Quite frankly the drive back was awful. The lack of sleep was awful, the stench of my own sweat tinged with adrenaline and stress from the long night of fighting was awful, and the taste of coffee, purchased at the first Sheetz I passed on the way back, was surprisingly awful from a chain that normally had semi-passable coffee. And most awful of all was a text from work wanting my report ASAP, received as I was pulling onto the Turnpike.

I can only imagine how I must have looked at the rest stop while calling my boss for more info. Smelling of sweat and gunpowder, dark circles under my eyes, grimacing whenever I took a sip of coffee and openly carrying a large revolver must have turned a few heads but I was too tired to care. My boss wasn’t helpful, just telling me she needed my report in person, and to bring Liah. I hope I’ll at least get a bonus for this all. Really I have half a mind to quit, and if I felt like it was possible for me to, I likely would, except that I already have a mortgage and tuition to pay.

At least Liah managed to get a bit of sleep on the drive back. I was jealous, seeing her snoozing away on the passenger seat. She had turned back to her cat form, and was curled up in a ball soaking in the sunlight. I somehow resisted the urge to pet her. Or was it the urge to wake her up out of spite? I dunno, I didn’t actually get any sleep last night, so all my thoughts are a bit loopy. They do say that not getting sleep is as bad as drunk driving, and I’m not as young as I used to be.

At least there wasn’t much traffic. There’s one thing to be said for Sunday mornings. But knowing that I was heading to the windowless Archives rather than my comfy shower and bed made it hard to look on the bright side. Maybe I’m just a negative person? No, I think I’m actually in the right on this one.

I finally pulled into the gate at around 1030, to the weird look of the gate guard. Why would he be… oh, right, I probably looked half-dead and had clearly been shooting. More than that, I was still openly armed. At least he had the professionalism not to ask questions. They do have to keep track of people going in and out of the compound though, and seemed weirded out when I tried showing an ID for the cat that had been asleep riding shotgun for the past several hours. Come to think of it, I probably should have woken her up to let her know we’d been called in to work. Oops. I’ll wake her up now.

I’m parking now. Change back.

Are we home yet?

No, we got called into work.

Damnit. We have to meet with your boss?

Our boss. You are technically employed here.

I wanted to get more sleep...Okay, someone seems annoyed.

“Can you blame me? I just want to sleep.” I complained.

“Me too.” She agreed after changing back into human form. She gave me a smug look as she said it too, after spending the whole car-ride here napping.

“Let's get going. What do we tell her, we got sent to a hell dimension where we had to fight off monsters and demons?” I asked as we walked towards the door.

“I already explained that world isn’t normally that bad from what I understand. There are even humans living there, same as in our world.” She pouted. She would get defensive about the place her dad came from.

“At least the Air Force actually did something this time. The whole thing sucked, but I don’t see why this can’t wait until Monday. Or Tuesday. I’m probably gonna be skipping class tomorrow regardless.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

When I had called, I had just been told to head to the conference room. Nothing really more than that. Give a verbal report, and bring Liah. So I was a bit surprised when I walked in to see a girl I had never met before. She looked to be about the same age as Liah, just as tired as I was and with unkempt hair and an unhealthy pallor. I know I slack off with my appearance myself, but at least I normally get three square meals a day. She looked like the kind of shut-in who’s married to their work, forgetting to eat and living off a diet of energy drinks and the occasional Hot Pocket.

“Welcome back.” My boss greeted us. “How was the fairy world?”

“You know where we were? Why do I even need to give a report then?” If I didn’t know better, I’d say she expected this all to happen.

“Don’t be like that. I had another subordinate looking out for you. He said you did an excellent job. But, as the saying goes, no time like the present. Sit down, we have stuff to talk about.” She gestured to two seats next to the increasingly nervous looking girl. Two mugs of coffee were already filled and waiting. Thank goodness for that at least, I still haven’t gotten the taste of burnt gas-station java out of my mouth.

“First of all.” My boss continued, “congrats on getting promoted to supervisor. Amy, this girl next to you is Sandra, our newest hire. You’re in charge of training her.”

“What?”

“Seeing as you have two subordinates, it only makes sense to make you a supervisor. Your familiar there is getting a paycheck after all.”

“No offense, but what even is her job? Is she another archivist, or are you forcing her to do field work like me?” It’s starting to seem like she’s another victim of my bosses heavy-handed approach to things like me.

“Ostensibly, she’s been hired as a historian. But how could I keep someone with such talent locked up in a windowless cube like this building? Someone managing to map out ley-lines and tear them open through shear force of will isn’t an asset I’d want to let slip through my fingers when I have the chance.” To think my boss was able to say that with a straight face… wait, what?

“You mean...” Liah glared at the girl, and hissed. Actually hissed, while in human form. She looked a bit self-conscious about it afterwards, but I can’t blame her for reacting that way.

“So all that bullshit...” I couldn't even put it into words.

“Now now,” my boss chided. “I understand she feels there were extenuating circumstances. Don’t fly off the handle and shoot her or anything like that. I went through a lot of effort to bring her here, and she’s a government employee just like you now. Showing her a hostile work environment would be a horrible way to introduce her to her new supervisor.”

“Hostile my ass, we almost died!”

“You were fine. It was reassuring to see you’d know how to handle yourself if things got really bad as well. It really makes me feel better putting poor Sandra in here in your care, for training and work.” I’m not sure what my boss is thinking with this, but her attitude towards it all is pissing me off even more than the initial incident. “I suppose an apology is in order, come to think of it. Sandra?”

The girl nervously turned to face me and, looking at the floor, spoke softly. “I’m sorry,” she managed to squeak out. “I had a friend, well, who had gone missing. I was trying to get her back...”

That’s when my boss butted in again. “Unfortunately you failed, that’s another one I would have wanted.”

Sandra began to tear up, lower lip quivering. Seeing her like this, it was hard to believe she was responsible for the horrid night we had just gone through. “I-I tried but, she didn’t want to go. She.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “She found someone else.” Then the waterworks happened, with quiet sobbing filling the room as the girl covered her face.

What the heck? How do I even deal with this? You know what? I’ll just ignore it. I suck at dealing with crying people. I’m still pissed, but… Isn’t this supposed to be a government office? That’s some soap-opera sounding stuff right there. I sincerely wish everything could just be normal.

The flash of anger from Liah seems to disagree, so fair enough, correction. I’ll admit I’m fine with her despite the weirdness of our meeting, but I’d wish the past weekend was at least a bit less insane. Being worried about a monster in the woods was bad enough, but that was just too much. And now I have a crying... sorceress?… weeping her eyes out while my boss is telling me I’m supposed to be in charge of her.

“So...” I’m not going to forgive her right away, but I guess I am stuck being in charge of her. Chewing her out now would probably just push her over the edge. “Sandra?”

“Sandra Dee” My boss said.

“Sandra Dee… wait, like John Dee?” We had a couple of his lost journals in the Archive. Somehow though, this just seemed to make her angry.

“Yes, like John Dee.” My boss answered, since Sandra seemed a bit preoccupied to answer. “You can see why I’d want to hire her now, right?”

“Does she know Enochian? That would explain a lot if she did. And given the sketchy stuff you seem like you’re trying to force on us, having a descendant of the original 007 would be pretty badass.”

“She doesn’t, although she does seem skilled at scrying, which is more than can be said for her ancestor.” My boss looked at a file. “She was able to locate a specific individual across dimensions, observe her through scrying, and use that as an initial portal to force open the seams in the fabric of reality to visit the individual in-person. Which is impressive, but the brute-force approach she took is going to have repercussions. But,” she paused. “It’s better to think of it as an opportunity. There’s a few individuals who this might spur into action, meaning they’ll show their hands. This will flush out some of the trouble-makers, and I’ll just need you to shoot them down before they fly away to cause more trouble. You are a hunter, if I’m not mistaken.”

“This sounds a bit violent. Aren’t I just an archivist?” I know I can’t really claim that anymore, but it’s worth a shot.

“You are, and they have a few texts that our archive is in desperate need of.” Damn. “First of all, are you familiar with alchemy?” She asked as she set down a file. Pinned to the front was a photograph of a portrait. One I recognized, unfortunately, showing the Comte de Saint-Germain.