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“Maybe not for you, but, hello! It’s magic! That’s exciting for me.”
When Philip arrived, he greeted us all with a bow, then kissed Gemma’s hand. “I presume you’re providing leadership in this endeavor,” he said to Owen. “I will be happy to provide power, but it has been a long time since I have worked magic of this nature.”
“Yes, I’ll guide the spell and draw on you two,” Owen said. After a quick tour of the new place, he took a large sheet of paper out of his bag and sketched out a floor plan of that apartment, then made notes as he asked us where we wanted things to go. We went back upstairs, where he took several vials out of the bag and handed them to me, along with a sheet he tore from a notepad. “I’ve written which colors go with which rooms,” he said. “I need you to go down there and sprinkle the right color of powder around the perimeter of each room.” When I got back upstairs after carrying out my task, the guys were using a similar powder to color code the items to be moved.
When they were done, the three wizards went over to the corner where Owen had his floor plan laid out. Owen dabbed colored powder on the floor plan, with the colors corresponding to the way I’d sprinkled the powder downstairs. The three guys joined hands, Owen murmured foreign words, then I felt the surge of power. The powder on the floor plan glowed and rose to hover above the paper, then the powder on or around the furniture began glowing. Owen said something else and gave a wave of his hand, and then there was a loud pop. We all blinked, and when I opened my eyes again, everything was gone.
“That’s it?” Marcia asked, blinking furiously.
“You wanted it to be more difficult?” Rod asked.
“I put a bandanna around my hair and wore my old clothes,” she said. “I thought it might be easier than usual, but I thought it might still be a little like moving.”
“I can bring something back up if you want to carry it down for yourself,” Rod offered.
I was about to suggest that I treat Owen to lunch when his cell phone rang. After a short conversation, he said, “I hate to run out on you just as the real work is starting, but I’ve got to go. There’s been an incident involving a spell I haven’t countered yet, and they can’t get in and do anything about it until they get the spell stopped.”
“This is more of that weird stuff that’s been going on?” Gemma asked.
“Yeah, more of the same.”
“Do you need my help?” I asked.
I could tell from his expression that he was about to automatically say no, but then he paused to reconsider and said, “I might, since you wouldn’t be affected by the spell.”
Philip stepped forward, but Owen shook his head. “No, too big a risk. I know they’re gunning for you, and if anything happens to you, then there’s no way we’re getting that money out of their hands.” The bad guys were using Philip’s family’s financial business to fund their work, after the current owner’s ancestor had turned Philip into a frog to get him out of the way. We were still working on getting the business back for him. “You and Rod stay here and keep an eye on Marcia and Gemma. I’ll call you if I need you.”
I was halfway down the stairs when I realized I was still dressed for moving. Whatever was going on, I hoped I didn’t die or make the news because I didn’t have time to change.
When we got to the Diamond District uptown, I saw that you wouldn’t have to be in on the magical secret to know there was trouble. The street was lined with police vehicles, their lights flashing. A couple of fire trucks blocked traffic, and there was even an ambulance. People hovered behind the official vehicles, trying to see what was going on.
“Come on,” Owen said as he tugged me through the crowd. “And don’t worry, no one can see us.”
Just inside the police perimeter we came across one of the men in black who’d handled the armored car incident. I felt like we should have flashed badges at each other as we entered the crime scene, but he and Owen just nodded in greeting. “Hi, Mack,” Owen said. “What’s the situation?”
Mack gave a world-weary sigh. “Some idiot decided it would be fun to knock over a jewelry store by getting an innocent delivery guy with a hand cart to crash through the glass door, bust open a display case, and grab the ice. Only problem was, that glass is pretty damn hard to break. It went into shards, injuring the delivery guy, who’s still inside. When the perp’s victim couldn’t pull off the crime, the wizard panicked and blocked the whole place magically so no one can get in or out. The cops think it’s a hostage situation.”
“Which is the part you’re having trouble with?”
“That damned blocking spell. We can’t get past it, either.”
“Is the wizard inside or out?” I asked.
“We think he’s inside. That spell isn’t coming from anywhere out here.”
I turned to look at Owen, and he immediately shook his head. “No. No way. No how.”
“What?” Mack asked, watching us with narrowed eyes.
“I’m a magical immune,” I said. “I could get in there.”
“Oh, now this gets interesting,” Mack said, scratching his chin as a smile twitched his lips. “Very, very interesting.”
“What good would it do for you to go in there?” Owen asked.
“For one thing, I could get a first-aid kit in to that injured deliveryman. And for another, doesn’t generating a magical field like that require constant effort and attention if he hasn’t laid all the groundwork for a continuous ward?”
“You’ve spent way too much time with me,” Owen said, pride and dismay warring on his face.
