Page 18 of The Most Wanted Witch

Neither Oscar nor I replied. We didn’t have answers or time as we rushed into the office. Chairs skidded and clanged behind us.

Hawk wasn’t alone in the office. A few feet from him stood a…a man? The suit he was wearing was the only normal thing about him. His skin was a deep red and unnaturally smooth. He had horns on his head and hoofed feet. There was only one person I’d seen that looked like him. Mertie.

I groaned softly, my mind shooting to a weird memory of a man, a bucket of black goop from hell, and a warning about keeping the situation under control. The goop hadn’t worked so well, and we certainly hadn’t kept things under control. It mightnotbe what I feared, but it very well could be.

“You know what this is about?” Oscar whispered to me as we hung back a bit from this stranger. I shook my head, not wanting to give the newcomer any ideas if that wasn’t why he was here.

The demon’s eyes shot past Hawk, to me, lingering there.

“What’s your purpose here?” Hawk asked, not looking anywhere but at the demon in front of him. He moved, so that he broke the direct line of vision between the demon and myself.

My heart thudded as I waited to hear what the demon said. There wasn’t a whisper behind me, even though there was a full audience.

“You were warned that if you didn’t get this situation under control, we’d step in. The situation is most certainly not under control.”

“You have no authority here, Xazier.”

“The territory of Xest is experiencing unrest that threatens to spill into other realms. We have full authority to come in according to the pact, written and agreed to between the realms.” Xazier held up his hand, and a parchment dropped down. “If happenings in any other realm threaten the peace of a different and separate realm, the threatened realm has full authority to intervene as they see fit.”

“There’s no threat to your realm. This is a power grab, and you know it.”

Hawk continued to argue his point, but I was distracted from him by the low churning of Helen’s gears. A slip shot out of her slot and dropped to the ground. It moved along the floor until it was by my toes.

According to the pact, in order for one realm to assert authority over another realm, a formal warning shall be given first and a full moon cycle shall be allowed to rectify such grievances.

I shoved the note in my pocket and stepped up to the demon, standing shoulder to shoulder with Hawk.

Hawk was giving me the stare that he still thought worked. I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t figured out that it didn’t, but he kept trying. Maybe he’d had such a high success rate with it in the past that he couldn’t wrap his head around it failing. He’d figure it out eventually.

The demon looked intrigued. That wasn’t good either. Didn’t matter. I was all in now. I’d inserted myself. Time to act.

“By the rule of pact, you have to give us a full moon cycle after a formal complaint to rectify that problem before you can assume any authority.”

Hawk looked at me, clearly wondering where this knowledge was coming from. Didn’t matter. Helen knew, and I’d bet my last coin she was right.

“Youwerewarned,” Xazier said.

“By a passing comment? I highly doubt that would hold up,” I scoffed.

The demon went silent. He wasn’t leaving, though. He stood there, staring at me with an intensity that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“I’m correct, am I not?” I asked, trying anything to break the strange moment that was dragging out.

He squinted and tilted his head, continuing to look at me. And he kept on looking.

“I might be able to work something out. I’ll need a moment,” he said, and then walked out of the office. Once outside, he began talking to the air.

Hawk dropped his gaze to me, his stare deepening. “I don’t want you involved in this.”

“If I hadn’t gotten involved, you’d still be arguing that they couldn’t take over Xest right now.”

“I’m handling it.”

“I’m helping you handle it.”

“I’m asking you not—”

The door opened, and Xazier walked back into the office and stopped a few feet from us. He took in a deep breath, and steam literally came out of his mouth as he sighed.

---