3

MOLLY had been advised to stay clear of the office that morning as her attorney and the firm’s attorney had been going back and forth. She’d accepted, after much discussion with her mother and her lawyer, that she had no real chance of keeping her spot at the firm. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make them pay for it.

That was fine because she’d made a decision last night after she left her mother’s house.

Really, she’d decided after she’d driven around for hours, trying to pretend she wasn’t scared simply to go into her home, worried about what might be waiting for her. Even when she got home she’d checked all her smoke detectors to be sure they were working and checked her locks for the dozenth time.

The numbness she’d felt since that call from Rosa telling her Anthony and Emma were dead had been washed away by righteous anger. Anger at her termination, at losing what she’d built herself, at losing the life she’d had before the Magister had taken it all from her. And what the Magister had left, the humans she’d grown up among had been working day and night to destroy.

It was time to stand up and fight. To use her gifts to help her people. For a long time it had been that she’d been living a human life for the most part. But now she had to stand up for the other part of her identity.

It had been a while since she’d woken up with such a sense of purpose and it felt good. She took that as a good omen as she’d managed to charm her way into getting the direct line to Meriel Owen’s office.

People didn’t really understand the benefits of manners. Being gracious, having manners and treating others the way you’d like to be treated garnered you a lot in life. A lot more than rudeness or clumsy attempts at bribery.

She picked up the phone and made the call.

“Clan Owen, Meriel Owen’s office. How may I help you?”

“My name is Molly Ryan and I’d very much like to speak with Meriel Owen.”

The assistant’s voice went very cool. “And what is this concerning?”

“Public relations. As in, I think I have something to offer Clan Owen.”

“As you can imagine, Ms. Ryan, we get many such calls each day. Clan Owen has no need for your services. If you’d like, you can mail your résumé in.”

Secretaries were key. Molly had a great deal of respect for the men and women who ran the lives of their bosses. Especially the part where they kept away any wastes of that boss’s time.

But if she couldn’t get around this one, Molly didn’t deserve the job anyway. Besides, it had been at least three or four months since she’d had a challenge like this one.

Five minutes later Molly found herself speaking to Meriel Owen and laying out her backstory.

“So they fired you? Really? God, that makes me so mad. This is your firm and they just tossed you out?”

“The price of entering into a partnership is that the others can toss you out if you break your contract. Of course, I tend to take exception to the idea that being a witch is akin to being a drug mule or sending harassing texts to clients.”

Molly sobered and changed the subject.

“I saw your interview last night. You’re good in front of a camera.”

Meriel laughed. “There’s a but coming.”

“If that was all you needed to do, you’d be fine. More than fine, actually. You’re mediagenic. Intelligent. Articulate. You’re relatable and yet you’re also aspirational. This is all good.”

“Mediagenic? Aspirational?”

“You look good in front of the camera and people admire you enough to want to be like you. But what happens when these sorts of interviews are done is that you’re dragged off message by having to respond to idiotic things. It muddies the point, which is what they mean to do, as their point is usually stupid. The interviewer had an agenda, so he pulled you off yours.”

“What’s the solution? And you’d do this then? Be the face?”

Molly was glad to hear the hesitation in Meriel’s voice. She wouldn’t want to work for someone who’d just say yes without some back up of who Molly was and what she could do. “I don’t know enough about your organization there to say for sure. I’d need to dig in, get a feel for you and your clan before I could make any recommendations.”

“Would you be willing to come out for a face-to-face interview? We’d need to check your references and your background first. I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle this better, but it’s been spinning out of control faster than any of us could deal with. You might be what we need.”

“I can come out, yes. I’ll email my résumé to your assistant so you can start that.”

“I already think you’re pretty amazing to have gotten past her the way you did. She’s pretty formidable.”

“Part of my charm. I can do that with the media too.” Just a fact. Confidence was a positive as long as it wasn’t a brag.

“This is more and more tempting. Yes, email that information to my assistant and she’ll get back to you with some times for you to come out.”

“I’m going to suggest you do this as soon as possible. New things happen every hour it seems. You need to get a handle on this before it spins out of control and you’re in the weeds.” She’d already sent the email along with some links to her television and other media work.

“You’re correct. Expect a call by the end of the week and if you can get us in your schedule to come out then, we’d appreciate it.”

Molly hung up and didn’t quite know what to do with herself so she headed over to Rosa’s.

* * *

IT was hard still, to pull into that driveway and see Anthony’s truck off to the side with a tarp over it. To know he wouldn’t be in his workshop in the garage or out back working on his garden.

Everything was so different now.

AJ, the only other surviving member of the Falco family, met Molly at the door with a hug and a kiss to the cheek. “Good to see you. Come on in, she’ll be happy to see you.”

Rosa was in the kitchen, her favorite room in the house. She looked up from the counter where she’d been rolling out dough and smiled. “Hi there, doll. Come give me a hug.”

Molly did, filching a slice of apple afterward. “Pie. Yum.”

“Good thing you came over. I haven’t been able to get used to having two less people eating my pies. I make too much.” A cloud passed over Rosa’s features briefly, before she went back to work.

“Not like it’s a chore to eat pie. So”—Molly hopped up on a chair—“I called Meriel Owen today and offered her my services as a media relations person.”

Rosa looked up, surprised. “Look at you. What did she say?”

“She asked me for my résumé and all that stuff and said if it checked out to expect to come out later in the week to be interviewed.”

“You’re going to move to Seattle? Just like that?” AJ poured himself a cup of coffee and got one for his mom and Molly as well.

“Not just like that. Not really. I’ve been out of sorts for a while and then yesterday the other partners kicked me out of the firm. I’ve got an attorney fighting it, but really, to be honest, it’s going to be about how much money they throw at me to go away. My life here is . . . well, it’s not what it was before. And I think I can make a difference with Owen.”

“I think you can too. But I worry. That’s a lot of exposure to be on television as an official Other spokesperson.” AJ shrugged.

“I lived a long time not really hiding that I was a witch, but not necessarily waving a banner about it either. That got me nowhere. No, that’s not true. It got me slapped and humiliated by my partners and watching, horrified, as humans like PURITY have set out to destroy me and mine. What’s left of us anyway. I’m mad, AJ. I’m mad and sick and tired.”

He blew out a breath. “I’ve been talking to Mom about moving someplace with a clan. The witches in clan territories are more organized. Safer. Owen is as big as it gets in the States.”

“Yeah, together with Gennessee, they control from northern Mexico up to British Columbia. I’ve never been to Seattle, but I researched it a bit. Wetter than here, but less snow. I don’t know. I guess I feel like it’s my time to do something right and meaningful. I don’t want all these deaths to mean nothing. Or worse, to have people like Carlo Powers use that to do us more harm.”

Rosa threw up the evil eye. “Pig.”

“Yes. That interview last night, my goodness. I should send him a thank-you note for that last push into this decision.”

Rosa grabbed her attention and held her gaze. “You have so much potential. Your gifts are strong. Use them to put that creature in his place. This is a good choice for you. I’ll miss you. Who knows, maybe AJ will convince me at last and we’ll come out there too. You were meant for greatness. I know this.”

Molly knew that coming here would make her feel better. Knew Rosa would say exactly what she needed to hear.

“If I do move, I’m going to miss you guys so much.”

AJ snorted. “Sweetness, you’re going to be too busy saving our world to miss us.”

* * *

GAGE looked up when Meriel knocked on his door.

“Hey there. What’s up?”

“I just had an interesting call from a witch who lives in Chicago. She’s some PR whiz.” Meriel held up a sheaf of papers. “I’ve got her résumé and some assorted information about what she’s done. Television, radio, other media and all that stuff. She called to offer her services. And if what I’m seeing here is on the up-and-up, she’s exactly what we need right now.”

“You want me to run a background check?”

“Indeed. Can you rush this? I’d like to get this wrapped up so we can get her out here and on the job. I mean, I’ll interview her first, obviously. But I spoke to her on the phone for about half an hour. I like what I see so far. She’s charming but no nonsense.”

Gage held back a smile. Of course Meriel would like that. She was the same. But he’d run a thorough check because he’d had enough being taken advantage of. Their clan wouldn’t be hurt by anyone if he could help it.

“I’m on it now.”

Meriel paused. “Are you all right?”

He looked up from the papers he’d been given. “I could ask you the same question.”

“My answer would be no. How about yours?”

He snorted. “No. Not really. This isn’t the way I’d imagined finally revealing ourselves.”

“Three weeks. Dozens of funerals. And I’ve got to deal with all this stupid stuff and it makes me crazy. I want to scream at the interviewer, hey asshole, I lost my mother, what is your problem?”

Gage ached for her. Hell for everyone he knew.

“Yeah. I hear you. I hope this PR lady works out because it’d make me a hell of lot more comfortable if you weren’t the one out there all the time.”

Meriel’s smile was slightly sad. “I’d be lying if I denied the appeal of being out of the spotlight on this. Right now with all this stuff going on, our legal stuff is overwhelming. We’re working with the ACLU and some other human rights groups to deal with all the employment and housing discrimination stuff. But I’d prefer to be out there fighting that fight too instead of dealing with asshat news reporters.”

“We don’t have to talk to them, you know. Fuck what they want.”

Meriel shrugged. “We don’t have to, no. But this issue isn’t going away. In fact it’s getting worse. We need to control the message or we’re screwed.”

He sighed. “All right. I’m going to get on this. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

Background checks were pretty rote by that point. He knew back doors into the nationwide system and into several major city and state databases. It didn’t take him long to begin to build a folder on Ms. Ryan.

Molly Ryan was an interesting woman. If she was what she claimed to be, she’d be a boon to Owen. Graduated top of her class in every class he could find. Intelligent, clearly. Raised by a single mother who happened to be an economics professor at the University of Chicago. No arrest records. No record of who her father was either.

That part burned in his gut. What kind of man just walked away? Did he know, Gage wondered? Maybe the mother never told him.

He paged through the links she’d sent and those he’d dug up on his own. Awards. He was able to get her financials. She made a lot of money. Saved it. Donated regularly to several charities. Mentored college students. Maybe she hated kittens or something.

It appeared that she’d lost several people she was close to in the aftermath of the Magister.

Hadn’t they all?

She’d also been outed in a spectacular fashion by the PURITY people just several days before. That filled him with rage. These PURITY people were garbage. They didn’t care who they hurt.

By the time he left many hours later, his respect of Molly Ryan had grown immensely. If everything else panned out overnight and she came out and Meriel and Dominic liked her, she’d be a great asset.