Clearly unamused, Louie merely grunted. Undaunted, Kelly reached out a hand and tried the door. It was unlocked. In spite of the light throb in her temples, she felt like the day was starting to break in her favor.
Pushing the door wide, she stepped across the threshold and into the home of her youth—not that she remembered it. The door slammed hard behind her and she spun around to see Louie’s silhouette toss its arms in dismay through the curtained window.
“Oh, come on,” he grumbled, his words muffled by the heavy wooden door. “Are you serious?”
Suppressing a chuckle, she turned the knob and pulled back the heavy door to see his lips tight in frustration. Wrinkling her nose in a cute smile, she shrugged again, as if to say, What can you do?
“It seems like the house doesn’t like you very much.”
“Not just me,” he grumbled. “While waiting for you to come of age, we’ve tried to keep the place rented to witches so it didn’t fall into ruin. You see, the house needs witches living in it or its stored magic will drain away and it will…die, in a manner of speaking.”
“Well, from the look of things, your plan worked out great!”
He looked at her blankly and elected to ignore her sarcasm. Holding the door so it wouldn't snap back on him again, she stepped aside so Louie could join her in the foyer.
“Woah,” she said, looking around for the first time at her new residence. “It’s really dark in here.”
“Take off your sunglasses.”
“Oh. Thanks!”
That did help, but only so much. An air of gloom hung around the place, which had the strange effect of making Kelly feel right at home. Maybe it was the hangover but she found it difficult to quantify exactly what it was about the place that spoke to her. There certainly wasn’t a bit about it that she remembered.
“Let’s start the tour upstairs.” Together, they edged up the wheezing steps, and little bits of her past began to filter back to her as he spoke. “There are three bedrooms up here and you can pick which one you want to stay in. Your old one…”
“Is on the left,” she finished for him. “I thought you said you rented this place?”
“We've tried. But, as you saw, the house can be…temperamental. Evidently, it’s been problematic when housing witches that aren’t, well, you.”
“Really?”
She was flattered. Despite being closed, a puff of wind roiled up from the window they stood by. The lace curtain fluttered up and came to rest around her shoulders. It felt somewhere between a cape and a hug. This rickety old place might be just the thing she needed in her life.
“Yes,” he said, disentangling her. “The place has absorbed untold quantities of magic from its occupants over the centuries. It's the coven's responsibility to always keep at least one witch in residence to keep it healthy.”
He opened the door to what had once been her room, and as Kelly stepped inside, a wave of nostalgia swallowed her. It had been painted, probably many times, but the walls rippled slightly, as if attempting to reject the new colors. As soon as she cast her eyes on the tiny child-sized bed, the covers turned down and the pillow fluffed itself.
“Well,” she said, barking out a laugh. “I guess the question of where I’m staying is settled.” She looked up to the ceiling with a broad smile. “Thanks!” It was hard to be certain, but she felt sure that one of the light fixtures winked at her. She appreciated the welcome from the house, but made a mental note to get her bed from her dorm later on.
When they stepped back into the hallway, a wrinkle puckered the carpet, catching Louie’s foot and sending him sprawling into a narrow table. He let out a yelp, but when he turned back, the carpet lay smooth. For the second time, Kelly found herself covering a laugh at the way her new home seemed to dislike the funny little man.
“Why not just head down to the kitchen and finish all this, shall we?”
Judging by the way he gripped the banister as if his life depended on it, he was clearly ready to be done with the whole mess. She didn’t blame him. It was far too early to take a tumble down the stairs.
“So why exactly is the place empty?”
“Hmm?” Louie was far too intent on edging to safety on the ground floor to really listen.
“You said the coven kept this place rented by witches. But it's pretty obvious this place is empty.”
“Oh, that.” As he reached presumed safety, he let out a barely audible sigh. “Not quite a week ago, the house kicked out every witch in residence.”
Kelly’s eyes opened wide in surprise.
“It did what? How?”
“Nothing too serious. Locusts. Boils. Blood running from the taps. I think they all kind of took the hint.”
“And when was this exactly?”
“The day you turned twenty-five.”
Interesting.
They arrived in the kitchen, where an almost foot-high stack of papers awaited them on the table. Kelly was in no mood to go through contracts and quailed at the hours ahead with this pencil pusher explaining everything.
“Now,” Louie said, all business. “You’re going to need roommates.”
He clapped his hand on top of the stack of what she realized were rental applications. She breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t going to require her signature on every page.
“I am?”
“Mmm-hmm,” he nodded. “Witches. Two of the best ones we can find to help strengthen the house. We have two hundred of the most suitable applicants here, the best and the brightest on top. I think we should make our selections today, if possible. Shall I order lunch?”
The pile of papers resumed its loathsome place in her heart, and her stomach curdled at the thought of food after her boozy night. Before she could answer, another startling gust ripped through the closed room. Actually, to call it a gust would be doing it a disservice—what rushed around them was nothing short of a whirlwind.
It ripped the entire dossier of candidates out from under Louie’s hand and sent them showering down around their ears. While the executor was clearly unamused, Kelly couldn’t help but laugh as the room snowed with a chaos of documents. As they all came to rest on various parts of the floor, Louie pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Dammit,” he hissed under his breath.
Just then, Kelly’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, and raised an eyebrow at what had to be a spam number because it was all sixes.
The 2 girls on top, the message read.
“Sounds like porn,” she mumbled, and put the phone back in her pocket.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing,” she shrugged at him. “Wrong number, I guess.”
Three
Kelly’s heels clicked loudly on the stone pathway as she hurried toward the main building of Othercross Judiciary. Even after working here for so long, she wasn’t exactly sure where to find her new boss.
“Maybe I should have worn my white high tops with the pink laces,” she whispered absently, looking at her feet.
The pearl pumps were so nice though, and they went with practically everything. If you looked good, it didn’t matter if you were running a few minutes late. Heels this nice demanded a slow, swinging step. Running in them would make her look like a bird trying to take off. She giggled to herself and clutched her bag even tighter to her side as she picked up her pace. Just a little.