Damsel Under Stress

I picked up a sweet roll and coffee at a deli I passed on my way to the subway station, but when I got into the station, I found myself heading for the uptown platform instead of my more usual downtown platform. I noticed the mistake and tried to correct it, but nothing happened. I kept heading for the uptown platform, as though someone else controlled my body. I saw an elf pass me on the staircase, so I figured I had my immunity back and no one could be controlling me magically. Maybe my subconscious was trying to tell me something and I should just go with my gut.



I got on an uptown express train, then got off at Times Square and instinctively made my way over to the Spellworks store. I stood on the corner across the street from the store, waiting and watching. After a while, I got cold from standing still, and just waiting there seemed pointless, but when I tried to move, something in me resisted. My subconscious was being really, really stubborn. I put up an even stronger fight and finally succeeded in moving one leg, but then I saw Idris approaching the store and decided to stay for a while.



Of course, the moment I decided to stay, my subconscious got other ideas. I darted out across the street, dodging honking cars, to reach him. It took him a moment to notice me, and then yet another to recognize me. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes bugging. He immediately scanned the area around me like he was looking for my magical bodyguards. Come to think of it, I hadn’t noticed them, myself. I must have thrown them off by leaving so early, before Owen got there to walk me to work.



I opened my mouth to answer him, but what came out was, “Are you missing anything? Or have you been too busy with your lady friend to notice?” My subconscious was a very strange place. I had no idea what I was talking about.



He rolled his eyes. “I am not dating Sylvia. She’s my investor. You may think I’m joking around with my business, but it’s for real, and it’s going to take that dinosaur you work for down.”



I glanced over at his single, tiny storefront, then back to him. “Yeah, we’re shaking.”



“How big a task force do you have assigned to figure out what I’m doing and bring me down?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and taking a pose that made him look like a wannabe rap star. “Yeah, you’re running scared.”



“We’re not scared of you. We’re scared about the mess you’ll make and the innocent people who’ll be hurt along the way.” That was me talking, I was sure.



“That’s what you say.” He glanced around me again, then asked with a smirk, “Where’s your boyfriend this morning? I thought taunting me was his job.”



“He’s too busy to waste time on you.” Part of me wanted desperately to stay there with him, which made me really worry about my subconscious, but I knew I needed to get to the office. It took all my will to drag myself away from him to get to the subway station. While I waited for a downtown train, I checked my watch. Unless a train came very soon, I’d be late. I stared up the tunnel, wishing for a train to get there right away. For once, it worked.



When I got to the office, Owen’s lab was empty. That gave me a chance to focus on my own work. I had a revised marketing plan in response to the Spellworks threat to wrap up and get to Merlin, and that almost distracted me from obsessing over what might have happened at the party and whatever was going on with me this morning. I still didn’t think my friends had told me the truth. After all, I never acted like that. I printed the final document, then headed to the departmental printer room to pick it up.



Trix greeted me with a worried frown when I got up to Merlin’s office. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You were in really bad shape by the end of the party.”



“What kind of shape?” I asked.



She shrugged her wings. “You weren’t acting like yourself.” Then she gave one of her tinkling fairy giggles. “For a moment, I even thought Ethan might have regretted breaking up with you.”



“That bad, huh?” I asked, playing along, though I was sure she was in on my roommates’ scheme.



“I’ve seen worse. Remember, I used to hang out with Ari.” Her eyes flashed in anger for a second, then she was back to her perky self. “What brings you up here?”



“I’ve got this plan the boss wanted to see.”



The intercom on Trix’s desk buzzed. “Tell her to bring it to me,” Kim’s voice said.



Trix looked up at me and rolled her eyes. “Her majesty beckons.”



This would have been the perfect time for Merlin to fling open his office doors and ask to see me, but he didn’t, so I sighed, shrugged, and headed to what used to be my office. “You need to make sure Mr. Mervyn sees this as soon as possible,” I said, trying to give my best impression of a superior speaking to a lowly office peon. “It’s high priority.”