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“I’m surprised, really,” Owen Palmer insisted, sitting up straight and stretching his back. “Mostly because I thought it was lunchtime.”
I moved behind him to rub his shoulders. “It’s seven in the morning. Have you been here all night?”
“Would you believe me if I said no?”
I came around the table to get a good look at him. “Well, you’ve changed clothes and shaved, so I might believe you this time. How early did you get here?”
He took off the cotton gloves he wore for handling rare books and rubbed his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. I did go home yesterday, and I got some sleep, but then I got up early and thought I might as well get to work.”
“If you think it’s lunchtime at seven, how early is ‘early’ to you?”
He blushed sheepishly, then changed the subject. “Did you bring coffee?”
“Coffee and cinnamon rolls.”
“I think I can manage a break,” he said with a grin. He shoved his chair back and stood, then hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you.”
We went from the sterile workroom that housed the fragile, old, and incredibly dangerous magical manuscript Owen was working on to the outer office that served as break room, where I’d set out the breakfast I’d brought. After serving him and myself coffee and rolls, I asked, “How’s it going?”
“A lot faster now that I’ve got the idiosyncrasies of the language figured out. I got a couple of pages translated yesterday, some really interesting stuff about the Eye of the Moon—this incredibly powerful magical jewel that’s been lost for ages. I think I found the directions for locating it.”
“Really?” My spirits rose. “Does that mean a quest?”
“Not anytime soon. The directions are pretty cryptic, and I suspect they apply to situations and locations that nobody would recognize today. It goes back to Merlin’s time.”
Perhaps I should explain that Owen was a wizard. Or had been a wizard. I wasn’t sure what his status was currently, since he’d lost his powers a few months earlier in a big magical battle. He still had all his training and knowledge as a wizard and probably knew more about magic than any wizard alive other than Merlin himself, but he was as lacking in magical power as I was, which meant he was so utterly lacking in magic that magic didn’t affect him.
Although I was pretty sure he was still unhappy about that, he was taking advantage of the opportunity to study a rare manuscript that was so dangerous that no one with any magical power or susceptibility to magic was allowed to go near it.
“Too bad. A quest would have been kind of fun,” I said. Certainly more fun than spending another day at my desk.
“The Eye is the sort of thing that should probably stay lost. I wouldn’t want it falling into the wrong hands.” He gave a little shudder as he took a sip of coffee. “But you’re finding good stuff—I mean, other than things that are too dangerous to share, right? This is worthwhile work?”
“I think so.” He paused, then gave me a crooked grin. “And I’m about to get a lecture on obsession.”
“A lecture? From me? Never. But tell me this: Do you know what day it is?”
He got a horrified deer-in-the-headlights look in his dark blue eyes. “Wait a second … I know it’s not your birthday because that was in May. It’s September, so it’s not a major gift-giving holiday I’ve missed. I haven’t forgotten anything special, have I? That’s not what this is about, is it?” He indicated the breakfast.
I took pity on him. “No, that’s not what this is about. I was just seeing if you knew it was Thursday, though I’d also have accepted a calendar date. The breakfast was because I thought if I caught you before work, I’d stand a better chance of seeing you before you fell into that manuscript.” I frowned at him in sudden concern. “You haven’t been taken over by the manuscript, have you? Your powers aren’t coming back without you realizing, so the evil thing can suck you in?”
With a laugh, he said, “No, nothing like that.”
“So this is just normal obsession?”
“I’m not acting obsessed, am I?”
“Either that, or you’ve turned into a vampire, and you’re just pretending to be obsessed so you’ll have an excuse not to go out in daylight. And I’d prefer the obsession because I’m not into vampires.”
“Okay, so I’m a little obsessed,” he said with a shrug. “But this is an exciting opportunity, and I don’t know how much time I’ve got. If my powers do come back, I won’t be able to continue, and I’d hate to have to stop halfway through the project. I’m trying to get as much as possible done, just in case.”
Owen was the only one who seemed to believe that his powers would come back, but I knew well enough to keep my mouth shut about that. If holding on to that hope helped keep him going, I didn’t want to take it away from him. “That’s why I’m not complaining,” I said, reaching over to pat him on the knee. “I’m just checking on you.”
“I do appreciate the company,” he said with a smile that made me melt. “I sometimes feel like I’m in exile down here.”
“Hey, I’m glad to do my part.” I glanced at my watch. “I can even stick around awhile, if you like. I’m still way too early for work, and this isn’t a busy day for me.” The truth was, ever since we’d defeated the evil wizards behind our only competitor, there wasn’t much for me to do as director of marketing for Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. A trained monkey could market a near-monopoly. Heck, my ditzy assistant Perdita could probably do my job while filing her nails, chatting on the phone, and inventing new coffee concoctions.
He reached over to grab a container of wipes and cleaned his hands. “Sure, come on in and I’ll show you what I’ve been up to.” With another grin, he added, “I’ve got proof that I really haven’t been using this as an excuse to avoid you.”
