Free Trial by Fire (Covencraft Book 1) by Margarita Gakis Page A

as she trailed after Callie and Paris, up the stone steps and into the building.
    It was surprisingly modern on the inside with bright lights and a circular front reception desk. The desk dominated the middle of the marble foyer and there was a young man sitting behind it, talking on the phone. He looked up quickly at Paris.
    “Got to go,” he rasped into the phone. “She’s here!”
    He slammed the phone down and sat up straighter in his chair, fluffing his out of control hair. It was about as subtle as a brick through a window. Jade glanced over at Callie and saw her smiling fondly. Paris had an amused look on his face, like those generally reserved for clumsy puppies that ate your guests’ shoes - slightly embarrassing, but still kind of cute.
    “Henri,” Paris said in greeting. “Working late?”
    Henri grinned. “I wasn’t about to leave until you showed up,” he said quickly, leaning off to his left quite obviously attempting to get a better look at the newcomer. “Marcus wants you to call him.”
    “Marcus can wait. Is Dr. Gellar still here?”
    “Yes, she said she would wait for you to arrive.”
    “Would you let her know we’re on our way up?”
    “Yes, of course,” Henri said, glancing quickly up at Paris and then back at Jade. It was obvious he was dying for an introduction and Paris didn’t disappoint him.
    “Jade,” he said, turning toward her. “This is Henri, Henri, this is-”
    “I cannot believe I am the first person in the Coven to meet you,” Henri interrupted as he leaned up and over his desk, shoving his hand past Paris and in front of Jade for a handshake. She started slightly and then gave it a good grip. “I am the first person you’ve met right?” Henri added quizzically.
    “Seeing as I just walked in, yes,” Jade replied. Again she thought of a puppy as she regarded him. He was all excitable energy and enthusiasm, his dark eyes shining as he met her.
    “Unreal!” he exclaimed. “I was just talking to my boyfriend on the phone and I was saying how I thought you would be here any minute and now, here you are!”
    “Here I am,” she repeated. He was still pumping her hand up and down in a vigorous handshake when she pulled it free with a slight tug.
    “Unreal!” he said again. “Do you know, we’ve all been dying to see you? This is the most exciting thing to happen to the Coven since Jolene set her own house on fire. She wasn’t in it at the time, thank God, but whoa, what a scene. But now there’s you! It’s been all very cryptic, you know. Very hush-hush. No one knows a damned thing about you, really. Except you’re very neat.”
    “Neat?” she asked.
    “You know. Tidy.”
    “What?!” she glanced from Henri to Callie to Paris, who wore equally matching confused faces, and back again.
    “My boyfriend Daniel knows someone in Accounting who is dating someone who works with Nick, who’s Callie’s boyfriend and he said that he overheard Callie on the speakerphone with Nick and Callie said that the only thing that Paris had said about you was that you were very neat. Is it true?”
    Jade gave her head a little shake. “What?” she repeated again.
    Henri took a big breath, about to explain again how he had come by that little tidbit of information, but Paris cut him off.
    “Henri,” he said with his impressive tone. “Dr. Gellar?”
    “Right,” Henri said with a slight flick of his hand. “I’ll tell her you’re on your way.”
    Paris placed his hand on Jade’s arm and gave her a slight pull to follow him. She let herself be led off to the left, circling around the welcome desk. Jade could hear Henri paging Dr. Gellar on the phone and then, seconds later, he was back on it with his boyfriend giving him all the dirt on her arrival, down to what she was wearing. Callie fell into step with Jade as they started up a large, sweeping staircase that climbed ten steps before it reached a landing, splitting there into two separate staircases, one for either