Blue Flames

Chapter 5

"Hey, you okay? We can go to the infirmary first," Irene eyed my bloody side with a slight frown, "I saw your back earlier, and it doesn't look good. I forgot you don't heal as quickly as we do."

You'd be surprised, I thought. "I'll be fine, it's not as bad as it looks."

Irene looked suspicious but nodded anyway. We walked through the underground parking lot of the Order's building. Night had fallen in the time it took us to get here, and the car's radio stations were all raving about the kidnapping. The cherry on top was that someone had leaked information about the case, and the news speculated that the kidnapping was related to it. One news anchor even said they had called the Order's office, and that they were still waiting for the confirmation.

I was relieved that everything was finally out in the open.

"Hopefully we'll only be scolded for an hour or so," Irene cracked her neck, "If I don't get a good scrubbing soon, the stink will be stuck to my nose for the rest of the year."

"An hour?" I whined, I really needed a shower, too, and I was not in the mood to hear any crap the director would be spewing. The elevator dinged open, we got in.

"Mhm," Irene grinned, "your first day in the Order was quite eventful."

I sighed heavily, wanting to lean my back against the wall but realizing the mess I'd make if I did. On the tenth floor, the elevator opened to admit a neatly dressed woman. A witch. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw us, but she got in anyway.

The woman stood in front of us, her shoulders hunched. She was holding her breath. I realized then that the elevator must stink with Irene and I in it. I looked at Irene, her eyes told me she was thinking the same. She wrinkled her nose, her lips pressed tightly to hold in a laugh. As soon as the elevator opened, the witch all but ran out. Irene and I dissolved into a fit of giggles. It was completely inappropriate, but we couldn't seem to stop ourselves.

"Oh God, the poor woman. Did you see the look on her face!" Irene said through her laughter.

"She was turning purple there at the end," I said, gasping for breath. We were going insane, laughing for no reason whatsoever.

We were still smiling when we finally reached the twenty first floor. The smile drained out of our faces quickly, though.

The floor was quiet, as quiet as the last time I'd been here. But there was something essentially wrong this time. The calm in the eye of the storm, that was what it felt like. My senses pricked. I had the sudden urge to haul ass out of here. My wide eyed stare met Irene's as we headed to the director's office.

"Do you feel it, too?" she whispered. I was too apprehensive to act as if I didn't feel the bone chilling atmosphere around. It probably gave away that I wasn't a normal human, but I didn't care at this point. As long as knowledge of my magic wasn't compromised, it was fine. I nodded.

We reached the assistant's office. Miranda was looking as white as her skirt suit. Her blue eyes had a crazed look in them. She stood up with jerky motions.

"They're waiting for you, please go in," she said in a tremulous voice. Okay, the director must be in a seriously shitty mood.

Irene knocked on the door, then pushed it open. She paused slightly, her shoulder tightening, then went in. As soon as the view of the office cleared in front of me, I knew there was something terribly wrong.

The director wasn't on his own. He was standing in front of his desk, his posture rigid, hands clasped behind his back, chin high but gaze lowered. Who in the world was powerful enough to elicit such a response from the Order's director? One of Arthur's men? If that was the case, I was in a shitload of crap.