Page 5 of No Charm Done

“How could I be furious about Luna struggling with a job that I now realize she was never properly trained for? Luna, you’re brilliant at magic, beyond gifted. But attention to detail has never been your strength. I should have made sure you had more support. Which is why Delilah and Scarlett need to take a more active role in training. I can’t expect you to learn hotel management through trial and error.”

“Mama,” Delilah said, “I’ve been working with Jasper at the archives. It’s important work, and⁠—”

“And it will be there waiting for you. Family comes first. Surely Jasper understands that.”

“Of course, but⁠—”

“Girls, listen to me.” Mama’s fingers drummed against the desk. “People think Oak Haven is some quiet little hamlet where nothing happens. But you all know that’s untrue. Every time we turn around, it seems, we’re under attack by some disgruntled magician or other.” She paused, her expression growing distant. “What happened over Christmas, when the magicians took some of us prisoner? Could happen again. Or worse. I need to know that all of you are prepared.”

“Yeah actually,” Scarlett asked, “what was it like, where they held you? You never talk about it.”

Mama’s face went carefully blank. “I don’t care to discuss it.”

“We were told they held you in a space between portals,” Scar pressed. “The Void, or something?”

“Yes, the Void. It exists nowhere and everywhere simultaneously. And were it not for a kind stranger we encountered . . .” She shuddered slightly. “No. We will not speak of it further.”

The quiet stretched uncomfortably. Finally, Mama straightened, her businesslike demeanor returning. “The inn needs someone who can handle whatever crisis might arise. Luna, I’m thinking at least two years of intensive work to really master hotel management.”

Two years.

Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked. A car drove past on the street. Normal life continued, while Luna’s came to a screeching halt. In the photograph, Papa’s smile seemed to mock her predicament. What would he think of his adventurous daughter trapped behind a hotel desk for two years?

“But I . . . I don’t . . . that is, I mean . . .”

“It’s natural to feel overwhelmed. That’s exactly why you need more training. With proper preparation, you’ll do wonderfully.”

Luna turned desperately to her sisters. Scarlett was chewing her lip and staring at her with pity, while Delilah picked at a loose thread on her cardigan. Luna closed her eyes and pictured herself on a windswept plateau, knee-deep in alpaca shit. At the bottom of a shark tank, gasping for oxygen. Anywhere, really.

My gods, I gotta get out of this town.

She wondered if the Void was hiring.

Chapter 2

Pelican’t

The magician was falling.

Or rather, he sensed himself falling, down into infinite darkness. But there was no “down” in the Void. No down or up, no north, south, east, or west. In the Void there was only infinite descent. The unending sensation of stepping off a curbstone and into eternity.

He screamed.

His scream pierced the nap of Elias Shaw, who lifted his head and sighed. “Goddammit. Here we go again.”

Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Shaw gazed around the room. In one corner sat a heavy oak receptionist’s desk with no receptionist. On the desk, a heavy rotary phone that never rang, an appointment calendar with no dates, and a mug of pens with no ink. Along the perimeter sat thirteen uncomfortable chairs, the kind that cordially disinvite people from sitting on them for too long. Adorning the corners were lamps with no bulbs and dead spider plants in beige macrame planters. A long, low table in the center of the room was home to a collection of magazines written in indecipherable languages. Based on his thorough study of the illustrations, he surmised the magazines were variously devoted to vegetarian cookery, underwater hockey, interior design for lighthouses, and the care of Nigerian dwarf goats.

The walls, like the planters, were beige. The only jolts of color were a collection of motivational posters, tacked awkwardly here and there. Be a pelican, advised one poster, not a pelican’t. A photo of a man standing atop an iceberg was captioned simply, ACHIEVEMENT! Beside the receptionist’s desk, a poster declared, You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!

The room had two doors on opposing sides. One door opened to the Void beyond. The other door was behind the desk, and where it led, he didn’t know. Shaw had been in this waiting room for almost a century, and the door had never opened. He’d come to hope it never would.

Outside, the magician continued to scream.

“Fine,” he muttered. “Another roommate, exactly what I need.” Pushing himself to his feet, Shaw straightened his tie, buttoned his jacket, and combed his hair into submission with his fingers. Then he strode to the far door and stepped out into the infinite dark.

The magician continued screaming his fool head off. He was falling and he’d keep on falling until either his sentence in the Void had been served or someone chose to help him. Around him, translucent creatures writhed and twisted, their worm-like bodies wrapping around his limbs like living ropes.

“Jesus Jumping Christ, look at this mope.” Shaw knew the type all too well: sparkly tuxedo, ridiculous cape, hair pomaded to oblivion. One of those stage magicians who thought sequins would compensate for a lack of actual talent. The only unusual element was the rabbit cage clutched in his arms. Even in the depths of cosmic punishment, this mope wouldn’t let go of his props. The poor bunny was bouncing around inside the cage like dice in a cup while the Void creatures tried to slither through the bars. Shaw felt significantly more empathy for the bunny than the man.