Once Upon Stilettos

Gemma rolled her eyes. “No,” she said with the slightest of sneers. That was a pretty good sign she saw him as I did. He wasn’t pulling a Rod and making himself look gorgeous.



“You could be, you know,” he said, now sounding more like an overeager geek than a crafty, evil wizard.



“Thanks,” she said flatly, picking up her menu and burying her face in it.



I was on the verge of reminding him that he was supposed to be threatening me, not hitting on my roommate, when I remembered that I didn’t want him threatening me. I didn’t want him hitting on my roommate, either, but Gemma was more than capable of dealing with guys like that.



“I know some people,” he said. “I could pull a few strings, open a few doors.”



“No thanks,” she said, not looking up from her menu.



He looked more like the president of the AV club who had just been turned down after asking the prom queen to dance than like an evil wizard out to take over the world. I worried that he’d do something evil to make Gemma notice him, but apparently he found someone else much more interesting, for he crossed the room abruptly and began bothering that person. I wasn’t sure what was more annoying, a nemesis who focused all his attention on me or a nemesis who couldn’t seem to be bothered with me for more than a minute at a stretch.



“Okay, that was weird,” Marcia said.



I chanced a glance around the table. Everyone was giving me funny looks. Mom looked like she was ready to go right back to the airport. “Friend of yours?” Gemma asked, looking up from her menu now that the coast was clear.



“Not really. He’s just someone who knows someone I know, and I seem to have been caught in the middle. He pops up every so often to be a pest,” I explained, trying to act like it was no big deal. But it was a big deal. If he was shadowing me, he had to be up to something, and I couldn’t help but suspect that some of his scarier friends might also be around. And worse, he now knew what my friends and my parents looked like.



The next morning when Owen and I got to work, I let him go ahead while I stayed at the building entrance to talk to Sam. “Can you do me a favor?” I asked him.



“Sure, doll. What’s up?”



“Well, Idris paid me a visit last night—when I was at dinner with my roommates and my parents.”



His stone face looked astonished. “That shouldn’t have happened. I wonder how he got past my people. What did he want?”



“It was just the usual bad movie-villain taunting. And hitting on my roommate. But I really don’t want it to happen again. I’m trying to convince my parents that I’m safe and happy here, and I can’t do that if I have evil geek wizards stalking me.”



“I’ve got it under control,” he said with a salute.



“Thanks, Sam.” I glanced up at the doorway where Owen had disappeared into the building, then turned back to Sam. “You might want to have a detail follow Owen over the holiday, too. I think he’s visiting his foster family, and if Idris is doing this to me, I can only imagine what he’s got in store for Owen.”



“Good idea. I’m glad you brought it up. The kid himself never would have asked for help.”



“Of course, you didn’t hear it from me,” I said as I opened the door.



“Hear what?” he asked with a wink.



I was halfway up the main lobby stairs on my way up to my office when Trix flew toward me. “Oh, good, Katie! There you are! Come quick!” She turned and flew back the way she’d come without waiting for me to respond.



“What is it?” I asked as I ran to keep up with her.



“It’s Ari. That girl in Sales she hates said something about her probably being the spy, and things went downhill from there. They’re shooting magic at each other, so you’re the only one who can get in there safely and break it up.”



Well, actually there were a number of other magical immunes in the company who could do the job, but I knew what she meant. This was the kind of thing that was probably best left among friends instead of getting anyone more official involved.



The feeling of power in use became so intense it gave me goose bumps when Trix slowed to a halt. “There they are,” she whispered.



Ahead of us, Ari and Melisande Rogers were slugging it out magically. It looked a lot like the last big fight between our guys and the Idris team, only with fewer people. They kept throwing power at each other in an attempt to knock each other out. “Watch what you say about me, bitch,” Ari snarled, hurling something glowing at Melisande.