In Black and White

I felt the tingle as soon as I entered the store.

I quickly twisted my warding ring around, folded my fingers over the gem. Duty calls, no matter how much I need eggs and milk.

I did a quick widdershins route, checking out the cereal aisle, and side-eyed the stock clerk while pretending to study some canned veggies. Nope, not that one. Not responsible for whatever it is.

I circled again, trying to find the source. The spell that protected me, also made tracing the compulsion to its source difficult, so it took a few more laps to trace it to Aisle 3.

Well, okay, the newspapers and magazines, I can see some greedy jerk getting transferred to Marketing, and think they’ve got this amazing new idea that absolutely no one’s had before, so let’s break all the laws to make clickbait all the rage in the rags, bring back the golden era of print… I’ve heard such drivel before, and they just can’t believe the laws are all that serious-serious about it, till they get slapped by the Magic Police. That’s why we make it part of your mandatory training, dirtbags. Can’t have the job without hearing about the stiff penalties.

I lightened the spell a bit by twisting the ring, and my arms were suddenly filled with the whole row of Witchy Word Seek, Hours of Magical Fun! In fact, word seeks are my favorite diversion while seeking wisdom on the porcelain throne, but all the copies of the same one? That seemed a bit much, even for me.

But, they were evidence. Might as well save the people who don’t have ward protection.

*******

I sent them off to the lab, with loads of protective silk wrapping. I still got reamed out by my team member who decided they didn’t need to wear gloves.

“Why didn’t you warn us how insidious that spell could be?”

“Why aren’t you wearing protective gear on a package that is clearly marked MAGIC HAZMAT, and wrapped in enough anti-spell silk that I ran out of lavender and vervain oils? Somebody owes me money for more supplies, and I’ll take it out of your paycheck, for ignoring protocols.”

Before they could protest, our boss’ voice cut in over the orb. “Tech Spencer has been dropped two levels in pay already, and bought out the rest of the word seek volumes in the whole city. Right powerful geas, we believe, so the only credit we’re giving Spence at this time is removing the dangerous material from the populace, though he’s still begging for a few back, so he can complete the puzzles. Serious stuff, definitely falls under the Hazardous Export of Xylem Act, and we will prosecute accordingly. If we can break Spence of trying to retrieve them from storage.”

I heard wailing in the background. “But I neeed to fiiiind the words! Allll of them! It’s veeeeery impooortant!!!”

“I’d knock them out, Boss, that’s some serious HEXA violations. Likely the more they complete, the worse the spell breaks their willpower.”

“Yeah, get in here. Suit up before the spell doors. At least three layers. I can feel it poking away at my brain, and you know I’m a dedicated sudoku player.”

*******

The Boss was steaming when I arrived. Even zapped with a Level-3 sleep spell, Spence was moaning and twitching in sleep. There are only five levels, and the two higher are used in crowd control, and surgery. Serious.

The haze of reduction tests hung in the air. I think the Boss overdid it a bit, but they are rather protective of his team. But, then again, dragon breath is perfect for extracting results.

“Nothing in the ink, nor in the pulp. Nothing in the printing or binding process. It’s subtle, but robust as the same time, and it feels like it’s meant to draw in new subscribers. You’ve got a lifetime subscription, Honey, so you just got a tingle? But still picked up the whole load. Pretty powerful.”

Yes, my code name is Honey. I didn’t pick it. Don’t ask.

“No spell put in the volumes after they were bound, either? Well, that puts it squarely into ‘inside job’ territory. The puzzle maker themself? Or the boss putting pressure on the puzzle maker? Disturbing.”

“I don’t put no pressure like that on nobody,” muttered the Boss.

I patted a scaly shoulder. “No one’s saying you would, Boss. But, being an aficionado already, I can tell you that Pen-Hai Press has the market cornered when it comes to puzzle books, even your own sudoku games. Why don’t we do some discrete research into their hiring practices, and see if there’s a rather ambitious rule-breaker climbing the corporate ladder, yes?”

“Well, how do we figure out the transmission? I need a counter-spell, and I don’t have a dote to make an antidote!”

“Weeellll… you do have me, Boss.”

The Boss stopped steaming. “No. Absolutely not.”

“I’m the one who brought this in, and I know how they’re supposed to work. I think I can do this without being sucked in. Just hook me up to the divining spells, and let’s try it.”

“We can’t lose you to an unknown spell, too! Look at Spence!”

“I wore personal protection. Spence, for all his virtues, can be extremely forgetful at times. I don’t forget to wear gloves while opening suspicious packages. Like the ones I’m wearing now, and will continue to wear, while puzzle solving?”

Boss growled, but didn’t object when I picked up three fresh volumes, and settled in a chair with Perceptive Specs. I flipped to a particular type in Multi-Challenge Whimsy! and started at the bottom.

The techs were curious. “May I ask, what are you doing?”

I smiled. “I’ve been doing these for decades. Got into them when I got that nasty bout of Swamp Spell Fever, and couldn’t leave the porcelain throne for hours at a time. You go mad, without something to do. And reading on the loo just never worked for me.”

“Okay, so?”

“This type of puzzle is called Missing Vowels. You need to figure out where the word may go and add the vowels, and hope you’re right. There are tricks to each type of puzzle, and if you do this one ‘normally,’ you’ll trip up. They have a word or two that can go in two different places. The best way to minimize that trap, is to start at the last word, and work backwards. I think, whatever spell is set up, it was meant to trap novices. Let’s find out.”

And I started working.

And soon, they could see what I saw – the spell kept trying to drag me back to working it “properly,” and the more I fought it, the less its grip on me got.

And when I was done, I turned the page, also backwards.

Some word seek words were glowing in the Perspective Specs. I flipped through the pages fast, and random words blinked in and out of sight. Words the techs scribbled down, their smiles growing wider, as I completed puzzle after puzzle in strange manners. Sideways was a challenge, but upside-down was fun, and the spell circle I was working in was straining with the snarls of energy thrown up by the process.

Boss jabbed a particularly snarled spell hovering above my hands. “There. I’ve got a lock on how, now. Thank you, Honey. From here, I can trace it back to whom. Let me know when you’re ready to pay Pen-Hai’s headquarters a visit.”

*******

“You’re the new CEO? Seems rather sudden, yes?”

“Well, the old geezer seems to have decided to retire with alacrity, for his health.” I did not like the smile, the perfectly-coiffed hair, the red latex pantsuit, the three-inch long synthetic nails. They dripped crimson color like a corpse drips unpleasantness.

“Quite a leap, from middle management, to head of HR, to the top. Must have stepped on a lot of toes to achieve that in, what, four months?”

They shrugged. “Didn’t seem to mind much, it was a unanimous vote. Only a few of the Board members resigned rather than allow progress to take over.”

I heard faint pops in the hallway, and distant shouting. The CEO’s forehead wrinkled a touch, and I wondered how such smooth skin could do that, past the New Skin spell.

I could feel my ears popping, too, like a thunderstorm was coming.

“Well, I’ve also heard that hostile takeovers are on their way out, and new methods have been developed to bring about change. Problem is, new methods are still subject to the laws, and coercion is such an… ugly word.”

The pressure kept dropping, the shouting louder, and I could feel the compulsion through five layers of warding. Go away, there’s nothing wrong here, all is well, just say goodbye and leave, drop this method of inquiry…

The wrinkle in their forehead was getting pronounced, and it looked strange in the gas lamps. Like a black furrow right into their skull. I didn’t know the building was that old, for gas lamps. Wasn’t that, like, dangerous?

The shouting was louder, The pressure was louder.

Their voice got shrill. “I will not be slandered in my own office!”

I smiled, though things were a bit fuzzy. Gas leak? “Oh, I have proof. I was just distracting you, while my team secured the building. Take a look outside, that should be everyone in the building out there. I think they’re calling for your head, yes? Funny, when spells are broken, the people you’ve ensorcelled get rather testy.”

Their head whipped around, an impossible rotation, for a human. One manacled person caught their attention, and the head whipped back on a neck that was suddenly much longer. “That’s my brother, you vermin! You will pay for this intransigence!”

I was already frantically tapping my warning ring, and the sky was darkening. “I think you’ll have to take this up with my Boss, there.”

They turned – and hissed.

The dark sky was my Boss, in their full dragon form, speeding like lightning for the windows behind the executive chair.

I ran. I had quite a way to go before safety, and gas lights kept screaming in my mind.

Behind me, I heard the windows shatter, and roar met roar. The CEO’s body was changing, lengthening, and shiny scales were replacing too-smooth skin.

Get out!

I was screaming into my transmission-spell ring, I don’t remember what, but a message was received. My team, bless them, had already loaded up the transport carpets, was shuttling everyone out of an explosion radius. Another team, with the Fire Suppression units, were zooming around on personal levitation discs, and they were throwing spells everywhere, to mitigate a possible blast.

I was running, running, but I had neither levitation discs, nor transport shuttle carpet.

Above me, the fight tumbled outside, hissing, roaring, biting, clawing. My boss is amazing; they were in the Air Brigade. But the red dragon that the CEO had become, was lean, lithe, and had drawn blood. And saw me, running for all I was worth, and snarled.

Whipping her head around, they breathed fire – at the building.

Boss dropped like a rock, to get between me and what was coming.

WHUF.

I was concussed. Then, blackness.

*******

I woke in the magi-medic ward.

It was hard to breathe.

I couldn’t see.

A gentle voice floated over. “Please don’t try to move. You are cocooned in some rather delicate healing spells, including the one that is helping you breathe. Do not try to talk, please, your lungs are struggling as it is.”

I felt like one hand wasn’t bandaged, and all my rings were gone. I couldn’t help it, I twitched, looking for my wards.

“Ah, excellent idea. Please wait, I will get a mind-reading-spelled ring, and we can converse.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but there was swishing, and silence, and a tapping return. I felt cool silver being slipped on a finger. “There, I have the mate on my horn. We can talk now, safely.”

What happened?

“The explosion you warned everyone about, happened. You were caught in the blast, though your boss caught you from being completely smushed. But, they are a dragon, after all, so smushing happened, just reduced. You were caught between dragon body and building, instead of the fireball. And raw dragon blood can do interesting things to human flesh and bone. You will have to be monitored for a long time, to make sure you don’t develop cross-species tendencies.”

Boss?

“They’re recovering as well. Not nearly as battered as you are, because dragons have that fire resistance. Your lungs got seared, but not roasted, to be indelicate. Everyone else was out of blast zone, or protected by the spell walls. Fire Suppression Team is up for medals, I believe. Excellent job.”

I tried to do some suppression of my own, with my next thought, but a delicate cough told me I failed. “Well, your team is notorious for secrecy, so I have no idea. But let’s get you healed up, before we talk about being recognized as a hero.”

Bad dragon? Where?

“I believe the punishment is called Permanent Shape Shift? Other charges will be pending. Right now they are in a room, naked, with those pernicious Let-Go brick blocks scattered around. We also have their brother in protective custody. He was the one forced to infuse the coercive magic into the puzzles, and your boss’ father, I think, has taken custody. Something about making sure he becomes a proper dragon, not a pawn in someone else’s crimes.”

Team?

“Putting the charges together. They’ve been having a field day with the Pen-Hai employees, sorting everyone out. Who’s guilty, who’s not, and of what. One group of cleared employees has already moved into another building, and is making more puzzle books. You’ll have plenty of volumes in the future, never fear. The dragons are making the brother make an anti-spell volume, that will be published within a few days, to take the curse off everyone else. Pretty neat, I think.”

I was dizzy. I felt the sheets shift, snuggle around me. “You need more healing sleep. Keep the ring for the time being, so that if you wake again, I will hear you. Just call for Eunice.”

Eu...nice? Horn, tapping, hooves? Eunice...corn?

“Still sharp as ever, I see. Rest. I’ll return. Everything else can wait.” The tapping faded.

I thought unicorns hated… well, non-virgins. I had been married, a long time ago…

I heard a snort, and the tapping returned. “Virgins. And heroes. And a few other categories. Rest! Your prurient interest will have to wait.”

Me, prurient? I was in too much pain to be prurient…

“Rest!” This one had a touch of spell-push to it.

So I gave in, and rested.