I was out of my seat before I realized what was happening. I’d left the door to the back hallway unlocked and started for it, but the lock clicked before I made it three steps. 

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Declan said from behind me as I turned back, ready to scream. “I just have to know. They’re saying it was a baseball or some shit like that. But obviously that’s not true.”

“Let me go,” I said, my heart hammering in my chest as I tried to spot anything I might use as a weapon against this guy.

“Chill, Daria. I just said I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then let me go.”

“Listen,” Declan said. “Corman is a big deal. You know it. You saw him kill Joel Murphy. That’s not easy to do.”

If I stabbed Joel with a kitchen knife for bringing all of this back into my life it would be. It’d be the easiest thing I’d ever done. “What’s your power?” Declan asked.

“I don’t have one. Let me go.”

“Daria.”

“I have no power. Please, just unlock that door and let me go.”

“Not until you tell me.”

I looked around. The fence was high, but not completely undoable. So I bolted past Declan, moving before he had a chance to react. There was a table close enough to the base of the fence that I could climb on top, grab the iron spikes at the top of the courtyard fence, and pull myself up and over. As I dropped to the ground on the other side, I pulled out my phone and began to run.

“Dar, what’s up?” “Angie, call the police,” I said, feeling silly but knowing this was necessary. “The guy from the meeting is a wizard, he just tried to hold me hostage in the courtyard.”

“Jesus Christ, where are you?” Angie said. “Are you safe? Where is he?”

“I hopped the fence,” I said, my breath catching as I ducked around the side of the hotel. “I don’t know where he is, he might still be there. I don’t see him following me.”

Joel had been able to teleport himself in front of me when I was trying to get away from him. Maybe this guy wasn’t as strong, since I was still waiting for him to appear any second. But instead, it was just the usual crowds on the Salem streets.

“Where are you parked?” Angie asked.

“The garage,” I said. “I can’t go there, he probably knows what car is mine. I just ran.”

“Is your house safe?”

“Pretty much,” I said.

“Go home,” Angie said. “If this shit can’t get you there, go home. Toni’s calling the cops now from the desk.”

“Can you see him?” I asked as I passed the Samantha statue. Not too far now, I’d be home behind locked doors in the next few minutes.

“No,” Angie admitted. “He’s gone, and no one saw him leave. It’ll be okay, alright? Stay on the phone until you get home.”

There was a stitch on my side by now. Even with softball practice starting and all the work I’d been doing for that, I was still sore and not in my top shape. But if I stopped, he might get me. And I didn’t trust that he “didn’t want to hurt me.” Corman said he hadn’t wanted to hurt me either, but he had threatened to blow my head off if Joel didn’t give him what he wanted. So I was pretty skeptical of that claim from anyone when it came unprompted.

My street was so close and I put on an extra burst of speed as I got to the front door. I fumbled my key, nearly dropping it as I pulled it out of my pocket. After a second, I somehow managed to get it in the door, then flew inside and locked it, doing the same with the door to my apartment.

“Fuck!”

I heard Joel’s voice behind me as I slammed the door shut and leaned my head against it, catching my breath for a moment. I turned and saw him stand up from the couch, coffee all over his shirt and pants, dripping onto the floor.

“I’m home safe,” I said to Angie. “Thanks for staying on the line with me.”

“Of course. Call me if you need anything.”

I hung up and turned to Joel. “Sorry.”

He waved me off with one hand as the other did an elaborate little twist and the coffee dried away, seeming to evaporate in the morning sun streaming in the window. “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

“A man came into my work,” I started, still trying to catch my breath.

It took me a second to talk again, and Joel looked at me. “That’s it?” he asked.

“Fuck off,” I muttered. “No, he knew about the Scarlet Holding. He wanted to know how I destroyed it.”

“You threw a lawn ornament at it,” Joel said as he refilled his coffee with another little wave. “And it was brilliant. What’s the problem?”

“The problem? The problem is some guy tracked me down at work, yet again. Some fucking sorcerer decided they were entitled to not only find me, but interrupt my work so that they could ask some bullshit question.”

Some of the humor and ease on Joel’s face faded. “Sorry.”

“I’m not talking about you this time, but you did fucking do that. Like a week ago. But Joel, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He locked me out on the terrace with him and demanded to know how I did it.”

“Then I’m going to kill him.”

I was both irritated and comforted by the casual way he said that. “He thinks you’re dead,” I said. “And he didn’t believe me when I said I didn’t have any powers. He just decided that I had to be lying.”

“What did he say when you left?”

“Um, not much? Considering I climbed the iron fence and ran home.”

Joel looked a little too impressed. I could feel my face getting hot under his approving gaze. “It’s not a big deal,” I muttered. 

“She destroys a Scarlet Holding with a lawn ornament and leaps tall fences in a single bound, then says it isn’t a big deal.”

“Shut up, this is serious,” I said. “I don’t know who this guy is or how he found out about me. I just know he managed to sneak into my work and get me alone. And he won’t take no for an answer. He said he’s not going to hurt me, but I don’t believe that for a minute.”

“He can’t get in here,” Joel said. “And it’ll be better when Reg’s Ma gets here.”

I could see the physical pain this caused his ego to admit, so I had to appreciate the effort put into making me feel better. “So, what? I just stay here?”

Joel looked like he was about to say something, then stopped. “That’s your decision,” he said carefully.

Ah, yes. Just like it had been my decision the other night. “I have plenty of sick time,” I said, more to myself than him. “Whatever, I’m going to take a shower.”

Yes, I’d already showered that day, but I deserved a little indulgence and dammit, I was taking it. I was about to walk past him and upstairs to my room when I noticed the laptop on the table in front of him. It looked oddly out of place among Joel’s belongings and entire sense as a person. It made sense he’d have one, of course. He was twenty-eight and had grown up in the same modern world as me. But considering his fairy tale, magical life, the idea of him buying something as mundane as a Chromebook was a little jarring.

“What’s that?” I asked, motioning toward the screen.

Joel glanced over at it. “Oh,” he said. “Um, job listings.”

I shouldn’t have started reading them, but I was feeling both curious and rattled so I moved a little closer. But it only took a second to realize that it wasn’t the same job boards I’d spent so much time on before landing my position at The Landmark.

“‘Conjurer, part-time. Au pair for magical child, full-time work and per diem requested. Personal assistant, must be experienced in either magical healing or fire.’ I didn’t think a magical Indeed was even a thing.”

“How else are people going to post job listings?” Joel asked me as he took his laptop back. “It’s not like a message contained in the pollen of a rose or something is going to be practical.”

“No, but it’s so…mundane.”

He looked almost offended, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I guess I’m taking a surprise staycation,” I said. “I’m going to shower and go back to bed.”

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Continue to Chapter 5