Honey’s hand hovered over Emma’s shoulder while Emma looked seconds away from hurtling herself in front of the truck.
“Emma. It’s beyond your control. Let’s just leave it to your father?—”
“You don’t understand! Without that, Dad and the Fitches will have to handpick, and there’s no way they can work fast enough to fill the order from the distributor, and we'll lose the contract and…Oh god—” Emma took one step forward.
Honey put a hand on the girl’s shoulder in what was meant to be a comforting touch.
This wasn’t her job. Technically, the well was her only jurisdiction, and she was already toeing the line by even being here when the homeowner had asked her to leave. But Emma’s wide eyes and the sheer desperation in her voice struck something in Honey she hadn’t expected: a memory of being young and frantic and realizing the grown-ups weren’t coming to fix it.
She exhaled through her nose. “All right,” she said crisply. “Just a moment.”
She turned away from Seth, and retrieved her phone. “Don’t hook up anything,” she said without looking at him. “There’s no need for you to proceed until this has been properly reviewed.”
He shrugged and leaned against the truck, clearly skeptical.
Honey dialed the number on the side of the tow vehicle. She was transferred twice before a tired-sounding receptionist picked up. “This is Bob’s. How can I help?”
“This is Honey Baxter, Senior Auditor with the Bureau of Magical Compliance,” she said, adopting the clipped diction of someone very official. “I’m on-site in Brim’s Hollow regarding a scheduled vehicle repossession. I need to speak with Bob directly, please.”
A long pause. “Uh…Bob’s in a meeting?—”
“Then pull him out,” Honey said calmly. “This falls under subsection thirteen of the Fair Magical Holdings Act.If he proceeds without review, he’ll be in violation. I’ll wait.”
Another pause. Then a click.
“This is Bob.”
“Hello, sir,” Honey said, smoothing her skirt with her free hand. “I’m calling to request a temporary hold on the seizure scheduled for this morning. Your field agent is attempting to repossess a utility vehicle from a property that is currently undergoing a governmental audit.”
“I’m sorry, who are you with again?”
“Department of Magical Compliance. Audit Division.” She cleared her throat. “While this isn’t a magical asset, per se, the vehicle is clearly being used in conjunction with crop stabilization systems and other…agrarian functions. Which places it under provisional oversight for now. Therefore, I am requesting—in writing if necessary—a one-month extension.”
A beat. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“It’s obscure. Most private contractors haven’t. But unless you’d prefer I initiate a formal filing—which would include compliance reviews from Magical Agriculture, Rural Integration, and Property Mediation—I’d strongly suggest granting the extension.”
Bob sighed into the phone. “Lady, we’ve got a backlog. I can’t just?—”
“You can,” she said with firmness. “And you should. I’ll send over provisional documentation. Thirty days. That’s all I’m asking.”
More silence. Then a muttered, “Fine. One month. But I don’t want any forms from a bureau I’ve never heard of.”
“You’ll get none assuming this agreement is noted in your system today. Thank you.” Buzzing with satisfactionfrom a job well done, she hung up before he could change his mind.
Turning back to Seth, she said, “The seizure’s been delayed. Kindly unhook the vehicle.”
“Sure thing, ma’am,” he said, already moving to unchain the vehicle.
Emma blinked at her. “That worked?”
She offered a pleasant smile. “It’s amazing what people will agree to when you present a reasonable argument.”
Soon, the truck rumbled away.
“See? We need your help, Ms. Baxter,” Emma said.
Honey considered the story. Her fingers itched to pull out her clipboard and start writing things down. She had so many questions and mentally jotted a dozen of them down to revisit later. Preferably with Mr. Hale, who should have been handling this from the beginning.
