Once Upon Stilettos

To my immense relief, Sam was in his usual spot on the awning. I felt like hugging Owen—well, I often felt like hugging Owen, but this had nothing to do with how cute he was. “Good morning, Sam!” I said cheerfully. Then I noticed that he had what looked like a black eye.



“What happened to you?” Owen asked.



“Katie’s ma has a strong right hook. We may not recruit her as a verifier, but I could probably use her on my security team.”



I cringed. So that’s what my mom had been attacking. “Sorry about that,” I said. Still, as bad as I felt, it didn’t negate the fact that I could see Sam, which was a cause for celebration.



“Don’t mention it. It’s my own fault for letting her see me, immune or not. I’m supposed to be stealthier than that.”



As we entered the building, I felt like I had Ari’s wings. It had just been a glitch. My career wasn’t over. I was still safely immune to magic.



“You’re awfully perky for a Monday morning,” Trix remarked when I reached Merlin’s office suite. She had wings and slightly pointed ears, and she hovered over her desk chair, like she always did.



“I survived my week with the parents,” I said. “It’s good to be back to work—and back to normal.” Back to normal in more ways than one. Or was I? Halfway to my office I paused and turned back. “I’m curious about something. I was thinking about this while I was showing my parents around. How does that veiling thing y’all do to hide yourselves from the rest of the world work? Do you cast a spell on everyone in general to make them see what you want them to see, or is it more specific? Like, do magical people see you as you really are, or does the illusion also work on magical people when you’re out in public?”



“It depends on how you cast the illusion and which spell you use. Most of the magical creatures generally just set the veiling illusion so it affects nonmagical people. Magical people see us as we really are, while normal people see our human illusions. It takes more energy to affect magical people, so most of us usually don’t amp up the illusion that high. But we could go totally incognito, except with people like you who don’t see illusion. And if you want to get fancy, you can filter it to affect only specific people. The more selective spells are a lot more expensive, of course.”



I nodded. “I see. So like with Rod, his illusion is pretty universal, working on everyone who isn’t immune. What about Sam? Do all magical people see him sitting out front, or just some?”



“He only shows himself to employees and expected guests when he’s on guard out front. Otherwise, no matter how powerful a wizard you are, you aren’t going to see him when you walk by. His spell is automatically updated when someone new joins the firm so the new people can see him. You’re probably in there, too, even though you’re immune. I think they feed the whole company roster into the spell. Most of us, except for Rod, the big loser, drop the illusion entirely when we’re not out in public. It’s a real energy drain.”



I tried to keep my face from falling completely. Maybe I wasn’t better. I needed more information to be sure. “Thanks. That’s really helpful,” I said, fighting for a casual, chipper tone.



“No problem. Any reason in particular you were curious?”



“It turns out my mom is immune, too. I had an interesting time during the holiday explaining the things she saw that my dad didn’t see. And that made me wonder how it all worked.”



“Wow, your mom is immune and you never knew?”



“I didn’t know I was until a little while ago. There’s not much magic where I come from.”



Before I could head to my office, Merlin emerged from his office. “Good, you’re here,” he said, even though I was pretty sure he already knew I was there. He always seemed to know. “When you get settled, I need to speak with you.”



“Give me a sec,” I said brightly. Inside, I felt like a kid who’d been called to the principal’s office at school. As I went into my office and put away my purse and tote bag and skimmed over my e-mail in-box, I wondered what it was about. Was it the business-world equivalent of getting an award, or was I in trouble? A shiver of fear shot through me as I realized that with his uncanny ways, Merlin probably already knew I’d lost my immunity. I should tell him, I supposed, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to say yet. Based on what Trix told me, seeing Sam didn’t prove anything.



I gathered a notepad and pen and went to Merlin’s office, silently praying that he just wanted me to take a memo. “Please, have a seat,” he said as I entered. He seemed friendly enough. I’d seen him angry, and this wasn’t it.