Lily had always figured she'd be working at the local supermarket. Or maybe she'd half-ass college and get a soul-draining type of desk job. Some kind of future that'd fit a deadbeat like her.

"Heads up, Lily," Charlie said. He pointed down the ruined hallway at a group of people walking towards the two of them, "Boss is coming. She's probably gonna give you a pitch to join the DOA."

Lily hadn't ever pictured life beyond the age of twenty more than in the vaguest sense, but here she was, about to have a discussion about her future with fucking sorcerers.

"She the blonde lady?" Lily squinted down the hallway at the approaching people. A woman dressed in an immaculate suit was walking towards them, "What's she like?"

"Yeah, that's her. Scariest sorcerer this side of the Atlantic. Good luck," Charlie walked forward, kicking loose rubble out of the way. Lily instinctively walked with him. They stopped a few feet in front of the blonde woman and her entourage. Lily noticed a short, stout boy who slouched behind the woman. The boy wore a baggy sweatshirt and had crammed both of his hands into the pockets, "Yo! Evan, see you found your way over here too. Now the whole gang's here."

The boy, apparently Evan, didn't respond to Charlie's greeting. Instead, he grimaced and waved a hand around his neck, as though to say "shut up."

"Eustace," Lily blinked because she was sure that the woman had been standing a few feet in front of her but now she was here and putting her hand on Charlie's shoulder, "Go with Evan to the DOA vehicle parked out in front of the building. It's a black van. I'll be out with you in a few moments."

"We're in the doghouse, huh?"

Lily saw Evan rub his eyes with his hands.

"Indeed."

"Gotcha, I'll brace for the lecture then. I'll bring what's left of the occult object into the van with me. Already tossed it in my Inventory," Charlie rolled his shoulders and walked away. Faintly, Lily heard him mutter, "She only calls me Eustace when I'm in trouble."

Evan lightly slapped Charlie's arm and the two of them disappeared around the corner.

Then the woman turned to Lily, "The two of us should have a chat now, shouldn't we?"

"Uh, probably."

The woman made some kind of facial expression. Lily couldn't exactly distinguish what it was. The woman's face moved stiffly and clumsily, like the muscles beneath her cheeks either didn't work or were working in opposite directions, "Introductions are in order. I'm Daphne. I work for the Department of Occult Affairs. "

"Daphne…?" Lily's voice trailed off.

The woman's face twitched into another unreadable expression, "Just Daphne."

"Oh, okay?" Lily said, "I'm Lily Huang. As of a few minutes ago, I guess I'm a sorcerer?"

"That you are. By the looks of it, you've a good amount of offensive potential as a sorcerer, hm?" Daphne cast a meaningful look at the mess of rubble that Lily had turned the hallway into.

"Ah, didn't mean to do that much," Lily rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm not gonna, like, have to pay for that or anything, am I? I'm kind of flat broke right now."

"Of course not," Daphne replied, "Collateral damage happens. It's a fact of fighting devils. The Department has enough resources to cover it. I wouldn't lose sleep over this. The important part is that nobody died."

"Does that happen often?"

"Unavoidable," Daphne said. She took a step towards Lily, one foot scraping against the ground as she moved. Daphne walked with a hobble, Lily noticed, with one knee hardly able to bend at all, "Over half a million people go missing every year in the United States. Our estimates attribute between one-third and one-half of those disappearances to devils."

Lily's jaw dropped, "That's hundreds of thousands of people!"

"The stakes are high as a sorcerer. We are the only ones who can take care of occult threats, and there is always a shortage of capable sorcerers. There is a heavy burden on each of us."

Lily shifted uncomfortably.

"Let's cut to the heart of the matter here," Daphne continued, "Do you want to join the DOA?"

"Is that even a choice to make at this point?" Lily's voice was incredulous, "Hundreds of thousands of people are on the line and only people like me can deal with it? I'm a deadbeat kid in school, but I'm not that much of a deadbeat."

"There is always a choice," Daphne said. Lily remembered Charlie had said something similar and she wondered if that's where he'd gotten it from, "No one can force you to be a DOA sorcerer, especially not when the consequences can be so dire."

Daphne extended her hands out for Lily to see. She was missing the middle finger on her right hand. Horrific raised scars covered the back of that hand as well. And in the middle of her left palm, a star-shaped hole gaped, pierced right through the hand such that Lily could see clean through it.

"These are the sacrifices I've made as a sorcerer," Daphne explained, "You'll be expected to lay down your life fighting devils. By its very nature, it is work that goes unappreciated. The very people that you are saving will never know the hells that you have gone through on their behalf. No one will ever thank you for your sacrifices."

Lily could only stare.

"Think about it," Daphne concluded, "It is not a decision to make lightly."

Daphne plucked a card out from her pocket and handed it to Lily.

"Call that number if you decide to join us. We'll give you two weeks to think about it. Think hard on the matter."