There was a ripple of tapestry, the hideous, stamp-printed unicorn apparently shivering with dread. Luna’s face appeared from behind it, blinking up at him. “Here.”
“You didn’t need to actually hide,” Nigel chuckled. “Just wait for me.”
“Well, how was I to know?” She came out, smoothing her skirts with great dignity. “So, what’s your plan now, oh criminal mastermind?”
Nigel tried very hard not to let the echoes of her “darling!”ring in his ear, but wasn’t terribly successful. Mutely, he opened the carpet bag to show her its contents.
Luna frowned. “Isn’t that your dressing gown?”
“The very same.” Nigel cast a glance over his shoulder, looking for signs of the shop lady. She was busy up front, so herisked pulling the dressing gown out in a flash of embroidered celestial stars on dark blue silk. “This once belonged to Yorik Balthazar, a lesser-known sorcerer, but renowned in certain circles. He had a gift for sartorial sorcery.”
Luna, who had reached out to touch a fold of silk, dropped it abruptly. “It’s enchanted?”
“Yes.”
“I wore this dressing gown all afternoon once!”
Nigel flushed. That was a memory firmly emblazoned across his soul. “Yes, well,” he muttered, not meeting her gaze, “the enchantment has to be activated to work. And it’s nothing you need concern yourself with.”
“What does it do exactly?”
“It’s an invisibility robe.”
She looked up sharply. “Not really.”
“Yes, indeed.”
“You’ve had a robe of invisibility hanging up in your wardrobe all this time?”
He nodded.
“Oh, Mr. Grimm.”
Nigel couldn’t tell if the tone of her voice was disparaging or admiring. “This is our way up the tower,” he said a bit stiffly. “Do you want to glimpse that star or don’t you?”
Luna considered, rolling her lips from one side to the other. Then: “All right, how does this work?”
“First, I need to activate the spell.”
“Do you need my permission?” She caught his eye. “The troth, you know.”
He shook his head. “This spell is already wrought. I need only activate it, no permission required.”
“Another workaround?”
“Yes.”
Luna sighed. “Fine. Get on with it then.”
Nigel performed a small sigil—just a teeny, tiny, little smidgeon of arcane work. Immediately, the dressing gown vanished in his grasp, though he could still feel its silky folds. “Now,” he said and swung the cloth to drape around the two of them. It only occurred to him in that moment the proximity necessary for this little scheme to work. There was only one robe, after all. A large, copious robe, but still intended for a single person.
As the folds of silk draped around them, ripples of old magic disguised them completely, all the way down to their feet. Luna uttered a little squeak and stepped closer to Nigel. For an instant, his nose was filled with the sweet scent of her hair. “Stay close, Miss Talbot,” he said. And proceeded to nearly swallow his tongue the next moment, because, in response, Luna slipped her arm around his waist, hugging into his body.
Nigel froze. He wondered if perhaps he would never move again for fear that any movement on his part might cause her to break away.
“What next?” Luna whispered, her voice low and near under the robe. “Mr. Grimm?”
He realized she’d asked the same question several times. Only he’d not been able to hear it through the throbbing in his ears. Hastily, he shook his head and forced words out through his tight throat. “We, erm. We need to move in tandem. To the door. The one leading back to the castle.”
