Page 32 of The Nowhere Witch

His gaze went to the three monkeys standing beside me. The dust bunny hopped closer until it was sitting on my other side, and then became invisible as I felt it press against my leg.

Maybe I should’ve gone to Zab’s, but it wasn’t just me anymore. The monkeys had debatable worth and likability at times, but they didn’t deserve the factory, no matter how annoying they might be. For some reason they’d chosen to be with me, and I’d let them. How could I kick them to the curb now? Then there was the dust bunny. No one wanted a dust bunny. No. One. But to leave it to the exterminator? Nope. It was what it was. They were mine to care for now, and since Hawk had stolen our newly found home, this was it.

“Fine.”

He had no idea what he’d just agreed to.

I wouldn’t thank him. The only reason we were here wasbecauseof him. They wouldn’t need anything if he’d left us alone.

He’d thought he’d won, but the game had just begun.

14

I woke up in the same bedroom I’d begged to keep, except that this was the last place I wanted to be at the moment, even as part of me had missed the place. Now it only reminded me of what had gone down and how I’d been forced out.

There was a Do Not Disturb sign hanging on the door next to mine. The monkeys and the dust bunny had made themselves comfortable.

I didn’t have to be at work for a few hours, so I might as well make myself at home and go say hello to the guys. That was at least something I looked forward to. And if Hawk was there? I would not be talking to him.

Same bed, same bathroom, same walk downstairs. I’d wanted to be back here so badly, and now look at me. Every step was irritating me. And yet not. There was a comfort when I ran my hand over the wall near the third step and felt the subtle bump. The second step creaked the loudest, and the first sounded a little like a cat’s meow. When I opened the door to the office, I’d see Zab, who’d greet me with a smile. Musso would give me a grunt and a nod that was somehow just as welcoming. Helen’s gears would kick up a hair when I entered the room, as if she were happy to see me too. It all felt too familiar, too much like home. I hated that Hawk had given this to me and then taken it away.

Still, there was a slight hitch in my breathing as I opened the door. I wasn’t just back in Xest. I wasback. It felt so right, and it was all so wrong. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.

Still, I swung open the door, and it creaked at the last moment like I knew it would. I stepped into the office and got the smile from Zab, got the grunt from Musso, got the churning of gears from Helen.

I also got a lavender head of hair on the cutest face I’d ever seen, sitting atmytable. What was she doing atmytable? She looked up and had the nerve to smile. I was glaring the way Belinda had at me.

It was all so right and so wrong.

Her face fell and Zab stepped into the gap, the way he always did. “This is Bibbi. She’s new. Bibbi, this is Tippi.”

Bibbi smiled again, this one more hesitant. I got a hold of myself and reeled back on the Belinda that had just taken over my body.

“Hi, Bibbi. Nice to meet you.” I forced my upper lip into something that might resemble a smile as I scanned my table. She was usingmybaskets. She hadmyflower. That wasmystuff. I’d taken it from other parts of the office fair and square. Why did she havemystuff? Couldn’t she go get her own?

“I liked your décor, so I left it. Hope you don’t mind.”

Her smile was still there, but her eyes kept slipping over to Zab, as if she were looking for reassurance I wasn’t going to kill her and then eat her.

Zab gave a subtle nod and patted the air, as if to reassure her. I tried to smile again. She took a step back.

“Let’s go get a cocoa,” Zab said, going to the coin box.

“Sure.” Just like old times, and yet not. This might’ve been the worst case of déjà vu ever.

He nodded at Bibbi one last time before we left. She waited until we were out the door before she sat back down atmytable.

“I wasn’t trying to scare her. It was a lapse. You could’ve warned me.” I mean, I hadn’t been that scary, had I? Yes, I’d had some bloody thoughts, but they’d just been thoughts.

Zab wasn’t paying any attention to what I was saying as the street seemed to part for us.

“Is this what it’s always like now?” he asked, watching the sneering and nodding from the people passing by.

“Yeah. I barely notice it. So who is she?” I asked, dragging his attention back to the problem.

“Just someone Hawk hired her after you left.”

“To do what? Why is she in my spot? Why isn’t she at Belinda’s desk?” Belinda’s desk was much nicer. She could have it. Shecouldn’thave my table.

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