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vanished.”
A police car rounded the corner into the square. “Then I guess we’ll have to hunt on the ground,”
Owen said as he knelt and placed his hands flat on the ground. I felt another surge of magic coming up through the soles of my feet. The approaching police car slowed to the point it was almost motionless. Owen rose and said, “Split up and search the next couple of blocks.”
Sam tilted his head to one side. “Are you sure—” he started, but Owen cut him off.
“We’ll discuss it later. Go!”
I certainly wasn’t going to argue when he sounded like that. Even though I knew he could do nothing to me magically, he still sounded powerful and intimidating. I chose the side of the square where the grocery store was and ran to investigate the parking lot in back. Nothing was moving, and not just because it was the middle of the night in a small town that tended to be still and quiet at high noon.
Not even the things that usually moved were moving. A plastic grocery bag being tossed by the wind hung suspended motionless in midair. An alley cat stopped in mid-pounce, inches away from a paralyzed mouse. This was totally freaky, walking through a frozen landscape. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything human-sized and frozen, so I returned to the square.
Owen returned next. I could see his frustration in the set of his shoulders and the way he clenched his fists. “You didn’t find anything, did you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Sorry. And what is all this, anyway?” I gestured around the motionless square.
He ducked his head in what looked a lot like embarrassment. That was a relief. At least he had the good grace to seem a little abashed by having done something so incredible. “It was a theory,” he said with a shrug. “It has to do with energy feedback and inertia manipulated magically.”
I was rescued from the Mr. Wizard—literally—explanation by Sam’s return. “Didn’t see a thing,” he reported. “That spell spread, what, three blocks? Our guy probably made it farther than that. So maybe you ought to set time right again before things get really odd.”
Owen knelt and put his hands on the ground again, and everything changed. When the evening breeze hit my face and I heard all the little night sounds that had been silent, I realized just how still things had been under the spell. The police siren came back as the car lurched forward and then stopped across a row of empty nose-in parking spots in front of the jewelry store. Owen gestured toward where we’d left his car, and we ran in that direction, Sam flying low behind us.
As soon as we were back at the car, Sam lit into Owen. “What in the blue blazes was that stunt supposed to be?” Owen opened his mouth to respond, but Sam cut him off with the wave of a wing.
“I don’t wanna know the theory. I just wanna know what you thought you were doing even going there. That’s not stuff you play with, even if you’re about the only one who could pull off something like that.”
Good. So I wasn’t the only one who was a little freaked out. And now I was even more freaked out because I’d never seen Sam that upset. As well as Sam knew the ins and outs of the magical world, if Sam was worried about what Owen had done, I knew I had reason to worry.
“It was a calculated risk,” Owen argued once Sam let him get a word in edgewise. “This is a nonmagical area, and there weren’t a lot of civilians around. The sooner we catch this guy, the lower our risk for exposure is. I know what I’m doing, and I thought it was worth a chance. Time is of the essence here, Sam.”
Sam folded his arms across his chest and his wings against his back. “Hmmph. Just don’t get cocky, kid. One rogue wizard is enough.”
“I don’t think I’m in any danger of being drunk with power. I’m actually kind of exhausted.”
“We do have to stop this guy,” I put in, hoping to steer this conversation back to the reason we were here in the first place. “Our local wizard is even worse than Idris in a way, since I don’t think we ever caught Idris using magic to actually commit a crime. Idris’s spells may be on the darker side ethically, and he may encourage others to do bad things, but we’ve never seen him use magic to steal, have we?”
“He doesn’t have to if he can get other people to do the dirty work for him,” Owen said. “He’s probably charging a commission.”
“So, we’ll stay on the case,” Sam said. “I’ll keep an eye on the place, see when the glass comes back, and make sure nobody else tries to take advantage of the situation. You two get out of here before anyone sees you.”
“And before my parents realize we’re not there,” I added.
The next morning, I got up early enough to try doing something with my hair other than the usual ponytail. It had grown past my shoulders, and it didn’t seem to want to do anything other than lie lifelessly against my head. I even went all-out and put on a bit of makeup. Owen might have caught me off guard the day before, but I wanted to show him that I hadn’t let myself slide completely. I knew it was a bad idea to even think of getting back together with him. We had to keep our relationship strictly business, but I’d want to look nice for a business relationship, as well. At least, that’s what I told myself as I put on some lip gloss.
I got downstairs to find Owen already sitting at the kitchen table, sharing a newspaper with my dad while silently drinking coffee. Mom was cooking an elaborate breakfast. She jabbered on while the men more or less ignored her. Every so often, Dad would pass a newspaper section on to Owen. From what I could tell, nothing in what Mom was chattering about had anything to do with any suspicions about where we’d been the night before.
“Katie!” Dad greeted me as I entered the kitchen. Owen looked up at me and flashed me a smile. He was fully dressed, complete with contact lenses.
“Good morning, everyone.” I headed straight to the coffeepot to pour myself a cup before I took a seat at the table next to Owen.
“Why don’t you take the day off to spend with your friend?” Dad suggested. “You’ve been working harder than you ought to, considering I haven’t been paying you a real salary other than room and board and spending money. Besides, it’s Saturday, and we’re only open half a day, anyway. Someone comes in all the way from New York, you should spend time with him.” I took that to mean that Dad thoroughly approved of Owen.
“Well, okay, twist my arm,” I said. “Though I’m not sure what we’ll come up with to do. We saw all the local sights yesterday. Both of them.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Mom said.
“I know what we could do today,” I said. “Maybe we could get a tour of the courthouse. It’s got some really interesting architecture, and there’s that little museum of Cobb County justice.”
