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ther meeting, I asked his assistant to reschedule me. This time, when the time of the meeting arrived and he wasn’t there, I got up and said, “Well, I guess the meeting wasn’t that important to him, so it won’t be a problem if it doesn’t happen,” then went back to my office. I had to move quickly to disguise the fact that my legs were shaking. I wasn’t used to being quite that rebellious with authority figures.
There was yet another department party that afternoon—the “Let’s Make a Splash Summer in January Luau”—and I didn’t even pretend I was going to attend. A salesman wearing a grass skirt over his clothes stuck his head into my office. “Knock, knock!” he said. “Aren’t you coming to the party? We have mai tais!”
“Unlike apparently everyone else around here, I have work to do,” I snapped. “You know, I think our sales would improve dramatically if you devoted the time you spend partying to, you know, selling.”
He blinked and flinched as though I’d struck him physically. “Well, if you’re going to be that way about it.”
I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning. So far, it seemed to be working. I felt my grin fading as I realized that creating a reason for me to want to quit and take another job offer didn’t involve changing anything about my working environment. All I had to do to make jumping ship believable was react naturally.
I had to get back into character the next morning when a nervous Perdita came into my office. “Um, Katie, well, uh, Mr. Hartwell wants to see you, right away.”
Without looking up from what I was doing—checking the weather forecast online—I said, “Okay.”
She remained standing in the doorway. “He sounded pretty intense about it.”
“When I’m done with this.” After I noted the temperatures for the five-day outlook and had mentally planned my wardrobe accordingly, I got up and headed to Mr. Hartwell’s office. My heart pounded so hard I felt like it was about to burst out of my chest like an alien, but I forced myself to play it cool.
This time, Mr. Hartwell was there, and he didn’t look happy—well, as much as he could look anything with a face that could have been molded out of plastic. “Please, shut the door behind you,” he said.
I tried not to gulp. I reminded myself that this was what I wanted, though having the door open would have been better so more people could have overheard. I shut the door and took a seat before he invited me to. “Did you need something?” I asked, maintaining an air of innocence.
“I understand you were busy yesterday.”
“I was. And I don’t appreciate having my time wasted.”
That really took him aback. He was apparently planning to chide me, and now he was on the defensive. “Sometimes things come up.”
“Then it would be considerate to communicate when things change instead of assuming that your time is more valuable than everyone else’s.”
“I’m sensing that this isn’t about just one missed meeting. Are you unhappy here?”
I gave him a piercing glare. “Yes, I guess I am. I feel like I’m wasting my time. In fact, I’m going to apply for another internal position.”
“Perhaps you should.” His voice sounded harsh, and I realized what a big risk I was taking. I was burning a lot of bridges here, and if I wasn’t able to get into the Collegium, I’d have to find a new job anyway. From this point, there was no turning back.
Five
Step two of Operation “Quit in a Huff” was complete. After the meeting with Mr. Hartwell, I went upstairs to Merlin’s office and, with his door still open, I said, “You haven’t yet replaced Kim. I’d like my old job as your assistant back.”
“Does this mean you are unhappy in your current role?” he said, glancing up from the paperwork on his desk. “I would have thought that running the company’s marketing efforts was a step up from being an administrative assistant.”
“You would think that, wouldn’t you? But that’s not the way it seems to be working out, and I’m not sure I can survive another day in the sales department without becoming homicidal. We took down our primary competitor, so there’s not much need for marketing. That job doesn’t need my magical immunity to do it, so I feel like I’m wasting a valuable talent. And it seems I spend most of my time on what you might call ‘other duties as assigned,’ so I may as well be in a position where that’s the entire job description.” Even though I knew it was all an act, saying this to Merlin made my stomach queasy, and I could feel my face growing warm.
Actually, I wasn’t sure how much of my reaction had anything to do with faking confrontation as it did with the sick realization that while I was playing a role, everything I said was absolutely true. Had I been holding all that in?
Merlin looked directly at me, and for a moment I thought I saw concern in his eyes, like he’d realized I was telling the truth. “I will consider it,” he said.
“Do you have a timetable on that? Because I’m looking into some other options, and I’d like to know when I might know what my future will be.”
“As I said, I will consider it.” He dropped his gaze to his paperwork, and I got the message that I was dismissed. I turned and left his office, taking deep breaths to calm myself—deep, noisy breaths so anyone watching would know I needed to calm down.
“Are you okay, Katie?” Merlin’s receptionist, a fairy named Trix, asked as I passed her desk.
I hated having to lie to a friend, and I was fairly certain she was trustworthy, but there was too much at stake, so I had to keep up the act with her. Besides, she was one of the better sources of office gossip, so if I sold it here, it was sure to make it to the Collegium people within the company. “I’m just having a crappy week,” I said, blinking rapidly to make it look like I was fighting back tears of frustration.
“Did I hear that you’re trying to come back up here?”
“Yeah. I think I was happiest here. Sales is such a zoo.”
