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When we reached the park, we found a somewhat private spot under a tree and spread our blanket. Owen took a bakery box out of his basket and opened the lid to reveal a selection of cakes. “I got a mix of traditional and nontraditional types,” he said. “Remember, we can make just about anything look like a wedding cake, so we’re not stuck with the usual white cake and white icing.”
“That can be good if you do it right, but I’m willing to consider other options,” I said as I picked up a fork.
While I was contemplating the Italian cream cake as an option, I noticed a group of kids trooping through the park nearby, led by adults dressed as wizards. The fact that they were actually dressed as wizards, pointy hats and all, suggested that they weren’t our kind of wizards, but I still pointed them out to Owen. “What’s going on over there?” I asked.
“Some kind of educational fun, I suppose,” he said, once he’d swallowed a bite of cake. “I’m not sure about the white chocolate.”
“It doesn’t really taste like chocolate,” I said. Then I groaned. “Oh, no.”
“What? I only put the carrot cake in as an option, but I agree that it’s not high on my list.”
“No, carrot cake is okay, though probably not for a wedding. Look who’s following the kids.” A man carrying a television camera on his shoulder came after the line of children, a woman walking alongside him. “The way things have been going lately, this means something weird and magical is going to happen at any moment.”
“There are probably news crews all over the city most of the time every day, and how many actual magical events have they captured?”
“Are you talking over time, or in the last week or so?”
“Okay, so we’ll keep our eyes open, and I won’t use magic.”
Something ran across my foot, and I barely stifled a squeal as I jerked out of the way. I looked, expecting a rat, but I saw one of the little magical creatures who lived in the park. “Shoo, go away, this is a bad time,” I said. There had been a brief moment when they’d worshiped me because I’d held a magical brooch, and they apparently hadn’t forgotten that. If I went into the park, I usually found myself with company. The last thing we needed right now was footage of strange creatures hitting the news. They were usually veiled from ordinary people, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
It was hard to focus on tasting the cake while I worried what disaster was likely to happen next—and it takes some serious worry to distract me from cake. The kids stopped to do some kind of activity that had been staged for them, and the cameraman circled them as they worked. The reporter talked to one of the leaders, scribbling notes in a small notepad as the leader spoke. I couldn’t help but scan the area for any potential threats.
There were several guys in hoodies nearby, but since it was a cool spring day, it seemed like half the people in the park were dressed the same way. It didn’t mean that the mysterious bus wizard was here and ready to cause trouble. A clump of bicycles came down the path that passed this section of lawn, and while packs of feral bikers were often a menace in the park, that wasn’t unusual enough to make the news. Everyone knew that you had to get out of their way or else you’d get spandex poisoning. You were usually safe from them as long as you stayed off the pavement.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the pack veered off the path and onto the grass, heading straight for the kids. They all moved as one, staying in formation behind their leader, but they moved at the same time as their leader rather than waiting for him to move and then following him. It was like they were all on the same wavelength. I was surprised they were able to keep going at any speed riding on the grass. “Owen,” I said softly.
He was already standing. “I see them.”
I tugged on his hand, trying to pull him back down to me. “Don’t! You could get in trouble.”
“Only if I do anything they notice, and they’re heading for those kids.” His hand slipped out of my grasp as he hurried across the lawn, shouting and waving his arms.
The adults with the kids
finally looked up and noticed the pack of bicycles bearing down on them. They tried to herd the kids out of the path, but the bikes veered to follow them. This was definitely magic, and I could feel it. But who was doing it?
I got up and ran after Owen. He was pulling together a spell, which rendered my sense of magic useless. Feeling his magic right next to me made it impossible for me to detect any other sources of magic, so I ran across the lawn, as though heading for the kids, but all the while trying to detect the tingle of magic. I was pretty sure I felt something from one of the hoodie guys I’d noticed earlier, which somewhat vindicated me in my suspicions.
The sense of magic grew stronger, like the spell had intensified. I glanced back toward the kids and saw that the cameraman was now shooting the approaching bikers, who relentlessly pursued the children. The front wheels of the bikes began to rise, but just then a couple of the bikers seemed to hit an obstacle in the grass, and they fell over, bringing down the bikes near them in a hopeless tangle. The adults with the kids took advantage of the opportunity to flee with their charges.
I heard a muffled curse behind me and turned to see the hoodie guy running away. I thought about running after him, but I’m not exactly athletic, so I had no chance of catching him, and I wasn’t sure what I could do if I did. I’d seen enough of his face to be sure he was the same guy I saw at the club, and I was fairly sure I’d recognize him if I saw him again. Instead, I joined Owen, who’d headed for the bicycle pileup and was helping the fallen bikers. Much to my relief, the news crew had followed the kids instead of lingering to see what happened to the bikers. It would have only been news if they’d hit the kids, and a bike wreck wasn’t exactly the stuff that Pulitzers are made of.
I helped one of the riders get to his feet and pick up his bike. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess.” He looked around, blinking. “How did we get off the path?”
“I guess you guys weren’t paying attention,” I said, feeling a bit bad about letting them think it was their fault.
Once they were all upright and were sure no one was injured, aside from maybe some scrapes and bruises, they returned to the path and resumed their ride. “I probably shouldn’t have wrecked them, but it seemed like the best way to contain the situation,” Owen said once they were gone. “I hope that doesn’t count as using magic to do harm.”
“It was a good thing you took action when you did because they were about to go full-on E.T., only without the moon to fly in front of. And I’m pretty sure it’s the same guy who levitated the bus, so he must have only one trick up his sleeve.”
“I don’t get what they’re trying to do,” Owen said, frowning, as we returned to our blanket. “Are the same people setting up these events and then resolving them with magic so it will be noticed?”
“If they’re trying to get caught doing good with magic, then maybe they’re trying to go public in a way that looks heroic,” I suggested. “On the other hand, I think this is the guy I saw in the club, and if the guy he was with was the guy I saw looking for bus witnesses, he was working for one of those ‘magic is evil’ blogs. If they have a magical person working for them, wouldn’t they be able to create definitive proof without going through all this fuss?”
“That’s if the person running that group knows she has magical people working for her. They may have their own agenda. Maybe they’re trying to change her mind about magic by doing heroic things with it.”
