Chapter 9
Ophelia
Aloud jangling noise jolted me awake, and for far too long, I had no idea where I was or what the hell was ringing at me. I scrambled around in the darkness and finally located the alarm clock, tossing it across the room.
The ringing continued, and I cursed and spat hexes as I stumbled out of bed to knock a phone off the hook. I held it up and squinted at it, managing to put the correct end against my ear. “Uh… yes?”
“Good morning, Ophelia,” a chipper voice said. “Sorry to wake you. When you get a chance, could you come downstairs? The guys are going to go tow your car into town and want to make sure they get the right one.”
“Who’s going to what now?” Nothing made sense. I looked blearily around the unfamiliar room, and the night before came back in pieces. The pack of wild dogs or wolves or whatever they’d been. The shelter and the strange Russian who talked about witches. “Oh. The car. Right. Uh, sure.”
“Great. We’ll see you in a few.” The girl hung up, though I kept staring at the phone for a good long while after the call ended. I didn’t recognize the voice and assumed it wasn’t the pregnant woman from the night before—Sunny. Although her name certainly would have matched the attitude of the early-morning caller.
I squinted at my cell phone and did a double take. Maybe not early morning after all—it was already noon. I’d slept way longer than I planned and through a couple of meals too, from the way my stomach rumbled. I groaned and finger-combed my hair back out of my face. I’d left my bag and all my clothes and toiletries in the car. It would have been great to have all of that back, if “the guys”—whoever they were—could tow it close to the shelter, but that didn’t help me in the interim.
The shower had been amazing but left my hair a snarled mess. I put on my rumpled shirt from the night before, tried to wrap my wild hair into a bun, and almost cried with relief when I realized there were new toothbrushes and toothpaste in the bathroom. I still felt off-kilter as I made my way back to the elevators and down to the lobby, but at least I didn’t have morning breath.
A young woman with blonde hair and striking green eyes stood in the reception area. She smiled when she saw me. “You must be Ophelia. I’m Kara.”
“Uh, hi.” I tried to sound like a normal person and not someone who’d been accused of being a witch by strangers the night before. “There’s something about my car?”
“Yep.” She handed me a piece of paper with a map of the city on it and a pen. “Just sketch out the rough location of where you left it, and put down a description of the vehicle, the plates if you remember them. The guys can bring it back or at least get stuff out of the trunk for you.”
“Great.” I took a deep breath and tried to orient myself to the map and the highway I’d been on before the car rattled to a stop. I almost didn’t notice the other woman who lounged in the lobby, flicking her way through a magazine.
But it only took a second before I was certain—the dark-haired woman was a witch. A very strong witch who was very deliberately trying to act uninterested in me.
My hair stood up and my nerves tweaked in warning. It wasn’t coincidence that a witch showed up at the building the morning after I arrived and a bunch of wolves tried to attack me. The only question was, did I ignore her or confront her? I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so if she was going to make a big deal of me being in her city, there weren’t any alternatives. I was stuck.
I handed Kara back the paper and hesitated, trying not to look over my shoulder at the witch. Before I could say anything, Kara nodded in that direction. “There’s a kitchenette over there with breakfast. Help yourself. Sunny said you got in late and didn’t get a chance to eat. Just holler if you need anything.”
I needed coffee. Coffee and a plane ticket to the other side of the world. But I nodded and thanked her before edging into the shared lounge/kitchenette area. At least no one else lingered on the first floor so there wouldn’t be witnesses to the debacle that occurred.
My hand shook just a bit as I had to turn my back on the witch to pour coffee and retrieve a breakfast burrito. I was still facing away when she spoke, nonchalant like her presence wasn’t kind of threatening all by itself. “I’m Deirdre, by the way. I’m sure you know what I am by now.”
I didn’t want to cringe, but something about her abruptness and an almost abrasive quality in her tone rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was my own issue, after being berated and harangued by other witches and Rocko for so long, but I still had to take a deep breath before I could face her. “Maybe. I’m Ophelia.”
She didn’t offer to shake hands or anything, but pointed at another chair at the table where she sat. “Why don’t we talk for a second.”
It wasn’t a question or an invitation—it was an order. I started to bristle. Who the hell did she think she was to order me around? She didn’t know anything about me, and if she did… Well. If she knew only a hint of how fucked up my magic was, she wouldn’t risk pissing me off. “I don’t have any pressing engagements, so sure.”
The corner of her eye flickered, like she wanted to scowl at me, but the rest of her impervious façade remained in place. It was impressive, I had to give her that—she maintained an icy bitch face really well. I would have taken notes if my knees weren’t knocking with nerves.
Deirdre spread her hands on the table, studying them instead of me. “There are not many of us in the city, you see, and the people who run this facility wanted to make sure that trouble isn’t going to land on their doorstep. Well, more trouble than usual.”
My heart sank. It must have been Sunny and Sasha, worried about what a crazy witch meant for the rest of the people they needed to help. I would never get over it if I brought harm to the other women and children who legitimately needed the shelter. I swallowed the knot in my throat. “I’m not planning to stay long-term. I just needed—”
“They’re not kicking you out,” she went on, as if I hadn’t spoken. “But there are security and safety protocols that have to be followed. So. What are you running from?”
“A man,” I said finally. I used the breakfast burrito—cold but still edible—as an excuse to pause before answering so I could chew and think a bit more. “Isn’t it always about a man?”
Her head tilted as she studied me, and I figured she had never had man troubles. Deirdre didn’t blink. “What kind of man? Human? Witch? Something else?”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it. I won’t be here long enough for it to affect anyone. I’ll be on my way as soon as I can figure out what’s wrong with my car.”
“I’m not trying to drive you out of here,” she said suddenly, and some of the ice queen façade cracked. “It’s just… We’ve had a bit of trouble the last year with different factions and people up to no good, so the community is sensitive to strangers showing up and apparently stirring up trouble.”
“Stirring up trouble?” I sat back, bracing my hands on the table. “Me getting attacked by wild animals is stirring up trouble?”
