I hated it when Ollie called me because it always meant a big job that took me away from home for long stretches. She was a good client, but she was all business and refused to take no for an answer.

“You don’t have to go, Sadie,” my girlfriend said, turning over in bed to rest her arm on my stomach. “It’s the middle of the night.”

The thing I hated most about Ollie calling me was that she paid too well for me to say no. “This is the last time, Leigh. I promise.”

“That’s what you said last time.”

I slid out of bed and pulled on a pair of ripped jeans. They were tight, but the advantage of being a changeling was that you were never constrained by something as trivial as gaining or losing weight. A ripple went through my stomach, and my flabby belly cinched in on itself like I was pulled into a corset, and the extra inch it gave allowed me to button my pants.

“How much do you figure you actually weigh?” Leigh asked. “I mean, if your powers were taken away tomorrow, would you balloon up to 300 pounds, 500, or more?”

I thought for a moment as I grabbed a Led Zeppelin t-shirt I got at a concert a few years ago. I cut off the sleeves, and the holes had grown over time. Now, they drooped down to the middle of my stomach.

“Last time I looked, I was like 270 or something like that.” I tapped on my stomach. “But it’s all muscle, baby.”

Leigh rolled her eyes. “I would kill for your power.”

I leaped onto the bed and kissed her. “Please, like you don’t get the benefit. I didn’t see you complaining when you were being screwed by Bo Derek last week or Grace Kelly the week before that. Meanwhile, I have to make do with little old you forever.”

Her eyes went wide, and she pushed me off her playfully. “And you can barely handle that.”

“Ouch.” I pushed myself up to stand and grabbed my heart. “That hurts, truly.”

She grabbed a pillow and flung it out. “Get out of here so I can go back to sleep.”

“Love you!” I shouted as I turned to the door.

“Love you too, jerk. Don’t die!”

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal. It took a lot of calories to keep up my body, which meant shotgunning bowls of sugary cereal and fattening fast food. Even after downing two bowls of Cocoa Krispies, I would need to stop off at In-N-Out Burger for a Double-Double and a shake. Otherwise, I would quite literally fall into a pile of goo when I tried to transform.

I took the elevator down to the garage and hopped into the ’74 Mustang I bought before I met Leigh. She thought it was gaudy and showy, but those were also the qualities she liked most about me, that I had a flair for the dramatic.

I looked at myself in the rearview mirror. The skin around my eyes began to sag, and I used my power to suck the bags tight to my skin again. My appearance changed every day and for every client, but I always kept it the same around Leigh, unless she asked me to change, of course. When I met her, I was a brown-haired woman with green eyes and freckles, so that’s what I returned to most of the time even when I wasn’t around her…unless I was on a job. That green-eyed girl was the best part of myself, and on a job, I was the worst part. I couldn’t do any of the things Ollie asked of me if I looked like the woman Leigh loved.

I closed my eyes and took a breath. When I opened them again, my skin had darkened, as had my hair. My eyes were now brown and had none of the luster I kept special for Leigh. Now I was completely plain in about every way. I would blend into every crowd, an average Jane in a city filled with women determined to stand out.

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I grabbed two Double-Doubles with animal-style fries and ate them as I drove down the 405 to Venice. Ollie owned homes all over the city in case of emergencies, but she spent most of her time in a small Venice bungalow on the canals. She wasn’t much of a bohemian, but she liked the fact that the canal cut off attacks from one side, and the attached homes on either side meant she only had to protect one side of her house.

I parked on the street and took the stairs down to the canal. I passed the boat Ollie kept in case she needed a quick escape and knocked on the sliding glass door. Ollie never took off her sunglasses, even in the dark of night. She was pretty, with a thin face and features that could have had her featured in any number of magazines if that was her thing. Of course, if it was, then I would hate her.

She wore a leather jacket and tight jeans, and she paced from side to side as she screamed into a phone. Her house was soundproof, but I could still see her hand flinging around and the color filling her face. When she saw me, she hung up the phone and rushed to the door.

“Thank the gods you’re here,” she said, pulling me inside. “I need your help.”

“I assumed that was why you called me in the middle of the night.”

“Is it the middle of the night?” She looked at a clock on the wall. “I suppose it is, isn’t it? Well, you’re here, aren’t you?”

“It would seem that way.”

She walked to the kitchen and pulled out a small envelope stuffed with money. She handed it to me. “For your trouble and to get you started. There’s more where that came from, obviously.”

I fingered the cash but didn’t count it fully. “How much are we talking about?”

“If you find what I’m looking for, then a hundred grand more.”

I did a double-take. “Must be dangerous.”

“Not only is it dangerous,” Ollie said, “it’s impossible. I’ve called a dozen of my best people, and none of them can find what I’m looking for, which is why I called you.”

“And what do I get if I can’t find what you’re looking for?” I said.

“Half. Win, lose, or draw.”

“You must be desperate.” I waited for her face to betray her bargaining position, but it never came. “I’ll do it, but I want one hundred thousand either way and five hundred if I find what you’re looking for.”

She laughed. “You must be kidding. That’s bloody extortion.”

I shrugged. “If you have some other way, I can leave.”

Ollie growled. “Fine, if you can put it in my hand, I’ll give you five hundred, but you better deliver it on a bed of goddamn diamonds.”

“I can’t promise that. Besides, diamonds are gauche.” A smile cracked across my face. “So, what am I looking for?”

She reached down onto the messy coffee table and pulled out a picture. “It’s a knife, a dagger really. I have a client that’s been tracking it for a long time but lost the scent a couple of weeks ago. He’s paying me a lot of money to find it for him, but he needs it this week, or the deal is off, which doesn’t give us a lot of time.”

The dagger was made of black metal like I never saw before and curled into a jagged, sinewy S down to the hilt. A ruby rested at the top of the handle that looked like an eye staring out at me. I had never been creeped out by an inanimate object until that moment.

“Which is why you called on me, the best.”

“And the only shapeshifter I’ve ever met.”

It was impossible to know how many changelings existed in the world since they blended into the background so easily, but I only met a dozen or so who admitted their powers to me. There could have been millions for all I knew, but our powers were highly coveted. Many people believed they could drink our blood and steal our powers, and even though that was stupid, so was magic. I honestly didn’t know if it was true or not. I never tested it.

“I’ll do this job for you.” I looked up at her. “But after this, I want out, Ollie. It’s too much for—” 

She held up her hand. “No, it’s okay. I get it. I’ve thought about retiring enough times to get it. Just be quick about it.”

“Do you have any leads?” I asked.

She pulled out a manila folder. “That’s everything I know about the demon who stole it from my client. He was last seen in Brussels. I’ll open a portal for you, but after that, you’re on your own unless you get really stuck.”

“Just like every other mission.” I nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”

“You better.” She pulled a wand from her leather jacket. “Porth i saesneg brwsel.”

A light shot from the edge of her wand, and she cut open a hole in reality at the center of her living room. On the other side of it, I saw the bright light of day in a small Belgian alley.

“And Sadie,” Ollie said as she stared at me from the other side of the portal, “if you want half a million dollars, don’t expect me to recoup your expenses.”

I stepped through the portal. “Just like every other mission.”