Chapter 4: Neeve
1074 Words
I work as a team manager at BONC, the Bank Of North Carolina. I’m good at my job. And if I’m still in the office despite my mishaps, it’s because my team and I are making a lot of turnover by offering useless insurance products to our customers. My team is the best in the whole state.
I hate this job. I applied six years ago just to piss off my parents, Derrek and Josephine Foris. Roots hippies living in the woods on the Foris’s 300-year-old estate. The Foris are sorcerers whose magic comes from Nature. The protection of the environment and the respect for fauna and flora are at the heart of our power. And there’s s*x, too. Because what could be more natural than the s****l act, isn’t it? Except that six years ago, I didn’t really care about all that. I had just broken up with Levenach, my parents constantly pissed me off and I had no desire to follow the hazardous path of the Foris family.
But, at almost twenty-eight, I realize that my rebellious phase requires me today to fulfil objectives which amount to millions of dollars. The only good thing is that I’m responsible for recruiting my team, which includes the captivating Bob Matthews; I’m just evaluating him.
My eyes sink into his. I turned off my phone so as not to be disturbed during this monthly interview. I twist a lock of my red hair with my finger and giggle like a turkey when he says to me:
"I’ll do better next time, Neeve."
"I count on it," I answered in a voice that I hope is suave. "You are capable of so much better, Bob."
He smiles at me and I’m a hair’s breadth from slipping out of my chair.
We finally leave the partitioned office, dedicated to employee evaluations, and head to the open space where my team works. I pass my director who nods at me, before staring at Bob Matthews. My manager is gay and we obviously share the same tastes. Except that he’s a human and he knows how to behave. I’m a nature witch, so it is more difficult for me to control my instincts.
"Well, then, I hope we made money!"
My team exclaims reassuringly about the day’s sales. If they only knew how much I don’t care! Today, I’m doing this job to fund a lawsuit against a real estate developer who has designs on tracts of acres of Wolf Creek forest. Sixine is following me on this adventure, but we know we’re going to need a hell of a lot of dough to succeed in bringing this development down. We need this money, and I refuse to ask my parents for it.
On Friday, the day ends earlier. The team did wonders. Sales exploded in the afternoon, and the results table is black with dots. One dot, one sale. For my collaborators, the pinnacle of pleasure in a day’s work is getting up to place a magnetic dot on the board, making sure that the impact on the board makes as much noise as possible. I make less and less noise...
Bob Matthews is still at his desk, along with Rachel Bree, when they should have been gone for an hour. Like me, they find it difficult to leave when they are caught up in their work. I don’t like what I do. But whatever I do, I always get involved. A damn flaw...
My manager shows up with his briefcase in hand to congratulate us on a productive day. It’s funny, I have the feeling that every day is alike. He does this every night before leaving. My life is a loop. And I don’t like round things...
"Well done to you and your team, Neeve."
"Thank you."
I get up to put on my jacket and take my handbag. It’s time to go home. My manager makes a U-turn when a man in his thirties, not a member of the BONC staff, slowly approaches us. I feel a negative aura emanating from him. Handsome Matthews raises his pretty eyes to watch him. Rachel, on the other hand, is captivated by this guy. The manager frowns, no doubt wondering how a stranger got through the security gates. Something is wrong. I feel it in my chest, which rises faster with each breath I take. I feel it in the change of atmosphere that permeates me. My heart starts pounding.
When my manager asks him to state his identity, the man waves his hand. A blue light escapes from it and rushes, scathing, towards my boss, who crashes to the floor. Rachel screams. Bob is paralyzed. The man is still moving forward and I don’t know what to do. There are humans. No one should be hurt and I can’t use my magic. Damn… My gaze is on the patio. I rush to the bay window and open it. I manage to dodge the filaments of magic that pursue me and dodge a new jet of light that is about to hit me. In the middle of the patio sits an oak tree lined with earth and a thin carpet of poorly maintained lawn. I know what I must do. My head swivels towards the vast windows; my boss gets up, and Bob Matthews and Rachel, livid, stare at me. A hard time…
The man goes through the bay window showing a sinister grin. He raises a hand, and a new blue sphere forms just above it. I twirl around and hide behind the wide trunk of the oak.
"Do you seriously think a tree will save you, Neeve Foris?" says the stranger in a deep voice that frightens me.
I feel his presence. The magic flows through me. Emerald-coloured light radiates from my body as the man steps onto the earth surrounding the century-old tree. Then a second. So, I come out of my summary hiding place, a green halo surrounding my silhouette, and stretch out my arm to connect to the tree. The man has time to look surprised, before the roots of the oak wrap around his ankles and pull him down to engulf him underground. The deep silence that follows this hasty burial is broken by Rachel’s horrifying cry. I turn around and see Bob Matthews close to fainting. My boss faints again.
Shit… I’m going to need the Amnistral on this one.
- Writer
