Fortune's Dance (The Fixers, book #4: A KarmaCorp Novel)

by Faye, Audrey

  She eyed me again, looking at whatever she sees that the rest of us can’t, and then grinned. “I call bullshit on that.”

  I threw a pillow at her head. “I don’t want to be a galactic renegade, okay? Not my style.”

  “Styles can change.” She was still grinning as she hurled the pillow back with far better aim. “And in your case, I think this has been there all along. There’s always been a rabble-rouser under that pretty dancer bod of yours—you just didn’t let a whole lot of people see it.”

  I tucked the pillow under my head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Kish is the rebel, you’re the bossypants, Tee is the den mother, and I’m the lazy one who helps us all be nice to each other and makes sure we never run out of chocolate. I’m good at that job.”

  She reached across the small distance between us and took my hand in her warm fingers. “This isn’t about who we are for each other. It’s about who we are out there.”

  I closed my eyes and sighed. I’d been fighting that particular bit of truth for days, and she probably knew it. “I’m good at what I do—why does that need to change?”

  “I’m not sure.” For once, her voice was almost hesitant. “But that’s three out of the four of us who have come back recently with a spirit web that looks like it’s been on a vision quest.”

  Spirit webs were one of those things Raven had learned before KarmaCorp scooped her up. Kind of like an aura, but more complicated. I thought about the threads that hung around Kish and Tee. They’d definitely changed, but I hadn’t done anything nearly as cataclysmic as falling in love or flying in the face of my family’s most sacred vow. “Mine can’t have shifted like theirs.”

  Raven squeezed my fingers. “It did.”

  I groaned. “All I did was hold a freaking community meeting.”

  She snorted. “You stick with that story. Maybe Yesenia will even believe it.”

  I buried my head between my knees. If I wasn’t fooling my roommate, I didn’t have a chance with the woman who saw everything. “She’s going to kill me.”

  A thoughtful hum from beside me. “That’s what Kish and Tee thought too.”

  I groaned again. “You’re not helping.” Yesenia Mayes on a tear was one of the predictable foundations of my life. Except she’d been oddly unpredictable lately. “She’s still got that plant Tee gave her on her desk. I saw it.”

  Raven nodded her head slowly. “I know.”

  It occurred to me that I was sitting beside the only person on the planet who might be better at reading the woo than Yesenia. “Wait. Three out of the four of us—you think you’re next?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  I stared at her, suddenly feeling like a pawn in a giant chess game. “What’s going on, Rave?”

  She looked at me silently for a long time. “Have you used your Talent in active mode since you got back?”

  I scowled, confused by the change of direction. “Just with a couple of trainees I found in my studio.”

  She kept watching me steadily. “Were you stronger?”

  I blinked. “Sure, but I thought that was just because it didn’t get to bust loose while I was on assignment.”

  She shook her head, her eyes lit up from somewhere way down deep. “I don’t think so. Your spirit web has always been really strong at the core, but now it shines all the way to the edges.”

  I could feel my whole body quivering. “You think my Talent grew?”

  Raven’s smile was soft and sad and proud and fierce all at the same time. “No. I think you did.”

  25

  Yesenia studied me as I crossed the threshold of her office, my knees knocking as minimally as I could manage. I wondered if she could see invisible traces of the orange lilies Elena had painted on my cheeks.

  It had taken three days before I could bear to wash them off, even if the woman who had painted them on me hadn’t smiled once.

  It wasn’t smiles Thess had needed.

  Now I just needed to somehow explain that to the boss lady.

  She folded her fingers over her tablet. “Your report was a very interesting read.”

  That was a new thing. I usually tried to make them as factual and boring as possible. “I wanted you to know why I did what I did.” And if I was going to act entirely out of character, I might as well go all the way. “I’m well aware I violated most of the rules and all of the intent of an observation-only mission, and I know I took some big risks, but I think Thess was worth it.”

  Yesenia raised a wry eyebrow. “Did you think that before the drumming ceremony that pulled you out of the fire, or after it?”

  I was hoping she hadn’t read my report that carefully. “Up until then, I was pretty sure I’d totally blown it. There were some hints that maybe I hadn’t, but it didn’t look very good.”

  “No, it didn’t.”

  I felt my fingers curling up into fists, trying to hide.

  “I imagine that was a very new experience for you.”

  I was lost, adrift in a sea that was supposed to have dumped me off into compost-chute repair duty and hadn’t. And feeling a sudden need to defend myself. “I’ve had assignments that looked unlikely to succeed.”

  “Yes. But you generally worry that you haven’t done enough.” She tapped a finger to her tablet. “I believe this is the first report I’ve ever seen from you where your concern was that you’d done too much.”

  Something odd and hot was coming to a boil in my belly. “Fixers are supposed to be conservative. To err on the side of caution.” The next words slid out before I could stop them. “To work from the shadows.”

  “Yes. That’s normally how we do our best work with the least damage.” Her eyes darted to the holo of Tatiana on the corner of her desk, and then back to me. “It’s a skill to know the right moment to unveil your strength. You chose well.”

  I stared. Yesenia Mayes, terror of the known world, was pleased with me—and she’d just tossed me a thread with no more than a flick of her eyes.

  One with her daughter attached to it.

  I had no idea what to do with either of those things.

  And then the part of me that had insisted I wear my power gear into the boss lady’s office spoke up. “I would like to recommend a guest teacher for the trainees.”

  Yesenia raised an eyebrow. “Is someone retiring that I’m unaware of?”

  I had no idea. I squared my shoulders, knowing I was about to step off the beaten path a lot farther than I’d ever gone. “She’s not a Fixer. It would only be for a little while, I think. She’s a choreographer, and she’s going to create works that are still being danced hundreds of years from now, but she needs a little time to get ready.”

  “And you think we run a nursery school here?”

  I knew those icy tones. I was supposed to stop talking now and leave her office via the most direct route possible.

  I swallowed and hoped she left most of my body parts attached. “Her name is Euphoria Jacobs, and I think she could help some of our trainees breathe into all of who they are. The Dancers for sure, and maybe some of the others too.”

  I didn’t say Tatiana’s name out loud, but I thought it. Hard.

  The pause on the other side of the desk was long and loud and terrifying. Yesenia finally broke it, reaching briskly for her tablet. “I’ve considered offering a temporary residency program for those who have particular skill sets that would overlap well with our Talents. Perhaps she would be a good candidate.”

  I had the oddest feeling she’d just made all of that up. “I think you’d be pleased.”

  Dark eyes glinted with unsheathed steel. “Don’t be so sure, Journeywoman.”

  The parts of me that hadn’t been whimpering already got there fast, but I was in this too deep to quit now. “If you interview her, maybe ask her to work with a few of the girls while you watch. She’s quite shy, but she’d be good with the trainees.”

  “You know,” said Yesenia, turning to look out her wind
ow, “I don’t actually eat most people for breakfast.”

  I didn’t bother to point out the ubiquitous evidence to the contrary. I watched her fingers instead, waiting for some small sign of whatever it was she was really trying to tell me.

  She shifted slightly, moving her face out of the light. “I will speak with your Euphoria. If she’s what you believe her to be, more than our trainees might benefit from her presence.”

  I blinked, not at all sure where this was headed. “I’ve seen her work with adults as well.”

  Yesenia didn’t even appear to have heard me. “Fixers need to have impeccable control and self-discipline. The very fabric of KarmaCorp and the work we do depends on it.”

  I knew that, and every tadpole knew it as well.

  She gazed at some point far beyond the confines of her office. “But that can sometimes do the same kind of damage that Thess did by trying to be beautiful. You were on that path, Journeywoman. I’m pleased you’ve found your way off it.”

  The threads snapped into place. “You sent me to Thess to learn that.”

  Yesenia’s focus shifted to me, her eyes drilling right into mine. “I won’t make it at all easy for you.”

  Somewhere, deep in my feet, I understood that I’d just been given a new dance step. A part of my job that would never be discussed and would probably earn me the wrath of this office on a regular basis.

  One that would sometimes involve a girl with shining golden eyes.

  I let the barest flutter of my fingers speak for me.

  “That is all, Journeywoman.”

  I grabbed hold of that dismissal with both hands. And then clunked to a halt as I hit the door and Yesenia cleared her throat behind me.

  She looked up from her tablet and surveyed my feet for a long moment, and then she offered me the faintest of smiles. “Those are truly fabulous boots.”

  Thank You

  I appreciate you reading!

  As you might have guessed, there are more KarmaCorp books on the way. Next up is Raven’s story—and a trip to the last place she wants to go.

  To know when Shaman’s Curse is out, head to audreyfayewrites.com and sign up for my New Releases email list. You can also find me on Facebook. And if you’ve been kind enough to write Iggy a review, please read this note :).

  Also, if you’re a reader who likes to graze widely, you might enjoy some of my other books while you wait.

  May there always be boots on your feet and a story in your hands,

  Audrey