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do you mean she's gone?"
    The voice on the other end of the telephone was cold, crisp, even. It gave Daphne chills. Daphne McGowan was a person who wasn't easily scared. She could look at the dismemberment of small animals and not shed a tear. For her to be scared, it had to be big. Daphne was terrified.
    "Well, there was a misunderstanding, you see. . ."
    "No, I don't see," said the voice. "You were supposed to be watching her. What happened?"
    "There. . .there was a misunderstanding. She quit."
    "You were supposed to be nice to her, keep her where we could see her."
    "Be NICE to her?" Daphne shuddered. "I couldn't do that, not knowing what she was, what she's capable of."
    "This has to do with more than Witchcraft. I told you this. You know this."
    "Yes."
    "Then how could you let her go? You are a worse thing than she is; a reject of mythology. How could you judge her?"
    "If I had stopped her, it would have been suspicious. Besides, I could tell that she didn't want to work here."
    "And whose fault is that, McGowan?" The voice was ice itself.
    "Mine," Daphne said.
    "That's right. You've displeased me, McGowan. I don't like being displeased."
    "Oh, please!" she begged. "Please, master, please, give me another chance. Let me prove myself to you."
    There was silence on the other end of the line for a bit. Then the voice spoke. "Fine. You amuse me. Do not disappoint me this time."
    "What would you have me do?"
    "Observe her. That shouldn't be too hard for you, should it, Daphne?"
    The fact that the voice had chosen to use her first name let her know how much trouble she was in. "Yes, master."
    "Good. You will hear from me." There was a click and the voice, the ice, was gone.
     
    * * * * *
     
    "So how are you liking it so far?"
    Lucia turned to see Alicia approaching from the back office. Her hair was a mess and there was dust on her light pink blouse. "What happened to you?" she asked.
    Alicia sighed. "Finishing up unpacking some statues. Who knew that running a business would be so messy?" she laughed. "It's nothing a shower and a good meal won't cure."
    "That reminds me, Poppy called. She's ordering in Chinese."
    "That woman is a goddess."
    "I'll say." Lucia finished her till. She had been pulled out of the back room to run the store while Alicia and Orlando finished unpacking. Orlando had since gone home to David and it was half an hour past closing time. She wanted to go home herself, even if it was just an empty apartment. Her cat, Snowball, was waiting for her. She was putting quarters into a cloth bag to take downstairs to the safe when she remembered something.
    "When were you going to tell me about the locked room?"
    Alicia gave her an odd look. "Locked room? Where?"
    "In the basement. I noticed it when I was in there getting more money for the till today."
    "There's nothing in that basement but space for storage, the safe and a cabinet for storing delicate items. It's just a big open room. There's no locked room."
    "Well, there's a locked door to something. It's behind the stairs, a big rust-coloured door, all covered with locks."
    "What?" Alicia said. "No there's not. No, I would have seen that."
    "C'mon, I'll go show you," Lucia said.
    Sure enough, when they got downstairs to the basement, there was a big rust-coloured door, covered in padlocks. The door seemed to hum in the partial darkness of the basement.                  "Well, I'll be damned," Alicia said.
     
    * * * * *
     
    They both stared at the door for a few moments. The basement was dark and they wanted to be anywhere but down below, in front of a magical door that appeared from nowhere.
    "Where do you suppose it came from?" Lucia asked.
    "I don't know, but I don't like it. I'm going to open it," Alicia said.
    "What do you mean? It's locked from here to sundry. You couldn't get through there if you tried."
    "We've got to try. I have a locked room in my basement that shouldn't exist. There's gotta be something I can do."
    Alicia reached