The Whimsy Witch Who Wasn't (Tales of Xest Book 1) Read online

  Musso shook his head and returned to work. Zab shrugged and did the same.

  I took off my jacket and went to put it in the back room, coming face to face with an odd stone sitting on the shelf. I’d never noticed it before, but now it was there, in my face, calling my attention to it.

  Don’t do it. Don’t.

  Was it truly eavesdropping if he wanted me to practice my magic? Plus, it was about me. How did I not listen? This conversation practically begged to be eavesdropped on.

  I glanced about the room, making sure Zab or Musso hadn’t followed me in, before grabbing the odd stone. I didn’t know what type of rock it was, but it looked like a natural material. It should do.

  I held it to my ear while I whispered, “With the magic within, and the magic around, take this stone and drop it within earshot.” I moved myself to a thick rug and let the stone drop. If my understanding was correct, it would act as sort of a tin can with a string between me and them. It was glowing softly when I picked it up again and held it to my ear.

  “Why are you sending her on errands?” Hawk’s voice sounded softly through the stone somehow. Maybe my magic wasn’t so horrible? That had been the easiest thing I’d ever done.

  “You said treat her like she’s ‘no one.’ That’s what I’d have a ‘no one’ do, go on errands.”

  I cupped the stone, trying to muffle it a little as the volume increased. It wasn’t that loud, but the shop was a little too quiet with all the people gone.

  “Except she’s not actually a ‘no one,’ and you know that.”

  Were they screaming or was this thing getting louder? I didn’t remember reading anything about volume control. There had to be a way to turn this thing down.

  I made a shushing noise at it.

  “Oh, I’m aware. And while we’re talking about it, why does she have to stay here? Why can’t she stay somewhere else?” Belinda asked, her shrill voice carrying across the room so clearly that there was no way they didn’t hear me in the office.

  I shoved the stone under a pillow on the couch.

  Hawk’s voice came out of the stone, still booming. “You already know. We’ve discussed this.”

  I wished they’d discuss it again—if I could get some volume control. Too bad the entire office probably heard, because nothing, not even a pillow, would mute this thing.

  “Oh, no you didn’t,” Musso said.

  I turned. Musso and Zab were standing inside the door.

  “Why can’t she stay with Oscar, then?” Belinda asked.

  I rushed across the room, holding the thing out to them. “How do I turn this off?”

  “I’m not putting my magic prints anywhere near that thing.” Musso held up his hands and backed away before he turned and left the room.

  “How do I turn it off?”

  Zab shrugged. “I never used that spell. I don’t know it that well. Maybe Musso will tell us, and then we can do it without his magic being on it.”

  He walked back into the office with me right behind him. I passed the stairs, wondering how Hawk and Belinda hadn’t heard themselves. The Sweet Shop down the block probably heard them.

  “She’s staying here, and I’m not debating it with you. Conversation is over,” Hawk said.

  “You like her, don’t you? Just admit it. That’s why you want her here,” Belinda said.

  “I told you, I barely know her, not that it would matter. You and I are not together. I thought this was a casual thing. That’s what you said.”

  I cringed like I’d taken that blow myself. I didn’t like the girl, but that was a punch in the gut after a full meal.

  “Musso, please, how do I turn this off?” The smell of desperation permeated my words.

  “I don’t know. I don’t mess around with those spells,” he said, the words steeped deep in judgment.

  Easy for him to judge when he wasn’t the one with no way out and no clear answers. I didn’t have the liberty of high standards.

  “Bel, I told you before we began, I don’t have anything more to give,” Hawk said.

  Ugh. This conversation was not helping my case. I was hoping for a little information to help me out of the situation I’d been thrown into. I never would’ve cast that spell to hear this.

  Musso and Zab were making their own pained faces. The only one privy to this conversation who didn’t seem to get the situation clearly was Hawk. Did he really think she was sleeping with him just for sex? That she wasn’t utterly in love with him? Thought he walked on water, or whatever weirdo thing their gods did?

  I was in a completely different world, with utterly changed rules, and I still would’ve laid money down on how this had started. Hawk hadn’t wanted anything serious, so, the bright one Belinda was, she thought she’d lure him in, saying it was casual. Of course she figured he’d sleep with her and see the light. He’d realize how wonderful and perfect she was. How she’d been the one thing missing from his life and now he was complete. He’d fall head over heels and she’d live happily ever after.

  From the sounds of it, this plan was playing out about as well as it did in Rest. He fucked her a bunch, thinking stupidly that they had the same goals—a good time. He continued because it was convenient and now couldn’t fathom where all these feelings were coming from. Why? Because the dumb man had believed her.

  From the sounds of it, they were definitely hitting the third act of this show, and it wasn’t going to have a happy ending.

  There were footsteps. I heard a door creak open.

  “I know, and I’m fine with what it is,” Belinda said.

  Sure she is.

  There was a pause before she continued more hesitantly. “Why are we echoing?”

  I groaned, wondering if lobbing the stone out the door would turn it off. All that would probably do was let the entire neighborhood hear as well. I was pretty sure it was too late anyway.

  Musso was at his desk, rolling his eyes. Zab ran to his desk as well, distancing himself from the scene of the crime.

  Belinda came into the office first. Her gaze shot straight to me. I might’ve turned a toasty pink. Yes, we weren’t friends, but still, that wasn’t well done of me. I would’ve apologized then and there, but she stormed out of the building before the opportunity presented itself. She took a left turn, walking past the window and disappearing from view.

  I was still watching her when Hawk entered the room. My skin went past toasty and into “raging forest fire” temperatures.

  He walked over and held out his hand. I saw this all in my peripheral vision, since I was still working up the nerve to look at him. I put the stone in his palm, still not meeting his eyes.

  “I guess you learned at least one thing from that book.” He wrapped his hand around it, and the thing stopped glowing.

  I wanted to ask how he’d done that, but this didn’t seem like the right time. He held it back out to me, as if I’d have some need of it again. I took it because I feared not doing so would lead to more conversation.

  He walked to the door, and I found I couldn’t look away now. He was going to follow her. Maybe things would work out for them. What if he’d only needed an eye-opener?

  And then he took a right, the opposite direction Belinda had gone.

  I felt bad for her. I definitely did. If there was any happiness in me, it was only because she was probably better off moving on to someone who was into her. Hawk clearly wasn’t—not that I cared.

  Zab and Musso were staring at me when I turned around.

  “Well, that was awkward,” Zab said.

  “I’ve seen worse.” Musso shrugged.

  13

  Musso and Zab were gone. I’d pulled up a chair near the front window of the office. If I sat really close and leaned my head a certain way, I could see the top of the factory’s roof from here. Even though it was late, there was still a steady stream of glittering smoke coming out of the factory chimney. The only friend I had here was going to die an early death in that place if I d
idn’t figure something out, and soon. People on the street stared at me as they walked past, but I didn’t care. There were many things that were bothering me, but what these strangers thought was not among them.

  Hawk walked out of the back room. I hadn’t seen Belinda or him since the “incident” earlier today, and I was sort of hoping I wouldn’t.

  He walked through the office, checking a couple of things on the different counters without saying anything.

  I had to say something. “Sorry” fell a little short, considering I’d purposely invaded his privacy, but there weren’t any alternatives.

  The silence in the room was heavy as he continued to go about his business. I might as well just get it out. It wasn’t as if I could avoid him. It had to be done.

  “Sorry about today,” I said, leaving off the buts that wanted to follow, like the one about Belinda being an ass. Or the big, fat BUT where she taunted me and tried to make me miserable all day. I couldn’t add all those, though, because then I’d look like an ass. That was the problem with apologies. No one wanted buts with them, even good buts. I had to pretend I didn’t have an entire list so long that any jury would’ve acquitted me of a crime due to temporary insanity from torture.

  I waited, my gut churning.

  He was certainly taking his time accepting my “no buts” apology. If he was going to be an ass about it, I should’ve added some buts. Why not?

  Or maybe not. I couldn’t start a fight, and this needed to get ironed out. I needed to get the hell out of this place, and that took him. I was not going to die in Xest.

  I got up and walked over to where he was flipping through some papers, ready to put a little more effort in. “It was stupid. I’m really sorry.”

  He finally looked at me. “I’m not angry about you listening in. I’m not happy about it, but that’s not the main problem. I told you to be careful, and now there’s talk spreading about what happened in Al’s.”

  “It was an accident. I don’t know what happened. I was standing there, and then they started to glow.”

  “Which wouldn’t have happened if you had your necklace on. You showed your magic, and I’m not the only one who’ll be interested in what you can do. Now you might be called on by others.”

  “What others? Who’s going to call for me?” For the first time, the reality that this might be a little more serious than I’d feared was hitting me. I should’ve realized a man who barely bothered talking to half the people he saw wouldn’t care about rumors.

  “There’s other factions in Xest who would use your power and not be so generous about allowing you to leave once you were done. I was trying to keep you out of the politics of this place, keep it uncomplicated, but I’m fairly sure you blew that up.”

  I’d hardly call letting me leave of my own free will one day generous, but I was quickly learning how archaic Xest could be. I had enough troubles. I didn’t need more.

  “Who’s going to call?”

  “Raydam, for one.”

  I didn’t know him, and I already didn’t want to meet him. “And he’s a problem?”

  “A definite complication.”

  I had the sense that a complication for Hawk equaled a definite problem for me.

  “But I have no power.” I crossed my arms, taking a few steps around the office. This made no sense. I was the worst witch imaginable. No one should want me.

  “You have magic. That’s power.” He watched me, mad but much calmer than I was now.

  “That I can’t even use without screwing things up,” I said, flinging my hands into the air.

  He dipped his chin. “Which is a temporary situation.”

  “What about the whole indentured servant business? That I couldn’t leave?”

  “There are other possible complications.”

  I was on the move again, shaking my head. “What’s going to happen now?”

  “If he hears about the incident and it raises his interest, he’s going to call for you. Once you have an audience with him, he’ll test you. If he thinks you have power, he’ll woo you next.”

  Woo. That sounded nice, except in Xest, they probably wooed you by hitting you with a club. Nothing was civilized in this place. The entire bunch of them were lunatics, and I needed out.

  “And if that doesn’t work?” I asked.

  “A year ago, it wouldn’t have been an issue. Now, I’m not sure.”

  “Why could it be a problem now?”

  “Hard to explain.”

  “Hard, or you don’t want to?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to,” he said calmly, making no bones about it.

  I didn’t have the answers I wanted, but I now knew why I didn’t have them. At least we were being upfront. He didn’t trust me. I didn’t trust him either.

  My hand went to my neck. “If he calls and I keep the necklace on—”

  “He’ll still sense something is wrong, the way I did when I touched you.”

  “But you didn’t know.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “But when I said I had to go to the bathroom that first—”

  “I remember the day well enough. I know what I said, and I’m telling you, I knew. He’ll know as well.”

  “What if I don’t go?”

  “You can’t. An open snub like that would weaken him in the eyes of all. He’d force the issue, and it would make matters worse. If he calls, you have to accept.”

  I stopped moving around. Stopped fidgeting. The shock of it all immobilized me. Somehow, it had gotten worse. On a theoretical level, you’re always aware things can get worse. But they had, and all because I hadn’t worn my necklace. Such a trivial thing when you thought about it.

  I was jarred from my little pity party as Hawk moved about the room again. He grabbed a small bag out of a chest on one of the counters. It sounded like it had coins clinking around in it. I watched as he headed toward the door.

  “Aren’t we practicing tonight?” I asked, not wanting to be here alone after what he’d told me, even if it were to be tortured in the back.

  “No. I’m still working on damage control. Don’t leave the building.” There was no mistaking it for anything other than what it was—an order.

  He left.

  I went back to staring at the factory. How was I supposed to get to Rabbit now?

  14

  I came down to the office the following morning in my favorite lime-green pants and grey sweater with holes, wondering how they’d gotten laundered and by whom. Somehow my clothes kept getting cleaned and folded, and I wasn’t sure how, but I had too many real issues to worry over. I was about to grovel to Belinda. I opened the door and prepared myself for what was to come.

  Zab and Musso were in the office, but Belinda wasn’t. She was always here when I came down, as if maybe she slept in the alleyway or something, just to be close. She might’ve run out on an errand somewhere, but the timing was questionable. I was already a bit behind, stalling as I’d been. Couldn’t blame the woman for needing a day off after what had happened.

  Zab greeted me with a big smile. “Hawk told me that I’d be in charge of your duties from now on.” He waved a hand at a table set up for me.

  He walked over to the basket and grabbed a heap of the slips that Helen dumped out. He dropped them on the table, slips flying off and scattering.

  “Sort through those for anything that looks reasonable and might have some payment involved,” he said.

  The pile was huge and the slips kept on shooting out. I might’ve been better off with mopping. I couldn’t be in charge of all these people’s hopes and dreams. I had no idea what I was doing. But Zab seemed to think I could, as he was already going back to his duties.

  I picked up a slip.

  I’ll be nice to Jennifer if I can be a supermodel.

  Well, that was definitely garbage. I didn’t know who Jennifer was, but this person should’ve been nice to her anyway. Big fail in my book. Into the shredder pile it went.

>   Next slip:

  Break up with Gil if I get drafted.

  Jerk. This was definitely going into the shredder too. Gil was more important, and you should know better. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

  I sorted through a few more slips, but my attention was getting tugged away by the clock and the empty chair.

  The clock ticked, and Musso went and opened the door for business.

  I turned to Zab. “Where’s Belinda?”

  “She said she couldn’t come today. Didn’t feel good,” Zab said, and then raised his brows.

  I hummed as I nodded, wishing she had. Now I was going to dread apologizing to her all today and tonight, too.

  I was back to the slips when Hawk strode in, an air of foreboding spread through the room, as he didn’t speak to anyone. He walked through the office, grabbed a bag of coins, and pocketed them.

  “I won’t be back tonight,” he said in my general vicinity right before he was gone again. Now what had I done? I’d been sleeping for the last eight hours. How could I have messed up when I wasn’t even awake? Seemed I couldn’t even sleep now without pissing people off.

  Zab and Musso shook their heads as if they were already aware of Hawk’s issue, the ramifications and the final prognosis, while I was still asking the doctor about symptoms.

  “Why’s he angry at me now?”

  “There’s been more gossip spreading about the Whimsy witch who works here,” Zab said. “They’re saying that you’re some sort of creature specialist of the Maker level. What did you do there?”

  That damned flying cat had been bad news. Him and his licking had sunk me.

  “His cat liked me. That was it. I was careful not to say anything or do anything.” I got licked by one weird cat and then this? I couldn’t stay out of trouble if I tried, and I was, in fact, trying. I’d spent years flying under the radar. One séance and now this.

  “The Losso liked you?” Zab asked.

  “Yeah, the Losso liked me. Cats like me. Why is that such a problem?”

  “That thing is from an area that no one dares set foot in. They’re evil creatures. No wonder he thought you were high level. The only reason that old, crazy idiot can keep that thing with him is it’s enchanted.”