Page 53 of The Nowhere Witch

“I believe you.” It took another full minute before he finally made his way out of the room.

Then there were two. I turned toward Hawk with my best poker face. Negotiation time was upon us, and I couldn’t afford to lose this one.

“What were your questions?”

His eyes flickered from my face to my arm and then back. “Where did you get that bruise?”

Shit. I’d pushed my sleeves up without realizing it. Figured he’d notice. If Hawk were a normal person, I’d be able to tell him I was practicing defense with Bautere. Hawk was anything but normal. He’d have a gazillion questions, and then he’d have a list of what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do. So instead of being honest, telling him I was training to be a kickass witch, I’d let him think I was an idiot.

“I banged into the door when the lights were out.”

He leaned his hip on the shelf, crossing his arms. “That’s an odd shape for a door.”

I leaned on the back of the couch. “I stumbled into the dresser afterward. Was that your question?”

“Not quite. I’ve never lied to you, but my word isn’t good enough for you to take the job?”

He had me there, and I wasn’t sure I could say the same. Wow. Even that was a lie. IknewI couldn’t say the same. I’d lied to him more than once. The only difference was that in our previous relationship, he hadn’thadto lie. He’d called all the shots. I’d been powerless and wouldn’t willingly walk into that situation again.

“I’m not saying you have, but I want guarantees. I know how fickle you can be.”

“Fickle?” He nodded a couple times, and the little vein on his neck bulged for a second or two.

It warmed my cold heart for some reason.

“Yes, I’d say fickle is the right term.”

“Fine. If you’d like a contract, that can be arranged. It might be better for both of us, since your agreements have a tendency to be flexible in nature. You like to renegotiate on a whim. This way, we both know where we stand.”

“She was going to die in that factory.” Of course he’d bring up my trying to free Rabbit. I should’ve expected it after I’d called him fickle.

“I understand what you were doing, but then again, I can be fickle, so an iron-clad contract is definitely for the best.” He crossed his arms before he continued, “I swear that I won’t fire you…” He kept talking, and the next words were incoherent until he stopped, looked at me, and said, “Now you accept,” in an over-enunciated, arrogant manner.

“What were those weird words in the middle?”

“You wanted a contract. I gave you one. If you were practicing with me still, you’d know exactly what I said.”

“Translate it.” I had a feeling that his mumbled words were the equivalent of the small print in a written contract.

“It means you get what you want. You can stay here as long as you choose. If you don’t want to accept it, then don’t.” His complete indifference as to whether I accepted felt like a little horde of bees attacking my ego.

“Answer me one question first: did you have something to do with the black cloud?”

“If I did, I’d tell you. No one even knows where they come from or how they form. You can go through every spell book in Xest and not find a reliable spell for one.”

I believed him. He would admit it. He had no shame. He’d screw you over ten times to Tuesday and then put it on a bulletin board for the world to see.

“Are you satisfied? Because I do have other things to do today besides begging you to take one of the best jobs in Xest.” He walked away from me after a split-second wait to make himself a tea, putting it in a cup that I knew he liked to take with him. He was leaving. That would be it. I was sure these contracts didn’t dangle in the air forever. There had to be some expiration, and I had immigration looming. If this backfired somehow, I’d figure it out after I got the three hags off my back.

“I accept.”

I felt a swoosh of air around the room.

He turned to me. “It’s done. Zab and Musso will show you the ropes.”

My blood was pumping so hard that I could barely hear past the buzzing in my ears. This wasn’t exactly what I’d planned, but it was a good job, in a place I loved, even if the words burned on the tongue. I had some security now.

He walked out the back door, as if it were nothing.

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