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The others all looked at me, and I said, “She’s one of the guards, but she’s always had my back, and tried to clue me in about what was going on, even before the spell broke. We may as well trust her.”
“It’s not like we have a lot of other options,” Earl grumbled, but they all followed as Florence bustled us away from that part of the park.
When we were in an area sheltered by hedges, she gestured for us to sit down, and then her appearance shimmered for a second before solidifying into something that was very different, if still recognizable as Florence. Her face was thin and angular, her body was willowy, her eyebrows slanted, and her ears pointed. She turned to Earl and Brad and said, “You’re with the underground, aren’t you?” Then she did something with her hands that looked like a graceful and elegant gang sign. Earl and Brad returned the sign.
“She’s okay,” Earl said. “She’s one of us.”
“She’s a double agent,” I said.
She sank to sit among us. “You figured me out? Yeah, I got in really deep with Sylvester’s organization and next thing I know, I’ve been shipped off to the Homelands and put to work as a cast member in the world’s creepiest theme park.”
“You knew what Sylvester was doing all along, and yet you did nothing? You told no one?” Earl accused.
“Don’t you think I’ve been trying to find a way to send messages back? That’s how I know you can’t make your own portal. Once you’re here, you’re here, even if you’re staff. There’s one portal, and it’s warded so heavily that no one can get through, not even those of us who are in on the scheme. I guess they figure there’s a chance some of us could be double agents, so they’re not letting us communicate with anyone back home. All I could do was sabotage their efforts.”
She turned to me. “You were right that I was trying to nudge you toward breaking the spell without breaking my cover. And man, but you were dense. I thought you’d never get it. To be honest, I’m not sure how you did eventually break through.”
“It wasn’t that I had a brilliant breakthrough,” I admitted. “It’s just that normally I’m immune to magic. My current magic supply is extremely limited, and as it wore away, it seems that the spell lost its grip on me.” Then I had a sudden burst of inspiration. “You said the portal is warded. Could a magical immune get through?”
She frowned in thought, but before she could answer, Owen protested, “Katie!”
“Actually, she may be on to something,” Florence said, nodding slowly. “Can you normally get through wards?”
“All the time,” I said.
“How hard would it be for you to get back to your immune state? You said your power was wearing off.”
Owen didn’t give me a chance to answer. He grabbed my hand and said, “This isn’t a good idea.”
I squeezed his hand as I turned to face him. “You said I was running low on magic and would eventually run out. Why don’t I just burn myself out and then make a break for it?”
“You’d give up your magic?”
“It’s not like I have a choice. It’s eventually going to be gone anyway.”
“But draining your power should be a last resort.”
“This is a last resort,” I snapped. More gently, I added, “I’m okay with it, really. I like being immune. I think I’m more useful that way.” I curled my fingers around his. “I know you hated being without magic, but that’s who you are. Being immune is what I am, and going back to that would mean being myself again.”
“I’m not sure what this place would be like to someone who can’t be affected by the illusions. You probably wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that you’re not affected for long. It could even be dangerous.”
“Have you got any better ideas?” Florence asked. “Because I’m all ears if you do. But I’m thinking that having an immune is our ace in the hole, and this is time to use it.”
“This is even better than sending a note,” I argued. “I can tell Merlin directly what’s going on.”
“You’d be coming through the portal into their headquarters,” Owen pointed out.
“Yeah, and they’ll use magic to fight me. Which won’t work because of the immunity thing.” I was feeling more and more confident about this plan.
“If you’re going to burn off magic, I suggest you do it here,” Florence said. “It won’t be as noticeable in the park, but then that means you’ll have to get across town without magic, and I honestly don’t know what that would be like for you. Magical immunity is incompatible with this construct.”
“I can only burn off so much power on my own,” I said. “I can get down to normal human levels of magic—enough to be affected by it—here, and then one of you can draw on me to drain me the rest of the way once we get to the portal. Something tells me I won’t be able to just walk up to it and waltz through it.”
“We’ll have to fight our way to it,” Florence confirmed.
“Then a little extra juice might come in handy for one of you,” I said. “We probably also need a better plan than just me walking through the portal.” I checked my watch. “It would be best if we could time it for right after the shift change—the fewer guards, the better. And maybe we should create a diversion elsewhere in the neighborhood to draw more guards away.”
“We could give Mac his uprising,” Owen suggested. “That would make him happy.”
