Stanley sat behind his desk in his new office looking out the window. Morning sunlight streamed in and warmed his body. His human body! He saw his reflection in the glass smiling back at him.
True to her word, the moment he woke up this morning when he spun the black ring on his finger as Baba instructed he felt the briefest moment of dizziness and found himself in his original human body. He'd never felt so relieved in his life! The ring had even magically resized to fit his much smaller human finger! To think he'd always had the ring there but just hadn't been able to see it. That confused him so he pushed the thought from his mind.
He'd also discovered that he'd want to be naked each time he changed as the folding of reality had a nasty effect on any clothing he wore. The huge robe he'd had on when the change began showed rips and tears in it when he was human again. That sucked and needing two distinct and very different sets of clothing sucked too.
He'd have to buy himself a hooded robe for home. Speaking of home, Sigrid was going to meet him at lunch to take him over to a building which had a condo 'he needed to look at'. The building apparently catered to the 'Hidden Races'. He sighed. That was something else he was going to have to get used to.
He heard noises coming from his waiting room and leapt to his feet. He'd been disappointed to see Paloma wasn't at her desk when he'd arrived. He needed to talk with her, make sure she was ok. He rushed out of his office.
"Paloma!"
"EEP!" squeaked a petite blonde woman as she spun to look at him with wide eyes. Lovely, soft brown eyes.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I thought you were Paloma," he gasped in embarrassment.
"Do you give her a heart attack every morning too!" the woman scolded him and he froze when he heard her lovely Irish accent.
"Actually, this is only my second day. I've barely begun to make all the mistakes I'm going to make working here," he said with a blush.
Her scowl became a small smile as she saw his apologetic expression. She tilted her head. "I don't know what you were doing in Mr. Garin's office but you'd better be off before he arrives or he might sick Mr. Duncan on you." She made a shooing motion to direct him out of the waiting room.
Stanley blinked at her.
"Am I not being clear? This is the office of the CIO. I'm not sure which floor you should be on but you'd better find your way back to it quickly. If you want you can leave me your name and if the younger Ms. Villamor calls in I'll tell her that her paramour stopped by to say hello."
Stanley was soaking in her accent and could have stood there listening to her speak all day but he had things to do. "Sure, Stanley. Stanley Garin."
The woman's eyes flashed to his as she looked confused. "Are you... Mr. Garin's son?"
"I never met my dad but I'm pretty sure I had one so I'm going to say yes." He was beginning to enjoy this.
"You. You're Mr. Garin aren't you," she peeped in embarrassment.
He grinned. "Yes, I am."
"I'm terribly sorry sir! It's just... you're so young for a CIO!" she blurted as her face became a lovely shade of warm pink.
"Yeah, I agree but that's the job they gave me," he acknowledged.
Her phone began to ring. She rushed over to it to answer. "Mr. Garin's office. Yes, he's right here. I'll let him know."
After she hung up she turned back to him and collected herself. "That was Ms. Villamor, our CEO. She would like you to join her in her office. Once again, I apologize."
"Really, it's not a problem. Your name?" Stanley said as he moved towards the door.
"Siobhan Whelan."
"That's lovely! Like your accent."
"What accent?" she said and smiled teasingly as he looked back in surprise. He smiled in return and stepped out into the hall.
It wasn't until he'd almost reached the CEO's office that the realization struck. He had to put a hand out to brace himself against the wall as his surprise was so profound. He was so dazed he glanced at his hand to ensure he hadn't switched back to his Satyr form. Four fingers and a thumb. Still human.
He'd just had a conversation with a pretty blond woman who he found very attractive and not once did he stutter. The stutter was gone! It was such a relief! He wondered what cured him but he wasn't going to look too closely in case that caused it to return.
Stanley walked into Ms. Villamor's waiting room and smiled at Felix. The man returned his smile and gestured for him to go right in. The door was open so he looked inside as he stepped through the doorway.
"Ah, good morning Stanley. Close the door behind you please."
He closed it and walked over to the chair she gestured to. "Good morning, Ms. Villamor."
"When it's just us, please call me Camila," the woman said with a smile and he flashed back to the night before when she'd dropped to her knees at his feet and- He pulled his mind away from that moment but his face flushed with embarrassment.
"Thank you, Camila. How is Paloma? I noticed she isn't in today. She's OK, isn't she?" he asked with concern.
"Yes, I believe she'll be fine. It's just going to take some time for her to burn off all that energy she absorbed. I'll check in on her a few times today."
Stanley just nodded and Camila handed him a tablet. "She told me to give you the notes she took yesterday."
"Ah! Perfect!" he exclaimed as he saw the hardware listing he and Paloma made the day before. "Uh, I need to get started on preparing the new server room. Did you by any chance hear back about our access to the roof for adding in a diesel generator and an air conditioning unit?"
"Yes, we have permission to install units up to a specific size. I've just sent you the restriction list and you can tell me if it is sufficient."
"I don't actually have a computer of my own yet. I'll be getting on that immediately. Did you CC my assistant?" he explained.
"Yes."
"Great, I'll check with her. Now about the interior work in the existing boardroom?"
"Who did they send you as a temp for Paloma?"
"Siobhan Whelan."
"Good. Have her summon the workers. You can tell them what you need them to do and they will get started."
Stanley felt a chill run up his spine. "Is there anything... strange about those guys? They give me the creeps."
Camila looked him in the eye. "Mr. Duncan informed me that he spoke with you about asking questions regarding the Humanity of beings you meet."
"Yeah, he said don't."
She nodded. "Rule number one is you don't talk about the Hidden Races. This is critically important. The only time it's safe to do so is when you are in a sanctuary with the appropriate runes activated. My office, when the door is closed, is a sanctuary. Your office is not. You need to be trained to be eternally vigilant so we won't be protecting your office. There will be wards but they will just blare painfully loud should you slip and say something forbidden."
Stanley frowned but he acknowledged it was probably a good idea.
She paused to choose her words so he would understand. "The workers we use for menial labor are artificial men. Tools powered by magic. They pass for Human but they're just a simulacrum. Ultimately loyal and trustworthy but you need to give them explicit instructions and the more complex the task the more specific you need to be."
He stared at her. "Is everyone at VRL a member of the Hidden Races?"
"No. That's actually what I called you in here to discuss. Last night you discovered you are one of us but because you grew up as a Human you haven't had any of the training required for hiding your true self."
"The spell hides my other self," he clarified.
Camila caught his evasion and frowned. "Stanley, you need to find the strength to accept the truth of what you are. For your safety and the safety of those around you. If you can't say it..."
Stanley scowled and looked away. He knew what she was saying was true but he'd been given no choice. He sighed. He'd never been able to stay mad. It just felt so unfair. He sighed again. Shit.
"I know. I'm not human. I'm a Satyr. One of the Hidden Races. Is there a handbook or manual to learn all this?"
Camila smiled. "No Stanley. That would be a little too dangerous to leave lying around."
"What about those Myths and Legends books? Couldn't I read up on all the different kinds of beings in those?" he asked curiously.
"Unfortunately, what you'll find in them is mostly misinformation. Far simpler and safer to create a wide variety of fanciful lies to muddy the waters than try to disprove the truth. The Greeks called your people Satyrs and the Romans changed the name to Fauns but neither really understood," Camila said with a sad smile.
"So... how will I learn how to behave around others?" he said in frustration.
"You already know how. Act like a Human. That's how we all survive," she explained.
"Oh!" he said in surprise.