Page 23 of The Nowhere Witch

“Only tonight. Of course,” Hear No Evil said.

They were never leaving.

I ran both hands through my hair and was heading toward the bathroom when Speak No Evil called after me, “I think you’ve got a dust bunny in here.”

Two “ewws” followed.

I didn’t answer as I shut myself in the bathroom.

10

Zab was waiting outside his apartment when I got there the next morning, looking down the street one way before looking the other direction. Nothing he saw seemed to make him happy. When he noticed me heading his way, I got a brief smile, but it slipped out of place quickly after.

“Why are you so nervous? Did you hear something?”

“I’ll tell you on the way. We can’t be late. Apparently they frown upon tardiness.”

“But all they said was ‘in the morning.’” Was this a Zest thing? Wasin the morningan actual time?

“Doesn’t matter. If your idea of morning is different than theirs, it’s a problem.”

He started walking briskly, as if his life depended on it as well as mine, because that was just who Zab was. He cared, maybe too much sometimes. If some girl ever broke his heart, I’d kill them.

Or maybe not. He did like the ladies a little too much, and not always the same one. My sweet Zab might end up being the heartbreaker, although certainly not on purpose. Either way, not a pressing problem at the moment.

If he walked any faster, we’d be jogging.

“Did you find something out?” There was a marked difference between last night’s Zab and today, and I didn’t think it was the couple of ales. He kept looking over his shoulder, like he expected someone to be following us.

“Yeah. I thought that they weren’t around much because we so rarely have newcomers that stick around long. You know, because…” He gave me a look that said it all.

“They die too fast to bother.”

He shrugged. “Something along those lines. Turns out this doesn’t usually happen unless someone calls immigration in.”

I hated when I was pessimistic and it turned out that I was right. Now to figure out who called immigration on me, which was going to be like climbing up a sand mountain.

“Someone hired Braid and Spike to get me here, and now someone else is calling in the government to get me kicked out. It makes sense, since I seem to be such a polarizing person these days. I could easily guess two names already: Raydam and Belinda. Maybe that weird little dude that said I was evil. He’d want to get rid of me for sure. What was his name?” Dammit. I had to remember for the list. It might be a sand mountain, but I’d be climbing it like I’d hiked my entire life. “Jasper! That was it.”

“You’re not blaming Hawk?” Zab asked.

“This might be the only thing I won’t blame him for. Siccing Xest immigration on me wouldn’t be his style. I’d be more inclined to believe he’d kill me himself first. Yeah, he’s off the hook for this. Plenty of other people hate me, too many to count.” But I was counting. I’d have to start putting names to the sneers. This would not go unanswered.

We were still walking to the edge of town when a building suddenly appeared at the end of the road. Zab was right. You definitely knew this one was different.

It was a single-story cottage that was bright blue and sparkled in the morning sun. The roof was covered in snow as if it had been here for a while, even though it hadn’t. The windows glowed with light, but I couldn’t make out any shapes or forms inside.

Zab waved me to run the last bit. “You have to hurry. You need to be standing in front of the door when it opens.” He stopped short about five feet away while I continued until I was in front of the door.

“You can’t come in with me?” I asked, looking back at him.

“Only if they invite me in.”

I hated to continue to be the pessimist, but…

“If this goes badly, call Oscar. He might be able to help.” He was the only one who might have enough clout to help me out if things went sideways, and also be willing.

“Got it.”