Page 59 of The Most Wanted Witch

“You’re welcome,” Oscar said. “You should really work on learning some more fundamentals, especially since everyone is looking at you like the savior of Xest. They’d find your lack of basics startling.”

“For your information, that position has already been taken,” I replied. I didn’t need to say what cocoa-serving pain in the ass had stepped up to fill it. We all knew, evidenced by the lack of follow-up. Gillian was going to change the world, one magnificent cocoa at a time.

A chair scraped against the floor. “I’m going to need at least two pots of tea to get through all these requests,” Bibbi said, sounding frazzled. “You’d think Marvin had completely closed up shop the way these smaller requests keep piling up lately. Why are they even coming here?”

“Maybe Marvin is looking to cut back,” Zab said. “Such a greedy jerk that I didn’t think I’d ever see the day, but he’s been getting lazier and lazier every month, it seems.”

A tingle spread over my skin.

“How many do you have?” Hawk asked.

“Oh, I hadn’t realized you were back,” Bibbi said.

No one probably had. No footsteps, no smell. It was as if he could disguise his entire presence when he wanted, except somehow I still sensed him.

“Too many to count,” Bibbi said.

I kept my head back, rag on my eyes, focusing so hard on ignoring his presence that it was nearly all I could think about.

Stop it. Why do you have to focus only on him if he’s anywhere around?It was embarrassing. I was a pathetic loser, and there were important things to ponder, like angels and demons who seemed equally evil, invisible monsters, and people long dead.

Dead people. Everyone that had worked with my mother was long gone, and there were very few witches and warlocks that were born in Rest. And pop-ups, as they called them, typically didn’t have a lot of magic.

So how was Marvin keeping the factory stocked with enough witches and warlocks? Or had he kept it stocked before, when, from all appearances, he was losing ground now?

I yanked the rag off my eyes, sitting up. “Whimsy witches die young, typically. That’s established. And pop-ups aren’t that common, right?”

“Yes,” Hawk answered.

The entire room settled their attention on me, as if they sensed something was coming.

“How many Whimsy witches and warlocks are typically born in Xest?”

There were a few head shakes, as no one had an answer.

“I don’t think that many,” Hawk said, walking closer.

“So if they aren’t getting imported, and there aren’t that many to begin with, and they die young, how’s he been keeping that factory stocked with enough magic? Has there been an influx of pop-ups, or has Marvin been doing something else?” I asked.

Everyone was sitting upright.

“If there’s someone sneaky enough to steal magic somehow, it would be him,” Musso said, walking in the room. “I never did trust that guy.”

“From what I read, Xest has a certain amount of intrinsic magic that’s inherent to the place, correct?” I asked.

“Yes, it does.” Hawk was right by the couch now. “And there’s typically been a balance.Dreadis not balanced.”

“Maybe Marvin did something that threw off that balance?” I looked about the room, trying to read the reactions. No one was saying much, and no one looked overly sold.

“Is he smart enough to pull off something big enough to shift the balance in Xest to create a monster like that?” Zab asked.

“It’s a long shot, but we don’t have anything else,” Hawk said. “Zab, send out a newsflash to those two idiot brothers. I want them here in the next twenty or else.”

Hawk walked into the office, Zab right behind him.

“Who are those two idiot brothers?” I asked Oscar, who was standing and getting ready to follow as well.

“You call them Spike and Braid—they’re the two that brought you over. They do most of Marvin’s collecting. They’d know how many pop-ups have been coming in. They’re idiots, but they puddle-jump really well for low-level Middlings.”

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