The noise and chatter resumed in an eerie instant as soon as I was out of sight.

“Did you … did you do that, Boss?”

“I do not know.” It certainly hadn’t been intentional. Although it suited my purposes to have no one question my right to come back into the bowels of this shit pile.

“Hey, babe, why’d it get so—” Chad the Ratty-Man’s skin went from dirty beige to the colour of used dishwater at the sight of me. “You!”

I smirked, and this time, I meant every ounce of the sentiment I put into it. No acting was required for me to feel malicious towards this anal pustule. “Me.”

He backed into his office, mouth working in overdrive, but no sound coming out. Fear rolled off him in fetid waves, and I relished it.

“Wh-what do you want? What did you do to me? D-did Jemma send you?”

“You will not speak her name,” I snarled, chuckling as he tripped over his desk chair and went sprawling across his desk, air hissing in and out of him. “You will tell me the name of the professor to whom you presented the work you stole from her.”

“I … I don’t …” he sputtered, scrabbling his way over the desk, falling awkwardly to the floor on the other side. He popped up again, flicking that hideous, greasy hair out of his eyes. “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about! I don’t want any⁠—”

I slammed my fist on his desk, cracking the timber. “Cease your lies!”

He flinched, sweat beading on his upper lip. He licked at it, his grotty little tongue darting. How had she ever lowered herself to this filth?

How much lower had she gone, stooping to me?

I shook my head. I couldn’t let myself wallow. “You will tell me, right now, the name of the professor who allowed you to cheat, and steal, and ruin the future of a woman who had more artistic talent in her thumb than you could ever hope to have!”

His skin started to take on a greenish tinge. “I … there was no cheat⁠—”

But I’d had enough of his falsehoods. With a growl, I threw off my human guise. Horns sprouted, my body lengthened … widened.

His eyes bulged, head tilting back to take me in. And then they rolled back in his head, and he collapsed to the floor.

* * *

“Boss! You’re a badass!” Bub gushed. I ignored his little rodent voice, leaning over the unconscious man and running a claw down the side of his face.

“Wakey, wakey.”

His eyes snapped open. A thin scream erupted from him, but I slapped my hand over his mouth before he could make a scene.