Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 3.2

PRESENT TIME
ZILITRON, KADREA

The morning is made of glass. There's a chill in the air that sings to my Phaedrean heritage, and saffron sunlight seeps through the clouds, staining the bones of Zilitron gold.

I wake up to Onyx poking me in the face with his paw.

Wake up. It is time for work. You are being lazy.

I encase him in a bubble of blue magic and send him sailing across the room. I don't remember ordering a cat-shaped alarm clock.

Unfortunately, he's right. It's time for work and I've slept in. I shove on the first sweater and skirt I can find, stick my feet in a pair of boots, and hop to the door.

That sweater has a hole in it. You look like a ruffian.

I growl. "You're the one who put the hole in it."

Onyx licks his paw. That is irrelevant.

I shut the door on his yammering and powerwalk to reception, hoping no one notices the ruffian hole in my sweater or the fact that I'm wearing two left shoes.

When I get there, Ruby looks me up and down. "Lily," she greets. "You look terrible."

"I'm aware of that."

I shouldn't have to remind her that someone smashed up the Orb of Ariadne, and now I'm being blamed for the impending destruction of the planet. Let's see her try to sleep with that on her conscience.

"Are those two right shoes?"

"Two left ones," I snap.

I take a seat next to one of the newer Witch Doctors while Ruby rummages for our files. Big Boss breezes by with a diplomat's smile on his face. "Good morning," he says.

"Good morning, Mr Valence," everyone choruses.

"I'll 'good morning' you," I mutter.

This guy is a great actor. Seriously, he missed out on a career opportunity there. He was best friends with my father, and offered to adopt me as a child, then went on to pretend he'd never met me before. He gave my father a shard of the broken Orb of Ariadne, then ordered me to investigate the issues it was causing.

"I've got your file," Ruby calls from behind the reception desk.

I hobble up to take it from her, my right foot protesting with every step. "Who have I got today?"

Ruby looks down at the file. "Your first client is..." Her eyebrows jump up. An evil grin spreads across her face. "Agnes Toebuck," she finishes.

"What?!"

"AGNES TOEBUCK."

"You know it wasn't that kind of 'what'," I mutter.

Agnes Toebuck is the woman I landed in the hospital when I was an intern. My witch powers were just awakening, and I had no idea what was happening. My magic was escaping me in bursts. I brewed her some wart medicine - correctly, I may add - but the annoyance I was feeling with her changed the potion magically. I was suspended from duties while Big Boss directed an investigation. In the end they had no firm proof of what happened, but an error on my part was held to be the most reasonable explanation. I embarked on a period of retraining, worked on my magic with Onyx, and now here I am. Back with Mrs Toebuck.

It's amazing that she even came back here. I expected her to sue us, but she never did. I can't imagine why she would return to the place that was responsible for her ending up swollen and croaking in the hospital like a frog on steroids.