Once Upon Stilettos (Enchanted Inc #2) (41 page)

While watching Idris for signs of treachery, I noticed Ari’s wings moving away. The little rat was trying to sneak out of this. Not on my watch, I vowed. I slipped through the crowd toward her, trying to keep an eye on her while also watching for any illusions or other magic that might be a danger to Owen or Merlin. The bitch had taken my powers, enchanted me, and screwed around with my life. She was not going to get away with it.

“It says something about that particular employee,” Merlin said. “Don’t assume it says anything about the rest of us.” His eyes scanned the crowd, like he was looking for who the traitor might be. Ari moved faster.

I knew I couldn’t keep up with her if she used her wings, and if she got away without being exposed, we’d be right back to the widespread paranoia and suspicion that had swamped the company when we first learned we had a traitor. “Hold it right there!” I shouted to her back. “Stop her!”

Isabel was standing closest to Ari, and she looked at me in shock and horror. “Katie?” she asked softly, and I could feel every head in the room swivel to look at me.

Ari, ever the schemer, turned to look at me with wide, innocent eyes. “What are you talking about, Katie? You aren’t trying to create a distraction, are you?”

That was a low blow, even for her, one I hadn’t been anticipating. “Wha—?” was all I could say.

“Who would have guessed it of sweet little Katie? Investigating the traitor, when the whole time, you’re the one stirring up trouble. It seems like in the last month, you’ve dated half the company, broken up a lifelong friendship, and now you’re trying to frame me?” With an air of affronted innocence, she looked around at the enthralled crowd. “Maybe you should ask her where she got those pretty red shoes, and what she’s doing with them. How else do you think she got all those men interested in her? She’s had her eyes on Owen Palmer since before she joined the company, and she’s stopped at nothing to get him, even if it takes getting someone to put a Cinderella spell on her shoes to make him want her.”

By this time, I was well over my shock and on my way to anger. “How would you know the shoes are enchanted?” I asked.

“Please! Like he’d see someone like you any other way? I wish I’d thought of it. If you didn’t have him under a spell, he wouldn’t notice if you threw yourself at him.”

I kicked off my shoes and tossed them at two nearby people. “Do they seem enchanted to you?” I asked them. I felt a lot shorter in my stocking feet, but I was also better prepared to run if I had to give chase.

She wasn’t done, though. In fact, she seemed surprisingly confident, probably because she knew for a fact that the shoes had been enchanted. “You may not have noticed the enchantment, since you’re immune. Or are you? Maybe you’ve been lying about that, too.”

The crowd parted, and soon Merlin was standing beside me. “Katie, is this true?”

Wishing I’d been honest with him sooner, I said, “Yes, sir. It was. I completely lost my immunity for a couple of weeks. It turned out someone had been drugging me. The water in my building was tainted, and then the effect was reinforced with enchanted candy sent to me by my secret Santa.”

“Ari!” Isabel blurted out, moving to block any possible path for Ari to escape. Then she turned to Merlin. “It was Ari. I assigned her to Katie because I thought it would be fun among friends.”

“But now I’m okay,” I added. “Totally back to normal.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Merlin asked me, sounding disappointed.

“I was afraid I’d lose my job, so I kept waiting and hoping it was temporary. And then, once we found the source, well, we figured that the only person who’d know about it would be the one who did it.”

“That was my idea, sir,” Owen’s voice called out from behind us, loud and clear. Every head in the room turned. Most of them had probably never heard Owen speak before tonight, let alone speak that loudly and firmly. “It was part of our plan.”

Now Merlin looked amused. “Your plan? Please, let’s discuss this.”

Ari tried to back away. “You’re going to believe her? She was lying to you.”

“At least she wasn’t conking people on the head and leaving them tied up in a broom closet,” a male voice said from the top of the stairs. I turned, along with everyone else in the room, to see Ethan and Trix at the top of the stairs. Both of them looked bedraggled and dazed.

Trix held up a small figure of a fairy. “But on the bright side, we found the last treasure hunt item, which I think means the Dragon team wins.”

The Dragon team launched into its cheer, which fizzled away a couple of seconds later when they realized that it wasn’t the right time for that sort of thing.

“What’s Idris doing here?” Ethan added.

“Are you sure who did it?” Merlin asked.

“Ari asked us to meet her before we left to get ready for the party,” Trix said, straightening her skirt.

I’d had enough. I stepped forward and grabbed one of Ari’s wings. She yelped. “Does that hurt?” I asked. She nodded. “Good,” I said, and dragged her forward to the foot of the stairs. That position made it easier for me to keep an eye on Idris and still run the inquisition on Ari.

“Now, would someone please explain the enchanted shoes to me?” Merlin said.

“What enchanted shoes?” Ethan asked. “Did we miss something? What’s going on?”

“There’s no spell on these shoes,” one of the bystanders I’d tossed my shoes to shouted.

Ari whirled in surprise. “Yes, there was!” she blurted.

I grabbed her wing again. “And how would you know?”

“They were enchanted,” Owen said. “They were affected by a rather powerful, layered spell that not only altered the perceptions of people around Katie, but also gave the caster some degree of control over her and served as a way of transmitting other spells to her and others around her. I broke it, of course. I can provide the documentation, but I will say that Ari’s fingerprints were all over it.”

The shoes were passed forward through the crowd. Owen took them and handed them to me. I put them back on, and this time they didn’t have to be enchanted to make me feel confident and powerful. I faced her and said, “You were my friend. How could you?”

“Like I’d ever really be friends with you,” she said with a haughty sniff. “It was all an act, and you bought it.”

“Yeah, stupid, nonmagical me. But why is it that if I’m such a weakling, you had to resort to magic and removing my abilities in order to come even close to getting in my way?”

I realized as I said it how true it was. I had my own power, and it was maybe even more powerful than magic. I held myself taller and continued, “You may think I’m a pushover because I’m nice, but being nice means people like me, and they’re willing to trust me even when I’ve been afraid to trust them.” I couldn’t help but glance at Owen when I said that. “They’re willing to talk to me and listen to me, and they stay at my side no matter what. You have no idea how much power my friends give me.” Owen’s smile at that moment reinforced what I’d just said, and I felt a surge of strength.

“You probably wouldn’t think much of my father. He’s a simple Texas farmer, totally unmagical, but he taught me how to read a person’s eyes to look into her heart. I don’t need to be able to see past illusion to see the truth. I’ve had that skill all along. In fact, I had you nailed as our traitor even when I’d totally lost my immunity, while you were drugging me and putting the whammy on me. Something about you didn’t add up, and in my gut I knew the truth. I just didn’t have the evidence to pin it on you. But now, thanks to you, I do.”

I turned to Merlin. “Wouldn’t you consider much of what she’s said here a confession?”

“She does seem to know too much for someone who wasn’t involved,” he agreed. “Security, please take Miss Ariel into custody.”

Sam and some of his colleagues flew in and grabbed Ari. “Are you going to let them do this to me?” she shouted at Idris as they dragged her away.

We all turned, prepared for a fight. I noticed Owen flexing his wrists. But Idris simply shrugged. “Hey, all that was her deal. I was just her date. I thought it was only a little prank. And I think I’ll be leaving now.” He put his hands in his pockets and sauntered away.

I turned to Merlin. “You’re not going to let him get away, are you?”

“He’s right. He’s done nothing.”

“And he was very careful to keep his fingerprints off Ari’s work,” Owen added. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who devised that particular variant on the Cinderella spell, mostly because that kind of work is beyond her abilities, but she was certainly the one who cast it.”

“So we’re letting him go?” I couldn’t believe this.

“This time,” Merlin said. “We have no reason to hold him. If we did, we’d be guilty of the kind of chaotic inattention to the law that he usually practices, and we might even aid in his cause to draw others away from order. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a speech to finish.”

He climbed back to the top of the stairs. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” he began, and the employees gave an answering murmur of laughter. “We have much to celebrate this year, but much work ahead of us. For tonight, let us enjoy ourselves. Greet your fellow workers and know that you’re not merely employees of Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Incorporated, you’re also the vanguard in the effort to maintain the ancient standards and purity of magical use. Let us all continue to find ways to use our power to serve not only our community, but also the greater good of all humankind. And by the way, we met our targets, so you will all be receiving bonuses.”

The employees burst into applause and cheers, and I joined in, truly feeling like part of the group. I felt an arm around my shoulders and turned to see Owen smiling down at me. “Good work,” he said. “I didn’t anticipate her trying to frame you, but you handled it well.”

“Like I said, I’ve got my own powers.”

“You really do. And it looks like we got rid of at least one headache by exposing our spy.”

I shook my head. “No, it means we could have an even bigger headache. Idris may be in it for the chaos, but Ari’s a lot more focused, and with her it’s personal now. Plus, she has an attention span that lasts longer than your average commercial break.”

He frowned. “So the two of them really are working together…”

“Fasten your seat belt,” I said with a nod.

“Fortunately, she’ll be in custody for a while.”

“Let’s hope so, or we’re in trouble. You don’t want to give her a chance to pull his strings.”

Merlin waved his hand for attention once more. “I believe we have one additional portion of our celebration to carry out. This season we’ve attempted to pull together as a company by doing kind things for each other. Tonight, we’ll all learn the identities of our benefactors. Each of you was instructed to bring a gift tonight to present in person. Please take your gifts from beneath the tree and reveal your identities to your friends.”

“I guess I’ll be coming up short tonight,” I muttered as everyone swarmed to the tree. “Not that I’d want anything she gave me.” I shuddered, trying to imagine what it might have been.

I let the crowd around the tree die down, in part because I was enjoying watching others surprise their co-workers. The delighted hugs and handshakes warmed my heart. There might have been a few hitches—most of them involving me—but it looked like it had worked overall. There was a family feel to this gathering that certainly hadn’t been there at my old job working for Mimi.

While Owen gave his gift to his pal, I took the book from under the tree and waited on the sidelines. Merlin came up to stand next to me. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” I said. “I was so afraid.”

“Your employment with me is not contingent on your magical abilities, or lack of abilities, as the case may be.” His eyes twinkled. “In fact, you made a rather accurate summation of your true skills for the position. You must have great discernment if you were able to carry out your duties even without your magical immunity in place.”

“It would have gone a lot easier if I’d trusted someone sooner.”

“You’ve learned some valuable lessons from this experience. Don’t forget them.”

Jake, almost unrecognizable with his hair combed, approached Merlin shyly with an elaborately decorated package. “Um, sir? I have something for you.”

They moved away, and I watched others open fantastic magical gifts that soared, sparkled, and sang. It was enough to make me want to hide my book behind my back and play dumb, but then that would have negated that little lesson I’d learned about trust. Owen was my friend and had never failed to be gracious about anything. I could trust him to see the spirit of my gift.

Finally, I found the nerve to approach him. He was still a bit pink from having to carry on a nonbusiness conversation with his secret Santa, someone he didn’t know, but he looked happy. “This has gone really well,” he said.

“Yeah, if you don’t count all my dirty little secrets being aired in front of the whole company.”

“You weren’t the only one dragged through the mud tonight,” he reminded me. I remembered what Ari had said about it taking an enchantment for him to notice someone and winced on his behalf, even if it was kind of true.

“Well, anyway, I have something for you, which I’m sure you’ve already guessed by now.” I handed him the book. “Merry Christmas from your secret Santa. You did know, didn’t you?”

“Well,” he hedged, not quite looking me in the eye.

“Owen, I thought we were going to be honest with each other.”

“Okay, then, yes, I knew. Who else was going to go to that much effort? But you did a good job covering your tracks.” He then looked me in the eye, turning pink, but keeping eye contact steady. “And I was glad it was you. I can have magical things anytime I want. But I almost never get the kinds of things you did for me. Thank you.”

I felt myself turning almost as red as he was. “Aren’t you going to open it?” I asked.

He tapped the wrapping paper with his index finger and made it disappear. Then he grinned. “This is great, thanks! You do pay attention, don’t you?”

“Well, I may not have ESP with a twenty-four-hour Owen channel, but I do what I can.”