It was about a quarter past noon on Friday and once again I had the office to myself. Jason spent a couple hours behind his desk in the morning, before heading out to a 'lunch meeting'. And when he left he said not to expect him back this afternoon.

He claimed he was 'networking' and 'building customer relationships' but I found it hard not to imagine he had something else in mind. For one thing he'd been going on about how it was finally golf weather. And it was a Friday after all. When you didn't have to punch a clock it was kind of tempting to make every weekend into a three-day weekend.

And even if he was 'networking' I could easily imagine that was the sort of thing that could take place in a bar. Or on the links. Or the bar next to the pro shop, that Jason referred to as the nineteenth hole.

On the other hand Erin's absence was a lot more worrying. She claimed everything was fine and she was just taking some personal time, but I couldn't help feeling like there was something serious she wasn't telling me.

Since her appointment Tuesday afternoon she'd only been in the office for a half day yesterday. She made another very brief appearance this morning, but she was only here long enough to give me the keys to her SUV. She knew I had a couple showings this afternoon, but I didn't have my own car yet so she offered to loan me hers.

Fortunately before I could get too distracted by concerns about my boss the office door swung open and a few clients came in. I recognized two of them, the purple-haired Violet Andersen and her mother from that sale Jason made on Tuesday to the Goddess Artemis. The third person however was new to me. Instead of Violet's father there was another teen girl accompanying them. This one was a bit taller than Violet, and her hair was dyed green.

"Hello again Violet, Mrs. Andersen," I greeted them. Then I added to the third girl, "And hello to you as well."

The purple-haired teen didn't seem as overwhelmed today, but the way she and the green-haired girl were looking at each other made it pretty clear the two were a couple. Or if they weren't yet, then they probably would be soon.

"Hello," Mrs. Anderson greeted me back. Then she apologized, "I'm sorry I don't think we got your name on Tuesday. Is Mr. McTavish in?"

I did my best to keep the polite smile in place, but I was positive they still thought I was Jason's assistant.

"I'm Vikki Lawrence," I responded. "And I'm afraid Jason couldn't be here at the moment, but he left the keys with me to pass along to you."

I pulled the small manilla envelope out of my desk drawer then handed it to Violet, since she was the owner.

"Thanks," the teen mumbled as she tucked the envelope into her purse. Then she hesitated, "Do we need to sign anything? Or is there a receipt or something?"

"Nope that's it," I smiled. "Your representative took care of everything else, so the place is all yours."

She seemed a little underwhelmed by that, which I could sympathize with. After all the paperwork and bureaucracy on Tuesday, a few keys in an envelope seemed a little anti-climactic.

"Thank you Miss Lawrence," the teen's mother said. Then she gestured towards the door, and the two younger girls turned and headed away with the older woman trailing behind.

I gave them another smile as they left, "Have a nice day!"

After they were gone I focused on my computer again, answering emails and updating some information on a few of our listings while I waited for my next appointment. That wasn't for another hour, but it seemed like my clients were very punctual as they arrived right on time.

They were a pair of middle-aged women, I'd guess both were in their early- to mid-forties. The one on the left with the short black hair was dressed all in black, from her blouse to her slacks to her ankle boots. The only exceptions were a pink blue and white charm she wore hanging from a black leather cord around her neck, her silver-coloured pentacle earrings, and the silver-coloured wedding band on her ring finger. The woman on the right had wavy shoulder length auburn hair, she was wearing a long pleated dark-brown skirt and a taupe t-shirt and had some well-worn sneakers on her feet. Her earrings and necklace were rainbow coloured, and she had a gold band around her ring finger.

"Hello," I greeted them both. "Welcome to Rhodes Real Estate, how may I help you?"

The pair approached my desk and the raven-haired woman asked, "Are you Vikki Lawrence? We have an appointment for half past one."

"I'm Olivia Summers," the other woman added. "And this is my wife, Hazel."

I replied with friendly smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you both. And yes, I'm Vikki. Why don't you both have a seat? Can I offer you something to drink? Water, tea, coffee, soda?"

It took a few minutes to get all that sorted out, and also gave me the opportunity to memorize their names so I wouldn't get them confused. Hazel was the gothy witchy ravenette who preferred her coffee with one cream one sweetener, Olivia was the earthy auburn with the rainbows who took her tea with half a spoonful of sugar.

Once everyone had something to drink and we were all seated around my desk I pulled up the appropriate file on my computer. Then I began, "So according to your emails, you two are looking for a larger home on some farmland? Or at least something with acreage and out-buildings, rather than a city-sized plot?"

"You also mentioned a converted farmhouse as a possibility," I added. "Or that you'd be willing to do some of the conversion work yourselves?"

Hazel had a sip of her coffee then nodded, "In terms of the land we're primarily interested in space and privacy. We're not necessarily looking to become farmers ourselves, but obviously farms do tend to have a lot of room."

Her wife added, "You mentioned something about that in your emails, Vikki? Regarding taxes I believe?"

I nodded, "Owning a working farm comes with a few tax benefits. Probably the biggest one in your case would be property tax? Farms are taxed at a much lower rate, and that can make a significant difference if you're talking about several dozen acres or more."

"That doesn't mean you have to do the farming yourselves," I continued. "In your case you can make a deal with a local farmer, who'd 'rent' a percentage of your land. The rental is almost always a token amount, it wouldn't be an actual revenue source for you. The real benefit to you would be the reduction in property taxes. The only real drawback is you'd have the farmer coming onto your property with his equipment now and then, to tend his crops or livestock. But I'm sure you could coordinate that with him, so you'd know what to expect."

After a sip of my water I added, "That's assuming you went that route of course. We have contact information for a few farmers who'd be interested in those sorts of arrangements, but it all comes down to your needs and requirements, and your comfort level."

The two women exchanged a glance, then Olivia responded "Basically we just don't want neighbours overlooking the area around our new home. Not that we're antisocial and don't want neighbours, I'm sure we'll get to know the people around us soon enough. But there will be times when we want our privacy, and not having to worry about our house and yard being overlooked by the folks next door would be ideal."

The witchy one continued, "Liv and I aren't opposed to doing some upgrade work ourselves. I know my way around power tools and she's a wiz with paints and stains and all those finishing touches. Having said that, if we're looking at having to do that work ourselves we'd expect to see that reflected in rather favourable pricing up-front."

"Mhmm," the earthy woman nodded in agreement.

"Of course," I responded. "And I note your emails also specified you'd want the property to have a minimum of three bathrooms, between the upstairs and downstairs."

Olivia nodded, "That's a must. Neither Hazel or I want to be running downstairs in the middle of the night if we need to use the facilities. And there'll be times we have several guests over for a day or two, or even a weekend or more, so a single washroom just won't do."

"That's also why we need a larger home," the witchy woman added. "We'll be hosting as many as a dozen guests on a fairly regular basis, and we'll want them all to be comfortable."

I nodded, "Of course. You have a rather large family I take it?"

Hazel smiled as she shook her head, "Not at all. It's really only just Olivia and I? The regular guests would be the rest of our coven, coming over to celebrate the Sabbats and Esbats."

"Hon!" the earthy woman stated in an exasperated tone. "What did I tell you about that? We don't want to scare the poor girl off!"

The witchy one rolled her eyes, "Oh relax Liv. She's here to help us find our new home, better that she knows all our needs up-front. And Vikki doesn't strike me as the sort of person to care that we're witches."

By that point I couldn't help wondering if Hazel and Olivia were actual supernatural witches with access to real magic, or if they were the new-age wiccan kind who were more about worshiping nature and frolicking under the moon and stuff.

Not that I knew for sure there was a difference, or even that real supernatural spell-casting witches were actually a thing. But based on what I'd already learned and experienced in the last few months I kind of assumed there were real witches out there. And that we probably had more than our fair share living here in and around town.

So with that in mind I gave my clients another polite friendly smile, "It's fine. And Hazel has a point, the more I know about your specific requirements the better I'll be able to help you find your ideal new home."

"And on that note I do have a couple properties lined up to show you this afternoon," I continued. "I think they'll meet all your requirements, and should fit within the budget you specified in your emails."

Olivia smiled back, "That sounds great. Hazel and I are both excited to see what you have for us."

As the three of us finished our drinks there was a brief discussion about cars and driving. Basically would they both ride with me, or would I ride with them, or should we take two cars and they'd follow me to the different properties.

In the end they agreed to ride along with me, since nobody wanted to waste fuel taking two cars and it didn't make sense for me to ride with them when I knew where the various properties were located.

When we were all ready I rinsed out the mugs and left them in the break-room sink, then locked up the office and led the two women over to Erin's luxury SUV. They had another very brief debate about seating, before Hazel got into the passenger seat while Olivia sat in the back.

It took us about fifteen minutes to reach the first location, and during that time we talked a bit more about the general area, the town, local amenities, that sort of thing. I also learned that they were currently living in a suburb just west of Toronto, and that Hazel worked with computers while Olivia was an author.

That led to their next question, as the ravenette asked "What kind of internet connection can we expect out here? That was one of our requirements, especially if I want to work from home."

I grimaced, "Obviously it's not going to be as great as what you'd get in the city, but I did look into that when I was figuring out what properties to show you. Cable is still hit or miss in some of the more rural farms, but they can all get DSL. In terms of raw bandwidth, I'm told it's going to be about the level you'd have had in the city a decade ago."

Hazel winced, "Unfortunate, but understandable."

I honestly had no idea what to expect of the two witches when we got to the first property. Like would they get out crystals and start meditating, would they be casting spells or consulting with spirits, or would they start talking about the 'energy flow' the way that fae did in Erin's story the other day.

Instead what actually happened was a lot more mundane and down to earth. Olivia got out her phone and started taking plenty of pictures, while Hazel dug a rugged old carpenters' tape measure out of her purse so she could get some accurate measurements. The pair asked plenty of relevant questions, and took notes of various details.

In all it was a busy afternoon, since I had a total of four places to show them. The only one they dismissed out of hand was the most expensive property of the group. It was just outside their target price range on the high end, but the reason they didn't even want to give it a serious look was actually because of the golf course across the street.

"Not that we have anything in particular against the sport," Olivia explained as I turned the SUV around. "But we've had some unfortunate incidents with the sorts of people who obsess over it."

My thoughts immediately drifted back to my coworker Jason. I nodded and gave her a sympathetic smile as I replied, "Oh I totally understand that Olivia."

It was nearly five o'clock when we finally got back to the office, after almost three hours of driving and touring farms and looking at farmhouses and outbuildings. The couple had been fairly ambivalent about two of the properties, but I had a feeling the last one caught their eye.

It was about a ten kilometre drive south-west of town, right in the middle of their desired price range, and with a good blend of their required features. The farmhouse was a decent size and in fairly good condition. There was a large workshop / shed / garage on the property, and the barn had been rebuilt fairly recently too.

And most telling of all, the two of them spent the entire drive back to the office discussing it, and all the little improvements and upgrades they wanted to make.

"Thanks very much Vikki," Hazel said as we all emerged from the SUV. "Olivia and I need to talk some more, and we'll probably want to sleep on it before making any decisions. Do you work at all on the weekends? If we wanted to reach out to you tomorrow would that be ok?"

Olivia added, "We're actually staying in town tonight, we've a room at the hotel just off the highway at Main Street."

I smiled, "Of course! You have my contact information, just email or give me a call."

The two witches thanked me again, and as they got into their car and headed away I felt fairly confident that our strange little town would soon be home to a coven of witches. Or perhaps another coven of witches, I wouldn't be surprised if we already had one or two.

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