Sorren
“Ready to do some witchy shit?” Eva asks, bursting through the front door. I was so locked into my work I didn’t even hear the truck pull up. I take off my glasses and rub my nose. I’ve been staring at this spreadsheet for hours and now half the day has gone by.
“What do we have here?” she asks, coming up behind me. I can feel her magick when she enters the room. It’s like electric sunshine, an energy drink without the inevitable crash.
“I got bored, so I decided to take a look at this.” I point to the stack of papers that are now neatly organized into separate piles.
“No, not that. This.” She gestures, looking me up and down. I throw off the fur wrap that I found in a box. It’s freezing in here and I was desperate. Even with the fire burning in the hearth, I didn’t feel myself defrost until I wrapped myself in it.
“Oh.” I laugh awkwardly. “I was cold.”
“It looked good on you,” she says with a big smile and finally looks down at what I’ve been working on all day.
She drops the thick textbook onto the table with a thud. “What did you do?” She sounds bewildered, like I did a form of magick she never knew was possible.
“I entered this all into a general ledger. I’ve been staring at that pile of papers on and off for three days now, itching to get my hands on them. I couldn’t resist any longer.”
“Itching to get your hands on paperwork?”
Here it is, the moment she realizes I am a total nerd. “Would it change anything if you knew my passion in life was actually spreadsheets?” I grimace and wait for her answer.
She laughs, not of derision, more like sweet amusement. “A demon who likes spreadsheets. It somehow makes perfect sense.” She flips through the nearest stack of papers. “You managed to organize this giant mess?”
“And it only took me six hours.” I put my glasses back on, so I can see her clearly.
“It would have taken me days, if not weeks, to do this. Thank you!”
“Hungry?” I get up from the table. I roll back my stiff shoulders and rub my neck. Hell might be a corporate nightmare, but at least we have ergonomic desks.
“I ate at the café. Oh, I almost forgot!” Eva plunks down a white takeout box in front of me. I pop it open and am rewarded with a delicious-looking sandwich on soft bread with a leafy green salad on the side.
“This looks great! Thank you!”
“I made it,” she says proudly. She probably makes dozens of these every day, but it still feels special for me.
Grant. She has a Grant. She’s not interested in anything with a demon.
She laughs under her breath before darting for the stairs. “I’m going to change, then we can figure out how to send you home.”
A few minutes later, she is back downstairs in a pair of soft pajama bottoms and a tank top, her wavy hair tied up into a ponytail. I imagined her coming down in some witch's robes. Not a pink top with her white bra strap peeking out.
I’m still shoveling salad into my mouth when she grabs the book and starts flipping through the pages.
She is not for you. She was happy here before me and will be happy when I leave.
“Alright, let’s see.” She drags her finger across the lines then stops.
“Swirling mist, you said you saw that first.” I remind her.
She looks up at me with an expression that says ‘I got this.’ I take the hint and shove the rest of the sandwich in my mouth.
“Want some tea?” I already know the answer. I don’t think Eva would ever turn down a warm drink.
“Sure. The tea is over there.” She points me in the right direction. Stacks of fancy tea boxes fill the cabinet. I don’t know what any of these teas are, so I just grab the first one that catches my eye.
“Green mist can represent renewal and healing. Abundance and fertility.” The last word comes out in a croak.
“Fertility?” Terror strikes deep. If she’s having Grant’s baby, I might just die for eternity.
“No unplanned pregnancies here. I might not be able to intentionally send a demon through the realms, but I do know the basic tinctures.”
Only slightly relieved, I pry the lid off the tea. The incredible smell calms me a bit. “What’s this one?” I hold up the can for Eva to inspect.
She glances over at me and gives me a thumbs up. “Jasmine Pearl, good choice.” She goes back to her book. “Orange can represent action, ambition, and encouragement.”
“Honey?” I ask.
“Yes, please. A flower can mean love, joy, and new beginnings.”
So far I love that crystal ball. It all sounds great.
“A full moon means things once hidden are about to be fully illuminated. ‘Secrets will be revealed,’” Eva reads aloud from the text. “Oh, turn off the water right before it boils. That kind of tea doesn’t like boiling water.”
I watch the glass kettle, trying to focus on my job and not the hopeful messages from the scrying.. I try to keep my expectations low, but part of me knows it has more to do with me and Eva than Eva and Grant.
“Now we are getting somewhere. The crow is a messenger. Spinning means things are in flux. So, a message that hasn’t been received yet. It’s also a warning to pay attention to omens.”
She finishes the reading right as the water is ready. I fill the cups with the tiny balls of green tea and drop a teaspoon of honey in each one.
I sit down across from Eva and slide her a cup of tea. “Sounds to me like a secret will be revealed, you are being pushed to take new action with love, and you should avoid walking under ladders or breaking mirrors.” I’m probably missing something important here in my rudimentary interpretation.
“That’s a decent reading. I might turn you into a witch after all this!”
Heat blooms in my chest at the suggestion. Even just pretending to have an alternative future ahead of me feels good. Anything but CEO of Mephisto sounds great.
“The thing about scrying is that it can mean a ton of different things,” she continues. “Each person will have a slightly different interpretation from the same image, but if that is what your instinct is telling you, go with it.”
“It doesn’t say anything about how to get me back to the underworld.” I state the obvious.
“No, it doesn’t, there has got to be a message in there somewhere. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
We sit in silence drinking our tea. I should be thinking about how to glean insight from the crystal ball, but I’m too distracted by how cute she is when she’s focusing. She twirls a strand of hair around her index finger and lets it bounce loose, over and over again.
“That was a bust. I’m sorry. I wasted two days on this, and I know you need to get home. I’ll keep trying.”
“We’ll figure it out.” I smile and take her empty tea cup to the sink.
She opens the grimoire next. She gingerly flips through blank page after blank page. “What is going on?” I can hear the frustration creeping into her rhetorical question.
“Maybe it has something to do with what you were doing before you summoned me. Walk me through the whole day.” I offer up a suggestion, anything to let her know that she’s not alone in this. I want to help figure this out.
“Good idea.” She takes a deep breath and looks off into the distance, trying to remember what happened just a few days ago.
“It was Mabon, the fall equinox and the holiday of balance. Riley and I decorated the altar, like we do every year. I taught class with my aunt, and we did our annual gratitude activity. Met Grant for drinks, and when I came home, this grimoire was on the table. I’d never seen it before and still have no idea where it came from. ”
“You did the spell right away?” I ask.
“Not at first, it opened by itself which freaked me out, so I slammed it shut and went to bed. The next day Riley came over, and it was just like this,” I point to the empty pages.
After she left, the words showed up again.
Out of desperation to figure out the leyline issue, I did the spell.
Oh wait, one other thing.” She seems reluctant to tell me.
“That night, Grant proposed, and I think I said ‘yes.’” Eva gulps heavily.
It’s like a kick to the gut. Not only is Grant her boyfriend, apparently they are getting married. Jealousy rears its ugly head. The only thing preventing me from raining hellfire down on the guy is the fact that Eva doesn’t seem very excited about it.
“Married, huh?” I try to disguise my disappointment.
“Engaged,” she says quietly with a distant look in her eye.
A glimmer of hope sparks in my chest. I still might have a chance.
“You okay with staying one more night?” Eva asks. Then, almost whispers, “Anyone down there waiting for you?” She gives me a quick sidelong glance.
Could be my imagination, but I take it as her asking if I’m attached to someone. “Just Malachi, my half-brother.” I hide a smile behind my hand and scratch at my jaw.
“Think the whole place is falling apart without you?”
“Oh, I’m not nearly that important. I just hope someone stepped up to keep the board of directors from taking full control. They give demons a bad reputation.”
While we clean up the kitchen, I explain how my dad battled with the board for decades, and that no one wants to see them take full control. Mephisto Inc is hell, but it could always be worse. I make every joke at their expense just to get a laugh out of Eva.
“You don’t take it too seriously do you?” she asks after one especially funny self deprecating line.
“I take the work seriously, not the demons.”
I notice Eva’s eyes catch on the neatly stacked paperwork, her face softens into a smile. Pride races through my veins at the thought of making her happy. A small victory that feels more significant than it should.
“Wait! I have an idea!” She runs out the back door and to a small shed. She returns, arms loaded with supplies. “I can’t believe it took me this long to think of this. If I can’t get you back to the underworld, maybe you can work virtually.”
“What?” I’m so lost.
“You have something from the underworld, right? Some kind of object?” She asks, looking me up and down.
“Yeah…” I let the word drag out of me, cautious and not ready to commit to whatever she is planning.