Page 75 of My Haven
Caiden kept his smile in place, trying not to let the disdain in her voice get to him.
Varan rolled his eyes. “Archaic or not, it still means he can access three elemental powers, who cares what the title is?”
Thad sighed dramatically. “I know of at least three public works projects in the Inner City that could use someone like him.”
Meryn titled her head. “How so?”
“I was told his three elemental powers were, fire, earth and air. That would help enormously with construction. Earth for the placement and setting of concrete. Air, to run open tubes in the concrete for wires, fire to weld as needed,” Thad explained.
“That sounds cool,” Meryn said.
“It is,” Ruadh agreed.
Meryn looked down at her teacup. “Won’t he get assigned somewhere and be gone for forever? With no one knowing where he is?” She looked up at the council members.
Varan sighed. “Only witches who want to leave are assigned out. Most love blending in with humans. They find the dated values of our pillar cities stifling.”
“How come their assignments can’t be found?” she asked.
Nia picked up her own teacup. “Do you know how assignments work Meryn?”
“Nope.”
Nia took a sip, then continued. “Witches are tested on three criteria…”
Meryn snapped her fingers. “Like power, accuracy and stamina, right?”
Nia looked pleased. “Yes, exactly. They are tested and given scores for each. We then look at the long list of requests sent to us from around the world. Not just pillar cities, but even some human corporations and governments that are privileged enough to know of our existence, need witch magic to complete projects for progress.”
“Can I get a list of the humans who know?” Meryn asked.
Nia frowned. “That is very private information, what would you do with it?”
Meryn grinned. “I can track what they do online. Who they contact, what is said. I’d rather have a bead on those variables now, so that I can potentially head off anything getting out that could expose us.”
Varan nodded. “I’ve been saying something similar for decades. We take risks working with humans.”
Thad turned to Meryn. “You won’t share this information and you’d be willing to do this work on behalf of the Witches’ Council?”
Meryn gave a half shrug. “I don’t get my jollies sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong. I stay in my lane and I’m happy there. I can set up programs that can scrub internet content,so in the event something about paranormals is leaked, I can minimize damage or spin it to look like a hoax.”
Thad turned to Nia. “Send the list to her,” he ordered. “We have been lucky thus far, but I think we’d all sleep better at night knowing this was safeguarded.”
Meryn eyed Thad. “I agree with Varan though. I’d cut ties ASAP. Why take the risk if you don’t have to?”
Varan looked vindicated.
Thad however, looked tired. “Meryn, we’re talking millions of dollars.”
Meryn looked flabbergasted. “Millions? Where in the hell is that money going? You don’t even have coffee shops.”
Jayne eyed Meryn. “It takes money to run a city this big. Do you think the people out there pay an electricity bill or a water bill? What about sanitation? We don’t have a refuse tube like Noctem Falls.”
Meryn’s mouth opened, then closed. “Oh yeah.”
Nia smiled at Meryn. “The outside assignments are highly sought after because they are extremely high paying jobs, and the witch gets thirty percent of the contracted price. The rest goes to the city.”
“So, they’re secret because people want to get paid more?” Genevieve asked.
