Making Some Calls

Mary paced up and down the small room, listening to the steady thrum of the dial tone in her ear.

Meanwhile, Agent St. John and Jillian sat at the table, watching the girl let out oodles of nervous energy.

The agent leaned in towards Jillian and spoke in a hushed tone.

“What are the chances that this girl is even alive? From what I saw, she basically blew up.”

Jillian sighed and shook her head.

“What you saw is irrelevant. She’s alive.”

“But how do you know?”

“The book chose her. It wouldn’t kill her like that.”

“But how do you know that?” The agent repeated.

“You just keep repeating the same idiot questions. I should call you Agent broken record.”

The agent placed his palm on his forehead, closed his eyes, and counted to three. A nasty migraine was forming in him; it was always like this when he used too much magic.

“Can you just answer my question.”

“I already did. The book chose her, it wouldn’t kill her.”

“You’re treating it like it’s a person. It’s a book.”

Jillian snorted loud enough to garner a sharp glare from the pacing Mary.

“You really are that ignorant. Amazing. It is alive, just like all exceptionally powerful magical items. How do you honestly not know this?”

Keep gloating, bitch. It’ll just sink you later.

“Whatever. So the girl is alive? That’s a relief.”

The smirk washed off of Jillian. When she became serious, the woman gained a wolffish, predatory look that made the agent’s hair stand on end.

“No, it isn’t,” Jillian said.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’ll see when we find her.”

“Come on, You’ve got to give me more to go on than that.”

At that moment, Mary stepped over to the pair grasping her phone like a magic talisman.

“Luna’s Mom is working late tonight, she usually does, but her stepdad is in. We should be good to go over at any time. He hasn’t seen Luna yet, but you never know.”

The agent nodded, feeling an icy sense of dread settling into his bones. What exactly would they find if the girl turned up?

“Alright, we might as well go now. See if we can catch her,” the agent said.

Jillian responded like a cracking whip.

“Absolutely not. We need a plan first.”

Always have to butt in, don’t you honey?

“What do you have in mind?” Mary asked.

Jillian beamed, her eyes sparkling with manic glee.

“I think you should be bait.”

“Oh please. Does everything you do have to be so goddamn callous? You’re just going to dangle her like worm? What if she gets hurt.”

“We’ll all get hurt if we just show as a group.”

“Well it gives us more of a chance if we’re together.”

Mary spoke up.

“No,” she said. “Jillian’s right. If she sees all of us, she’s going to freak out. Let me talk with her first. Try to reason with her. We’re best friends and I owe her that.”

“This is a bad idea,” the agent said. “The last time she almost really messed you up, Mary. And she put all of us on our asses.”

“Because she was scared.” Mary said. “Something’s happened to her. I think she’s confused and that book is controlling her actions. It has to be me.”

“I don’t like this.”

Jillian strode over to Mary and slinged her arm around Mary’s shoulder.

“Of course you don’t,” she said. “I bet you can’t stand us girls having a better plan than you.”

“Yeah, us, right,” Mary said as slipped away from Jillian’s touch.

“Fine,” Agent St. John said. “But I’m going to be watching every second from a distance. If I notice any danger, I’m going in.”

“How noble,” Jillian muttered.

The agent ignored her.

“Are we understood, Mary?”

Mary nodded.

“Understood.”