A Farewell to Charms by Lindsey Leavitt Page A

miraculously recovered.”
    “Hey, Vanna?” I said. “You should tell your parents that you want to work for the government.”
    She rolled her eyes. “So they can tell me no? If they even listen in the first place. No, thanks.”
    “But they might say yes. And being a royal doesn’t have to hurt you—it can help you. Look at what you were able to do today with a sub. You might be able to find a role with your government that no one else can fill but you. Think about it.”
    “I will.” Vanna snapped her fingers. “Oh, and you got a text or something on that manual thing while I was using it. I hope I didn’t accidentally erase it.”
    When Vanna left, I took an extra minute to finish off the candy bar and decompress. This had been the most action-packed sub job yet, and I loved it. Being on the job made it hard to think about what I could lose if I crossed Façade. What if I could find a way to keep my job and still make changes? Wouldn’t that be awesome? I’d love to see what other spy training Vanna had in store.
    I brushed my hands on my jeans and opened the new e-mail. It was not a message I’d been expecting.
The Façade Agency
Cordially invites you to the Council Restructuring Declaration
An open discussion forum and celebratory reception will immediately follow the announcement.
Invitation required for admission
    Awesome. Maybe that’s what Meredith had been doing at Façade—pulling strings to get me an official invitation to her promotion. I scrolled through my manual to my bubble app, and my personal magical orb poured right out. I lifted myself out of the wheelchair and hopped inside.
    “Hello, Desi,” Daisy chirped. “Your destination is set at home.”
    There were crutches conveniently perched next to my fluffy red chair. Daisy was the best. Too bad she hadn’t thrown in an energy bar to follow up that chocolate I’d swiped. I was going to need the extra jolt before this meeting.
    “Change my destination to Façade, Daisy. I need to go back to Façade.”

I did a little research while Daisy whisked me over to Façade. The exclusive guest list included a sprinkling of agents and only a very select number of Level Threes. In fact, subs had never been invited to a restructuring event. There was a thread going on in the chat room, filled with speculation about why we were invited. The theories ranged from promotions to a new agency branch, but no one seemed to know for sure. The big mystery was the open discussion forum. They hadn’t held such a meeting in decades. And I was barely a Level Three. Was this all Meredith’s doing, or did Genevieve want me there for another reason?
    Daisy dropped me off smack in the crowded dining area of Dorshire Hall. Nearly every one of the dozens of onlookers had multicolored hair, a sign that they were agents or council members. Or another department, I guess. I didn’t know which employees were granted Hair-Dye Rights. There were more men then I’d ever seen here as well—some council members I recognized from my trial with the Court of Royal Appeals, but others were undoubtedly agents who worked for Specter.
    In the sea of rainbow dos, I spotted Reed’s dark hair and tall frame. He looked dazed as he peered up at the gallery of Façade historical portraits sloping up the vaulted ceiling. I’m sure I looked the same way when I saw those paintings the first time Genevieve shared some of Façade’s history with me. But looking at the pictures now, I couldn’t help but be cynical. Which one of those employees invented sub-sanitation? Who decided that subs shouldn’t be friends? Why was magic only accessible to royals?
    Reed spotted me and gave a quick nod. Now would actually be a perfect time for us to finish our talk—it was not like anyone would pay attention to our conversation with so much going on.
    But before I could make my way over to Reed, Meredith sidled up to me and threw an arm over my shoulder. I swayed a little, catching myself on my