Damsel Under Stress

The service ended with an announcement that there would be a reception in the church hall. “We’ll make a token appearance, but we won’t stay long,” Gloria whispered to us as we gathered our coats and followed the crowd out of the sanctuary. The hall was in a more modern building that still wasn’t very new, and it had fake walnut paneling on the walls and yellowed linoleum on the floor. It looked a lot like most church halls I’d seen. A couple of folding tables with red and green paper tablecloths on them stood down one side of the room. One held trays of Christmas cookies and cupcakes while another held a punch bowl, a tea service, and a coffee urn. As we hung our coats on pegs near the doorway, Gloria hissed, “Now, remember, just greet people, have a cookie, and then we’ll go home. Don’t spoil your dinner.”



“She hates these things, but she feels obligated,” Owen confided to me as soon as Gloria had pasted a smile on her face and moved ahead to make a circuit of the room. “She thinks social chitchat is a waste of time.”



“I kind of have to agree with her there,” I said, but before I could add anything, we were surrounded.



“Look at you, all grown up,” said a gnome who stood craning his neck to look up at Owen. “I remember when you only came up to my shoulder.”



The other locals then chimed in about how good it was to have Owen back for a visit. He blushed bashfully, but he didn’t seem too taken aback. Apparently these were all people he knew and was comfortable with. I caught his eye and mimed drinking a cup of coffee, and he responded with a nod and a smile before returning to his conversation.



I made my way over to the refreshment table, where the cookies sat practically untouched. Back home, that would have been the ultimate insult to the cooks who’d made them, so I took a couple, just to be polite, of course. “And I’d thought we might not have enough,” a voice behind me said. I turned to see the minister, still in the black robe he’d worn for the service. “You’re a friend of the Eatons?” he asked.



“I work with Owen,” I explained. “I couldn’t get home for Christmas, so they invited me to join them.”



He nodded, and the smile he gave me echoed the disbelief I’d seen from everyone I’d told that story. He knew I must be more than a co-worker, and I was being investigated by the folks. “It’s nice to see him have friends,” he said, putting a funny little emphasis on the word “friends.” “He was always a quiet one.” He glanced over his shoulder toward the person we were talking about, then blinked. I couldn’t blame him. I was pretty sure I’d blinked, too, when I followed his gaze.



The older people and creatures who’d been fussing over Owen were gone, and he was instead surrounded by a gaggle of young women who looked like they’d stumbled onto a rock star. He was backing slowly away from them, but if he didn’t escape soon, they were likely to tear the clothes off him. The only thing keeping him relatively safe was the fact that the mothers of all the young women were also involved, running interference to keep the others out of the way of their daughters. Handbags flew with a fury I’d only seen before at a designer sample sale Gemma had once dragged me to.



The mob moved in my general direction, possibly because Owen instinctively headed toward me. I wasn’t sure how I could help. It didn’t look like that bunch was going to be fended off by me stepping up and declaring that I was his girlfriend. That would probably only make things uglier.



“Ladies, ladies,” the minister urged, “this isn’t the time or place.” A frosted snowman cookie then splatted against his festive purple stole. I couldn’t believe it. All these WASPy magical types were starting a food fight in the church hall. I hurried to get on the other side of the food table, out of the range of fire, as the women pelted each other with food. Owen wisely took advantage of the opportunity to duck under one of the tables. If I wasn’t mistaken, he’d also gone invisible at the same time. I was sure I felt the tingle of magic in use.



But it was more magic than I’d expect for a simple invisibility spell. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I had shivers going down my spine. That meant a lot of magic was flying around the room. I looked to see if I could find James and Gloria. James was standing in a corner, chatting with some of the other older men while drinking coffee, seemingly oblivious to the chaos—or else pointedly ignoring it. Gloria did not look amused. She was trying to drag one of the mothers away from the melee. I was impressed with the way she managed to avoid being hit by any of the flying cupcakes or cookies.