"Let the record show that my client, Miss Winscombe, is here of her own volition, and was not summoned, subpoenaed, or otherwise compelled to appear for questioning."

  "You brought a damn stenographer?"

  "Let the record also show that this conversation is being recorded by both parties. The state did not agree to an off-record interview, so my client exercised her right to record the interview as a citizen, and the state consented."

  "That clacking is annoying as fuck."

  "Attorney for Hailey Aurora Elizabeth Winscombe is Jefferson Baux, associate at Hanford and Jenkins. The state declined to have an attorney present."

  "Are we fucking done yet?"

  "State's interviewer is…" Jefferson waited, while Hailey shifted uncomfortably in the chair. It wasn't the steel chair and stone box she'd dreaded, but a pretty ordinary conference room. No windows, but the walls were lined with wood paneling, it was carpeted and the office chairs were pretty nice. Not as good as the ones her mom had, but still comfy. She sat on one side, with her lawyer next to her and a stenographer from his firm at the end of the table.

  "Michael Aderholt, and I'm federal, not fucking state," grunted the man across the table, sitting alone except for a laptop.

  "Position?"

  "Pacific Northwest division, sub-station chief, SeaTac branch of the National Security Bureau."

  "Let the record show Mr. Aderholt is currently the designated lead agent for the 'Rallsburg Incident' case."

  "Would you stop that fucking clacking?"

  Jefferson smiled. "Will the state consent to an unrecorded interview with my client?"

  Aderholt glanced down at his laptop, where he was getting information fed in from his superiors. "You two already blew enough smoke up the ass of the whole fuckin' country for every single news outlet to park a van outside. What the fuck are you afraid of coming out?"

  "My client merely wishes to let the public know her status as a public figure, before and after the interview takes place."

  He didn't miss the implication. "The fuck are you accusing us of?"

  "Nothing, sir. I offered an explanation for our… excessive display entering the structure."

  "And you're gonna do the same fuckin' thing when you leave, are you?"

  "If my client wishes. Can you say she broke any laws?"

  "Violating my fucking airspace."

  "My client has not entered the restricted zone while airborne, nor proceeded past legal limits for unregulated civilian flight."

  That he knows of... Jefferson had asked her not to tell him, since it would count as informing him she intended to commit a crime. A minor one, but they wanted to stay as clean as they possibly could.

  "It might also be pointed out that since my client does not use a vehicle, she is not required to have a pilot's license."

  "Skydiving license then, asshole."

  Jefferson smiled slightly. "Sections 105.21 and 105.25 don't apply in this case, as my client does not use a parachute."

  Aderholt leaned back in his chair, looking vaguely impressed. "There's a fucking loophole for you."

  "As I said, my client will be flying out of here, just as she flew in. She has a prior engagement this evening that she simply can't miss."

  "Oh, she can miss it."

  "Was that a threat to my client, Mr. Aderholt?"

  "You can't hold me," said Hailey, staring him directly in the eye.

  Aderholt smirked, in a way that made Hailey distinctly uncomfortable.

  "What my client means," said Jefferson quickly, "is that since you haven't charged my client with a crime or formally placed her under arrest, we reserve the right to end this interview at any time and exit the premises."

  "Right." Aderholt rolled his eyes. "Well, Miss Winscombe, let's get down to fuckin' business then."

  "One moment." Jefferson leaned over to confer with Hailey privately. "You still want the NDA?" he whispered.

  "Can we pull it off?" she whispered back.

  "We might. It doesn't hurt to try."

  "I want to help, but I don't want this stuff getting public."

  He nodded, turning back to Aderholt. "My client has an additional condition to present the state before this interview can proceed."

  Aderholt threw up his hands. "Jesus fuck, what now?"

  "We'd like an absolute assurance of secrecy, on the basis of potential national security threat, to the information presented within this interview. Neither your records nor ours will be presented to the public without the express agreement of both parties. The information will only be acted upon for credible threats to public safety and stability." Jefferson pulled out the agreement and slid it across the table.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Sign it," Hailey added.

  Aderholt looked up at her, eyes narrowed. "You don't tell us what we can and can't do, kid."

  "You don't know what you're dealing with, Mr. Aderholt. I do. So if you want my help past the basics, sign the agreement."

  "I think you'll be quite pleased with the additional level of service my client is willing to render the state in exchange," added Jefferson.

  Aderholt picked it up and left the room for a minute, which dragged into two, and then five minutes.

  "What's this mean?" Hailey asked, as sweat trickled down her forehead. "The delay."

  "He's talking to his superiors. They're deciding if they're okay with the muzzle and leash."

  "And if they are? Is it strong enough?"

  "Well, as strong as two days of crunch legal work can build." Jefferson shrugged. "Honestly, I think it might be too strict to be a good reactive deal, but it always has the escape clause where we can clear any action we deem credible. I'm used to working within the law, not creating new ones, but I'm assured that it should be fairly ironclad."

  "Assuming they play by the rules," said Hailey dubiously.

  "Well, yes, but if they don't then this is all pointless anyway, and you don't even need me here." He smiled. "You weren't wrong. They definitely can't hold you, from what I've seen."

  The door swung open again, and Aderholt came back into the room.

  "No deal," he said, sliding the page back across the table unsigned, the vaguest hint of a grin on his face.

  Jefferson sighed. "So be it. Let the record show that the state refused the offer by my client for additional service and support."

  "Noted, asshole." Aderholt turned to Hailey. "Now, let's talk."

----------------------------------------

  The lights weren't as bright as she expected.

  Hailey always assumed they'd be as bad as most stage lights, but they actually weren't all that blinding. She waved to the crowd, which she could actually see, and smiled her way across the stage and into the first chair, right next to the desk.

  As the applause finally died down, Hailey could see the cameras. She wondered if she was supposed to look at the camera, or at Russ. She decided, for the sake of her nerves, to just look Russ and ignore the rest of it. Like they were just talking in front of the crowd, and not one… hundred… fifty… million people.

  Or more, she realized, since that was just the main online stream. It didn't count TV viewers, restreams, other translations, rebroadcasts…

  Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man.

  "Hailey, you with us?" Russ prompted, flashing her a worried smile.

  She blinked a few times, focusing back on his face, ignoring the crowd. Jess was right. Be myself. I got this. "Sorry. I've never been on TV."

  "Well, you're doing just wonderful so far!" Russ glanced around. "We've all seen that clip of you flying out of the building."

  "Which one?" she asked, and got a laugh for it.

  "Ah hah! So the burning building in Tacoma was you?"

  She shrugged, still keeping the smile stuck to her face. It was getting easier over time, like she was just having a nice conversation with a good friend. "Not according to the FBI."

  Russ grinned. "But, of course, I was talking about the video from Friday. Where you — help me out here, Hailey. How did you pull that off?"

  Hailey smiled. "Magic, Russ."

  "...Magic," he repeated skeptically. "Don't hold it against me, but I can't say I've ever believed in magic. I've even had Penn and Teller on my show, and I couldn't tell you the first thing about how they do it, but I'm still pretty sure it isn't magic."

  "Well, it isn't."

  Russ blinked, and a wide grin spread across his handsome face. "...Sorry to break to to you, Vegas, but looks like you'll need a new act." A pause for laughter. "Seriously though. You're saying they're just cheap parlor tricks, but this — this is the real deal, is that what I'm getting?"

  "Absolutely." Hailey shrugged. "This is new. Real magic." She could tell Russ — and the audience — were looking for a bit more than that. She smiled and held up her hand, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the video monitor next to the audience bleachers swap to a wide shot. Perfect.

  A clear plastic water bottle zoomed into view — the same one she'd been drinking from minutes earlier. It came in low, flying across the stage as if it had a tiny rocket attached, until it suddenly swung upward as it reached her chair. Hailey caught it easily, and in one smooth motion took a drink.

  Russ stood up and applauded. "Fantastic, just fantastic. You just did that?"

  Hailey grinned. "And a whole lot more. Don't forget, Russ, I flew here tonight, all on my own."

  "...I don't suppose you can give us a quick demo?"

  Hailey set the bottle on his desk. She looked out at the audience. "Hold onto your hats, people. And I mean literally: grab 'em tight."

  The next eight minutes or so were spent going through a considerable repertoire of Hailey's spells, and a few she'd picked up on the website too. She did a short lap flying over the studio audience while the camera desperately craned to keep up, blowing hair and loose clothing around while she did. Little elemental tricks were a piece of cake, and she even pulled off a bit of water manipulation via telekinesis. It didn't last long, just a sphere of Russ' drink floating out of his mug, but it got another round of applause nonetheless.

  Honestly, this stuff really isn't that impressive… Hailey could tell they were applauding just to applaud. It was a light entertainment show. The audience — both in the studio and online — were there to hear what she had to say, not just see tricks with fire and telekinesis.

  "Now Hailey, before we burn the studio down," Russ said finally, as Hailey had a series of little flames circling her head like a halo. She smiled innocently, and he grinned back. "I gotta say, we've heard a lot about you over the last six months—"

  "Has it been six months?" she asked, more to play up the moment than anything. "Man, time flies."

  Her bad pun got an appreciative laugh, and Russ went on. "—But we haven't heard anything from you. So let's get right down to it: when did this all start? Magic, I mean."

  "About a year and a half ago."

  "Am I right in guessing it's all thanks to that town?"

  She nodded. "Everything started there."

  "Why'd you go to Rallsburg in the first place?"

  Hailey shrugged. "It had a good business program."

  "Come on." He tapped his cue card on the desk a few times pointedly. "You could've gone anywhere with your transcript. Why there? Did you know something?"

  "Nope. I didn't have a clue." She took a deep breath, playing up the moment. "I went there because my boyfriend was going there."

  "Ah… Weston Davis, right?"

  She was genuinely surprised. That detail probably wasn't in Cinza's book. "You know who I was dating back then?"

  Russ shrugged. "Well, it was a pretty public investigation. He made the news a couple times."

  "Oh. How'd he do?"

  "Feeling competitive?" Russ grinned. "I'm guessing you weren't watching the news a lot at the time? This was back in May."

  "Not really… We were all kind of dealing with the…"

  "The 'incident'," Russ supplied helpfully.

  "Yeah."

  He shifted gears immediately, sensing she didn't want to discuss that in detail yet. He's good. Thanks, Russ. "So, Hailey. Did you and Weston ever reconnect?"

  "We did, yeah. We're still friends, but we aren't together anymore."

  "Anyone new in your life?"

  She smiled. "Yes. But he probably wouldn't want me naming him live."

  "Ahhh, a secret boyfriend."

  "For now," Hailey laughed.

  "Does he know about your… talent?" Russ glanced over at the camera. "Well, I'm sure he knows by now."

  "Oh yeah, he knew." Hailey waved him off. "He's awakened too."

  "Awakened, that's the word for it?"

  Well… for better or worse, yeah. "It's what we stuck with. I don't have a clue who came up with it," she added with a shrug. "But yeah, he's awakened, and me, and plenty of other people."

  "So there's a whole group of magical people in the world, that no one knew about?" His eyebrows arched skyward. "Pretty crazy stuff. Well, we'll be digging into that and a whole lot more with Hailey Winscombe and another special guest here live on the Evening Show, right after the break."