I slipped inside
the employee area. There I paused for a breath, contemplating my next move.
Cerulean hair
was far too notable for a job so close to home. I’d need a disguise as otherwise
every witch in Wipuk would know who had been in Vegas
this morning.
Altering the
pigment took a good deal of concentration. Not because it was difficult to
change hair and pigment colors, but rather because it was second nature now to
do so. Since I had no control over my dyed tips, my only choice for a drastic
change would be to make it all black. Once I’d noted the shift out of my
peripheral vision, I moved on to the task of darkening my skin. Only when I’d
coated myself in a deep mocha color, did I start down the hall toward the spa.
Several feet
to my right stood an employee entrance into the establishment, exactly as I’d
thought. It, too, was locked—a mere stumbling block. I sent Air magic in to
pick the lock as I had on the outer door.
The back
entrance put me into a storage room filled with lotion bottles, stones, towels,
and a hoard of other spa accouterments. I grabbed a polo shirt and pants off
the shelf. Minutes later I quietly moved into the spa’s interior dressed in my
spa employee clothes.
An accented
male voice called out at a powerful volume. “Who is there?”
He had to be
speaking to someone else. I’d barely left the storage room and hadn’t made any
noise.
“You there! Whoever emerged from the
back, show yourself! ”
A large lump
formed in my throat. There was only one explanation for the male’s enhanced
senses. He had to be a member of one of the Underground factions. A shapeshifter , Were , or vampire
would have supernatural hearing and a keen sense of smell. I wasn’t in a hurry
to meet any of those. But he was with the witches I was after, and he knew I
was here. My options were limited.
I walked
forward, turning down the marble corridor that entered into the steamy Roman
baths. I lifted my chin above the stack of fluffy towels and bath salts I’d
grabbed as an excuse for being in the pretentious place after hours. A group of
women and one male lounged within the heated water. Or rather two women and one
male lounged in a cozy little trio while the others could have been tan statues
in terry robes on the pool’s edges.
My steady
inhales brought in an amalgamation of scents just barely discernible over the
water. If my nose could be believed, there was an Air witch, a Fire witch, a
Water witch, a Dark witch, a Healer, and even a Death witch in the room. The
only acknowledged school missing was Earth.
The abundance
of water available made it easy to send out empathic links to the creatures
within the space. Emotions battered my consciousness. Several witches
broadcasted fear and anger, some more than others. Hot, forceful jabs came from
the witches with the darkest expressions. The one who took the cake was the
redheaded witch with her deeply knit forehead. Her malicious glare was focused
squarely on the male figure stretched out along the pool’s back end.
Pinching envy
emanated from one of the lounging women. The press of satisfaction came from
the other woman while they took turns drawing hands over his toffee-colored
skin. The last creature, the man, was in a state of relaxation mixed with
intermittent pokes of irritation—irritation reserved for me. Angular eyebrows
drew down atop nearly black eyes as he silently demanded I explain myself.
I lied through
my teeth. “My boss asked me to make sure you had fresh towels and to offer you
these.”
“You don’t
mean the silly salts do you? We told your boss we didn’t have any interest in
your over-priced shit.” He ran a hand over the top of his buzz cut, brown-black
hair. His full lips curved. “Unless ‘these’ refers to your
adorable little breasts.”
Envy came at
me in stereo. I struggled not to wince from the force of it.
One of the women
clinging to him slid her hand over his compactly muscled chest and down into
the
the employee area. There I paused for a breath, contemplating my next move.
Cerulean hair
was far too notable for a job so close to home. I’d need a disguise as otherwise
every witch in Wipuk would know who had been in Vegas
this morning.
Altering the
pigment took a good deal of concentration. Not because it was difficult to
change hair and pigment colors, but rather because it was second nature now to
do so. Since I had no control over my dyed tips, my only choice for a drastic
change would be to make it all black. Once I’d noted the shift out of my
peripheral vision, I moved on to the task of darkening my skin. Only when I’d
coated myself in a deep mocha color, did I start down the hall toward the spa.
Several feet
to my right stood an employee entrance into the establishment, exactly as I’d
thought. It, too, was locked—a mere stumbling block. I sent Air magic in to
pick the lock as I had on the outer door.
The back
entrance put me into a storage room filled with lotion bottles, stones, towels,
and a hoard of other spa accouterments. I grabbed a polo shirt and pants off
the shelf. Minutes later I quietly moved into the spa’s interior dressed in my
spa employee clothes.
An accented
male voice called out at a powerful volume. “Who is there?”
He had to be
speaking to someone else. I’d barely left the storage room and hadn’t made any
noise.
“You there! Whoever emerged from the
back, show yourself! ”
A large lump
formed in my throat. There was only one explanation for the male’s enhanced
senses. He had to be a member of one of the Underground factions. A shapeshifter , Were , or vampire
would have supernatural hearing and a keen sense of smell. I wasn’t in a hurry
to meet any of those. But he was with the witches I was after, and he knew I
was here. My options were limited.
I walked
forward, turning down the marble corridor that entered into the steamy Roman
baths. I lifted my chin above the stack of fluffy towels and bath salts I’d
grabbed as an excuse for being in the pretentious place after hours. A group of
women and one male lounged within the heated water. Or rather two women and one
male lounged in a cozy little trio while the others could have been tan statues
in terry robes on the pool’s edges.
My steady
inhales brought in an amalgamation of scents just barely discernible over the
water. If my nose could be believed, there was an Air witch, a Fire witch, a
Water witch, a Dark witch, a Healer, and even a Death witch in the room. The
only acknowledged school missing was Earth.
The abundance
of water available made it easy to send out empathic links to the creatures
within the space. Emotions battered my consciousness. Several witches
broadcasted fear and anger, some more than others. Hot, forceful jabs came from
the witches with the darkest expressions. The one who took the cake was the
redheaded witch with her deeply knit forehead. Her malicious glare was focused
squarely on the male figure stretched out along the pool’s back end.
Pinching envy
emanated from one of the lounging women. The press of satisfaction came from
the other woman while they took turns drawing hands over his toffee-colored
skin. The last creature, the man, was in a state of relaxation mixed with
intermittent pokes of irritation—irritation reserved for me. Angular eyebrows
drew down atop nearly black eyes as he silently demanded I explain myself.
I lied through
my teeth. “My boss asked me to make sure you had fresh towels and to offer you
these.”
“You don’t
mean the silly salts do you? We told your boss we didn’t have any interest in
your over-priced shit.” He ran a hand over the top of his buzz cut, brown-black
hair. His full lips curved. “Unless ‘these’ refers to your
adorable little breasts.”
Envy came at
me in stereo. I struggled not to wince from the force of it.
One of the women
clinging to him slid her hand over his compactly muscled chest and down into
the
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