Natalie

         Ding. The elevator doors slide open and I rush inside in relief. I lean against the wall, clutching the railing like a lifeline, and breathe. Twenty-two seconds. Twenty-two seconds of peaceful quiet, relaxation before the craziness begins. Twenty-two seconds. That’s how long this elevator takes to reach the top floor. It’s old and it’s slow, but I’m okay with that. I need every second to breathe I can get.

         I hit the numbered button indicating my floor. It lights up and the doors start to close.

         Just breathe. Don’t think. Don’t worry about all the stuff you have to get done today. Just enjoy having the elevator all to yourself for once—

         Ugh. Spoke too soon. Someone juts their arm through the sloooowly closing doors. Seriously! Why is this elevator so old and slow?! Why?!

         The door opens, again. Ugh. So much for my peaceful twenty-two seconds! I might as well start worrying that the shipment of newts’ eyes hasn’t arrived yet and the—no, no, no. This is my time.

         “Thanks! I’d hate to be late!” the intruder says.

         I glance at him. Ugh. The star-studded robes. The comically pointed midnight blue hat. And that staff… The red wire wrapped around it clearly marks him as a wizard-in-training. An apprentice. Apprentices are so annoying. They’re always so stuck up and they’re show-offs. I should know. My boss has three.

         So I ignore the wizard-in-training. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t care about whatever he wants to say.

         I need to breathe right now! Before I go into her domain and my crazy busy day begins!

         The doors slowly start to close again.

         “Oh hey! I’m going to the top floor too! Do you work there?”

         Nope. Not talking to him. Ugh! I just want my peace and quiet!

         “Hold the elevator!” Ugh! No! I guess it’s both a blessing and a curse, since now I don’t have to pointedly ignore the wizard (in training), but I have to share my breathing room and time with even more…

         Oh no. The overwhelming tang of hot copper feels the small space. The newcomer, a middle-age breeder from the looks of it, is carrying two cat-sized copper dragons. Their cage bumps into me as she turns around in the small space.

         “Sorry!” She’s waaaay too cheerful for how early it is. And for how crazy today is going to be. Madame has fourteen appointments today, and I still haven’t gotten those reservations at the Goblin Goblet for this weekend, and I pray that new shipment of newts’ eyes has arrived, otherwise Madame’s personal potion production will be down, and that always makes her mad.

         She has three apprentices, two unpaid interns, and seven full-time staff members (besides me); you’d think that at least one of them could see to the shipment of potion ingredients! Instead of me!

         And now, I’m going to smell like copper all day.

         “Ooh, are you guys heading up to Madame Sybil’s floor too? I breed copper dragons—the finest in the land, and I’m sure she’d love to see them!”

         Yeah, way too cheerful.

         “Dragons!’ The wizard-in-training gets excited. I try not to groan. They launch into a discussion of dragons, the uses of their cast-off scales in potions, powdered scales versus whole, and the pros and cons of using dragon fire instead of regular fire.

         They’re speaking so fast, I can’t interject and try to explain to the bouncy breeder that Madame already has all the suppliers she needs, and she only accepts ingredients from the oldest and most reputable sources. That’s one of the reasons she’s the best witch in the city.

         But they don’t let me interrupt, so I won’t save this dragon-lady a trip and time. Eh. It’s her time to waste.

         And I’m wasting mine. My precious few seconds to get mentally prepared for the stressful day ahead of me. Bedlam, the black cat that is Madame’s familiar—not her real familiar, mind you; her real familiar is a red and brown hamster named Milly, but Madame believes in tradition, and besides people expects witches to have a black cat, so it’s just better for business—

         And I lost my train of thought. Oh right. Bedlam. He has to go to the vet today for those shots… Maybe I can send one of the interns. Unless Madame already has plans to send them on random errands to hex people she doesn’t like, or dance with signs for advertising, or get her more coffee.

         (Witches don’t drink coffee traditionally. And since Madame has an image to keep up, we have to get her coffee on the sly. That’s why I don’t bring it to her. That’s always an intern’s job. They sneak it up the service elevator.)

         Oh bedknobs and broomsticks! I forgot about the broomsticks! Technically, apprentices are in charge of the care of brooms, but Madame says I actually get the bristles clean all the way, so…

         No. Not now. Forget all about that for two seconds. Ignore those two, loud, obnoxious morons debating—ugh—dragon saliva. Really?

         No. Just breathe.

         The elevator jerks to a stop. The lights flicker out. We all shriek, even the wizard (in training) and especially the dragons.

         “What’s happening?” the dragon-lady shouts.

         I clutch the railing. Even the emergency lights are off. The only light comes from the dragons’ bursts of flame and the wizard’s staff. “Must be a power outage.” Ugh. The weather forecast did say something about the possibility of high winds brought on by a rampaging wind elemental upstate and warned everyone to stay grounded and off their brooms, carpets, and pegasi.

         “So we’re stuck here?”

         “Looks like it!” The wizard says cheerfully. Why am I surrounded by such cheerful people today? “But maybe not for long. I think I have a spell!”

         “A spell you know well? Have you mastered this spell?” If not… well, there’s a reason wizard apprenticeships last so long.

         Even in the flickering light—dragons are always inconsistent—I can see his annoyed look.

         “Of course! I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t know it. It’s just a simple teleportation spell.”

         “Stupendous!” And, the dragon breeder is cheerful again. Great. “Get us out of here! I can’t stand small, dark spaces.” Even that statement sounds cheerful, albeit forced.

         “Maybe we should just wait for the power to come back on. Or call for help.” I’m already pulling out my phone. Ugh. No service. Witches’ magic really doesn’t mix well with mobile technology. Wait, don’t elevators have that emergency line? “I really think we should wait on the whole magic thing.”

         They don’t listen to me. Ugh. He raises his staff and starts doing that weird wizard chanting thing. Call me biased, but I do prefer witches’ spells.

         “Wait!” I grab the staff, stopping him from pounding it on the floor and completing the spell. “Maybe you should test it. On just yourself. While I call for help.”

         His whole face lights up like he hadn’t thought of that. “You’re right! A good wizard always tests spells first. I’ll be back for you in a jiffy!”

         “Wonderful! Oh, this is fabulous!”

         “Take your time.” Seriously. Don’t come back. I’d rather use the emergency line.

         Before I get a chance to do anything, he does his spell. The elevator ripples with magical blue light, and for a second, it looks like it’s working. The wizard goes all shimmery and shiny, and lifts into the air.

         Then he crashes down to the ground, shaking the whole elevator and making everything worse.

         I let the dragon breeder look after him. I’m going to actually do something.

         I push the button on the emergency line and spend a few minutes talking with a dispatcher. Apparently, the windstorm knocked over a few power lines, so half the city is out of power. Also, they can’t just fix it, sigh, because there’s a rampaging hydra downtown.

         So we’re stuck.

         Dragon-lady is not happy with that news. Neither is wizard-boy, but he hides it better.

         And I have my own problems! I can’t call Madame and explain why I’m late. If she is brewing potions or casting spells, or gazing into her crystal ball, she might not even notice the power is out. But she’ll still expect me to be right there, ready with whatever she needs.

         Ugh. She’s going to be so mad!

         “Well, since we’re stuck here for a while… Maybe I can get us some more light!” He casts the spell before I can even attempt a protest.

         Once again, the blue light emulates from the staff, only this time it rises up and settles on the ceiling. Huh. That’s actually kind of nice. It’s much brighter than the dragons’ fire—and steadier.

         “That’s just fabulous!”

         “Thanks,” I say.

         “So…” dragon-lady starts. Seriously, can’t these people be quiet for even a moment? “What’s your names? I’m Patricia. These are Dalinda and Kayda.” She points at each dragon in turn.

         “Ralph. Nice to meet you.”

         Ugh. Eh, what else can I do? “I’m Natalie.”

         “So, Ralph how long have you been in wizard training?” Dragon-lady, er, uh, Patricia asks.

         “Oh, about six months, when my magic manifested. Before that, I was finishing up my Master’s in Computer Science.”

         “Cool. I have a daughter in grad school,” Patricia says. “She loves every minute of it, but she’s always so stressed out.

         “Yeah, it’s fun, and I’m glad I did it, but magic is better.”

         “What about you, Natalie? What do you do?”

         Ugh. My turn. “I’m Madame Sybil’s personal assistant.”

         Uh-huh. Thought that might surprise them.

         “Wow, really? That’s cool.” It takes Ralph a minute to say anything. He’s too surprised. I don’t look like I should be the P.A. for a witch. I wear pastels for crying out loud. I secretly want to be a photographer, but I didn’t find that out until after I’d graduated, and I’m not sure I want to go back to school to learn photography. I do take photos, but only in my spare time.

         “Yeah, she’s the best witch in the whole city. You must really like working for her.”

         I shrug. “It’s a job.”

         Somehow she hears more than I’m saying. “It’s not what you wanted to do, is it?”

         “Eh. I graduated in business. I didn’t really know what to do, but I’m starting to think I want to learn photography.”

         “Why don’t you?”

         I shrug. “It’s a terrible job market right now. I’m really lucky to have this job, and it’d be difficult to get back on track, career-wise, if I started over at school. Besides, this job pays well, even if everything else is insane. What about you, Ralph? What do you want to do once your wizard training is done?”

         He shrugs. “Honestly, I’ll probably specialize in dragons. Or charms. Or possibly even curses.” He laughs. “No, I’m just joking. Point is, there are so many possibilities, you know?”

         “You should totally go with dragons. They’re great. I can’t imagine life without my darlings. I’ve been working with dragons ever since I was a girl, but I’ve only recently been able to get my own flock. That’s why I’m here. If I can land a contract with Madame Sybil, then I’m set.”

         Somehow, we fall into easy conversation. We talk about everything. The dragons, Ralph’s training, my job. I learn that Patricia has three kids and her first grandkid is on the way. Ralph is going on vacation to see his sister out on the coast in two weeks. I learn that Patrica spent nearly twenty-five years in a dead-end job before finally realizing her dream of dragon breeding. I come to the conclusion that I do want to really try photography, if it doesn’t work out in the end, well, then at least I tried.

         I’m not sure how we got on the topic, but Patricia tells me that newt eyes suppliers are always after duplication potions, to make more slugs for their newts, so if I offer them some, then they’ll always make sure each shipment arrives on time.

         The elevator hums to life. All the lights come on, freaking out the dragons, but we cheer. After a rumble and a shake, the elevator starts up again.

         I check my phone. Wow. We’ve been here for over an hour. Wow, how did that happen? It doesn’t feel like time’s passed much at all.

         The elevator doors open. We all rush out and laugh.

         “Are there stairs here, Natalie?” Patricia asks once she’s caught her breath.

         “Yeah, Patricia. Right over there. I’ll probably take them for the next while. I think I’ve had enough of that elevator to last me a lifetime.”

         Patricia laughs. “Let’s not do this again. We should definitely chat again, but preferably somewhere with chairs.”

         “Agreed.”

         She heads towards the stairs. “Patricia? Aren’t you going to talk to my boss about your dragons?”

         She shakes her head. “Oh no, not today. I need to get these little darlings home. They’ve had a long day. So have I.”

         “Me too.” And it’s only going to get longer. Eh. It is what it is. Tomorrow is another day. For both of us. “I’ll speak to Madame about your dragons, Patricia, I can’t guarantee anything, but I'll talk to her.”

         “Oh, that’s terrific. Thanks, Natalie. Here’s my card. She can reach me at that number there. Let me know how your photography goes. Send me some photos.”

         “Sure thing. Bye, Patricia.”

         “Buh-bye!”

         I can hear the chaos inside the office. Time to get in there, but first…

         “Wow. It sounds pretty wild in there. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow too,” Ralph says.

         Something breaks inside the office. “That might be wise.”

         “Good luck in there.”

         “Here.” I hand him one of Madame’s cards. I always carry some. “Madame doesn’t like answering phones, so that’s my personal line on there. We should talk sometime.”

         He grins, like the overly cheerful idiot that he is. “Sounds good to me.”