Gretel had rushed home from work as soon as I reached her, telling me to call the police as she made her way back. She beat them by a few minutes. Now here we were, sitting close together on a small stone wall in front of the apartment building beside ours as the evening went on around us. People walked past, chatting and laughing, sometimes looking curiously at the police cruiser parked outside our building. But nobody said anything to us.

“Maybe someone was desperate for money,” Gretel said, her third hesitant suggestion in the past twenty minutes.

“Maybe.”

Gretel always tried to see the good in things. So of course she was turning to the idea that someone broke into our condo and trashed it because they had no other choice. Personally, I didn’t know what to think. Suddenly our neighborhood felt a little smaller, a little more dangerous. I’d never taken safety for granted, of course. I locked the doors every night and stayed aware of my surroundings. But to walk into my home and see all of my personal possessions thrown around so cruelly? It really rattled me and I was only realizing that as the adrenaline of those first few minutes wore off.

Gretel slid her arm around my waist, and I leaned into her, taking the offered comfort. “It’s just stuff,” I said. “I know.”

“I would have been scared too,” she said.

Before I could respond, the two police officers walked out of the building and over to us. “There’s nobody in the building,” the first, a young man with buzzed blond hair, said. “We checked both apartments carefully. Whoever it was probably came in an open window.”

If any windows had been open, they would have been on the second floor of the building. But maybe that was more possible than I thought, so I just nodded. “Send us a report of what’s been stolen,” the other officer, an older woman, said. “We might not be able to get it back, but we’ll do what we can. Are you girls alright going back in?”

Not really, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Gretel looked at me and I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “Thanks for the help.”

The officers left, and we went back into the building. The front hallway, which connected us to the empty apartment next door, was still as clean as it had been when I got home from work. My jacket was hanging from the hook where I’d left it and everything looked completely normal. I opened our front door and my heart climbed into my throat as I saw the wrecked remains of the living room. Gretel let out a low whistle as she walked up behind me and surveyed the scene.

“Damn,” she said. “I knew it was bad from your description, but…”

I went to get the broom, which, by some miracle, was still in its usual spot by the bathroom door. “Let’s just start cleaning,” I said. “It’ll be easier to figure out what’s missing once it’s clean.”

I was running through the possibilities in my head as I swept up the broken glass that had once been a vase filled with fake flowers. I had cash in the house. Not much, but it was money I needed. My laptop. The TV in our bedroom. Gretel’s jewelry collection. They were probably all gone and the thought filled me with dread.

But at least we were safe, I tried to remind myself as I swept the pile of glass shards into the dustpan. And insurance existed for a reason.

I set the dustpan aside and went over to the cabinet along the living room wall. A photo of me and Gretel was smashed on the ground beside my cash box. As I picked up the box, three twenty-dollar bills slipped out. Weird. I picked them up and opened the box. Another twenty was sitting inside. They hadn’t taken any of the money, even though the box itself was broken.

I looked over to where Gretel was putting the kitchen table back on its thankfully unbroken legs. She noticed me holding the money, and I saw her thinking the same thing I was. Without a word, I joined her in the kitchen and looked at the damage. The chairs were tossed around, two of them broken into pieces. Food from the fridge was laying in a pile, a bootprint visible on the butternut squash Gretel had been saving for this weekend. But I spotted our change jar unharmed on the counter.

They hadn’t taken anything from the two obvious money sources. Even more uneasy now, I made my way toward the stairs, grateful when Gretel followed close behind. We went up into the hallway. The guest room door was hanging open and my makeup kit was on the hallway floor, a streak of overpriced pink eye shadow trailing behind it. Meanwhile, our bedroom door was torn off its hinges. Creepy, but it wasn’t a very solid door, so at least there was that for what comfort it provided.

Sure enough, they’d also destroyed our bedroom. The mattress was on the floor beside the bed with the pillows piled up in the center of it. Gretel’s jewelry was scattered over her dresser. As she carefully sorted through it, I spotted my laptop on the ground.

“It’s all here,” Gretel said as I picked up the laptop and examined it for damage. “Dar, I don’t think they took anything.”

“But why break in, then?” I asked as she set her grandmother’s brooch carefully on the dresser. “It’s not like we’re hiding anything in here. There’s no reason anyone would target-”

I set my laptop, which did have a crack in the screen, down on my own dresser as the reason for all of this hit me. How had I possibly not thought of this until now? My entire body burned as I gripped the solid edge of my dresser, trying hard to keep the fury from spilling out. “This is just so fucking typical,” I snarled.

Gretel looked over at me in alarm. “What?”

I didn’t answer. I was already pulling out my phone and scrolling through my contacts, hoping Joel’s phone number hadn’t changed. Without a word, I hit the number I had for him, then waited for it to connect.

“Dar, what’s going on?” Gretel asked.

I held up a finger as the phone rang. Then Joel picked up.

“Dar!” Joel said, his voice light and easy as he greeted me. “Hey, I’m on my way out of town already, but I just wanted to say-”

“What did you do?” I demanded.

He stopped short as Gretel continued to watch me. “What do you mean?” Joel asked.

He wasn’t as slick as he thought he was. Underneath the lightness of his tone, I could hear the tiniest bit of worry that he was trying to hide.

“In town for business, my ass,” I snapped. “Our apartment is destroyed and whoever did it didn’t take a goddamn thing, Joel. What’s going on?”

“Are you okay?”

“Why do you care?” Embarrassing tears were stinging my eyes as I continued. “Someone broke in for the first time ever, just hours after you left. I realize I’m just some magicless nobody that you can manipulate, but Jesus Christ, Joel.”

“Shit, Dar, I’m on my way back. I’ll-”

I hung up on him as the tears spilled over. They’d been threatening since I got home. But between the shock of the break-in and the betrayal I felt at Joel using me and Gretel like this, I finally couldn’t stop them. Within seconds, Gretel had her arms around me, pulling me tight to her chest as I cried.

***

Thankfully, my garden hadn’t been hit too badly. The mini evergreens and the small patch of pansies were as sturdy as ever. But the tray of seedlings I hadn’t gotten to had been knocked off the shelf, spilling its contents on the concrete ground. I picked up the delicate plants with trembling hands, doing my best to gently set them back in their little containers. Two of them had clearly been stepped on, their leaves crushed into the ground. Those two went into the compost with regret.

But beyond that, my garden was still standing. I could see where someone had rummaged through the bushes, branches broken and askew. But those would heal with some pruning. My baskets were still hanging and the beginnings of the herb garden hadn’t been touched. And either fortunately or unfortunately, Horace was solid and smiling in his usual spot.

My conversation with Joel had ended about ten minutes ago. I hoped he wouldn’t come back. I didn’t need him to protect me, especially when it had clearly been his fault that this had happened. That anger continued to simmer as I cleaned the small mess out there, but if he stayed away, I’d be fine.

Then the doorbell rang.

I stayed where I was. Gretel was inside making tea, she’d either kick him out or let him in. As a single set of footsteps came out into the garden, I braced myself, then turned and found myself facing a very somber Joel.

“Go away,” I snapped, going back to my seedlings.

“Dar, I’m sorry,” Joel said, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Of course you didn’t,” I said, still not looking at him. “You never do. You just came in and did whatever you needed to do, not caring who might get hurt in the process.”

“Will you let me explain?”

One of the tiny oregano plants was lopsided in the container. “Is it anything I’ve never heard before?” I asked as I gently repacked it.

“Please, Dar,” Joel said. “I never wanted to hurt you. And I definitely didn’t think someone would come after you because of all this.”

I sighed, letting the trowel in my hand drop to the ground, where it clattered over the patio stone. I turned to face Joel, whose eyes widened as he took a step back away from me. “All what?” I asked. “Fine, talk.”

Beyond him, Gretel appeared in the doorway with a dishcloth over her shoulder. Joel turned to face her too, and I motioned for her to come out. “Joel’s about to explain why someone destroyed our home after he’d been here,” I said.

Gretel turned to Joel with her eyebrows raised and he turned red. “I was on an assignment,” he said, glancing from her back to me. “There’s a man in Los Angeles, Corman. He’s a powerful figure in the magical world, someone who’s well known both for his influence and his temper. And he needed an artifact transported.”

“So he came to you?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah,” Joel said. “I have a reputation for being… fast. And discrete.”

“Wait, so is that what you’ve been doing?” I demanded. “You went off to become some all-powerful wizard and became an errand boy instead?”

Now Gretel was looking at me oddly, but I didn’t care because I was busy glaring at Joel. “That’s not quite it, but close enough,” he said, his handsome face flushing again. “I went to the training, just like I said. And it went fine. But things didn’t work out so well after it ended. I came back to the US and needed money, so I started doing favors for people. Nothing wild, but I’m good at it.”

Even now he had to pat his own ego. I waited for him to continue and wished I still had my trowel in my hand. Even if I was sure I’d never actually hurt him, he didn’t know I wouldn’t beat him with it.

“So what does this have to do with someone breaking into our home?” I demanded.

“I needed money and Corman had this job,” Joel said. “It was supposed to be simple. Take the artifact from his men in Charleston and hand it off to him in California. But when I got the artifact, I realized what it was. And how powerful it is. If someone with Corman’s temper got hold of it, it could be disastrous.”

“So you took it?”

“Not for my own use!” Joel argued, the first sign of heat in his voice since he’d gotten here. As though realizing it, he reeled it back in. “Corman, he’s… he’s not a good guy, Dar. He’s hurt people before and it all gets swept under the rug because who’s going to go against him? And this kind of thing is far too powerful. I know I messed up accepting the job in the first place, go ahead and be mad at me for that. I’m mad at me for that. But when I realized what it was and what he could do with it, I couldn’t let him have it. So as soon as I left Charleston, I took off. I knew he’d get suspicious soon, but I thought if I could get enough of a head start on him, I could hide it until I could figure out what to do next.”

“What’s the artifact?” Gretel asked.

“It’s a box,” Joel replied, holding his hands as if carrying something. “It’s a little box about the size of your fist. But it contains this incredible power, power that you can use to enhance your own natural abilities. And even when I picked it up, I knew that the power inside of it was unreal.”

I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “So you’re telling us you unselfishly threw away your own safety in order to save the world from what this Corman could do if you delivered the package?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Dar!” Joel exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration. “And I zigzagged across the US and Canada for weeks. I thought I lost them. I cloaked the box with every spell I know. And I came here to hide it.”

The anger flared back up again. “Did you hide a powerful magical artifact in my fucking apartment?”

“Of course not,” Joel snapped, and my mask nearly slipped. “I wouldn’t do that to you. No, I hid it somewhere safe and then came to Salem in order to better cloak myself and figure out how to destroy it. I found you after I thought it was safe. I wouldn’t put you in danger like that, Dar, you have to believe me.”

Of course he wouldn’t do it intentionally. I knew that. But disregard my safety as he tried to save the world all by himself? That was completely a Joel move.

“But you did,” I said. “Clearly whoever broke in was watching the house while you were here. And the cops said there was no sign of forced entry. They said whoever it was must have come in an open window. But we both know there was no open window. They could have gotten in whenever they wanted to. They could have gotten Gretel, Joel!”

Joel turned to Gretel, who had her arms crossed in the doorway. She didn’t look entirely unsympathetic to his plight, but she wasn’t impressed. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I thought I lost them.”

“Apparently not,” Gretel said.

“Please leave,” I told Joel. “Just get the hell out of here.”

“Let me just make sure you’re safe,” Joel said. “I can just-”

“Go!” I jabbed a finger at the doorway. “You just brought more danger into our lives. Please, just leave us alone.”

Joel bowed his head. I thought he was going to argue some more, but he just walked silently past Gretel and into the house. Seconds later, I heard the door open and close. Gretel turned to look into the house, then looked back at me.

“He’s gone,” she said. “Are you alright?”

I was shaking, but whether it was adrenaline or rage, I wasn’t sure. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “I just don’t know what else I expected.”

Gretel stood a little awkwardly in the doorway for a moment. Then she turned back toward the kitchen. “I’ll go get those teas,” she said, then disappeared.

I turned back to my seedlings. I should just plant them right now so they’d be safe.

---

Continue to Chapter 7