Chapter 11

“This competitive wage system compels a man to work himself to death,” Augie declared as he banged his fist on the table. “You are exploiting the workers with wage theft to line your pockets with the lucre of our sweat and sinew.”

“We are not going to add another percentage point to the daily wage, Mr. Steen,” Mr. Assyrtiko said.

Jack stood in the hallway, listening to the conversation inside the board room while the dragon in her newest artform snorted next to him. He had heard the rants before, surprised that Augie had not updated his script. Leaning against the wall, Jack figured the wait was going to be long.

“You have debased and vulgarized the essence of a working wage,” Augie said, this time twirling his finger in the air.

“Not another penny, farthing, or drop of blood,” Mr. Assyrtiko said. He leaned back in his chair.

“You have become inured to the ferocious barbarities of capitalism,” Augie said. “You have no sympathy for the common folk.”

“Oh, do stop your pathetic prattling,” Hypatia said, stepping into the room. The board room was lined with prints of other famous properties on the long wall while the other side offered a long window view looking eastward towards the mountains. “Who misled you into thinking you could make an intelligent argument? The next thing you will be spouting is how the proletariat are exploited and your families are suffering the torments of poverty and starvation. Really, Augie, your public portfolio demonstrates you couldn’t make a decent business trade if your life depended upon it. You put yourself in poverty and no one is going to bail you out this time.”

“Says who?” Augie smirked.

“The one who owns the note on your piss-poor distillery, that’s who,” Hypatia said. “I’ll give you two minutes to sign off on the contract as is or I am calling in your note.” Hypatia looked at the clock above the short buffet. “The human clock is ticking.”

“Who are you?” Augie said with narrowed eyes.

“I swore off eating hobbits centuries ago, I still regret that decision, Augie Steen. Do you really want me to revisit my decision, this time as a shareholder in the resort? A little hobbit liver paté with twee-honey and cilantro sounds delicious with a glass of faerie fire,” Hypatia said with vicious smile as she leaned over the table.

“Eep,” Augie said, sweat breaking out across his forehead. He looked at his fellow hobbits and every single one had sunk down in their seats until their eyes were level with the table. “Fine,” he said through his clenched jaw. He held out his hand and Annodomini placed a fountain pen on his palm. She pointed to the blank spot on the bottom of the page, snatching the pen back as soon as Augie lifted it from the paper.

Augie and his fellows fled the room, forgetting to ask for a copy of their new agreement.

“Are you done?” Hypatia asked Annodomini with a hint of menace. “I also have little tolerance for faeries who do not know how to maintain the proper boundaries with humans. Surely Augie will come looking for his copy of the agreement after he regains his wits. A good secretary would anticipate and be prepared.”

“All done,” Annodomini said. She ran out of the room too.

“Andres,” Hypatia said, taking the seat next to him and putting her hand on his forearm. “You give these folk far too much benefit of a doubt.”

“Hypatia, my dear,” Mr. Assyrtiko said, placing his other hand on top of hers. “I have missed your company greatly. If I have gone astray, then you are the best corrective.” He patted her hand, “Sophia Loren?”

“You like, Andres?”

“You are a work of art,” he said. “I think we should celebrate your visit with a special spirit, one that I have stashed in my apartment.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“Jack,” Mr. Assyrtiko said, “Would you mind cleaning up the scattered paperwork around the table. There is no reason for housekeeping to see any of it. Do me another favor, Jack. Would you get Ms. Do something to wear? While she is clearly the lovely Mrs. Do’s daughter, we have dress codes for the facility.”

“I will see to both immediately, sir. Ralph destroyed Ms. Do’s clothing and half of intern’s as well. Hypatia can fill you in on the details.”

“Good. Oh, one more thing: would you go scream at the chef, telling him there is a dragon in the house and it is his fault. I expect the best of dining this evening.”

Mr. Assyrtiko left with Hypatia on his arm, not even waiting for a reply.

“Are they going to canoodle?” Scoobee asked as she looked out the doorway.

“I would never dare to ask such a thing,” Jack said. He walked around the table, plucking up all the papers that had scribbles on them. He checked the seat of the chairs as well. After crawling under the table to retrieve more pieces, Jack slowly backed out, catching sight of a pair of feminine legs entering the room.

“What the hell, Jack? Danica said. “You can’t have a naked elf running around the resort. Half of the codgers will keel over and die on us.”

“Ha, ha,” Jack said as he extricated his head from underneath the table and stood up. Danica looked neat and well-pressed though it was the second half of her shift.

“Did mean old Jack steal your clothes, Scoobee, and refuse to give them back?”

“Ralph,” Scoobee said, crossing her arms under her breasts. “It wasn’t funny in the least. The dragon promised that Jack and I could make more magic, but the stupid hobbits had to make fools of themselves and make me wait.”

“Dragon?” Danica asked, doing the same raised eyebrow that Jack did.

“Hypatia has arrived,” Jack confirmed. “Mr. Assyrtiko is entertaining her in his suite for the afternoon and is not to be disturbed.”

“Understood,” Danica said. “Dare I ask where your intern is?”

“He’s with Uncle Shaman,” Scoobee said. “Intern’s a little fragile this afternoon. Uncle will ply him with fire water, and he’ll be right as rain by evening.”

Before Danica could reply with a retort that Jack would regret, he butted in, “Danica, do we have anything in Lost & Found for Scoobee to wear?”

“We have a beach volleyball bikini that those Olympians left,” Danica said. “The outfit is a bit risqué for parading around the building now that I think about it. We can’t have Jack walking around with an unseemly bulge in his pants. A dutiful employee has to look out for her supervisor.”

“You are enjoying this,” Jack said. “Before you go too far into the deep end, Danica, Scoobee was just appointed to the dragon’s personal staff.”

“Congratulations,” Danica said, pulling in Scoobee for a hug.

Scoobee looked surprised for a moment, but then a small smile lit across her face. She hugged back until Danica started to release her. Scoobee gave a Jack a quick wink before she set herself face to face with Danica and kissed her on the lips. Danica’s eyes looked like they were popping out of their sockets. Scoobee stroked Danica’s lips with her tongue and then plunged into her mouth. Before Danica could step back, Scoobee grasped her new friend’s skull with both hands and held her lips to hers.