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“No, he had some things to do today. Why?”
“I wanted to apologize again for what a jerk Dean was to him yesterday. I made him this cake, since you didn’t get to have dessert at my house.” Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed, and I actually felt sorry for her.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I said, taking the cake from her and putting it on my desk.
“Dean was the one who was a jerk.”
“I don’t know what to do about Dean,” she blurted with a sob. “I think he’s got himself mixed up in something bad.”
I took her arm and helped her over to the sofa in the back of the office. “What is it?” I asked, sitting next to her and holding her hand.
“I think he’s involved with something illegal to make money. You know how he is, this is always going to be the thing that makes him rich, and it just puts us deeper in the hole, but at least all of those have been honest. Sort of. Now, though, he’s buying me way too much stuff, and I know I shouldn’t complain, but we don’t have that kind of money. He’s out at all hours, coming and going without telling me, and I think he’s meeting with shady people. I don’t know what I’ll do if he goes to jail.”
Then she broke down in sobs.
Dean drove me crazy at times, but if she was worried enough to question gifts, I couldn’t help but worry about him, even if he had brought his troubles on himself. I just didn’t have time to deal with it at the moment, not until we took care of this wizard. Why couldn’t my family wait to have a major crisis? Then again, if he was dealing with the wizard, Sherri might be a useful source of information.
“Keep an eye on him, and let me know if you notice anything else suspicious, okay?” I said, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “It might help if we knew who he was dealing with and where he got all that stuff. But we will take care of it, I promise.”
She collapsed, sobbing, on my shoulder, and I patted her back until she pulled herself together.
“Thanks, Katie,” she said with a sniffle and an attempt at a smile. “Well, I’d better go fix my face, then get to the register.”
I got through the rest of the morning without any additional scenes. By noon, I was able to wrap things up in the office. I took the morning’s receipts in a deposit bag and headed to the bank. It really was an errand I’d have to do anyway, but it was the perfect excuse to check in on Owen and Sam.
The bank was busy at noon on a Monday, so I had to park a block away and walk. Owen was across the street from the bank, leaning against a wall with a cup of coffee in his hand. I wasn’t sure whether I should speak to him, or if he was invisible to everyone but me. He spoke first. “An errand at the bank?” he asked.
“Yeah, would you believe, I have to make a deposit?”
“Need some company?”
“Sure, if you’re that desperate for something to do.”
“I want to get a look at the inside of the bank, just in case.”
“I take it you haven’t seen any customers being forcefully repelled.”
“Not a one.”
As we approached the bank, I saw Dean heading toward the front steps. I wanted to talk to him some more about what I’d noticed and about Sherri’s concerns, but he was the last person I wanted to see right now. Next to me, Owen stiffened. He obviously wasn’t too thrilled to see Dean, either. Both of us slowed our pace, holding back so that Dean turned to go into the bank before he noticed us. I sighed in relief that at least one awkward encounter had been avoided when he reached the bank entrance without seeing us. Then he bounced off something invisible and landed on his back on the sidewalk.
I t was impossible. I never in a million years would have believed it if I hadn’t seen him bounce off the wards with my own eyes. My brother was the local wizard. The lying, thieving, con-artist local wizard. I rushed over, Owen right behind me. “Dean? It was you?” I couldn’t help but blurt as my brother stared up at me in shock.
“What was me?” he tried as a look of panic crossed his face. He rolled to his side, as if to prepare to get up and run. Owen bent, grabbed his arm, and helped him to his feet, then didn’t let go. His knuckles turned white, he was grasping so hard. Dean made as though to pull away, and I thought I felt the tingle of building magic. Dean frantically mumbled words, his eyes growing wider and wider as Owen stayed put and was entirely unaffected by whatever he’d tried to do.
After about a minute of this, Owen’s grip on Dean’s arm tightened and he said very softly, “Don’t even try it. You are so outclassed here that you can’t even comprehend the class I’m in.” Then, quite suddenly, Owen released Dean and stepped backward. Dean’s muscles tensed, ready to run the moment he was let go, but he was frozen in place, unable to take a step. Owen stood there watching him, his arms folded across his chest, not even breaking a sweat.
Then Dean yelled at the top of his lungs, “Hey, this is your burglar! He’s the guy who did it!” People kept walking up and down the sidewalk, not giving him more than a passing glance.
“You’re not the only one who can hide what you’re up to,” Owen said mildly. Then he added, “Katie, I’ll stay out here and keep your brother company while you wrap up your errand. We have a lot to talk about.”
“What are you doing with my sister, you freak? Katie, you come back here, don’t do what he says!”
Dean shouted. He then began mumbling words and wiggling his fingers at me. I felt the magic but, of course, it did nothing to me.
“Give it a rest, Dean,” I said with a sigh. “I need to go make these deposits.” I didn’t want to leave them alone, but I was holding the morning’s receipts for the store, including the checks that had come in over the weekend, so skipping this errand wasn’t an option. I headed to the bank, shivering as I crossed through the wards at the threshold, and gave one last glance over my shoulder before I entered. I wasn’t sure if the lines were longer than usual or if they only felt that way because I was so eager to get back outside and see what was going on.
My brother was the local criminal wizard? There had to be some kind of mix-up or coincidental misunderstanding. Maybe he’d tripped or slipped on the steps instead of bouncing off the wards. But no, he’d been using magic—or trying to—on Owen and me. There couldn’t be any doubt, unless there was another local wizard who’d done all the illegal stuff, but then that wouldn’t explain all of Dean’s new acquisitions.
