Witch out of Luck Read online

  “A wizard?” I suggested. “Is there a reason we’re witches only?”

  “No, it just worked out that way,” Bethan said. “There used to be a wizard here before me. Maybe we could give a few people a trial run to see if they’re a good fit rather than just hiring the first person who applies. Uh, not that it didn’t work out great in your case, Blair.”

  “Good idea,” I said, scanning the details of each candidate. “People who can stand to be around chaos and who don’t mind dealing with…” I trailed off, looking at the picture of a huge blond man at the top of the list. “Uh, what you said about werewolves? How did Chief Donovan’s nephew end up on the list?”

  Bethan frowned. “He did?”

  I turned the paper around to show her. “Veronica isn’t under a spell again, is she?”

  “No… Let’s ask Callie.”

  She got to her feet and walked out of the office to find the blond receptionist. I followed close behind her.

  “Hey, Callie,” I said. “Did your cousin apply to work here? Robert?”

  Her brow wrinkled. “Oh, no. Not again.”

  “Not again what?” I asked. “Is this the same cousin who nearly started a fight with me in the witches’ place last month?”

  “No. It’s his brother, Rob.” She glanced nervously at the boss’s office. “I think he may have applied as a joke to annoy my dad. He’s the rebellious cousin.”

  “And do you think he’d be a good fit here?” Lizzie asked, coming out of the open door behind us.

  Callie gave another glance at Veronica’s office before dropping her voice. “Maybe? But you know, my dad still hasn’t lifted the ban on people from the pack applying here. I don’t know how my cousin got around it.”

  “We don’t want to annoy the pack,” I said. “But you’re still allowed to stay here, right, Callie?”

  “He can’t stop me from going to work,” she said. “But… oh, no. She looked at her phone, which had buzzed on the desk. “He said he’s coming here…”

  The front doors slid open.

  “…now,” she finished.

  A blond man walked through the doors into the reception area. “Hey, there,” he said. “Which of you is Veronica Eldritch?”

  “None of us.” Bethan backed towards the open office door. “I’m her daughter. You applied for the position of our fourth team member, right?”

  “Right.” He gave Callie a wave and peered behind her desk. “Is that Ms Eldritch’s office?”

  “We’re running the interviews,” I said, certain Veronica wouldn’t want her time wasted with someone who’d only applied as a joke. “In here.”

  He wasn’t the same cousin who’d once yelled at me, at least, but let’s just say the werewolf pack and I weren’t best friends. If I tried to kick him out, things could get nasty, and I’d had more than enough close encounters with werewolf teeth for a lifetime. Instead, I’d have to employ my best techniques to be rid of him.

  He strode into our office and waved at Lizzie. “Hey there,” he said. “I’ve heard all about your magical printer. Was it you who repainted Francis’s face?”

  “Who?” I said blankly.

  “The gargoyle who got covered in printer ink a few weeks ago,” said Lizzie, looking as though she was trying not to laugh. “Aren’t you going to interview him, Blair?”

  “Uh, usually we pick who to invite for interviews first,” I said pointedly. “Unless one of you two emailed him?”

  There was an awkward pause, and Bethan cleared her throat.

  “I was half asleep when I sent the email yesterday,” Lizzie admitted. “I don’t have your talent, Blair.”

  “Talent?” Rob said, sounding curious.

  “Never mind.” If nothing else, my lie-sensing power would clear up the issue of whether or not he actually wanted to be here. Then I’d have to find a tactful way to be rid of him before Chief Donovan showed up on the doorstep and demanded to know why I was hiring all his relatives. I’d wanted to avoid the pack for the foreseeable future, but it would be rude to turn him away.

  I invited the werewolf into the small room we used for interviews, and then severely regretted it. He took up half the room, and the chair looked like a kids’ chair when he sat on it. At least he didn’t get into my personal space. When I’d first come here, I’d been terrified at the idea of conducting an interview with a werewolf alone in a cupboard-sized room, but now, all I hoped was that he wouldn’t waste my time.

  “So, I’m Rob,” he said. “I’d love to work for Eldritch & Co.”

  True… but that didn’t tell me why. “Tell me about the skills you have which would make you a good fit for our team,” I said. “You may have noticed that all our staff except Callie are witches.”

  “They are? I didn’t notice.” He sat up straighter. “Skills. I’m good at scaring off trespassers.”

  Resisting the impulse to roll my eyes, I said, “I don’t remember that being on the job requirements list.”

  “That’s not all I can do,” he said. “I assumed that after all the break-ins you’ve had this year, you’d want more hired muscle.”

  “We have the town’s security to help us out if necessary,” I said. “And Veronica’s security wards are second to none. Do you have any admin experience?”

  “Yeah, I ran the chess club at the university. I was also part of the cross-paranormal debate team.”

  “So you studied at the university. Which course?”

  Rob leaned forward and the chair creaked alarmingly. “Yes, I have a degree in accounting. Did you not read my application form?”

  No, because you showed up here without warning. I really needed more coffee. “Okay, you do meet our main requirements,” I admitted. “If you were hired to select a candidate for a unicorn-handing position, what would you do?”

  I launched into the ‘hypothetical scenarios’ section of the interview. I was pretty sure nobody was ever honest in that section, but not only did I pick up on zero lies from him, he answered every question perfectly.

  In fact, he was the ideal candidate. If only he’d applied for genuine reasons and not to annoy someone I didn’t want to make an enemy of.

  “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I finished with the most annoying of all possible interview questions.

  “Sitting in a hammock,” he said, with a grin.

  True. He’d got through the entire interview without lying, and I was officially out of ideas. “Okay, thanks for your time. I’ll let you know if you get the job within the next five working days.”

  He gave me a cheery smile. “Sure. I look forward to it.”

  Rob left, while I rubbed my forehead, thoroughly annoyed with myself. The others stared at me when I walked back into the office.

  “How’d it go?” Bethan asked.

  I shook my head, disgruntled. “Looks like he’s sincere about wanting to work here. I wish I’d just asked outright if he’s trying to annoy Chief Donovan. Or if he just wants to work in an office full of witches only for the bragging rights.”

  The door to the reception opened, and Rob backtracked into the office. Oops. I’d thought he’d left. “Oh, Chief Donovan won’t make trouble for you,” he said. “Also, I didn’t notice you were all witches when I applied, but I don’t have nefarious intentions. I’m not interested in women.”

  And then he was gone. I waited a moment in case he came back, then said, “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Look on the bright side,” said Lizzie. “You don’t have to interview any of the other candidates. We have a fourth team member again.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure.” I walked out into the reception area. “Is he gone, Callie?”

  “Yes, he is.” She frowned at me. “What in the world were you asking him? He was in there for ages.”

  I groaned. “I tried every line of questioning and he didn’t slip up at all. He seems to actually want to be here. Was he serious?”

  “I’m not the human lie detect
or.”

  “She’s got you there,” said Bethan from behind me.

  I gave another sigh and walked back into the office. “That’s what I get for conducting interviews before I finished my coffee.” Which was now cold. I drank it down anyway, mentally kicking myself. If Chief Donovan and Veronica got into a duel in the office, the blame would fall squarely on my head.

  “I didn’t put two and two together with the name,” Lizzie said. “But he actually seems a good fit.”

  “Uh, except for the part where Chief Donovan now has two relations working for his least favourite people in town?”

  “Nah, we aren’t his least favourite. Don’t forget the vampires,” said Bethan. “Besides, it’s better than trying out witches who aren’t used to our special brand of weirdness. Rob seems like a cool guy.”

  “Hmm.” I drained the rest of my coffee and picked up the candidate list again. “I don’t know. Chief Donovan still hasn’t forgiven me for Callie falling under that spell. Not to mention… uh, I’m having dinner with Nathan’s family tonight.”

  Bethan’s jaw dropped. “You… what?”

  “I’m meeting Nathan’s family,” I said. “Off duty. It’s not a hunter thing. I don’t think they’ll be probing me about the town’s issues or anything. Just if the werewolves hear about that…”

  “Oh.” Lizzie winced. “Yeah, I didn’t know that when I emailed him. But he seems to fit in well here. He’s certainly charismatic. We need more of that.”

  “We have plenty of charm.” I shuffled the files. “What we don’t have is someone to sit on the end of the phone when a problem client is on a roll and listen patiently without ‘accidentally’ hanging up.”

  “He could just growl at the problem clients and they’d give in,” Bethan observed. “That’s it, we’re keeping him.”

  I sighed.

  After another long afternoon of interviews, I left the office twenty minutes late, having made up the lost time for this morning. I’d just about have time to go home and change before heading to meet Nathan’s family.

  Nerves fluttered inside me. I’d barely been able to concentrate all afternoon, and maybe it was because of that, but none of the other possible candidates seemed the right fit for our office. Bethan and Lizzie were right: Rob was the best option out of all the interviewees. But the last thing I wanted was to open up a new line of conflict with the werewolves.

  As it turned out, the werewolves weren’t who I should have been worried about. I reached home to find a small figure wearing bark-coloured clothes standing on my doorstep. It was Bramble the elf.

  “Oh, hi,” I said, surprised. When the elves paid me a visit, the king usually sent one of his personal guards. I hadn’t known Bramble knew where I lived. “Can I help you with something?”

  “Probably not,” he said.

  Okay… “Er, not to be rude, but I’m on my way to dinner with my boyfriend’s family. Can you come back later?”

  “No,” he growled. “The gargoyles are blaming us for that human’s death.”

  “Oh, no.” Steve dealt with criminal investigations with the finesse of a bucket of weed killer unleashed on a garden. I should have guessed he’d find someone to blame who hadn’t been near the crime scene. Though I had seen the elves on the path by the falls, and I’d bet they hadn’t been willing to play nice and answer the police’s questions.

  “Exactly,” Bramble said. “You can vouch for us, can you not? Tell the gargoyle we weren’t involved with the boy’s death.”

  “I don’t work with Steve,” I said. “He doesn’t even care about my lie-sensing power—he never believes a word I say. Why did he end up accusing you to begin with?”

  There was a pause, then he said, “We were near the lake when that student drowned. Someone saw us in the woods.”

  “What were you doing by the falls?” I asked. “You don’t normally come to the lake, do you?”

  “What business is it of yours?” he said haughtily.

  And he wondered why Steve had assumed him guilty. “I’m just trying to help. You didn’t kill the guy, did you?” I had to get that straightened out first.

  “Certainly not,” he said. “None of my people murdered a human. How dare you even assume such a thing?”

  “You just told me you were a suspect.” Never mind a fourth team member—I needed a personal assistant with finesse in handling paranormal relations. “All right, I’ll try to help, but I don’t think Steve will listen to me.”

  “I will return to take you to our king later, human,” he growled.

  Then he stepped off the doorstep and disappeared into the nearby bushes.

  What have I got myself into this time?

  I let myself into the flat. Alissa wasn’t in, so she wouldn’t have seen the elf standing outside. I should probably count myself lucky that he hadn’t shown up at the office.

  I dropped off my bags and contemplated my wardrobe. What was I supposed to wear to a fancy dinner with Nathan’s family? The hunters I’d met dressed like they were ready to go hiking most of the time. Still, it was best to make a good impression. I discarded a dozen outfits before settling on my nicest top and skirt. It was too warm for a cardigan or jacket. I changed quickly, then I applied some makeup in the bathroom mirror.

  I put on a pleasant smile, a leftover from my customer service days, and surveyed my reflection. There. I looked normal. Perfectly human and normal.

  “Miaow.” Sky rubbed against my legs.

  “Hey, Sky,” I said. “I’m off to see Nathan’s family. Wish me luck, huh?”

  “Miaow,” he said, which could have meant anything from good luck to I hope he likes cats.

  “I’ll be back in a bit, okay?” I checked my reflection one last time, hoping that Nathan’s family wouldn’t notice that all my clothes were covered in cat fur.

  Go time. No pressure, Blair.

  4

  I walked halfway down the road, then stopped. Hang on… where was Nathan’s house? I checked my phone. He’d texted me the address, which I ought to have already known. He lived up the north side of town, so I walked in that direction, past the vampires’ cemetery, and turned right. I hoped I wasn’t sweating too much. It was uncomfortably warm outside, and my nerves got worse with every step. I wished I could use my wings as a shortcut, but if I flew there in fairy form, I’d lose the image of a normal human I’d worked hard to cultivate.

  Nathan’s redbrick house was on a terraced street which looked almost like it belonged to a normal magic-free English town. Maybe he’d picked this location on purpose to give his family the impression that the whole town was just as harmless. His neighbours must surely be paranormals, since he was the only ex-hunter in town, but they seemed to be on their best behaviour. Granted, since they had the curtains drawn, they might be jousting on unicorns behind the scenes for all I knew. Nathan’s living room curtains were open, however, and I glimpsed several people inside. My stomach tightened.

  I took in a deep breath and knocked. Nathan answered the door wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Okay, maybe this wasn’t as formal an event as I thought, but it didn’t hurt to make a good impression.

  “You look great, Blair,” he said.

  “Don’t stand in the way, Nathan. Let me see her.” A woman elbowed him aside. She had long dark hair and wore muddy jeans and a leather jacket that stretched across her muscular shoulders.

  “Hey,” she said, reaching out a hand to shake mine. “You must be Blair. I’m Erin. It’s great to meet you. Nathan’s told me so much about you.”

  “Ah, it’s great to meet you, too,” I said. All I knew about her was that she was trying to impress her family by being a hunter and she liked bubble wrap. And the outdoors, judging by the state of her clothes.

  “You’re not his usual type,” Erin said to me. “I’m surprised.”

  From her tone, she was teasing, so I didn’t take her bait. As I entered the narrow hallway, a tabby cat brushed against my legs. “Right, you have three cats
.” I crouched to stroke the cat behind its ears. “I remember you told me.”

  Erin gave him a curious look. “What, you haven’t been to his place yet? How long have you been together?”

  “Really, Erin,” he said. “It’s been a busy summer, what with my promotion and everything. Blair’s busy, too, with work.”

  She grinned at me. “Right, you work for that weird woman with the white hair. Veronica Eldritch. Wasn’t she married to that shifter who’s been arrested twelve times for public nudity?”

  Nathan frowned. “Erin, what did I tell you about spreading stories?”

  She shrugged. “Just what I heard. Oh, hey, Eric.”

  A young man of around her age stepped out of the door behind her. He looked a little like Nathan, but he’d grown his dark brown hair to shoulder length and wore the same rugged gear as his sister.

  “Hey,” he said. “Jay is keeping Dad occupied… you must be Blair. Good to meet you.”

  “You too,” I said, shaking his hand. “You’re…”

  “I’m Eric,” he said. “Erin’s twin.”

  “Oh, cool.”

  “Yeah, our parents ran out of ideas for names. They weren’t expecting twins.” Erin winked. “Of course that was also the year Mum took off, so—”

  “Erin.” Nathan pointedly indicated the slightly open door on the right. Then he pushed it open, revealing a spacious living room. “Blair’s here.”

  I walked into the living room, where two men sat on the leather sofa. Nathan’s dad had grey hair and wore casual clothes like Nathan rather than hiking gear. The younger man, however, wore dark brown clothes almost like army fatigues. I knew immediately that he was the oldest sibling, the one in charge of the local hunters’ branch. If the clothes hadn’t tipped me off, the knives strapped to his waist would have.

  “You’re Blair?” he said, rising to his feet. “Huh. I suppose you’re pretty at least. Shame about everything else.”

  “Jay,” Nathan said warningly.

  Everything else? Really? He’d once described his siblings as ‘thick as stumps’ and similar to the other three hunters I’d met, so it came as no surprise that at least one of them would take an instant dislike to me. Still, it was awkward standing there while he looked me up and down as though hoping someone else would appear in my place.