I sighed to myself as I responded to yet another email asking if the Kovalenko property was still available. The place turned out to be a lot more popular than any run-down two-bedroom cottage had a right to be.

Ms. Vaughan was absolutely right though, the lot and the location were everything.

The building itself was just incidental, almost irrelevant. The real value was the large lot covered in mature trees, backing onto and next-door neighbours with a protected nature preserve. Apparently that combination was some kind magnet for privacy-seeking rich folks.

The place went on the market a little over ten days ago, and in retrospect I should have just organized an open house to kick it off. Instead I ended up doing five private showings that very first day. And by the end of it I had three serious offers, which turned into a three-way bidding war. The place ended up selling about twenty-four hours later, and more than a hundred thousand over the asking price. And I honestly thought the asking price was high to begin with, but Jesse insisted on it. And she was right.

According to Erin the whole thing was a big learning experience for me. I already understood a lot about the business, but she said I still needed to get a better feel for peoples' mindsets. Both buyers and sellers. And I needed to work on my valuations, especially when it came to the less-tangible aspects of a property.

That was the kind of thing that came with experience though, and my boss said that kind of thing couldn't be rushed.

With my email sent my focus returned to the open house I'd be hosting in less than twenty-four hours. Tomorrow was Saturday, and it was the middle of July. The weather was supposed to be excellent, and the property had a huge lot and a beautiful yard with a swimming pool and lots of expert landscaping. The large house had plenty of recent upgrades and enhancements, and the asking price was well into seven figures.

Based on the preliminary interest and feedback I knew tomorrow would be a very busy day for me. I had an extra box of business card delivered this morning, along with a stack of glossy full-colour brochures. We had the place listed on our website as the featured property of the month, and it was placed front and centre in all our advertising for the last ten days or so. So I was expecting a lot of traffic tomorrow, and I knew I'd probably be on my feet non-stop from an hour before the doors opened at eleven in the morning until an hour or so after we closed things up at five in the evening.

"You look a little harried Vikki," Erin commented as she approached my desk with a sympathetic smile. "Do you have time to stop for lunch today?"

I grimaced, "Maybe later? I need to touch base with the caterer to confirm they're set for tomorrow, then I need to talk with the cleaning crew as well. I want to make sure the house is spotless again after we wrap things up tomorrow evening."

She frowned slightly, "I know it's a lot of work, and for a property like that you want everything to go perfectly. But don't push yourself too hard, ok? You need to eat, you need to look after yourself. You can't sell houses if you run yourself to exhaustion and collapse in the middle of a showing."

"I know Erin," I sighed. "I figured I'd go home a little early this afternoon, after I finish getting everything organized. Then I can make myself a late lunch, or an early dinner. And call it an early night too."

She shook her head, "I know you Vikki, something else will come up and you'll keep working right through until five. So as your boss and your friend I'm telling you to take an hour now. I'll buy you lunch next-door, then you can finish things up afterwards. And you can still go home early if you want."

I hesitated as I looked at all my notes and my computer and the list of things I still needed to double and triple check. Then I looked back at her and sighed once more, "I can't help feeling like you're spoiling me Erin. Other people's bosses don't buy their employees lunch or encourage them to take time off and go home early."

"Well they should," she replied. "It doesn't take a genius to know that people work better when they're happy."

Then she added with a teasing smile, "Anyways I need to spoil somebody, and since Sherry and I don't have any kids or grandkids I've decided to spoil you instead. Now c'mon, get your purse and we'll go get some food in you before you pass out from starvation hon."

That made me blush. I finally relented, "Thanks Erin. Just let me send one more email and I'll be ready to go."

"You've got five minutes," she grinned as she turned and headed back to her office.

I quickly focused on my computer again and wrote up a brief email to the caterer, confirming they'd be at the property for half past ten to set things up. We weren't doing anything too extravagant, but there'd be fresh coffee and tea available all day long, a couple plates of fresh baked cookies and biscuits, and small bottles of spring water. The caterer was also supposed to keep someone on-site for the duration, to ensure everything was topped up or refilled throughout the day.

With that out of the way I opened my desk drawer and grabbed my purse, but I kind of hesitated as my eyes fell on that antique silver flask in there. It was empty, I never had any intention of using it to sneak drinks during the day. But it didn't really fit with the decor at home, such as it was. And since I picked it up through work I thought it would be a nice memento to keep here at the office. Except a flask wasn't the sort of thing I wanted prominently displayed on my desk, incase it sent the wrong message.

All of that was secondary though. The real reason I found myself staring at it was because of who and what it represented.

Sixteen days had passed since I accidentally found myself a genie. And despite telling myself to never use the 'W' word around her, I still ended up making a wish only a few hours later. She disappeared as soon as I wished that she was free, vanished in a puff of smoke the same way she first appeared.

And since then not a day had passed without me thinking of Jenna at least once or twice. I couldn't help wondering what happened to her, where she was, or what she was doing. And if she was ok. I kept telling myself it was for the best. I didn't want a genie, and I knew that wish stuff was dangerous. On the other hand I still felt a little sad that she just disappeared without a trace.

"All set now?" Erin asked, snapping me out of those thoughts.

"Yes boss," I nodded as I quickly closed my desk drawer then got up to follow her out.

I never told her about Jenna, although my boss did know I'd grabbed the flask as a souvenir from the Kovalenko house. I didn't want to have to explain to her why I had it in my desk at work though.

She locked the front door behind us, then the two of us went into the little Chinese buffet next door. Within a few minutes we both had plates of food in front of us, and I had a glass of cola while Erin was sipping a cup of green tea.

"Where's Jason at?" I asked after a sip of my soda. "I don't think I've seen him in the office since Wednesday."

Erin set her cup down as she replied, "He took a couple days off. And while I'm very reluctant to suggest anyone use him as a role model, you could perhaps learn something from him Vikki. You work too hard."

I blushed, "I'm just trying to get established. And we both know I need the experience. Speaking of, do you have any more advice or suggestions for my open house tomorrow?"

My boss shook her head, "Nothing I haven't already told you hon. You've helped me with a few of them, so you know how it goes."

"Anyways let's not talk about work while we eat, ok?" she suggested. "I got you out of the office so you could take a break, remember?"

"Sorry Erin," I apologized as I took a bite of my egg roll.

We were both quiet for the next minute or two as we enjoyed our meal. The food wasn't anything special, it was typical North American Chinese fare, but the price was right. And it was certainly convenient, being right next door to the office.

After a few minutes my boss asked, "Any more news on your catgirl sighting from last week?"

"Yes actually," I nodded. "I wasn't imagining things, there really is a catgirl living upstairs from me. It's a bit of a strange story though."

Last Friday when I got home from work I spotted a rather petite teenage girl in the apartment building. She had long straight jet black hair, black furry feline ears ontop of her head, and a long black feline tail. I thought it was some kind of costume at first, like all the others I'd seen around town over the past year. I assumed it was some kind of a fad or something, that had people dressing up as catkin and bunnykin and foxkin.

Then I realized the girl's ears and tail were all moving naturally, that they had to be the real thing. I didn't get a chance to speak with her though, I only saw her for a couple seconds before she disappeared into the stairwell.

After another forkful of my pork-fried rice I told Erin, "So I ran into her again last night, but she was with her mom this time. Her mother and I aren't exactly friends, but she's in the apartment above mine and we talk now and then if we happen to see each other. Anyways up until last week Mrs. Ford had a son. I'd have described him as a large tough angry sort of boy, although I wouldn't have said that to his mother. Neither of them said how it happened, but somehow he turned into a little wisp of a catgirl last week."

I paused for a sip of my soda then added, "I have no idea if it's a permanent change? I'm guessing it is though, since when I saw them last night she let me know her new name was Stephanie."

From my boss's reaction I could guess that she didn't know any more about that incident than I did. She looked thoughtful as she quietly ate some of her almond chicken. Then after another sip of her tea she leaned closer and lowered her voice, "If I had to guess, I'd say your neighbour's child ran afoul of one of this town's many supernatural inhabitants."

"Yeah," I nodded slowly. "That's what I figured. I can't help feel curious though? I know it'd be rude to ask, but it seems remarkable."

We were both quiet again for a few moments as we ate some more. Then after the last of my chicken balls I commented, "She looked kind of happy last night? Stephanie, I mean. When I saw her last week she seemed very sad, the look on her face was like quiet despair? But last night she seemed a lot better. I can't imagine she wanted whatever happened to her, but I'm glad she's ok now."

"Hmm," Erin looked thoughtful as she sipped some more tea. Then she shrugged, "If I were you I'd try not to worry about it Vikki. If the catgirl and her mother are happy, that's all that matters."

I nodded, "Yeah good point."

It still left me curious though, and I couldn't help wondering again about all the other demi-humans I'd seen around town since last summer. There had to be more than a dozen of them, which maybe wasn't a lot compared to the thirty thousand other people in town. It still seemed remarkable though, and left me wondering if there were folks like that everywhere else too, or if it was just our weird little corner of the world.

Once my boss and I had enough to eat she apologized, "I know I'm the one who's been urging you to take a break from work so I'm sorry to be the one to bring it up again now. I was wondering though if you want to take my car this evening, then you can bring it back to work on Monday? I think that'd be easier than me dropping it off at your place first thing tomorrow morning."

"Whatever works best for you Erin," I replied. Then I added with a grimace, "I was actually planning to go car shopping tomorrow, before the whole open house thing came along. Next weekend for sure though."

My commission on the Kovalenko property was enough that I could almost buy an older used car, but it would also cover a significant down payment on something newer. I'd been doing some online shopping and comparisons, but I really needed to visit a couple dealerships and do some test drives before I made a decision.

Erin smiled, "I'll leave it with you this afternoon then. And you don't have to wait for the weekends for that sort of thing, you know? You could always take some time off during the week. If you like I could even come with you? I'm no car expert, but I know a thing or two about car salespeople and their tactics."

"I'll think about it," I replied. "Thanks for the offer Erin. And thanks for letting my borrow your SUV again. This will definitely be the last time, I promise."

She shook her head, "It's fine hon, I've told you that countless times."

It took us both another few minutes to finish our drinks, then Erin paid the bill. I thanked her again as we headed out together, then she unlocked the door to our office so we could both get back to work.

I was already mentally going through my to-do list for the open house, the next thing I had to do was confirm the cleaning crew for tomorrow evening at half-past five. And I was so focused on that I literally didn't notice the enormous bouquet of flowers on my desk until I took my seat and realized I couldn't see my computer screen.

It was a huge basket full of roses, in all different colours. There were different shades of red, along with pink, orange, even white roses. And I had no idea where they'd come from or who sent them.

"That's very pretty," Erin commented with a smile. "Does someone have a secret admirer?"

I shook my head, "If I do, they're so secret even I don't know about them."

After a moment she pointed out, "There's a card tucked in at the top there."

"Oh yeah," I frowned as I stood up so I could reach it.

It was a little square white envelope, with my name written on the front in pink ink. And the two i's were dotted with little hearts. I carefully opened the little flap and pulled out the card inside. It had a plain unmarked back, while the front bore a glossy picture of more roses.

"I wonder how the bouquet got in here?" I commented as I opened the card. "Considering the office was locked while we were at lunch."

Before she could respond there was a loud Poof! sound, and both Erin and I were completely engulfed in an explosion of colourful rose petals. As the last of them fell to the floor I found myself face to face with none other than Jenna the genie, who was sitting crosslegged ontop of my desk where the flowers had been.

"Surprise!" she announced with a wide happy grin. "Did'ja miss me?!"

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