Page 47 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
“Little, as of yet.” That was Ms.Yamada. “Attempts to divine the source of these incursions have resulted in widespread employee attrition. We’ve lost roughly a quarter of our Analysis and Logistics department.”
“Unfortunate,” the woman remarked.
“We do know that these incursions correlate with a growing number of disappearances throughout the city,” Ms.Crenshaw added. “Local authorities are starting to notice.”
The chilly air in the subterranean chamber cooled further. “Mundane interference will not be tolerated,” the woman said, turning her attention to each of the executives in turn. Her smile remained undimmed, but there was a hard edge to her voice now. “The uninitiated must not become aware of Our work. You will contain the situation and limit reports of these incursions.”
The three murmured their acquiescence. Around them, the acolytes still had their arms raised in exultation or supplication, some of them trembling a little with the strain.
“That brings us to the next item on the agenda,” the woman said. “A member of the board was destroyed following an incursion directly outside this building. Please explain.”
Ms.Crenshaw said smoothly, “Ms.Kettering’s loss is unfortunate, of course. We are still investigating—”
The woman cut her off without raising her voice. “Is ‘investigating’ all you can do, Margaret? Our divinations tell Us that something very old and very dangerous is in your city, and yet you have done nothing to stop it. Do We need to appoint a new executive board?”
“No,” Mr.Samuels said, a little hastily. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Then find whatever is causing these incursions and contain it, or We will have no choice but to intervene directly. And if We do so, you will perish along with New York.”
Ms.Yamada bowed her head. “Of course.”
The woman abruptly lifted a hand and tilted her head upward, as if catching an elusive scent. Slowly, her lips relaxed until that tight smile was gone. “We sense something…familiar.” If her voice had been steel before, now it was ice, brittle and cold. “Some lingering trace of what should not be.” Lifting her glasses on their chain, she settled them in front of her eyes as she looked around the chamber, focusing on each person in turn. A ripple went through the assembled acolytes as her attention swept over them, and the air grew oppressive, bearing down with an awful, tangible weight.
Frozen against the stone wall, I knew with absolute certainty that if she focused her gaze on me, I was finished. My heart rate spiked as I considered my options. There was nowhere to hide, and it was too late to run. I looked down at the ritual circle I’d drawn on the rough stone floor, the chalk now transformed into pale fire that gave off no heat. There, maybe five feet away, sat a shallow silver bowl, the substance inside anchoring the ritual space. Without pausing to think, I stepped forward and kicked the bowl over, sending greenishbile spattering onto the ground. There was a shift in pressure that made my ears pop, and then the woman vanished along with the flames, both disappearing as if snuffed out.
The chamber was plunged into darkness for a long, uncomfortable moment before the overhead lights flickered on. Several acolytes sagged to their knees as the connection with Management dissolved. The three executives turned as one and found me standing there, the overturned bowl rocking gently at my feet.
“Colin,” Ms.Crenshaw said, her tone frosty, “did you just interrupt our face-to-face with Management?”
“I’m so sorry,” I babbled. “I tripped and—” My hands gestured helplessly to the bile smoking faintly on the floor.
Irritated mutters rose from around the ritual circle. A couple of acolytes stared daggers at me, which was kind of scary because these were people who carried actual daggers.
Mr.Samuels shook his head in obvious disappointment, then exchanged glances with the others. “We have our instructions,” he murmured, to which Ms.Yamada nodded once before gliding away, casting a look at me that promised excruciating pain at my next performance review. As for Ms.Crenshaw…expressionless, she stared at me for a long moment before turning away, heels clicking against the stone floor as she strode to the elevators.
I swallowed and tried not to look at anyone as I began to clean away the ritual materials. Interrupting the meeting with Management had been insanely risky, but it was still safer than being anywhere near that smiling woman. Had I done nothing, I would be screaming for mercy instead of mopping up bile.
When I’d finished, I returned to the thirteenth floor and locked the intern in with the others before creeping back to my desk. What I wanted to do was visit the Repository and check in with Lex, but Iknew I was standing on the thinnest of ice, so instead I stayed at my desk and tried to look both busy and helpful.
The day dragged on and on until, shortly before five o’clock, I steeled myself and knocked quietly on Ms.Crenshaw’s office door. “Do you need anything before I leave for the day, ma’am?”
She didn’t look away from her computer screen. “No.”
Relieved and ashamed in equal measure, I was about to scurry away when I stopped myself. “I want to apologize for the mistake earlier,” I said. “With the ritual.”
This time, she did look at me. “I don’t want an apology, Colin. I want competence.”
“Of course,” I mumbled. “I understand.”
“Do you?” she inquired. “I don’t retain people who disappoint me. You have one chance to secure your ascension to middle management. Fail to do so, and your employment at this company will end.”
Willing my legs to stop shaking, I gave her a tight nod.
“Maybe you were coddled too much in Human Resources,” she mused. “Ms.Kettering seems to have had a soft spot for you.” This was so unlikely that I could only blink rapidly in response. “Things are different here, however. I am preparing you for a lifetime—more than one, if you’re lucky—of power and opportunity the likes of which you cannot imagine. You have ambition, and that’s good. Ambition without ability, however, is worthless.” She turned back to her computer. “Don’t fail me again.”
There wasn’t really anything I could say to that. Mouth dry, I retreated to my desk and gathered up my things. The walk to the elevators seemed especially long, the distant screams particularly harsh.When did my life become so dangerous?I wondered as I shuffled onto an elevator designed to incinerate the uninitiated. Morepeople got on as we descended, acolytes and oracles and smarmy client reps, all of them with blood on their hands—literally, in at least one case. We nodded distantly to one another and watched the numbers on the digital display tick downward, knowing that some of us wouldn’t make it to the end of the week. Such was life in Dark Enterprises. If the deadlines didn’t kill you, something else would.
I spent the commute home looking for those two agents of the Seraphic Conclave, flinching a little at every blond woman or tall man who boarded the train. I didn’t see them, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still out there somewhere. Since their attack on Eric and me, I’d stopped leaving the apartment after dark and now did my best to stick to areas full of people, but my suggestion to Amira that we install several more locks on our front door had gone nowhere. Anyhow, what did locks matter when the Thing could show up wherever it wanted?
