have been so awkward. Amateur. “Hi! Great! I’m looking for Trina. Reception said I could find her here .”
The woman with the frizzy hair scowled. “We’re going to have to ask you to leave immediately. You do not have the clearance to be here.” A tiny muscle under her left eye jerked repeatedly. It was almost my undoing because it distracted me for a moment .
“Oh, I totally understand.” I turned my attention to the man with the mole and gave him a smile. “I won’t be but a minute. If someone could just direct me to Trina, I’ll only take a moment or two of her time, and I’ll be on my way.” I took a step forward, and they all shifted a step back .
How odd. As close as they stood to me, they seemed to be unwilling to actually make physical contact .
“Look,” the man said, folding his arms across his chest. “Be reasonable. Step back through the doors into the hall, at least. You absolutely cannot be in here. If you’ll do that, I’ll send Trina out to speak with you .”
The two women gave him sharp looks, as if they didn’t agree with his compromise. I figured it was probably the best deal I was going to get .
“That’s very kind of you.” I smiled again, turned, and walk through the doors into the hall .
Once
I made it into the hallway, I realized I was shaking. All my bluster had been a front, but it had been convincing enough to get the job done, and I’d even managed to fool myself long enough to get through it .
I only had to wait for a minute or two when Trina came through the doors, a barely suppressed grin on her face .
“You wanted to see me, Miss Greene?” The doors shut behind her and she laughed. “That was incredibly cool. I’ve never seen anyone do that before. When did you get so badass? Maybe you could give me some tips so I could stand up to my ex and maybe my mother. I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks. Sunday night was fantastic. We should go back to House of Nyx again sometime soon. Did you get your haircut? It looks really good .”
I laughed and held both hands up as if trying to protect myself from the onslaught of Trina’s energy. “Whoa. I promised them I’d only keep you for a few minutes.” I grinned. “But yes, we should go out again soon .”
We walked together to the turn in the corridor and stopped in front of the window. A sea turtle glided past, flippers cutting through the water like sharp knives through soft cheese .
I glanced around to see if anyone was within earshot and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Are we really underwater? Why didn’t you tell us you work in another world ?”
She shrugged. “We’re really not supposed to talk about it. This is a restricted area .”
“So is the Underworld, but everybody talks about that. This is just weird .”
A man in a three-piece suit and a fedora came around the corner. His entire head was that of a giant catfish. He tipped his hat as he passed. “Ladies .”
I blinked and flashed him a polite smile .
Trina grabbed my elbow and turned me toward the window. A suckerfish the size of a collie pressed its enormous mouth against the glass .
“You probably shouldn’t come up here again. Usually, you’d end up fired or punished or something. But…well, you know .”
