“Or something.” Her stomach felt queasy. Could she not just have a couple hours of normal to help balance out the not-so-normal? Was that too much to ask for?
“Andy?” she said, tentatively, hoping that he wasn’t freaked out or terrified by being visited by Others. Maybe he had no idea. Come to think of it, if they were all over the place and looked human, it was very possible she herself, back in her blissfully ignorant days, had met more than her share of them and never been the wiser.
The good old days.
There were a couple of people standing in front of Andy’s desk, and he shook their hands. “That’s Eden right there,” he said. “Speak of the devil.”
There was an expression that wasn’t as innocent as it used to be.
They turned to look at her with smiles on their faces. “Wonderful,” a woman with short brown hair said. “Then I take it my case is in good hands.”
“The best,” Andy assured her.
“You’ll be in touch?” she asked.
“In a few days at the most. Thank you for choosing Triple-A.”
She smiled. “It’s as if it chose me, not the other way around. I was compelled to come here.”
“Our ad in the Yellow Pages is eye-catching.”
“Yes.” Her smile held. “I’m sure that’s what it was. Come, darling.”
She and her companion left the agency.
Darrak leaned toward her. “That was a white witch and her shifter lover.”
She tensed. “Please stop.”
“White witches are all nature- and animal-loving vegetarians. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried, I just want you to stop talking.”
They were alone in the agency. Andy looked at her with a huge smile on his face. “You are not going to believe my day. I texted you! I wish you’d been here!”
She cleared her throat nervously. “What happened?”
“A phoenix has risen from the flames.”
Her eyes widened. “Literally?”
He looked at her strangely. “Uh, no. But my business — well, our business — has been revitalized by a ton of new cases. It’s been nonstop since I got here this morning. I might even have to hire an assistant.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “And the strangest thing is what that woman, Mrs. Larenby, just said. They all were compelled”—he made air quotes—“to choose Triple-A.”
Darrak leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I think I figured it out. The reason why Others are attracted to you and this place.”
“Do tell,” she whispered back.
“This is where you forced me to take form the first time. The amount of psychic energy you expelled, added to what I am, was enough to create a hot spot. I’ve heard of that sort of thing happening before. Works like a magnet for Others. Now they think this is the go-to agency for paranormal clientele.”
Shit. That wasn’t good. Was it?
“That’s great,” she said then to Andy, smiling though her face felt very tight. “And the cases are… uh, is there anything unusual about them?”
“Unusual? No. The usual stuff. Surveillance, another potential cheating spouse, white-collar crime, background checks.”
Only for werewolves and fairies and witches, Eden thought. Oh my.
“Great,” she said, not liking the pitched, slightly hysterical tone of her voice.
“We should celebrate. I need a cigar. Why don’t I keep champagne on hand around here?”
“No idea.”
“I ordered some fresh coffee from next door. Nancy is going to bring it over.”
“Sit down.” Darrak had rolled her chair closer for her. She sat down. That felt much better.
“Such a nice, helpful young man you are.” Andy clipped the end of the celebration cigar he’d retrieved from his top desk drawer and pointed at Darrak with it. “So good to your sister. Aren’t you, sport? Did you have a nice day today? Did you do some sightseeing around the city? Did you go to the top of the CN Tower? That’s fun.”
Darrak sighed. “Make him stop, Eden.”
She coughed nervously. “Andy, did you have any luck looking for the wi… er, I mean, the woman Darrak’s looking for in the city?”
Andy shook his head. “Didn’t even get a chance to start. And now I’m up to my neck with these new cases. How did the cheating husband stakeout go?”
“Really good,” she said, brushing aside her morning trauma and immediate disappointment that Andy hadn’t solved her problem yet. “You really can’t find any time to look into that?”
“Wish I could. I’m sure it can wait a week or two.”
“A week or two?” Her heart sank. “I really wanted this taken care of right away.”
“To tell you the truth, Eden, if the woman in question doesn’t have any prior convictions or anything to get her into the system, there’s not much chance of finding her based purely on a sketch. I’m sorry. I should have mentioned that yesterday.”
Darrak’s brow was lowered. “That’s too bad.”
“I know. Look, you could always do it the old-fashioned way.”
“And how’s that?”
“If you think she’s in the city, print up a bunch of flyers and paste them up around town.”
“But, Andy—” she began.