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I didn’t want to think about what that might be, but at least it sounded like Owen and Merlin were off the agenda for today. I finished my coffee and Danish, feeling like I should be hurrying because Roger watched me the whole time. If he wasn’t tapping his foot impatiently, he was giving off the vibe that he was.
As soon as I finished, he stood and said, “Great! Come with me.” He called for a car while we walked to the elevator.
He didn’t start talking to explain himself until we were in the car, traveling away from the office building. He did something with his hands that created a glow around us before he spoke. “As you can imagine, I won’t be able to do this alone, and I won’t be able to use company personnel unless I’ve recruited and vetted them myself. So we’re doing some recruiting, and I want you to help me evaluate the applicants. I believe you’re familiar with their work.”
I nodded, figuring that these were the people Rod was giving him. I hoped they’d been briefed on my role so they didn’t think I’d turned traitor when they saw me with Roger.
“They’re not always what they seem,” he went on, “and you’ll be able to tell me what I’m getting.”
The car stopped, and when we got out, we seemed to be in another underground garage. Or maybe we were inside a warehouse building. Whatever it was, it was big and cavernous, and there were windows high above that let in a small amount of light. By the time it reached the ground where we were, the light was faint.
I got the impression that we were surrounded. In the near-darkness, I couldn’t see them, but I could hear sounds coming from all angles, and there was a sense of movement.
Roger formed a glowing light in his hand and launched it to hover above us. I couldn’t stop myself from recoiling when I saw what that light revealed.
We were surrounded, all right. Creatures out of nightmares appeared from the shadows—creepy skeletal monsters and leather-winged hags. “What’s she doing here?” one of the harpies rasped, pointing a gnarled talon at me.
Thirteen
These were all the creatures who used to work for Phelan Idris, the first foe I’d faced when I entered the magical world. I’d had many a run-in with them along the way. They couldn’t harm me magically, but they could do physical damage, and they were just plain creepy. I wanted to back away and hide behind Roger, but I forced myself to stand my ground and stare at them defiantly.
“She works for me now,” Roger said.
“D
oes she?” the harpy said with the kind of grin that gave me the impression she’d just shoved a child into her oven to roast.
“Yes, and if you’d like to work for me, you’ll leave her alone.” He turned to me. “Can you see what they really are?”
I couldn’t help but make a face. “Unfortunately.”
“Tell me what you see.”
“Well, there are a bunch of harpies. I’m not sure what the skeleton creatures are supposed to be. They used to stalk me when they were working for someone else.”
Roger turned back toward the creatures. “Who, exactly, were you working for? Who hired you and paid you?”
The harpy, who seemed to be the spokeswoman for the group while the others just hung around and looked menacing, said, “That nerdy boy, what was his name?”
“No one else? No one older?”
“He was the only one we saw.”
Roger nodded in satisfaction at that. “I’m willing to hire you to work directly for me. You’ll be paid in cash, part up front, part when I’m sure you’re doing what I want.”
“And what would you be hiring us to do? We specialize in ominous lurking.”
“None of that yet. I want you on standby for specific tasks. I’ll give you targets and objectives.”
“Killing, maiming, or just threatening?” the harpy asked as she examined her claws.
“We’d start with threatening and possibly work our way up, depending on how the target reacts. So, are you in?”
They huddled, which was not a sight I really wanted to see. It created a tight ball of ugly evil. “What do you think? Were they good at threatening?” Roger asked me softly.
“Good enough, I suppose,” I said with a shrug. “I got used to them.”
“But you’re hardly ordinary. I suspect it would take a lot to scare you.”
