Once Upon Stilettos (Enchanted Inc #2) (23 page)

To my immense relief, Sam was in his usual spot on the awning. I felt like hugging Owen—well, I often felt like hugging Owen, but this had nothing to do with how cute he was. “Good morning, Sam!” I said cheerfully. Then I noticed that he had what looked like a black eye.

“What happened to you?” Owen asked.

“Katie’s ma has a strong right hook. We may not recruit her as a verifier, but I could probably use her on my security team.”

I cringed. So that’s what my mom had been attacking. “Sorry about that,” I said. Still, as bad as I felt, it didn’t negate the fact that I could see Sam, which was a cause for celebration.

“Don’t mention it. It’s my own fault for letting her see me, immune or not. I’m supposed to be stealthier than that.”

As we entered the building, I felt like I had Ari’s wings. It had just been a glitch. My career wasn’t over. I was still safely immune to magic.

“You’re awfully perky for a Monday morning,” Trix remarked when I reached Merlin’s office suite. She had wings and slightly pointed ears, and she hovered over her desk chair, like she always did.

“I survived my week with the parents,” I said. “It’s good to be back to work—and back to normal.” Back to normal in more ways than one. Or was I? Halfway to my office I paused and turned back. “I’m curious about something. I was thinking about this while I was showing my parents around. How does that veiling thing y’all do to hide yourselves from the rest of the world work? Do you cast a spell on everyone in general to make them see what you want them to see, or is it more specific? Like, do magical people see you as you really are, or does the illusion also work on magical people when you’re out in public?”

“It depends on how you cast the illusion and which spell you use. Most of the magical creatures generally just set the veiling illusion so it affects nonmagical people. Magical people see us as we really are, while normal people see our human illusions. It takes more energy to affect magical people, so most of us usually don’t amp up the illusion that high. But we could go totally incognito, except with people like you who don’t see illusion. And if you want to get fancy, you can filter it to affect only specific people. The more selective spells are a lot more expensive, of course.”

I nodded. “I see. So like with Rod, his illusion is pretty universal, working on everyone who isn’t immune. What about Sam? Do all magical people see him sitting out front, or just some?”

“He only shows himself to employees and expected guests when he’s on guard out front. Otherwise, no matter how powerful a wizard you are, you aren’t going to see him when you walk by. His spell is automatically updated when someone new joins the firm so the new people can see him. You’re probably in there, too, even though you’re immune. I think they feed the whole company roster into the spell. Most of us, except for Rod, the big loser, drop the illusion entirely when we’re not out in public. It’s a real energy drain.”

I tried to keep my face from falling completely. Maybe I wasn’t better. I needed more information to be sure. “Thanks. That’s really helpful,” I said, fighting for a casual, chipper tone.

“No problem. Any reason in particular you were curious?”

“It turns out my mom is immune, too. I had an interesting time during the holiday explaining the things she saw that my dad didn’t see. And that made me wonder how it all worked.”

“Wow, your mom is immune and you never knew?”

“I didn’t know I was until a little while ago. There’s not much magic where I come from.”

Before I could head to my office, Merlin emerged from his office. “Good, you’re here,” he said, even though I was pretty sure he already knew I was there. He always seemed to know. “When you get settled, I need to speak with you.”

“Give me a sec,” I said brightly. Inside, I felt like a kid who’d been called to the principal’s office at school. As I went into my office and put away my purse and tote bag and skimmed over my e-mail in-box, I wondered what it was about. Was it the business-world equivalent of getting an award, or was I in trouble? A shiver of fear shot through me as I realized that with his uncanny ways, Merlin probably already knew I’d lost my immunity. I should tell him, I supposed, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to say yet. Based on what Trix told me, seeing Sam didn’t prove anything.

I gathered a notepad and pen and went to Merlin’s office, silently praying that he just wanted me to take a memo. “Please, have a seat,” he said as I entered. He seemed friendly enough. I’d seen him angry, and this wasn’t it.

He brought over two cups of tea, handed one to me, then joined me on his sofa. “How was your visit with your parents?” he asked, his tone entirely conversational.

“Great. I was just telling Trix that it turns out I get my immunity from my mom, which made things interesting.”

“But they feel better now about you living here?” He sounded concerned.

“Yes, sir, they really seem to. I think they may have liked it here. They didn’t even try to make me go home with them.”

“Good. Good. Now I would like an update on the status of your investigation.”

With a deep sigh, I said, “There isn’t much status to speak of, unfortunately. I don’t think I’ve ruled anyone out entirely as a suspect. I have a few new things to check out.” Such as what Hertwick the sales gnome was doing in Central Park on a weekday afternoon, but I wasn’t going to rat him out until I’d talked to him. “And Idris has started stalking me, which may or may not mean anything. To be honest, I’m kind of hoping our spy makes another move this week. Otherwise, I don’t have a lot to go on. I’m more convinced that the intent is to keep us all from trusting each other. Gathering information may not be the primary goal. I even get the impression that Idris is trying to shake me up more than he’s trying to harm me or get me out of the way.”

He nodded. “That may be a wise assumption. It was through rumor and innuendo that Mordred divided Camelot. I wasn’t there to stop it, and I cannot allow that to happen here.”

“I’m sorry I don’t have more to report.” I might not lose my job because of losing my magical immunity, I realized. My complete lack of results was more than enough grounds for firing or demotion. Desperately I struggled for an idea, any idea that might make things better. Finally something struck me. “We’ll still want to catch our mole, of course, but if their goal is to divide us, maybe we can fight back by finding ways to pull the company together.”

His face lit up, and for a moment he looked centuries younger. “Excellent idea! I’ve been reading about morale boosting and productivity. There was one particular book about a fun workplace.” He got up and went over to his desk, then began rummaging around in the books and papers. “Now, where was it?” He returned with an armful of the latest management fad books. Someone needed to cut off his access to the Barnes & Noble online catalog.

“Let’s see, this one was about how to improve productivity by creating a fun working environment.” He handed a book to me. “This one was about team building.” He handed me another. Soon I had an armload of books. “Do you have time to put together some activities and events?” he asked.

Quite frankly, I was swamped, but planning team-building and employee morale events was important and probably our best way of undermining the mole, so I agreed. “No problem,” I said. “It’ll be fun. With the holidays here, there are all kinds of things we can do.” Then I had a brainstorm. I needed to be absolutely sure what was going on with my immunity, and since I’d seen Rod’s illusion the other day and knew it was supposed to work on everyone, a visit to him now would confirm whether or not my immunity really was gone. On top of that, he had access to everyone’s employee records, so he might be able to help in the investigation. “I probably ought to work with Rod on this, as it should fall under Personnel,” I added.

He nodded. “Good thought. Thank you for your time, Katie.”

I took the dismissal hint. As I returned to my office with an armload of business books, I tried to think of things that might work to help us all overcome our distrust of each other. We simply had to encourage people to be willing to work together. Once that got going, the mole might become obvious as the person who wasn’t cooperating. Or maybe we could set a trap within the fun activities.

I called down to Isabel and got on Rod’s calendar for the afternoon. Having an important role to play in the current crisis would be good for him. He’d finally feel like he was being noticed in the upper echelons of power, and I could pick his brain.

Flipping through the business books for ideas, I came to the conclusion that little of the advice would work in a magical corporation. It was nice that Merlin was trying to acclimate himself to the twenty-first-century business world, but I wasn’t sure if the Pike Place Market in Seattle would resonate with him as a metaphor for adding fun to the workplace.

I glanced at my phone and noticed that the voice-mail light was blinking. Someone must have left me a message while I met with Merlin. I picked up the phone, dialed into the voice-mail system, and found one new message. It was from Ethan.

“Hey,” he said. “Just checking in to see how the rest of the weekend with the folks went. Thanks again for inviting me for Thanksgiving, and be sure to pass my thanks on to your mom. I was also hoping that you’d be free for lunch tomorrow. Give me a call when you get a chance.”

All at once, the memory of buying the red shoes and the thoughts about Ethan that had gone through my mind at the time rushed over me. A shiver went up and down my spine—this time a pleasant shiver. I’d be glad to see him, the sooner the better, even though lunch wouldn’t be prime time for what I had in mind.

With a smile on my lips, I called his office. “Hey, yourself,” I said when he answered.

“Katie! So you got your parents off on their way home?”

“Yep. They left this morning.”

“And everything went well the rest of the weekend?”

“Just a few minor glitches, but nothing I wasn’t able to smooth over. My parents even started speaking to each other again.”

“I’m glad to hear it. So, lunch tomorrow?”

“I don’t have anything on my calendar.”

“Okay, how about I pick you up at noon? I’ll come up to your office. I have some things I need to drop off for the boss while I’m at it.”

That wasn’t the most romantic lunch invitation I’d ever heard, but I wasn’t going to quibble about it. “Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

As I hung up the phone, I wondered if the red shoes would be overkill for wearing to the office. Probably, I decided. Besides, I wanted to save them for a special night out. It would be a shame to waste them on a lunch when he wouldn’t have time to ravish me properly. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t wear something cute and alluring. I’d have to get Gemma to help me pull an outfit together that would whet his appetite for the weekend.

Forcing my mind back to my work, I gathered the notes I’d made from Merlin’s books and headed down to Rod’s office to discuss Operation Morale. Isabel gave me her usual enthusiastic greeting.

“Hi, sweetie! Good Thanksgiving?” she boomed.

“Wonderful Thanksgiving. How about you?”

“Nothing special. I helped with one of the balloons in the parade. I make a pretty good anchor, if I say so myself.”

“That must have been fun.”

“It was. Let me tell him you’re here.” She waved a hand over the crystal ball thingy that served as a magical intercom, then said, “Go on in.”

I opened Rod’s office door and knew right away that whatever it was, it hadn’t been a glitch. Instead of the Rod I knew, the same gorgeous and slightly dangerous-looking man I’d seen on Saturday sat behind his desk.

I was in huge trouble.

N
ot only was I finally certain that I really had lost my magical immunity, I was also susceptible to Rod’s attraction spell. While part of me wanted to throw myself at him, the other part had to forcefully remind me about Ethan, the guy I’d just made lunch plans with, the guy I hoped would have his wicked way with me that weekend. Then again, I was sure the red shoes would work on anyone. Even if I wasn’t with Ethan, I could wear those shoes and make Rod want me as much as I wanted him.

I went back to my mental list of Rod’s recent dates to snap myself out of the spell. Did he never turn that off, even at the office? What kind of raging insecurity would lead a man to artificially enhance his appeal that way? And what depths might he stoop to in order to get attention? I mentally reevaluated his status on my list of suspects.

“Hi, Katie,” he said, giving me an innocuous look, though I felt like his eyes were searching my face closely. “What did you want to see me about?”

“My latest wacky save-the-world plan,” I said, taking a seat in the chair in front of his desk. I automatically crossed my legs and let my skirt rise above my knees, then realized what I was doing and yanked it back down again.

“And I’m a part of this plan?” His eyes shifted away, and then he seemed to force himself to look at me again.

“This one falls squarely in your domain.” I licked my lips and wondered if I had lipstick on my teeth. I should have put on some lip gloss before heading off for the meeting. Had I put on perfume?
No,
I reminded myself.
Work
. “You see, I have this theory that the real intent of our mole isn’t so much to spy as it is to disrupt the company. If we’re all suspecting each other, we’re not working together, and that will make us less prepared to face whatever Idris is up to.”