She was leaning in a doorway when I first saw her. The evening was damp and cold, and while she had only a thin jacket for protection, it didn’t seem to bother her at all. She mostly looked like she wanted to be left alone.

So when she looked up and fixed me with her gaze as I approached, it brought me up short. Her pale blue eyes seemed to glow.

“Hire me,” she said, and her chilly monotone startled me. I have never heard a voice so utterly devoid of emotion, but so full of hidden force.

I stopped in my tracks. “Uh…” I stammered. “Hire you?”

She didn’t nod, or even blink. “You cannot afford not to.”

For an eternal moment I could only stare silently into that icy depth. Finally I managed to choke out, “What, uh… what can you do for me?”

Her eyes flashed that pale blue again, and I knew it was no trick of the light. “Everything you have not thought to do for yourself.”