Page 12 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“The notion that Ottoway Matchmakers is a high-end escort agency.”

Ravenna stared at her, horrified. “Absolutely not. I assure you my arrangement with Mr.Sweetwater will be handled in an entirely professional manner.”

“See to it,” Bernice snapped. “And make sure you produce a successful match for Mr.Sweetwater.”

“I’ll do my best, Ms.Ottoway.”

“Let me be clear, Ravenna. You are in charge of the Sweetwater account only because he insisted on having you as his matchmaker. He said you came highly recommended by a relative. Under normal circumstances I would never have assigned such an important client to you.You’re the newest, most inexperienced agent in this firm. Granted, you’ve had some initial success, but if you fail to come up with a successful match for Sweetwater, you will be placed on probation. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Ms.Ottoway.”

Bernice pivoted and left.

Ravenna looked at Harriet. “My life is getting complicated.”

Chapter Five

“Okay, this is not good,” Sybil Banks said. She brought the tunnel sled to a halt and climbed out from behind the wheel. “You’re telling me that if you don’t find a match for Mr.Impossible, you might lose your job?”

“Not exactly,” Ravenna said. “Ottoway informed me I would be put on probation.”

She got out on the other side of the sled. The vehicle was about the size of a golf cart and, at top speed, moved about as fast. Equipped with simple, low-powered amber engines—one of the few forms of technology that worked in the Underworld—tunnel sleds were the vehicles of choice when you wanted to move faster than a walk, cover long distances, or haul a load through the tunnels. The more sophisticated engines used to power cars, trucks, trains, and ships on the surface did not function in the heavy psi environment.

Sybil took hold of the rim on one side of the large kettle that sat in the back of the sled. “Think Ottoway is serious?”

“Yes.” Ravenna gripped the other side of the kettle. “Ms.Ottoway didn’t want to trust me with the Sweetwater match in the first place, but she had no choice. Now she’s desperate not to lose such an important client. Ready?”

“Yep,” Sybil said.

Together they hoisted the pot out of the sled and carried it down to the glowing quartz platform in the center of the chamber. Harriet, supervising from the dashboard of the small vehicle, chortled encouragement.

When they reached the round platform, they set the pot in the center. Ravenna removed the glass lid.

She and Sybil had discovered the strange Underworld chamber a couple of months earlier in the course of an exploratory hike through some of the tunnels directly under the Dark Zone neighborhood.

There was no way to know how the Aliens had utilized the spacious room, but with its high ceiling, stadium-like seating, and circular stage in the center, it looked so much like a human-engineered theater-in-the-round that it was difficult to think of it as having been used in any other fashion. It seemed logical that any intelligent, creative species needed some form of storytelling, and there was no doubt but that the long-vanished Aliens had been extremely intelligent and very creative.

Technically, she and Sybil should not be down here on their own. Private ventures into the catacombs that were undertaken without security provided by the Ghost Hunters Guild were strongly discouraged, but everyone knew they took place all the time. There were a number of reasons why people went down into the Underworld minus a security team, not the least of which was that hiring Guild escorts was expensive.

A lot of off-the-books forays were made by indie prospectors hoping to discover a cache of priceless Alien artifacts or a vein of some rare amber or quartz. If they got lucky they had every reason to keep thecoordinates of the find a secret until they had registered the claim and figured out how to make it pay off. The last thing the indies wanted to do was alert the Guild. Rumors spread fast in the mining business. There was a long history of incredible discoveries in the Underworld, and an equally long history of claim jumping.

There were other reasons why individuals headed into the maze of tunnels. Some went below for the thrill of the experience. The paranormal currents were strong and unpredictable. Most people got a pleasant little psychic buzz from the atmosphere, but some individuals experienced profound terror, and others became dangerously intoxicated.

And then there were those who found the lure of the ancient ruins irresistible because it allowed them to exercise their talents to the max.People like us,Ravenna thought. She and Sybil had begun their private expeditions into the tunnels shortly after they had become friends. That had happened when Ravenna registered at Sybil’s boutique—translation: one-person—matchmaking agency.When it comes to Covenant Marriage, you can bank on Banks.

“Everyone knows some clients are extremely difficult to match,” Sybil said. “That goes double if the client is a high-end talent, which, according to you, is the case with Ethan Sweetwater.”

“No doubt about it,” Ravenna said.

Sybil’s brows rose. “Are you still certain he’s just an engineering talent?”

“That’s what he put down on the questionnaire. It was one of the few questions he answered. There’s no reason not to believe him. The Sweetwaters have been mining and conducting research and development on amber for several decades. It makes sense the members of the family would have a talent for tech.”

“And you’re still sure he’s stable?”

“Yes. That’s not just my opinion. Ms.Ottoway and I both agree Sweetwater appears stable.”

“Powerful auras are usually very hard to assess when it comes to a para-psych profile. I’ve met one or two talents who are so strong they can shield the unstable frequencies.”

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