AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This whole romantic autumn in New York thing. It’s like there’s an entire industry devoted to selling us this story, and then does it really happen? No! If you try to suggest any of this stuff to a guy, he accuses you of having seen too many movies. Apparently, no one but tourists goes boating on the lake in Central Park. Or is that just what they say when they don’t want to pay for it?”
“You have seen too many movies.”
“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be at all true. Have you ever done any of this romantic New York stuff?”
“We went ice skating in Central Park last Christmas,” I said. And I fell through the ice, which was supposed to be impossible since the rink wasn’t a frozen pond. “Otherwise, no, not really. Work’s been crazy, so most of our dates are lunches at the office.”
“I think that’s the way most people date in this city.” She sighed. “They’re so doing it wrong.” I couldn’t help but agree as we watched the rest of the movie together. I had an amazing, gorgeous guy, so where was my romantic comedy life?
*
When Owen and I got to the office the next morning, I was eager to interrogate Sam about the previous evening’s events, but he wasn’t at his usual place on the building’s awning. “He’s avoiding us,” I accused.
“You know he had to be under orders, and he obviously did try to warn us as well as he could.”
“Then I guess we can’t go demand that the boss tell us what’s up.”
“I’m sure he’ll tell us soon enough.”
“I hope he lets us know before we get attacked by elves with knives again.”
“Elven blades are dangerous,” he agreed. Then we reached my hallway and he said, “I’ll see you for our afternoon training session.”
As I approached my office, I hoped Perdita had gotten over whatever had been bugging her the day before. I wasn’t in the mood to tiptoe around sensitive feelings. I felt a lot more like stomping on things.
She was already at her desk, which was unusual for her, but she merely glanced up at me, then looked down again. Normally, she’d offer me coffee, at the very least. Often, she’d bombard me with gossip and questions before I made it all the way through the door. “Good morning,” I called out more cheerfully than I felt, but she just nodded and continued pretending to work. I hadn’t given her a project to work on, so I knew her busyness was fake. Giving it up as a lost cause, I went on into my office.
I’d almost made it to my desk when she called out, “Um, Katie, could I talk to you about something?” She sounded troubled and more serious than normal.
I turned back and went to the office doorway. “Sure. What is it?”
She took a deep breath, as though steeling herself for something unpleasant. She wasn’t going to resign, was she? Sure, she was a ditz and a klutz, but I was getting used to her, and she often had good ideas. I’d hate to think that I’d driven her away. I hoped I was a good boss. I’d had enough horrible bosses for me to make a conscious effort to not repeat those mistakes. “There’s something I think I should show you,” she said, not meeting my eyes.
I went over to her desk and sat in the guest chair beside it. “Okay,” I said, as reassuringly as I could. “What do you have to show me?”
She glanced around, like she was making sure no one was nearby to eavesdrop, then leaned forward and opened her lower desk drawer. With another glance around and then a big gulp, she pulled a piece of paper out from under a stack of manila envelopes. “This,” she said, shoving the paper at me like it was on fire. Then she screwed her eyes shut, as though she expected me to hit her once I saw it.
It was a flyer photocopied onto colored paper, the kind of thing political groups hand out around Union Square. “ARE WIZARDS OPPRESSING ELVES?” the flyer asked in huge block capitals. Underneath, it listed the evidence in bullet points, with each line in a different font. I cringed at the first one, which claimed that wizards had stolen and then destroyed the Knot of Arnhold, the ancient magical brooch treasured by the elves.
Actually, I’d been the one to destroy it, though I hadn’t been a wizard at the time. And, technically, we hadn’t stolen it from the elves. Their own leader had stolen it to use it in a scheme, then it was stolen from him and sold, and then we’d stolen it. It was a complicated story, but it had been necessary for saving the world because the Knot had been united with a nasty gem that probably would have led to World War III if I hadn’t thrown it on the electric third rail of a train track during a massive scuffle. The fact that I got magical powers out of the bargain was beside the point. I wasn’t named in the flyer, but Owen was, I noted, and his heritage was highlighted. I wondered if that explained the attack on us.
There were other gripes, including an accusation that wizards were abducting elves who dared to speak out. The flyer concluded with a call for elves to disassociate themselves from wizards, stand up for themselves, and fight back. It looked like Sylvester, the Elf Lord, was still up to his old tricks and using propaganda to do what he hadn’t been able to do with enchanted jewelry. “Thanks for showing me this, Perdita,” I said.
She cautiously opened one eye. “It’s not true, is it?”
“Parts of it are,” I admitted, “but they rather severely missed the point. There’s a lot more to it than that.” She opened her other eye, but she didn’t seem to relax much. I asked, “Are the elves taking this seriously?”
“Some are. A couple of my friends quit this week. My mom is griping at me about finding a new job.” Then she gasped and hurried to add, “Not that I would. I like it here. But, yeah, even some of those who didn’t like the Elf Lord before are starting to listen.” She twirled a red ringlet around her finger before whispering, “To be honest, I feel kind of like a rat for showing that to you. I mean, I’m turning against my own people.”
“Not all your own people,” I reassured her. “There are free elves who don’t want you to be ruled by a lord of any kind, and they’re the ones working with us to keep your people from being even more under Sylvester’s control.”
“I’m not sure my family would see it that way.”
“Don’t worry, they won’t know where we got this. There are a lot of elves working here.” At least, there had been. If this flyer represented elven sentiment, that might change soon. I stood. “Mind if I take this?”
“Please do.”
“Thank you again for trusting me.” I started to leave the office, then turned back. “Could you hand me an envelope?” She did, and I sealed the flyer up in it. There were a number of elves working in the sales department, where my office was. It was safest not to let anyone see me carrying it from my office, lest they suspect Perdita of bringing it to me.
