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Earl got a funny look on his face, like he was trying to dredge up some distant memory, and I moved in for the kill. “We could build a narrative around it, like the brooch itself is an ancient elven object that gives the wearer invulnerability.”
“We could call it the Knot of Arnhold,” Owen put in.
“But it’s been lost for centuries, and then it reappears, but it’s been merged with an equally legendary gem that gives its owner great power.”
“Call that the Eye of the Moon,” Owen said.
“And now the brooch has been lost. Whoever owns it could rule the world—after starting a lot of wars. There’s a great quest to seek it, but are the seekers looking to use the brooch for their own gain or to destroy it and save the world?”
Earl sat there, looking stunned. His eyes glazed over. I leaned toward him and whispered, “Shut up, Earl.” That had been what Sylvester and his cronies used to say to Earl all the time when Earl was working in the Elf Lord’s court.
Earl jumped out of his seat, shouting, “Sylvester’s opened a portal to the elven realms! We have to stop him!” After his outburst, Earl stood panting for a moment, then he blinked and looked around the office, at Owen, and at me. He blinked again, then said shakily, “Are you who I think you are?”
“Who do you think we are?” Owen asked.
“You’re Katie and Owen, but you’re not people I know from working in a bookstore. You’re wizards with MSI. All of this is wrong.” He sank back into his chair like his legs had just gone out from under him. “What is this place?”
“It’s some kind of containment zone in the elven lands. I guess you saw something they didn’t want you to see.”
Earl rubbed his temples with his thumbs and shook his head a few times, like he was trying to clear out the cobwebs. “Yeah, I followed one of Sylvester’s men to the warehouse, and I found the portal there. They’ve got a steady connection to the elven realms. Our people have supposedly been cut off from there for ages. I tried calling you, but I guess they got to me first. We didn’t talk, did we?”
“I got the call, but there was no one there,” Owen said.
“How did you two end up here?”
“I got the photo you sent, and then we found that same warehouse.”
Earl nodded. “Now that I think about it, there are a lot of our people here. This must be where everyone goes when they disappear.” He grinned suddenly. “As prisons go, this one doesn’t suck. It was almost like being on vacation. I was getting paid to talk about science fiction and fantasy books. But how do we get out of here?”
“That’s the part we’re working on,” I said.
“What we’re trying to do for now is get everyone snapped out of the spell,” Owen added.
“Without tipping off the guards,” I put in.
“The guards?”
“It’s probably a safe bet that anyone you run into here that you don’t know from MSI or from your elf underground is working for Sylvester to keep us here and docile,” I explained. “You may also see people who actually look like elves. They wear gray suits and seem to be in charge, but you don’t see them at all when you’re under the spell. Try to ignore them. We don’t want them to know that we’ve broken the spell, so it’s very important that you act as normally as possible.”
Earl’s eyes widened with worry. “Oh, yeah, there’s no telling what Sylvester would do to us if he knew we were on to him.”
“It looks like a strong memory from the real world works to break the spell,” Owen said. “If you run into someone you know, try to get them alone and then start talking about something that will trigger them, then explain all this.”
“That ‘alone’ thing is very important,” I added. “You don’t want someone snapping out of it and reacting visibly when one of Sylvester’s people might be looking. If one person tips them off, we might all be in danger. And don’t do too many in a row. If you spend the day meeting up with all the people you knew back home, it might look obvious. Work gradually, and try to make the situations look as natural as possible.”
“Also, we’re trying to keep this in cells, so if one group is discovered it might not lead to everyone, so once you revive someone, that person shouldn’t tell you who else he’s reviving,” Owen said.
“Okay, got it,” Earl said, nodding. And then his eyes narrowed. “Hey, wait a second, if we’ve been under a spell, how did you two end up here? I thought you were magically immune.”
Owen blushed slightly. “Remember when the brooch was destroyed and we got caught in the backlash? It seems to have rebooted me, and it gave Katie a dose of magic.”
“I’m only a temporary and not very good wizard,” I said.
“You were good, you had a real knack,” Owen argued. “You just have a shortage of power to draw upon.”
“Oh, okay,” Earl said, taking it in stride. “Am I supposed to keep that a secret?”
“I think they already know,” Owen said dryly.
