Damsel Under Stress

I shook my head, refusing to believe that—but was it because I was in denial or because it wasn’t true? “But…but the magical differences haven’t been our problem,” I said, thinking out loud. “Whatever problems we’ve had seem to have more to do with the fact that we work together and our work is challenging. We’ve got enemies who keep getting in our way.” Now that I thought about it, that was absolutely true. I felt better already.



Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to have convinced Ethelinda. “You just don’t appreciate the differences. That might not be the problem now, but it was sure to be one down the line. Best you stop it now before anyone gets hurt.”



“If that’s the case, if someone like me can’t find happiness with someone like him, then why were you even involved in the first place?”



“Perhaps my job was to keep you from being together. Destiny does tend to blur at times.”



I got up from the bench. “Well, I don’t want your help. Stay out of my life. I’ll take things from here. However things work out, it’s up to us.”



Needless to say, I was still crabby when I got back to the office, and even though I knew I was taking out my anger on the wrong person, I couldn’t stop myself from snapping at Owen when he commented on me being back. “Yes, I’m back. So?”



He looked confused, but merely said, “So, we had a meeting. I was worried about you.”



It was only then that I remembered the meeting we had to discuss Idris’s latest scheme. “Oh no! I’m sorry, I guess I got sidetracked.” I thought for a moment about telling Owen about Ethelinda, but now that she’d given up on us and would probably be out of our hair, I figured he didn’t need one more thing to worry about.



“It’s okay, I think I know all that you know at this point, so I was able to fill everyone in. You’ll just have to cover for me at the next meeting.” He frowned as he looked at me, then asked, “Is something wrong?”



I had to fight the urge to laugh maniacally. Seriously, what wasn’t wrong? Our enemy was apparently thriving, and there was nothing we seemed able to do about it. I had an incompetent fairy godmother who was interfering in my life and who had just declared that I wasn’t suited for the man of my dreams, after all. Meanwhile, I had to admit that things with Owen did seem to have stalled out on the romantic front, and I wasn’t sure how much of that was because circumstances kept getting in the way of us having a normal dating life and how much might be because we really weren’t cut out to be anything more than friends. But I knew that wasn’t what he meant. “No, nothing’s wrong. Just frustrating lines and unhelpful people. I’m sorry I took it out on you.”



“That’s okay. We all have bad days.” He reached as though to touch the side of my face and came back with a foil-wrapped piece of chocolate. “Maybe this will help.”



As I unwrapped it, I said, “I hope you just conjured this because I’m not sure I want to eat chocolate that’s been hiding up your sleeve or behind my ear.” He gave me a vague, mysterious look, but I needed chocolate in the worst way, so I popped it into my mouth. “Anything interesting come out of the meeting?” I asked once the chocolate had made its way into my system and calmed me somewhat.



He rearranged a few of the piles on one of the lab tables. “Nothing much. We rehashed the same old theories. I did share your theory about boiling a frog—but with a metaphor slightly less frightening to Mr. Lansing—and what we noticed last night about Idris and Sylvia Meredith. Ethan’s still working on Philip’s claim against that company, but it’s hard to prove a century-old enchantment.” He shuffled, then straightened another pile. “Oh, and Mr. Mervyn wants you to try that other experiment.”



“What other experiment?”



“The one to take away your immunity temporarily so you can see what the rest of the world sees. He thinks that could be helpful.”



“Oh yeah, that.” I knew I shouldn’t be nervous about this, since I trusted Owen to do the potion the right way and I’d survived the last time when Idris and his people had tampered with the water supply going into my building. It had been my idea in the first place, but now that it looked like a reality, it was scarier than I’d anticipated.



Owen moved over to another lab table, where a beaker and a few vials sat. As he mixed things up, he said, “You probably won’t see any effects until the second dose, which I’ll give you in the morning. This is more concentrated than the formulation you were given before, so I expect it will hit you more suddenly. You’ll know for sure it’s happening.”