Chapter 3

Dragons: Dragons are an incredible rarity, with only seven known to be roaming any world. These dragons came from another mystical realm long ago in search of safety. Nothing is known of where they’re from, or why they fled their original world. It’s assumed the knowledge has been lost to time, considering they’ve been lingering for thousands of years.

A dragon pulls their magic from their hoard. Their vast collections can be anything, but must follow a general theme. If a dragon is gaining magic from a large quantity of furniture, they will not be able to add piles of gold to increase magical output. Similarly, it has been observed that dragons can mix ‘like items,’ such as furniture, carpets, rugs, dishes, and other household items.

In this respect, the greater and more ‘diverse’ a dragon’s hoard, the more powerful and vast their reach. A dragon with millions of one coin will likely not be able to match another who possesses thousands of apples, oranges, bananas, apricots, grapes and other fruits, though the coins have a considerably longer shelf-life.

There are times when dragons have been observed changing their hoard. With lives spanning eons, it is understandable that a dragon may get bored with the same thing, and wish to shake up their den. When this happens, it is likely that the dragon will seek the aid of a Collector, lure unsuspecting travelers into their lair, or take the shape of other creatures. Taking on a new, unassuming shape allows them to interact with others, thereby adding to their hoard without drawing too much attention.

Gentle sunlight kissed Summer’s nose as she stirred in her sleep. She turned from her back, laying on her side with the golden rays dancing across her cheek as her hand drifted into a nearby flower. The struck flower shook from side to side, spilling petals and pollen onto the sleeping girl as her eyes fluttered open. 

Surprise furrowed in her brow as Summer shifted on the ground, her fingers curling around a fistful of grass and soft green growth. The scent surrounding her is familiar somehow, though she can’t place it apart from just… overwhelmingly flowery. It’s not overwhelming to the point of being unpleasant or unbearable, but every breath she takes seems to erase just a little more of her worldly worries. She smiles as she sits up, her hand following the stem of the nearby tulip up to the bulb. The petals of this flower are the most vibrant magenta she’s ever seen, more beautiful than she ever thought possible in a natural flower.

She turns her head to the sound of wings, unable to tell if they were more like a bird or bee. The rapidly flapping wings stopped as soon as they started, and she turned to see a trio of elegantly dressed individuals. Each person stood not taller than her shoulder, even as she sat in the field, and they seemed to be waiting for something as she stared back at them.

The one in the middle, dressed in a skirt splashed with colors as varied and vibrant as the flowers around, stepped forward. A pair of wings sprouted from her back, and her hair shined like gold. Summer looked at her wings, noticing the patterns and similarities they shared with those of her partners. The other two had nearly identical wings, though their attire was noticeably different. She let her eyes take in the colorful suit of the one to the woman's left. The suit was neatly fitted over a silver, button-down shirt, with a golden tie framed between the lapel. On the other side was another figure wearing a full dress, flowing elegantly down to the ground. The dress and suit were what she would consider tie dye, while the skirt in the middle looked more deliberately… speckled.

“Who are…” Summer started to ask, but her question faded to mute as the woman standing in front of her reached out a hand. 

A gold shimmer drifted down the woman’s arm, and the other two smiled reassuringly as small fingers drew near. Her fingernails were well manicured, appearing finely polished and neatly filed, and rounded on the edges. Summer’s eyes followed the unknown woman’s hand up as her fingers reached her head, but she winced and moved away when she felt the woman pluck a hair from her scalp.

“Ow-Hey!” she protested, rubbing the stinging spot missing a single strand. The pain was already gone, it was just one hair, after all. It was more the suddenness of the violation that had made her react in such a way, but the trio was already onto their next task.

The three small creatures each pulled a hair from their own heads, giggling as they worked. Summer stopped rubbing her head, sitting up straight with her legs crossed, her hands in her lap as she watched them with curiosity written on her face. There was some tune being hummed between the three of them, a melody she couldn’t place. It was hauntingly beautiful, mesmerizing even, and impossible to tell which of them was humming it. She decided all three had to be making the song as they worked, there were simply too many notes for one or two to hit at the same time.

Summer decided the creature in the skirt was the leader. The other two handed their single strands of hair to her as she retrieved a vial from a pocket. She uncorked the top and filed each hair into the vial, with the four strands dissolving into what had been a nearly invisible fluid. With the hairs all deposited into the vial, the woman secured the cork back into place and shook it violently, her giggle interrupting the melody being hummed by her partners.

To her right, the little creature had pulled what looked to be an alabaster pen from within the dress. Summer had been so preoccupied with what the first had been doing, she hadn’t really noticed where this other one had gotten the pen, but it made sense it had come from some unseen pocket. Then again, it may have simply been from thin air as far as she knew. The one on the left now held the tie, the golden sheet hanging from either side of a presented hand as a calm breeze drifted through.

Satisfied with the swirling concoction in the vial, the middle creature uncorked the container and accepted the pen from the partner to her right. The contents of the vial glittered and swirled, a chaotic mess of crimson, gold, and brown. Summer sent a hand up to her head again, letting her auburn hair waft between her fingers as the tip of the pen lowered into the open vial. She tried to see if there was some button or lever used, but couldn’t find anything on the otherwise smooth pen as the liquid inside the vial vanished. The pale siding swirled with life and color, growing darker as the vial emptied. Streaks of brown, red, and gold replaced the alabaster visage, shimmering as they churned together.

The suited one handed over the tie with a closed-lipped smile, the tune continuing to tickle Summer’s ears as the middle creature quickly accepted. Her hands were full now, holding the vial with the pen protruding from the open top in one and the tie in the other while the tie-dye pair hummed at her sides. She held the items with a smile on her face, but Summer could tell there was annoyance in her yellow eyes. The dreaming girl tried not to laugh at the spectacle as the middle fairy cleared her throat, giving the items in her hands a quick, curt shake to get the attention of her partners. She was not successful.

Summer covered her mouth in an effort to conceal the laughter as the suit-clad fairy reached forward to retrieve his tie. The one in the dress seemed blissfully unaware that anything was amiss as she continued to hum, swaying back and forth to the rhythm with both hands behind their back. She wondered if these three had rehearsed, or done anything like this before, or if this was their first time as the middle fairy slapped the suited hand away, grumbling her discontent. The suited fairy looked across to the dressed fairy, seeming to connect dots, then leaned back and waved. It took some time and effort, which also distorted the hummed melody, but eventually the oblivious fairy glanced over to see the frustration in the other two.

There was some definite attitude in the way the middle fairy held the vial and pen at her partner. With a sheepish grin, a pair of hands reached out and held the vial, and the dressed fairy even bowed as the pen was extracted. The tune began again, this time all three of them most certainly humming their own specific part. Summer watched, her eyes growing heavy, as the middle fairy held the golden tie aloft. She dragged the pen over the fine surface, with words appearing on the shimmering fabric. That’s the only way she could describe it, appearing. They weren’t being written, there weren’t any deliberate strokes of the pen or anything so… practiced. No, the pen swept across the tie once, leaving a full paragraph. Then again, with another paragraph. Again and again, over and over until the whole tie was covered in… words?

With every inch of the golden tie occupied in something that might be confused for text, the middle fairy held the alabaster pen to her right. The dressed fairy accepted the pen and placed the tip back into the empty vial. She stashed the pair of items into her dress before helping the other two hold the tie horizontal. They each used one hand on the tie, holding it in front of them, letting the sunlight shine off the flattened material. Summer looked into their faces before reaching out herself, a tentative hand fighting a tremor as it neared-

An alarm pierced her apartment, blaring loud from the kitchen. Summer bolted upright in bed, gasping for a breath that she couldn’t have possibly been holding. Could she? She ran a hand through her hair, the already distant memory of her dream escaping through her fingers like the thousands of strands of hair. Hair… She remembered one being taken in her dream for ink? A contract? 

She turned in bed, a hand already on her pillow. Her heart raced as she realized she was holding her breath again, and she forced herself to breathe. One, two, three deep, calming breaths rolled in, then out of her lungs as her hand held her pillow in place, and she wondered just how stupid she would feel when she found an old, weathered cardinal feather under it. When the pillow was removed from its usual spot, however, she wasn’t entirely sure if she was surprised or not to find a neatly rolled, golden tie where the feather had been.

The alarm kept chiming, the mechanical melody repeating the same several notes over and over in the background of her senses as she let the pillow fall back onto the tie. Shaky breaths rolled in and out of her chest, but there was no chance of finding any calm as she brought the cushion back up. Again, the golden tie caught the sunlight, gleaming pleasantly as she stared down at it.

“Ohhhhh…holy…” she murmured with a steady exhale, finishing the lengthy breath with, “okay…”

Summer suddenly felt nauseous as the pillow fell from her trembling hand. Everything spun around her as her once firm grasp on reality unraveled. She had lost her belief in all things magic, knowing there was no such thing as fairies, yet… Here was proof! Proof that they not only existed, but worked the way children believed? Was that even possible? How had the whole world gone for so long without acknowledging any of this? She leapt from the bed and rushed to the bathroom, unsure if she needed to vomit, shower, or both. 

Instead of losing whatever remained in her stomach from the previous day, Summer tapped a key on the laptop to stop the alarm on the way to the bathroom and stood at the sink. She held the smooth surface around the bowl firmly, panting as she gazed into her reflection. The woman looking back at her appeared to have aged considerably, her hair a ragged mess, bags under her eyes, and an expression of abject disbelief casting an array of wrinkles across her features. Apart from that, she thought she still looked pretty good. Not quite “first day at a high end law firm” good, but nothing a bit of preparation couldn’t handle.

A trembling hand brushed beside her head, sweeping some messy hair back behind her ear. Her first day was in just a couple of hours and there was so much to do, but she couldn’t bring herself to start any of it. All she could do was stand at the sink, looking at herself in an attempt to retain the final shreds of her sanity intact. That must be it, though. She was simply having a mental breakdown, and probably just… imagined the tie from her dream under her pillow. It was the only logical explanation, after all. In all likelihood, she was still halfway dreaming when she looked under her pillow, both times. 

She let a crazed laugh tumble from her lips, dropping her head over the sink and losing the staring contest with her reflection. There weren’t any likely scenarios here, only facts and tangible evidence. The tie was there, she saw what she saw. Going back to her bedroom to see it again wouldn’t change anything. Even so, she found herself apprehensively making the short journey from the bathroom, crossing between the kitchen and living room, and standing in the open doorway of her bedroom. Her pillow rested on the bed, obscuring any view of what could be under it as she contemplated her next move.

“This is ridiculous,” she said under her breath, forcing herself into her own room. 

Ridiculous or not, the false sense of bravery bolstering her vanished as she stood next to her bed. She looked down at her pillow, an object designed for sleep and comfort, now looking so ominous as it smothered a mystical secret. Part of her wondered how bad it would be if the apartment burst into flames in that moment, purging the world of whatever lies beneath her pillow so she could continue on with her oblivious life. The other part…

The other part sent her hand down, heart racing and nerves on edge as her fingers settled on the pillowcase. Hesitation threatened to derail the whole thing, so before she could back out of it her fingers curled into the pillow and yanked it away, sending the light cushion sailing across the room. It thumped into the wall near the foot of the bed and slid to the ground as she was left staring down at the balled up tie. The tremble had returned to her hand, as well as traveled down to her legs, as she reached for the golden roll.

Impossible, yet here, right in her hands. That was the only way to describe the tie she held, having to remind herself to breathe as she turned away from her bed. The strength seemingly abandoned her knees, and she fell onto her mattress with a sharply inhaled gasp, but her attention was solidly on the tie that she was unrolling. More golden fabric shimmered into view as it spread between her parting hands, and she shook her head in disbelief as the writing shimmered across the lengthy bridge. It couldn’t have been more than two feet long, but every inch of it was covered in elaborate, criss-crossing, zig-zagging… gibberish?

Summer forced her eyes to scan the tie every which way in an attempt to make any kind of sense of what was written on it, but it was utterly hopeless. She’d taken a few semesters of Latin, several years of Spanish, and had learned more than enough French and German to get by. Chasing fascination, she’d studied Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean, but never had the time to really learn enough to have a real hold of the languages. What was scribbled across the tie resembled no language she’d ever looked at, and she doubted it was anything anyone would recognize. 

“What am I…?” she mused aloud, wondering what she was supposed to do now?

Her father had pretended to be a translator way back, but somehow she doubted he’d be much use with this. She held the tie on her lap, looking through the open doorway of her bedroom, and seeing her laptop still sitting on the kitchen table. If answers were out there, surely they existed online? Time continued to tick from her grandfather’s watch as she got back to her feet and walked to the kitchen, setting the tie beside her laptop and firing up a web browser.

“Just a quick search, then right into the shower with me.”

But she knew it was a lie. The two hours she had saved for herself went with her down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and wonder, bringing her no closer to answers than staring at a wall would have when she started. By the time she looked down at the digital clock at the bottom corner of her laptop display, she had hardly half an hour to get to the office for her first day, a magical feat in and of itself considering the commute would take at least fifteen minutes. She jumped from her chair and closed the tie between the folded panels of her laptop as panic pushed her through the apartment.

“Ohhh, no-no-no-no-” she muttered, hurrying to the bathroom for another rushed shower.

Two days in a row, she got off on the wrong foot. Today, she was not only late again, but hadn’t bothered laying out an outfit the night prior. She had to hustle through selecting a wardrobe, which left her with mismatched socks. Not exactly the end of the world, but something that left her feeling self conscious on her first official day. Fortunately, her navy slacks reached all the way down to her shoes, hiding the odd socks from sight.

No one would consider the rest of her deep blue attire out of the ordinary, except perhaps the ornate pocket watch she had decided to hang from her neck with a thin, silver chain, like a large pendant necklace. The professional looking, faux leather briefcase pulled it all together, though it wasn’t filled with anything more than a few pens and blank sheets of paper.

The commute went faster than expected, mercifully, which got her to work right on time. A phone was already ringing when she walked through the door, but someone was quick to answer it with a courteous, “Boggury and Associates, how may I direct your call?” Summer approached the front desk, eyes sweeping through the main lobby and down the hallway she’d walked the day before. She didn’t exactly know where to go from here, and hoped the attendant behind the desk would be able, and willing to help, and that she wouldn’t make too much of a fool of herself.

Summer made an attempt to look for Mr. Haberly after walking through the doors, but found no sign of him before being greeted by a stout, smiling woman. She looked to be in her mid thirties or early forties, and no more than five feet tall. Gray strands formed shimmering streaks through her hair, and her vividly red blazer really stood out among the more dull colors worn by other office personnel. Wrapping the whole ensemble together was a pair of rainbow-rimmed glasses, the complete color spectrum lining thick lenses nestled on either side of her small nose.

“You must be Summer!” the woman said with thinly contained enthusiasm. 

Everything about the woman seemed so out of place. This was a major law office, considered elite in any legal circle. Yet, here was someone who looked like she belonged at Woodstock, or some other music festival. Trying hard not to judge a book by its cover, Summer put out her right hand with a more conservative smile. She, after all, had just spent hours of her morning searching the web for ways to read fairy writing.

“Yes, Summer Tyme,” she replied, avoiding the urge to roll her eyes for what was doomed to come next.

“Oh, my favorite time!” said the woman, taking Summer’s hand with a firm shake. The woman took a moment to laugh at her own joke, and Summer put forth the effort to giggle as well, pretending like she hadn’t heard it dozens… hundreds of times before. “I’m Vivian Boggury, and- yes, that Vivian Boggury,” she added with a smirk after seeing Summer’s reaction.

Boggury and Associates Legal, the law firm in which Summer now stood. The one she had just recently been hired to… work for, in some way? What was her job here, again? The interviewer, Mr. Haberly, he hadn’t actually assigned her one, and now she was shaking hands with the head of the firm? Summer looked around, trying to conceal her bewilderment and feeling more than a little star struck. She had never managed to put a face to the name, but Vivian was someone she genuinely admired. To be meeting her, and touching her on her first day… dream made.

“Our resource manager was ranting and raving about you all afternoon yesterday, you must have made quite the impression.”

The way she said it had Summer feeling strangely defensive. There was a glint in the woman’s eye as well, as if she suspected something, but how could she? It’s not like anyone in their right mind would ever suspect fairy magic at play in any kind of job interview. Summer tried to keep herself calm, holding the handle of her briefcase with both hands down by her belly as she offered a pleasant smile.

“I- um, what do you mean, ma’am?” she asks, hating how shy her tone sounds to her own ears.

“What I mean,” Mrs. Boggury replies, her voice losing a hint of the friendly tune as the legal warrior comes out, “is I expect far better from my legal assistant. You’ll be here no later than half an hour before eight, ready to get right into it. Understood?” Summer was nodding, though she didn’t quite understand what the woman was getting at. “No more of this ‘coming through the door without a moment to spare’ nonsense.”

A nervous hand ascended her torso, clasping around the wide pendant hanging from her neck as her new boss spoke. Summer hadn’t even really noticed the movement of her own hand, but feeling the cool, firm texture of the clock within her palm and fingers, the steady tick-tick-tick tapping lightly against her grasping skin managed to calm her.

“Of course, Mrs. Boggury,” she offered apologetically, nodding her head and bowing slightly. Her cheeks flushed a little at the gesture, wondering if she had pushed it too far. Who bows anymore? “It won’t happen again, I-”

“Good,” Vivian interrupted with her warm, pleasant smile back on her face. “Unpleasantness out of the way, once and for all. Now, follow me?”

With that, she turned and began walking down the hallway. Summer remained where she stood for a beat, but hurriedly followed. They walked at a surprisingly quick pace down a hallway, doors on both sides of the polished, hardwood path. The hall wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to Summer, who had been down it just the day before. She noticed that many of the same doors remained open, along with the one through which she finally spied Mr. Haberly. He waved at her as she rushed to keep up with Mrs. Boggury, but her window of opportunity was barely wide enough to offer a smile before they were out of view. The hallway continued a few more doors, which presumably led to a few more offices before they reached the end.

At the end of the hall was another door, standing open and leading them into an expansive room. Vivian strolled in without even gesturing Summer follow, but the girl knew well enough to continue her pursuit of the tenured woman. The hardwood floor abruptly ended at the doorway, where lush, deep crimson carpeting took over. It was thick and startlingly cushioned under her feet, nearly making Summer lose her footing as she stumbled into the room. Mrs. Boggury didn’t turn around on her way to the executive desk, but Summer could hear the woman chuckle a little.

“Careful on the carpet,” she said as she got to the neatly carved, oak desk. “I should have warned you about the change in floor texture, it tends to throw people off the first time or two.”

Summer waved a hand with a dismissive smile, hoping to do nothing more than forget the near spill. The last thing she wanted now was to trip and fall, make some kind of comic relief scene out of herself where her briefcase flies across the room. She fought the urge to laugh at the image of her nearly empty case popping open as it smacked against a wall, and focused instead on her surroundings.

Beside the colossal desk that obviously belonged to Mrs. Boggury was a smaller, less extravagant one. It looked like an afterthought, with how it was pushed up against the side of the fine wood, the darker, more polished surfaces a stark contrast to the cheaper, sandy facade. The walls framing the door they’d walked through supported framed qualifications, licenses, and accolades, while the other three were lined with windows facing the sunny morning. In the middle of the office was a leather couch, forest green with matching armchairs on either side.

“Take a seat,” Vivian offered as she did the same in the chair behind her own desk. The chair looked to be the same material and color as the couch and armchairs in the middle of the office, and reclined slightly as Vivian sat back against it.

Summer looked at the smaller, less impressive desk beside Mrs. Boggury’s skeptically, wondering when the training and onboarding would start. It was right up against the larger desk, situated to face the more tenured woman. A difficult gulp struggled down her throat as Summer thought this certainly had to be a joke, some elaborate prank? There was no way she’d be working for Vivian Boggury on her first day, right?

“Go on,” Vivian said with a smirk, sitting forward and taking her wireless mouse in one hand. Her attention was on the wide-screen monitor on her desk, but she was addressing Summer as she spoke. “It’s not going to bite, and we’ve got work to do.”

Every nerve was on edge as though she expected the rug, or in this case, dense carpeting, to be yanked out from under her feet at any moment. She practically jumped when the office phones on both desks rang in unison, but managed to maintain just enough composure to not drop - or throw - her briefcase. Summer placed her briefcase on the desk beside… her? keyboard, eying Mrs. Boggury suspiciously as she then took the back of the chair behind… her? desk. The chair was on roller wheels, but the thick carpet made moving it more difficult than it would have been on most other floors. She eventually had it pulled back far enough to take a seat, then hop/rolled herself forward until her legs were neatly tucked under the desk as the phones stopped ringing, a steady red light showing that someone… Phil, had answered it.

“Good.” It was said through another smirk as Mrs. Boggury typed something, her monitor tilted just far enough out of Summer’s view to be nearly impossible to see. “Now, what exactly did Bill say you would be doing here?”

With a nervous laugh that she quickly tried to play off as genuine, Summer replied, “Uhh… nothing, really? He just said to show up at eight.” She realizes that she’s fidgeting with the thin framed monitor, and brings her hands down to the keyboard as though Mrs. Boggury might instruct her to type at any moment. “For… onboarding,” Summer adds, unsure if she should look her new boss in the eyes.

That didn’t seem to be the response she was looking for. Summer jolted upright in her seat, rising quickly from an unintentional slouch as the respectable woman let out a loud laugh. For how sudden and startling it was, the laughter was so genuine that Summer soon found herself resisting the urge to join. She dipped her head to hide the smile, and felt her cheeks burning red as the other woman began to regain control of herself. 

“...sorry, I-” she started, but was promptly cut off.

“No- no, I’m sorry. Bill was going on and on about you all day yesterday.” Mrs. Boggury had retrieved a tissue from her desk at some point, and was using it to dab away the tears in her eyes. “He seems to be your biggest fan. Just… singing your praises so much, I kind of figured you were some… some… accomplished professional!”

Again, the woman tumbled into hysterics, laughing uncontrollably into her tightly clasped tissue. Her face was a concerning shade of red at this point, and Summer was beginning to feel embarrassed - as though this was the prank, and she was the punchline. The laughter diminished with the help of some calming breaths, and Mrs. Boggury was able to finally get herself back to normal once more.

“I apologies, Ms. Tyme,” she offered, clearing her throat with a hand over her chest. “I certainly didn’t mean to lose control like that, but…” there was a pause while the woman was clearly trying to keep from breaking down again. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, “...Mr. Haberly doesn’t often speak highly of our interviewees. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him be so excited about a new hire before.”

“So… should I…” Summer puts a hand on her briefcase, feeling more out of place than ever. She pulls it closer to her, letting a third of it drift over the edge of the desk. “I should go, then?”

“Nonsense,” Mrs. Boggury says with a dismissive wave of her hand. Her hands glide over the keyboard as she continues to work, aggressively typing things just out of Summer’s view. “Aaaaand… done. Ok,” she says, turning to face the younger girl. “Mr. Haberly- Bill, as most of us tend to call him, he may have a knack for sussing out new hires, but I always look into the people he approves. Even the ones he can’t stop talking about. Especially when they’re supposed to be my personal assistant.”

The young woman was at a loss. Her hand slid off of her briefcase, nearly sending it toppling off of the desk - her desk, which she would be occupying every day as long as she proved her worth. Which she very much intended to do, just as soon as she picked her jaw up off of the floor. 

She recovered just in time for the door to open. It sounded much further away than it actually was, and helped shake her from the stupor as a man strode through. He was wearing a pale blue, long sleeve, button down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and deep navy slacks. The guy appeared to be in his mid thirties, with thin rimmed glasses and short, curly hair atop his head. A green folder gleamed in his hand as it caught the sun from one window, and Summer could see several papers contained within.

“Exciting, isn’t it?” Mrs. Boggury said, commenting on her employee’s reaction. “Thousands of miles from home, fresh out of college, and now you’re working in a field actually related to your degree!”

A nervous smile formed on Summer’s face as her heart raced. There were few times in her life she’d ever been so excited, but none of them compared. Maybe the one when she found out she had officially passed the Bar, qualifying her to practice law, but even that was iffy. 

“No, it’s just…” she started, trying to carefully find the words. Her coworker placed the folder onto Mrs. Boggury’s desk, was thanked, and turned to leave. “...you’ve been a kind of hero of mine for years. Role model might be a better term, but I really aspired to be like you. Working for you would have been a dream come true, but… with you? Directly?? I might cry…”

“Well, don’t do that on these files,” Mrs. Boggury cautioned with a smile. “They’re your employment contracts and other legal documents.”

Summer wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but had very real tears in her eyes. Her hands had an annoying tremble, and she doubted if her signature would look quite right. A few steadying breaths shook in, then rolled back out as Mrs. Boggury walked her through each form, talking as though she had been through all of them a hundred times. In all likelihood, she was probably the one who drafted them in the first place.

After the necessary signatures and approvals, Summer was shown how to navigate their computer programs. They had custom software for note taking, calendars, clients, bills, court filings, research, and everything else they’ve found useful over the almost thirty years of service. There was so much, it was absolutely mind-boggling that anyone could keep it all straight. Summer had a little headache coming on while clicking through one and seeing how it interacted with two, three, four others. 

“You can sync the computer with your cell phone easily enough,” she explained. “Either sign in with your network account on both devices, or you can scan the QR code on the screen.”

Mrs. Boggury looked at Summer expectantly, as if waiting for her to do one or the other straight away. Panic roared to life in the young woman's heart, and chaos sprinted through her mind. She had no phone to take out, of course, but what was she to do? There was no way she could tell her new employer what happened to her phone, she'd sound like some kind of lunatic! She could say it was stolen, but… would Mrs. Boggury want to help? Launching an investigation would lead to more problems, for sure. Saying she lost her phone would just tell her boss that she was a poor, irresponsible choice for an assistant, and likely see to her contract termination before the day's end. 

With a calculated swipe of her hand, tucking some auburn curls behind her ear and adjusting her glasses to disguise the nervous tremble in her hand, Summer offered a soft chuckle. It came out far more forced than intended, but she assumed it may potentially help the lie she was about to tell. 

“The-um… My phone,” she started nervously, glancing into the woman's piercing eyes before sending her gaze away. “I… It's kinda embarrassing…” Summer looked down to her lap. “I dropped it into the toilet this morning.” She could feel her cheeks burning scarlet, the crystal clear tell that always ratted out her every deception. With any luck, it would actually assist it this time. “I was going to try to fix it tonight after work, but there are cracks all over the screen. It doesn't look good…”

“Well,” the seasoned lie detector replied, “you'll just have to get yourself a new one, then. I can't have my assistant going around with a cracked, potty phone, can I?” 

Summer giggled down to her lap, but kept the smile as she dared to look up. Whether Mrs. Boggury had fallen for it or not, she decided it didn't matter. Lying wasn't something Summer enjoyed, and she internally vowed to never do it again to her employer. She felt dirty for misleading her this time, even though the truth would have been far less believable. Frankly, a more likely scenario would be my dog ate it, a classic tall tale that made Summer laugh again while trying to remember her network credentials.

“If you need some help to get a new phone, we can set you up with an advance,” Mrs. Boggury said nonchalantly.

She was typing on her keyboard again, her eyes focused on her monitor. Summer looked at her, unsure if she heard the woman correctly.

“Sorry, what did you…?” she wasn't sure how to ask, scared to question the offer further but certain there had to be a catch.

“Getting a new phone.” Mrs. Boggury said, her tone level as she looked over to Summer. “They aren't necessarily cheap, especially if you still have to pay off your old one. I know not everyone can just… go out and upgrade on a whim, especially someone fresh out of college.”

The young woman was stunned. She'd heard horror stories of unpaid internships, underpaid positions, and devalued positions. People being taken advantage of across the board in all walks of life. But… here, this place… She fought the tears threatening to form in her eyes as she learned how right she was to idolize this woman. 

“I should be ok,” she assured her employer. “I still have enough in savings to get through what I thought would be a lengthy job hunt.”

“Great,” Mrs. Boggury said with a smile, “you can leave early today. That way you’ll have all the time you need to get a replacement phone.”

With a nod, Summer turned back to her monitor. She looked at the calendar that very much reflected Vivian’s. They had an extremely full schedule. Between scheduled hour-long meetings with clients, conference calls, and court filings, there was undoubtedly plenty of unscheduled research time. Add to that any other unexpected interruptions, and she was certain that this first workday would surely go well beyond five this evening. 

“Should I take off after lunch, or…?”

Mrs. Boggury sent another email on its way to a client at blinding speed through the internet. “I think today has been a pretty good start,” she said, turning to look at Summer to offer a smile. “Don’t want to overwhelm you so soon now, do we?”

While Summer was more than a little grateful for the early dismissal, she didn’t want to appear too eager. She took a moment to scroll through her own email, wondering if she looked silly considering there wasn’t much more than a few setup prompts in her inbox. ‘Before much longer, perhaps she would be the one typing rapidly to keep up with the high demand,’ Summer thought, trying to imagine the kinds of inquiries and requests she may receive. In any case, she did want to take care of her phone issue, and have enough time to brush up and study more on California Law. She longed to prove her worth sooner rather than later, and closed out of her email app before shutting down her computer. Plus, there was that… other thing nagging at her.

“I’ll take you up on that,” she replied to her boss, returning her warm smile.

After securing her copy of the contract she signed within her briefcase, the paralegal stood from her seat and turned to leave. The phone rang again, for the hundredth or so time, and Summer made a mental note to try and keep count of how many phone calls come in tomorrow. She walks through the office, thinking of coming back bright and early to the place she works, for someone she genuinely admires.