A Witch in the system

 “Jenny! Jenny! The computer won’t start again.”

“Have you tried saying please?”

“How would that help?”

“It’s a magic thing Mom, it usually starts if you ask it nicely.”

“It’s not working Jen, can you fix it for me honey?”

Jenny put down the dishes and went through to the lounge. She waited patiently, drying her hands on a dish cloth while her mother heaved herself out of the office chair and made space at the keyboard.

When she had finally shuffled out of the way Jenny sat down and pressed the computer’s start button, sending the tiniest spark of magical energy through her thumb.

“Come on, Princess,” she muttered.

The computer buzzed twice and the lights began to flash as the start-up sequence initiated. Jenny waited until the screen showed the log in page, and entered her mother’s password.

“There you go, Mom,” she said. “Sorry I won’t have time to finish the dishes, I’ve got to get to work or they’ll fire me for being late.”

“Don’t worry about it honey, I’ll get them done while you’re gone. But they’d never fire you anyway,” her mother said, sitting back down in the chair. “They’ve got the best computer tech in the city.”

“Yes but if they got wind half my brilliance was magic they’d turn me over to the cops never mind fire me.”

She regretted saying that as soon as the words left her mouth. Her mother’s face instantly took on a worried look. She worried too much about her already.

“Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be fine,” she said, picking up the rucksack containing her lunch and work laptop and heading for the door. “I’ll see you around seven.”

***

After an uneventful journey to work (If you didn’t count being leered at by a drunken old man on the bus) Jenny entered the building at Company Eye and was nearly mown down by someone in a blue uniform.

“Watch it!” she said.

The blue uniform stopped and turned to face her. His face was incredibly pale.

“S..sorry,” he said, then stumbled away.

Jenny hurried to the fourth floor office she shared with Bob, the geriatric IT technician she was pretty sure hadn’t understood how any computer worked since the days of MS-DOS ended. She closed the door and whispered to Bob.

“What’s going on?”

“Cops are here, interviewing half the eighth floor. Everyone’s a bit worried,” Bob said.

“Seems like they’re more than a bit worried, Bob. What do they want anyway?” Jenny said.

“Don’t know. Could be anything.”

Jenny sat down at her desk, feeling suddenly faint. She barely remembered the last time the cops raided offices without warning. She’d been four when the government outlawed the use of magic, and eight when they decided to round up all the magicians. Her father’s last spell had been to hide Jenny from the police raid. He had been taken away in a police car after that. Nobody even knew if the magicians they’d taken were alive or dead.

They didn’t get everyone of course, parents managed to hide their children, first generation magicians convinced the police they didn’t have any magic to use. Some magicians even fled to other countries as refugees. That didn’t last long though. By the time Jenny was fourteen there were only eight countries in the world where being a magician was legal. By the time she was eighteen there were none.

The phone rang, jolting Jenny out of her reverie.

“Technical support,” she said. She listened to the voice on the other end of the phone for a minute and then said “I’ll be right there.”

“Hammond again?” Bob asked.

“Yep, computer is refusing to let him log in – again - even though he knows the password he’s using is correct – as usual.”

“Hammond’s an ass. Even his computer doesn’t like him.”

“Haha, good one Bob,” Jenny said, hoping she didn’t sound as half-hearted as she felt.

“Need me to do anything?” the old man asked.

“Nope, you just stay there and finish your crossword,” said Jenny.

It was their familiar dance. Bob was well aware that Jenny knew he wouldn’t have the first clue how to fix a computer. Jenny was well aware that Bob suspected she was a magician. Neither of them said anything about it to anyone. Even each other.

Hammond’s computer was fine. Jenny entered the password and it let her straight in. She promised to reset it and send him a new one that afternoon. She patted the monitor, sending magic coursing invisibly through the circuits, urging the computer to behave. Her magic could have strong opinions about people sometimes, and that did make things tricky. The magic surged back, sending her an image reel of endless game-playing and pictures of naked women. Jenny bit her tongue to stop herself making a comment. She sent soothing vibes back to the machine and felt it’s awareness dip back to more manageable levels.

“So, anyone heard what the cops are doing upstairs?” she asked brightly.

“I heard they’re after magicians,” said Hammond. “I’ve always suspected there was something not quite natural about that Brennan’s ability to predict the stock market.”

There was a snort from the next cubicle. “Just because Brennan’s better at his job than you doesn’t mean he’s a filthy magician.” The voice belonged to Ailsa Rhodes, a finance officer. “There’s been loads of health and safety inspections the last few weeks. Bet it’s that.”

Jenny wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t stay to find out why Ailsa was so sure it wasn’t a magician raid. She needed to get back to Bob.

The rest of the day was uneventful. The one minor fault that cropped up Jenny fixed remotely through her own laptop. No magic even needed, just some settings restored. She spent the day studying the stock market databases, looking for patterns she could pass on to her friends on the trading floor. Just before she and Bob packed up to leave for the day Ailsa Rhodes popped her head around the door.

“Did you hear?” said Ailsa. “Apparently the cops got a tip off that there’s a magician working here! I didn’t think there were any magicians left. They haven’t found them yet. Guess we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

“Oh!” said Jenny.

“You don’t sound very interested,” Ailsa said, almost pouting.

“Sorry Ailsa, long day.” Jenny forced a smile. “Perhaps we can talk about it over lunch tomorrow?”

Ailsa grinned and flounced off in the direction of the lifts. Jenny opted to take the stairs.

***

When Jenny arrived home she told her mom about the raid. Her mom started to cry.

“Don’t cry, Mom, it’ll be okay,” Jenny said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“It’s just, after your father … Oh don’t go in tomorrow, Jenny, stay at home with me until the raids are over.”

“I can’t, Mom, you know that If I don’t go in it’ll look like I’ve got something to hide. Besides Bob can’t fix a computer, if they find that out he’ll lose his job.”

“And if they find out about you? What will I do then?”

Jenny sat down opposite her mother at the kitchen table and took one of her hands. She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. They sat there like that for a long time, until, at last, Jenny got up to start making dinner.

Jenny barely slept for five minutes that night. Every time she did manage to fall asleep she’d be woken up by nightmares of her father being knocked down by the police, and dragged out of the house in handcuffs. She woke, sweating and panting, several times before giving up on sleep altogether and picking up a book.

***

The cops were still there when she arrived at work the next day. She said hello to Bob and waited for Hammond’s usual phone call. When it got to ten o clock and the phone hadn’t rung she decided Hammond’s computer must have cooperated and went to make a cup of coffee.

She walked the short way down the corridor to the little kitchenette shared by all forty seven employees on the fourth floor. When she reached the kitchen she caught a glimpse of a gleaming gun handle through the door. The cops had worked their way down to the fourth floor! She gasped and flattened herself against the wall. Had they seen her? Heard her? Surely they would have come out to investigate by now if they had.

Inching her way back down the corridor, Jenny winced at every creak of the floorboards. Any moment now she was sure the cops would come out of the kitchen and see her. Then what? What if they had magic detectors?

“Don’t be stupid Jenny there’s no such thing. If you weren’t behaving like a lunatic right now they’d have no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary,” she said under her breath.

Reaching the door to her office she opened it, slipped through and closed it again as quietly as she could. She peered out through the glass panel in the top half of the door, standing on tiptoes to be able to see properly.

“Everything alright?” said Bob.

She whirled around, hand flying to her chest.

“Bob! You scared me!” Jenny put her hands on her knees, doubling over like a sprinter after a race. “Everything’s fine the cops are just on this floor, that’s all.”

Jenny say down at her desk, flicked on the computer screen and studied the list of emails. Ten minutes later she still had no idea who any of them were from, let alone what they wanted. She heard the distinctive creak of the kitchen door opening and then footsteps approaching along the corridor.

As the footsteps grew closer Jenny’s hand trembled on her mouse. The footsteps paused outside the door, the door handle turned and the door opened a crack. Then there was a crackle of life in a hand held radio on the other side of the door.

“All operatives return to the main lobby, suspect has been apprehended.”

The door closed again, and for a few moments the office was silent apart from Jenny’s ragged breathing. Bob started to say something but was interrupted by the phone ringing. Still shaking, Jenny reached for the phone.

“I.T. support,” she said, her voice artificially cheery.

“Jenny?”

It was Ailsa.

“Yes, how can I help?”

“Look I’m just ringing to tell you – Hammond just got dragged away by the cops. He’s the magician! Isn’t that so weird?