AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did she look like that in school?” Marcia asked.
“I think she’s had work done,” Rod replied.
“What kind of work?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Are we talking having inches shaved off her body, her teeth done, a nose job, or what?” If it had been an attractiveness illusion, like the one Rod used, it wouldn’t have worked on me.
“Teeth definitely,” Owen said. “The rest, I don’t know. She’s just, well, different. That’s the best I can do.”
“I take it you won’t be staying in touch,” I said.
He gave a soft snort. “Not likely. One of the best things about being away from school is being away from the likes of her.”
I felt there had to be more to the story than that, and I made a mental note to dig into it later. If she knew he worked at MSI, she had to be magical, and I suspected magic had something to do with whatever issues there were. We couldn’t talk openly about that in public, especially not with Nita around.
We’d barely moved away from Matilda when I saw another familiar face I’d have preferred to avoid. “This day just keeps getting better,” I grumbled.
“Who is it now?” Nita asked.
“Another former boss. Gregor.”
“Wasn’t he . . .?” Rod began, but stopped himself. We’d learned that Gregor had links to the magical mafia, and he’d been fired, but I guess he hadn’t broken any actual magical laws, so he was out and about. This was the former boss who literally turned into an ogre. “Yeah, let’s avoid him,” Rod continued. “I was the one who had to fire him.”
“I’m sure there’s a story there,” Nita said.
“One I’m not at liberty to tell because of confidentiality rules,” Rod said.
As we moved through the crowd, I noticed that we weren’t the only ones avoiding people. Half the people we passed turned away as we approached, and it happened often enough that I didn’t think it was coincidence or paranoia on my part. They really were avoiding us. I glanced at Owen and saw that his face was stony, so he must have noticed it, too. I gave his hand a squeeze. The magical community was apparently still suspicious of him.
By this time, I could hear music. It was a jazzy pop blend, like eighties pop reimagined by a forties swing band. “Ooh, is this them?” Nita asked, her head bobbing in time with the music. “I like this.” I had to agree.
The stage came into view, and there was a respectable crowd milling in front of it. A few couples danced right in front of the stage, showing off swing moves. Everyone else stood with their toes tapping or their bodies swaying to the beat. With this kind of band at a wedding reception, we wouldn’t have to worry about the dance floor staying empty.
Only Philip appeared unimpressed with the music. He scowled as he listened, and his toes didn’t tap. I figured his tastes hadn’t yet caught up to modern times. He still thought ragtime was rather racy.
But otherwise, I got the impression that everyone enjoyed the music, and that made this an excellent choice for a wedding band. Even I wanted to dance, but I figured that making Owen dance in public would be a bad idea. Instead, I watched the audience and enjoyed those who were dancing.
That’s when I noticed the news crew. It wasn’t unexpected for there to be television cameras at a festival. I figured there would be some kind of “out and about in the city today” roundup on the evening news, showing New Yorkers enjoying a fine spring day. But then I saw that Carmen was the reporter with the cameraman. Was she here because of expected magical activity, or was this a run-of-the-mill assignment?
I didn’t say anything to the others—I couldn’t with Nita there—but I went from watching people enjoying the music to looking out for anything that might be suspicious. That included potentially magical things that Carmen would see if she was immune and any sign of magical skullduggery.
There weren’t any gargoyles in the trees, and although this was a magical band, I didn’t spot anyone in the audience who was obviously not human. There might have been a couple of elves masking their ears under hats, but there weren’t any fairy wings in sight. I couldn’t see anything that would alarm a magical immune.
I allowed myself a slight sigh of relief, but I didn’t let my guard down. I kept most of my attention focused on Carmen. At the moment, she wasn’t doing much of anything. Every so often she pointed out something for her cameraman to shoot, but it all was normal festival stuff. If she was here looking for proof that magic existed, she was in the wrong place.
More couples joined in the dancing in front of the stage. They were professional-level dancers, so I figured this was part of the act, a dance routine to go with the music and show that it was possible to jitterbug to Duran Duran songs. More and more couples left the crowd to dance, and the dancing looked choreographed, not just people moving to the music. “Oh, looks like a flash mob,” Nita remarked. “Cool!” She swayed and her toes tapped to the beat.
Owen, Rod, and I all exchanged glances. I’d seen something like this before, when our former nemesis, Phelan Idris, had been causing havoc in the city. He enjoyed magical pranks like making people break out into dance numbers. I felt a tingle as Owen and Rod created a shield around us to protect us from the spell that seemed to be spreading through the crowd. Once Philip realized what was going on, I felt his power join the shield.
Soon, almost everyone but us was dancing. I watched Carmen to see how she reacted. Her cameraman was so intent on filming the scene that he didn’t join in, but I noticed his feet moving in the steps of the dance around the camera’s tripod even as he kept his eye on the monitor. Carmen didn’t move at all. I wished I could see her face more clearly, but she was too far away for me to read her expression. I felt that her not being affected by the spell was a good indication that she really was immune to magic. The question was, would she see this as proof of magic or think, like Nita did, that it was merely a flash mob, possibly a promotional stunt?
“Funny, I always thought those musicals where everyone joins in a choreographed dance were just a movie thing,” Nita said. “Who knew that it really happens?”
Fortunately, she was so caught up in the spectacle that she didn’t notice that the band members seemed as perplexed as I was. They kept playing, and either they’d shielded themselves from the spell or whoever had cast the spell had left them out of it, because they weren’t dancing. I figured it would have ruined the effect if the band had stopped playing so they could join the group dance. They changed the song, slowing the tempo, but the dance barely changed.
Who was doing this, and why? If it was to show off magic for Carmen’s benefit, I didn’t think this was the best way to prove magic existed. There were too many other explanations, and making people dance hardly seemed like the sort of thing that would make anyone suspect magic. When Idris had done it, it had been to show off his power over people. Forcing people to do things against their will was one of the big taboos in the magical world.
“Do you know where it’s coming from?” I whispered to Owen, who shook his head. “Maybe you’d better get out of here,” I added. “We don’t want you being suspected. And what if worse happens?”
I could tell he was about to protest, but common sense won out, and his shoulders sagged slightly in defeat from a fight he hadn’t bothered to enter. He pulled his phone from his pocket, glanced at it, and said, “It’s James. I need to go find a quieter place to take this.” Rod and Philip nodded, and he slipped away. I was relieved that people kept dancing once he was gone, so it would be clear that Owen wasn’t behind it.<
