Rise of the Wadjet Witch - By Juliet C. Obodo Page 0,27

apartment.” She nuzzled her face into his shoulder, pushing her mask down to her nose. It looked like Gregoire was unable to keep Gemma away from the alcohol. For a British girl, she was quite a lightweight.

“Hello, Gregoire. It’s nice to finally meet you.” She smiled and looked up at him. His blue eyes were familiar. He quickly looked away, breaking eye contact.

“Yes, it is so good to meet you, Memphis. Gemma has told me so much about you. Unfortunately, we were on our way out. Gemma has had a bit too much to drink, and I really must get her home to bed.”

“Oh yes! Let us get to bed.” Gemma’s face was now lodged in Gregoire’s armpit. Memphis helped him get Gemma out the door, down the brick steps, and into a cab. She bid them adieu and headed back to the party. She was no longer in a festive mood and decided to just head home instead of spending the night at Jill’s as originally planned.

She went upstairs, got her things, and checked her watch. It wasn’t even midnight; it was still early enough to take the subway instead of a cab. She looked for Jill to wish her goodnight, but spotted her white satin clad bottom seated on the knee of a guest.

The guy was looking at her with pure adoration. She saw a sudden flash of them sitting that way but much older. He was The One. Memphis smiled to herself and decided not to disturb them, but shot Jill a quick text just in case she looked for her later.

She was halfway down Jill’s block when she heard footsteps behind her. She didn’t see anyone when she turned to look. She half jogged the rest of the way to the station and made it into the car right before the doors closed.

She had caught an express train and arrived at her stop in just a few minutes. The cold air felt good against her face as she stepped onto the sidewalk. The first few blocks of her route home were fine because they were right on 86th Street and heavily populated, but she just hated having to walk down the last quiet block. She couldn’t imagine living in the suburbs with no one walking the streets.

The sound of footsteps behind her interrupted her thoughts. It was probably someone walking a dog. She turned to look, but no one was there. She continued walking, increasing her pace. Again, she heard footsteps. She walked a little faster; the footsteps followed suit. She started to jog; she could hear them getting closer. She began running, and so did the person behind her. Someone was chasing her! She felt a surge of adrenaline. She just had to get into her apartment. She would be safe. She pictured her blue sofa. She just had to get home. Get home.

“Home,” she wheezed out. “Home. Home. Home.”

Suddenly, she was on her sofa in her apartment.

“How the hell…?” She saw that the door was wide open. She jumped up and slammed it shut. After turning all the locks, she slid down in front of it. She looked in the mirror, which was across the hallway from her. She was shaken and confused. She didn’t know whom she feared more: the person on the other side of the door or the person in the mirror.

Chapter 10

It was Memphis’s first day at Sign of the Times, and Jill greeted her with concern. She’d spent the rest of the weekend avoiding phones calls and searching on the internet for answers about what the hell was happening to her. She didn’t want to tell Jill about what happened on her way home. Uncannily accurate horoscopes were cute, but teleporting was another thing. She gave her a lame excuse about having her period and dealing with menstrual cramps. Jill nodded in understanding and sympathy. Then she proceeded to get down to business.

She gave her a tour of their offices, which were quite impressive. Not that she was surprised; Jill wouldn’t work in ugly office space. In college, she actually dropped a class because it was held in a badly decorated room in the building.

“There was wasp-themed wallpaper,” she told Memphis in horror.

Jill was dealing with the end of her two-minute engagement very well. “The best way to get over a man is to get under a new one,” she quipped.

Easier said than done. Jill had men lining up at her door as soon as they heard she was