“So what’s up?” I asked him.
“Well,” he said, pulling a slim laptop from his briefcase. “I’ve actually come with good news this time.”
“Really? That’s a first.”
“Yes, I know. But I really thought you should see this. I wanted to show you in person.” He clicked a few buttons and then turned the computer to face me. Zack Zimmerman, a weatherman and recent client of mine, appeared on the screen.
I watched a minute-long clip of Zack’s weather report. At the end, he gave a brief shout-out to me. “…I wanted to give a huge thanks to Dr. Olive Kennedy. Without her, I wouldn’t be here giving you this forecast today. Have a great weekend, everyone.”
The video ended.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s it.”
“No offense, but really? I mean, it’s nice that he thanked me, but couldn’t you have just texted me the link or something?”
“Ah, yes, but you see, that was only the beginning. Here, watch this one.” He clicked a few more buttons before spinning the screen to face me. Zack Zimmerman appeared on the screen once again in an interview with a local news anchor, Tracy McKennick.
“I didn’t believe in Fairy World at first either,” Zack said, “but when I started having all those symptoms Dr. Kennedy talked about, I knew there had to be something to it. I mean, I was having real problems, things that affected my life. I didn’t want to live anymore.”
“What changed?” Tracy asked.
“Well, Dr. Kennedy helped me. She didn’t just give me pills and tell me to deal with it—she actually cured me. She showed me the truth of my past. I guess that’s what I want people to understand. Sure, her claims are hard to believe at first, but once you understand what she’s offering, she’ll make a difference in your life. She did in mine.”
The video clip ended. “Look at this,” Dr. Hill said. “This is what I really wanted to show you. Look how many views.” He scrolled down and pointed to a number on the screen. My mouth gaped.
“Half a million views? Are you serious?”
“Yes, and this was just posted a few weeks ago.”
My head spun. I’d being struggling to find clients for years. More importantly, I’d wanted people to take me seriously. It was finally happening. And the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“I haven’t even told you the best news yet,” Dr. Hill said. “This morning, I opened my email to find almost three hundred requests for your services. That’s phenomenal, Olive. Unheard of, really. It’s certainly never happened before.”
“Wow. I’m sort of speechless.”
“I thought you might be.” He closed his laptop with a click, then looked up at me. “When can I schedule the first session? You’re going to be very busy, so I thought we should start scheduling appointments now.”
“Oh.” My heart sank. “See, the thing is, I’m going out of the country again. I’m leaving tonight.”
“Tonight?”
I nodded.
“But you can’t leave now.”
“I know, but I have to. If I don’t leave now, really bad things will happen.”
“What sort of things?”
I cleared my throat. “Like world-ending things.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m really sorry, but I can’t do this. I have to go, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. Possibly never.”
“Olive, you can’t be serious.”
“I wish I weren’t.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand. Getting clients and sorting out this business has been your only goal since I met you. You’re more determined and focused than anyone I’ve ever worked with before. You’ve worked too hard just to quit now.”
“I’m not quitting. You’re right. I’m determined to see my clients get the help they need, no matter what, but some things are more important.” Like stopping that asteroid.
Silence filled the room.
“Well,” Dr. Hill said. “This certainly comes as a surprise.” I heard the disappointment in his voice. “You know how important this is, and not just for your career, but for all those people out there who need help—the kind of help only you can give them.”
“I know.”
“Is there any way I can convince you to reconsider?”
“No, not right now. But I’ll do my best to be back soon. I promise.” I wasn’t sure why I’d said it. Maybe if I believed it enough, it would come true.
“Olive, is this really you? I thought you would have been elated. How can you leave now?”
“It’s not my first choice, believe me. You have no idea how much I want to help them all, but I must leave. I really don’t have a choice.”
“There’s nothing I can say to convince you otherwise?”
I shook my head.
He studied my face, as if he wanted to question me further. Instead, he stood. “Then I’ll wait for you to return. I can’t say that I’m not disappointed. Please do hurry back.”
“I’ll do my best.”
He gave me a curt nod, and then left the apartment without another word, shutting the door quietly behind him. I stared after him, feeling my stomach grow sour. What I’d wanted for my entire adult life had happened, and I’d just said no. The irony was enough to make me sick.
I stood and crossed into the kitchen, trying to distract myself with something else. It had the opposite effect. Trying to put our conversation out of my mind only made me think about it more. Curse my rotten timing. One day, I would get things right. Once I did, the only thing I would have left to complain about would be the hairballs Han left on the carpet.
Three-hundred potential clients. That was at least triple the previous clients I’d had. Ever.
So far today, I’d failed to find a solution for stopping a massive asteroid and doomed three-hundred people to continue living lives full of misery. I was tempted to ask what else could go wrong, but I knew better. Rotten luck seemed to be my fate, which brought me back to one conclusion about today’s events… Fate sucked.
Chapter 2
Night came too
