Page 8 of Ensnared
“Oh my gods,” I gasp.
I look up at Aiden, but he simply raises one eyebrow.
“You want to pay me…” I glance down to double-check. “Half a million dollars for this?”
He shrugs. “Any human company who came to deliver this sort of work would charge us that much or more.”
“Yeah.” I put both palms on the table, pressing my fingers down to stop them from shaking. “Because this is a job for an entire team of people. You’d need a startup and programmers who know what they’re doing. I’m just…”
I want to say that I’m just a single person with comparatively little work experience. But half a million dollars would set me up for years: I’d have a good nest egg so I wouldn’t have to take underpaying jobs anymore, and I could live wherever I wanted. There’s no guarantee I could ever land a project this big, especially not flying solo.
I purse my lips, then ask what’s been bothering me. “Why did you really bring me here? The website alone was a rookie job, and there’s nothing here that couldn’t be done by a human.”
He lets out a deep sigh. “Of course not. I can’t very well write into our business plan that I want a witch to put an enchanted barrier around our village.”
I stare at him. Again, he doesn’t look like he’s joking.
“You’re insane. Did you not see what happened when my magic was unleashed?” I fling an arm out in the direction of the Lodge. “And I can barely destroy a flashlight without passing out myself.”
“I think it’s a matter of training. Your magic, combined with your programming skills, presents a unique solution for us.” He leans forward, his elbows on the table. “I want you to connect the village to satellite internet like the contract says. I want you to create a safe way for our people to interact among themselves online. And I want you to perform the repellent spell your sister did at her home, only I want it geared toward all strangers, not just a single person.”
“But—” I think frantically. “I don’t even know if that’s possible! How would you bring tourists in?”
The poor people wouldn’t even be able to find the village, let alone step inside.
“It can be done,” he says. “There’s a village in Norway with this kind of protection. It was created so people can pass through it in the company of anyone who lives inside it.”
I sit back, unnerved. It would be a massive piece of magic, a working so complex, I’d never even heard of anything on that scale. If a witch really completed such a spell, she’d have been famous among our kind.
“Well, do you know who created the protection?” I ask. “If she can talk me through it, tell me how she did it, I might…”
But Aiden is shaking his head. “The witch is dead.”
Oh. “Did the spell kill her?”
It’s a possibility. Most witches aren’t powerful—or stupid—enough to create spells of such magnitude, but you hear horror stories. Of conjurings gone wrong. Of witches getting depleted from their lack of knowledge.
“No,” he replies.
And that’s all I’m getting from him. I sigh.Great. I have no idea how this will work, but I want to try. If it’s been done before, it can be done again. Still, there’s one question I need to ask.
“Why does this village need that kind of protection?” I spread my arms, confused. “You’re already living in the middle of nowhere. It’s as remote as you can possibly get without moving to the moon.”
He shrugs. “It’s complicated.”
Gods, he’s annoying.
Then it hits me. My hands fly to my mouth. I finally know what’s going on.
“You’re criminals,” I mumble.
It’s the only explanation. But where does that leave me?
Aiden’s eyebrows snap down. “What?”
“You’recriminals,” I repeat. “Oh my gods, I’ve heard of this type of place. You come here to lie low and escape the law.”
I have no idea what to do. They brought me here—I’ve seen their fucking faces. I’d be able to identify them in a police lineup, no problem. So when he says I’m not going anywhere, does he really mean…?
