Once Upon Stilettos

“Great! You two are here,” Rod said.



“For what?” Owen asked.



Rod grinned and took a step forward. I shifted sideways and back half a step. “It was one of Katie’s ideas. We’re boosting morale and teamwork. Don’t worry, this’ll be fun.” He turned to me. “Can I take your coat and your other things? I can get them up to your office.” In order to hand him my coat and bag, I had to step within his sphere of influence. I could feel the waves of desire wash over me, and I forced myself to keep my eyes on Owen. Surely his very real charms—his strong jaw, sculpted cheekbones, and blue eyes full of intelligence, kindness, and a hint of sadness—would be enough to counteract any other man’s attraction spell.



It must have worked, for I was startled when Rod said, “Oh, gotta run. I need to brief the boss. Katie, your things will be in your office.” Only then did I notice that he no longer held my coat, purse, or tote bag.



Once he was gone, Owen turned to me with a look that almost made me feel like I’d stabbed him in the back. “This wasn’t my idea,” I insisted. “I may have suggested that boosting morale and teamwork might counteract the effects of the mole, but I didn’t suggest anything like this. I’m afraid I may have created a monster.”



“And what, exactly, do you think this is?”



I looked around at the ball caps and at the posters I now saw hanging from the balcony railing above. “I suspect we’re in for a company pep rally and a team-building exercise. There will probably be sharing and hugging, that kind of thing.”



“Oh.” He looked like he’d rather be wrestling a dragon, or maybe having dinner with Idris. I turned to watch Rod with Merlin. Merlin looked utterly fascinated by the goings-on. He was even wearing his ball cap proudly.



I turned back to reassure Owen that I’d try to do what I could to get him out of stuff like this, but he was gone. I had a feeling that if my magical immunity had been in place, I would have been able to see him sneaking around the periphery of the lobby and then up the stairs to the relative safety of his lab. It was no fair. Why couldn’t I veil myself with invisibility?



A trumpet sounded a flourish, and the whole crowd turned to face the stairs. The playerless trumpet that hung over the stairs near Merlin disappeared. “Thank you all for being here this morning,” Merlin said, his voice ringing through the room. Not that we had much choice, given that they’d ambushed us at the front door. “I know we’ve had some challenges in the past weeks, but it’s important that we remember who we are and what we do. We need to accept—even embrace—the fact that our world has changed and move forward proudly. To that effect, I would like to present a challenge. If we reach our productivity goals for the year before the holidays, everyone will receive a bonus.”



The crowd cheered, and I had to give the old guy credit. He knew exactly how to motivate people: money. I wasn’t sure where the hats and posters fit in, though. It seemed to me that he could have delivered the same message via e-mail.



“Now Mr. Gwaltney will take over,” Merlin said, then stepped aside for Rod.



“Thank you, Mr. Mervyn,” Rod said. His voice appeared to have been magically amplified, but it didn’t have the same ringing quality to it that Merlin’s had. “We’re going to be working hard in the next couple of weeks, but we can also have some fun. We’ll be conducting the first-ever company-wide treasure hunt. If you’ll open your envelopes, you’ll find out what team you’re on, and you’ll have a list of clues. The clues won’t make sense until you match them up with the clues the rest of your team has. Then you can find all the items for the hunt, which are hidden around the building. The prize for best team will be given at the holiday party. Good luck, everyone!”



His last sentence was nearly drowned out by the sound of ripping paper as everyone tore open their envelopes. I watched to see how the group would react to the idea of having to work that closely with each other, and I was surprised by how many actually seemed okay with it. There were smiles and laughter—things I hadn’t seen in weeks. I opened my own envelope to find that I was on the Unicorn team. The list of clues made no sense to me. They were like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I had to admit, Rod had come up with something clever that might actually work.



“Unicorns, over here!” I heard Isabel bellow. I joined the group gathered around her, where we made plans to meet for lunch to go over our clues. Then I made my escape up the stairs to my office.



Rod caught me at the top of the stairs. “What do you think?” he asked.