“This isn’t about the apprentice thing, is it?”
“No, no. No!” She shakes her head like she’s shaking out of something, and looks at me askance. “You told me already you weren’t into that. I wouldn’t bully you or ask you again.”
I blink at her, a bit stunned. She’s so different from the other clients I typically work with, who are either hyperdemanding or don’t know what they want and are happy with anything. Vanessa Theriot is smarter than she lets people know, highly strategic, and alsonice. Most of the members of her team are. It’s sick, really. I’m not used to being around such niceness. It makes my skin itch.
I smirk, my annoyance dissolving a little bit. “Bully?Have you ever bullied anyone in your life, Vanessa?”
She smiles, her eyes seeming to uncloud from whatever’d been bothering her. “I bully my brothers sometimes?”
“By ‘bully,’ you mean you ask them to do things for you and they do them?”
“Yeah?”
“Right.” I laugh and shake my head as we arrive at the elevators. “That tracks. Where are we going?”
She huffs, “Well, here’s the thing: It seems that your exclusivity clause to the Wyvern isn’t as exclusive as we thought. Jem is reviewing our contract with the COE now, but there appears to be some fishy wording that basically gives Mr. Singkham the right to offer secondments to other Champions.”
I frown. I had my own lawyers review the contract, and they didn’t flag anything like that. Though ... I can’t say I’mwhollyput off by the idea. If other Champions have work for me, it might be kinda nice to take a break from the wedding photography.
Keeping my voice neutral, I say, “Okay. Did they have anyone in mind?”
The elevator doors ding open. I step inside. I have chills on the backs of my arms, though I’m not sure why. I tend to run hot and am wearing a loose long-sleeve black shirt, but I’m feeling warmer and warmer the farther and farther up we go. Heat rises? Nah. That doesn’t track.
“Well, we’ve gotten a few requests for you. Like the shoot you did for the Olympian after the Forty-Eight Hour Festival. That was ad hoc, and you were paid separate from our contract. The other, longer term requests, we’ve shot down—but there’s one that’s come through over the weekend that’s been pretty ...” Her face screws up.
“What?”
“Just ... annoying. And Mr. Singkham is urging us to consider seconding you to him, or even splitting up your contract fifty-fifty.”
“Who is it?”
Vanessa’s gaze slides to mine. She’s shorter than I am by a few inches, and almost dainty by comparison, but right now she’s looking at me like she wants to fight. She reaches toward me—past me—and slams on the emergency stop. Red lights flare and a siren sounds.Beedoobeedoobeedoo.
“What the fuck, Vanessa?!” I shout, slamming my hands over my ears.
“Frickity frick frick!” she screams. “I didn’t know the alarm would go off!”
I turn toward the door and smash the bright-red button below the floor numbers, but the alarm doesn’t stop and the flashing lights just flash brighter. “Fuck! It’s broken.”
“Help is on the Way!” a robotic male voice shouts into the cacophony. “Help is on The Way!”
Vanessa tries to reach the control panel but stumbles. “Waugh!” Her arms windmill, and as she falls, she headbutts the railing lining the wall.
“Oh shit!” I scramble over to her as she hits the ground and rolls onto her back. Beneath the blazing red lights, I can already see a purple welt forming in the center of her forehead.
“Is it gonna leave a mark?” she wheezes.
“Uh ... no. No, definitely not.” Dropping to my knees, I scramble over her, accidentally kneeing her in the gut.
“Ooph!” she gasps.
“Sorry!” I shout over the alarm. I crawl to the opposite wall and reach for the phone hidden beneath a glass panel I didn’t notice before. “Can You Turn Off the Fucking Alarm! We pushed the button by mistake!” I scream into the receiver.
“Help is on the Way! Help is on The Way!”
Meanwhile, static crackles over the line, and all of a sudden, the elevator jerks beneath me. “Fuck.” I look at Vanessa, my heart in my ears.
She’s got tears in her eyes, likely from the pain of trying to brain herself on the wall. I’ve seen this girl fall over flat surfaces too many times to count. The fact that she’s still alive is a testament to the Wyvern’s superhuman ability. “Are we gonna die because I pushed the button?” she mouths, though I can only half hear her over this infernal racket.
