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“Hey, just lookin’ out for two of my favorite people. What, you don’t like me carin’ for you? Be that way and see if I do it again.” I waited for a second for the “just kiddin’, doll” I was sure would come, but he flapped his wings and resettled himself so that his back was turned to us.
Owen and I exchanged an uncomfortable glance and departed. “Maybe we should check the top of the Empire State Building,” I said as we walked to the nearby subway station. That was where the bad guys had broadcast the last spell to hit the whole city. “Someone’s put up a grumpy hex.”
“Or maybe something is going on.”
“Something’s always going on. And, let’s face it, we like it that way.”
Once we were in the station, he took my hand and I closed my eyes for a second to enjoy the little magical tingle that sent through me. I’d been able to sense the presence of magic even when I was immune, but now that I had power, myself, I’d learned to pick up on nuances. There was something about the way Owen’s magical field meshed with mine that sparked something. I didn’t know if it was because we were magically compatible or if it was because Owen had drawn on my latent power in the past, but it was extremely sexy, whatever it was. We’d made a good team when I was immune and he was magical, but there was a lot to like about sharing magic with him.
“I wonder if we could find a garden club for Granny to attend every so often,” I mused out loud after we’d boarded a train and were standing close together. It was a real pity to have this magical connection and no chance for solitude. I had three roommates and my grandmother had moved in with him. We had more privacy on a rush-hour train than we had at home, since no one on the train noticed or cared what we were up to.
“In Manhattan?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“There are gardens. Community gardening is very big, and there are rooftop and container gardens. She could teach them a lot of things, I’m sure.”
“Maybe we could get the boss to invite her out for dinner.”
“Bite your tongue!” I snapped, getting queasy at the idea of my boss and my grandmother getting cozy. They already seemed to like each other more than was comfortable for me.
“They don’t have to date. They could just spend time talking shop.”
“But what if something did happen and she decided to stay permanently? Even if she moved out of your place, she’d still be around, meddling.”
“Okay, then, garden club it is. We’ll do an Internet search and ask around the office tomorrow.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the idea that he wanted alone time as much as I did. I was still grinning when we reached Union Square and left the train. My grin faded when he whispered, “Don’t turn around, but try to look around casually the first chance you get.”
I gulped. “You mean Sam was right about watching ourselves? Does he have some kind of precognition?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to tell if you’re being followed in a place this crowded, but I have a funny feeling.”
He led us on a more roundabout than usual route out of the station. The area around the park was still pretty crowded with commuters leaving the subway station, and we stuck to the busier Park Avenue to head uptown instead of cutting over to Irving Place, like we usually did. Eventually, though, to get to Owen’s home we had to go down one of his neighborhood’s quiet side streets, where there wasn’t a lot of traffic—vehicular or otherwise. It was the kind of neighborhood where I didn’t mind walking alone at night. When I saw in the rearview mirror of a parked car that a small group of young men had followed us, I realized that today was apparently different.
They looked like gangsters. That is, they looked like gangsters in a high-school production of West Side Story. They didn’t much resemble the current breed of street toughs that you almost never saw in the vicinity of Gramercy Park. In spite of my nerves, I had an overwhelming urge to bend forward and snap my fingers menacingly as I walked down the sidewalk. Then we passed another car’s mirror and I caught a glint of metal in the reflection. These guys were armed, so I doubted they were going to limit themselves to intimidating us through virtuoso choreography.
“Do you remember that shield spell you learned today?” Owen whispered.
“Yeah. You think they’re going to attack us with magic?”
“There’s magic nearby.”
I felt it, too, I realized. “You’re sure it’s theirs?”
“It’s strongest in that direction.”
“You’d probably do a better job with that shield. It’s your spell, and you’re more powerful.”
“I can’t.”
“I thought me using magic would give you away, too.”
“They’re watching me. They’re not watching you, so they may not notice. If there’s a magical attack, your shield should be hidden in the overall surge of power.” He must have felt me tense because he gave my arm a reassuring squeeze and said, “You can do it. You fought off everything Rod and I threw at you today, and it always looked like immunity at work.”
“But those guys have knives. That spell won’t fight that.”
“I think those are just for show. If they’ve got magic, they’re not going to bother getting close enough to stab us.”
I heard laughter behind us, the sound of a bully who’s spotted someone weaker he can prey upon, and then the others joined in, feeding on each other’s cruelty. We were still nearly a block from Owen’s place.
