“I don’t condone. But I’ll forgive!” I blurt. I remember days of thinking I would do anything not to have one more panic attack, one more time of wondering if my racing heart would suddenly give out, or if my crushing migraines and other thousands of side effects would ever stop. After only a few hours or days, I was weak enough to wish the pain away. If I’d had means of actively fighting it, I would have taken them. “You fought with the weapons you had,” I whisper, my palm coming to rest flat on the surface.
Lucius’ hand meets mine. “Thank you for your pardon, empress. It means the world to me.” He bows low—and ripples away.
“HE WAS RIGHT,” I GASPwhen I get to work on Tuesday morning—just on time, not late, thank God.
There’s a giant green dude with long blonde hair in a braid standing next to Claire—Claire, from book club! They’re holding hands and talking away with Alban.
“Oh, morning, Aggie. Claire, Georgie, you know Aggie, right? She gets our lunch order almost every day. Aggie, you probably never see Georgie. He’s in the kitchen all the time,” Alban explains with a cheerful smile.
“Hi, Aggie!” Claire beams. “We’re delivering.”
“Yep!” Alban gestures to a huge tray of blue cupcakes with orange fish on the top. “It’s my day to be the parent reader at preschool. I’m bringing bribes.”
“Twenty-four three-year-olds with sugar highs? You’re going to be banned from ever volunteering again, Alban,” Georgie says in a voice like a bass drum, a voice that penetrates right down to your bones.
I nod politely, make a few minutes of small talk, and then drop all professional etiquette the second they leave. “He’s green! Green, Alban!” I hiss, shaking my boss by the elbows.
Please don’t say I’m mental, I pray.
Alban just looks relieved. “Cool. You know about Orcs then?”
“What?” I screech.
“Orcs. Green guys like Georgie? Huge, hunky, and sporting tusks.”
“Georgie didn’t have tusks,” I yelp, picturing huge boar-like protrusions.
“Oh, he does, but he’s half-Orc, half-human. His tusks are tiny and hide under his lip. That’s probably one reason he never smiles. Anyway... Damn good baker. I ordered an extra half-dozen. Cupcake?” He offers me one blue and orange concoction, but I push it away.
“There are paranormal, supernatural creatures around here!” I inform him in a quivering voice.
“I know that. I just didn’t know that you knew that,” he explains calmly, licking icing off his thumb.
“Well, I do now!”
“Good. Is there a problem?”
“I... No. I guess not.” I stand by my desk, watching my boss’s tongue slowly turn blue as he licks the icing off a cupcake and eats the hard sugar orange fish off the top.
“Ooh, can you make sure we filed a motion to settle on the property damage case that came in on...” Alban looks at the Pine Ridge Fire Department Calendar that hangs on the wall above the glass-fronted legal bookcases. “When was that full moon?” he mutters.
“Full moon? Why is it specific that it was a full moon? Do you have werewolves out here, too?” I hiss, clutching the nearest file folder to my chest.
“I mean... Yes, but they’re some of the most responsible citizens we have. Leo Roscommon, a computer coder, Jasper Wainwright, the new reporter, almost the entire Silverman family—”
“Of Silverman First Fiduciary? The bankers? The bankers are werewolves? The werewolves are bankers?” I feel faint. “This really means I am crazy, doesn’t it? Did I eat a cupcake? Is it an acid cupcake?” I drop the folder onto the desk and sit on the edge, hands covering my face.
Can you make sure the notice of the amicus brief has been sent to the lower appellate court for Broome County?”
Alban sighs. “You were handling this so well, too... No one is crazy—well, not because of seeing other races and species of people. Most people cannot see things like Orcs or ghosts. Suddenly, you can. Why?”
I peep through my fingers. “Well. There’s this guy... In my house...”
“A ghost?” Alban prods, rolling his wrists in the international sign for “keep going, keep going.”
“Phantasm?”
“Ooh. Very rare.”
