Once Upon Stilettos

Rod shook my parents’ hands. “Nice to meet you,” he said. “Katie’s been such an asset to the company.”



Mom looked at him, glanced at Gemma, Marcia, and me, then frowned and looked back at him, like she was trying to figure out what all the goo-goo eyes were about. Only then did I remember that it was an illusion and that he must have been using one of those mild attraction spells he’d talked about. I didn’t realize he used it constantly. That explained his spectacularly successful social life.



I forced myself to stay aware of the illusion and the attraction spell. I was not going to become yet another notch on his bedpost. I’d hate to lose my status as one of the few women in the company who hadn’t gone out with him. To keep myself focused, I tried making a mental list of the women I knew had gone out with him, which was essentially the female side of the company roster and a good portion of the Manhattan residential white pages.



Before Gemma and Marcia reached the point of throwing themselves at him, I decided it would be best to get away. That would make it easier for me to have him all to myself later. No! I shook my head to clear it and conjured up an image of the female staff members of the accounting department—numbers twenty-four, twenty-five, and twenty-six on my mental list of Rod’s former flings. “It was great running into you,” I said, “but we’ve got to get back home. I’ll see you Monday!”



“Yeah, see you Monday. And it was nice meeting you all,” he said.



I practically had to drag Gemma and Marcia to keep them from following him, and it was only my worry about getting them away, along with the thought of an anonymous blond woman in a coffee shop who was the twenty-seventh person I was aware of who’d gone out with Rod in the short time I’d known him, that kept me from wanting to follow him. Besides, I reasoned, I’d have him to myself Monday. Realizing where my thoughts were going, I reminded myself of the two girls in the lab down the hall from Owen’s office who, according to Ari, had been in tears after finding out they’d both gone out with Rod in the same weekend. No. I was not going to fall for that.



“Well, he was certainly interesting,” Mom said once we were on the subway platform, waiting for a train. “I wish I’d brought some samples with me. I could do a lot to improve his skin.”



Dad, Gemma, and Marcia all turned to look at her like she was crazy. I finally understood why people reacted to Rod the way they did. Usually, I was the only one wondering what all the fuss was about and wishing I could do a makeover on him to help him make the most of his natural assets so he could quit hiding behind that illusion.



Then Mom let out a bloodcurdling scream, and we all whirled to see her swinging at thin air with her handbag. “Get away from me, you ugly, nasty thing!” she shrieked, punctuating her words with blows of her huge carryall purse. “There now, you go! That’s it! And stay away!” she shouted defiantly down the subway tunnel.



Dad looked at the rest of us, concern in his eyes. “Lois, there wasn’t anything there,” he said.



“There isn’t now. That’s because it flew away. I guess I scared it off.”



“It was probably a bat that lives down in the tunnels,” I suggested, feeling bad for Mom. I knew she probably really was seeing something the rest of us didn’t. That was a switch for me. I was usually the one seeing things. I felt like I’d lost one of my senses.



“Biggest bat I ever saw, and hard as a rock, too. I hope I didn’t tear up my purse.”



“Do they have bats in the subway tunnels?” Gemma asked Marcia quietly, while Dad looked like he was wondering if he should put Mom in a rest home.



A nearly empty train stopped at the station, saving us from further discussion, and we all boarded. As we rode uptown, I tried to reassure myself. It was probably nothing more than a glitch. Maybe we’d been in a weird zone that reversed the polarity of power, or something like that. I knew that the office building was enhanced with extra power to draw upon. Maybe that had effects in the areas surrounding the building. Come to think of it, I’d never seen anything magical in that particular spot before.



Or it might be temporary. I’d noticed the gargoyle guarding me the day before, so this hadn’t been going on for long. It might even be a good educational experience. I’d often wondered what other people saw, so spending some time susceptible to illusion would give me a basis for comparison that would help me do a better job.



Only when we left the train at Union Square did I have another realization that sent shivers down my spine. It wasn’t just illusion that worked on me now. Other magic would affect me as well. If Mr. Bones or his ilk tried to attack me again, those magic fireballs would probably work, and I wouldn’t even see it coming. I was a sitting duck for all of Idris’s minions. I became eager to reach my magically warded home, where I should be safe. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen when I had to go to work Monday morning.