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“You’re not doing anything worth cramping,” I said.
“But we might. Ah, but we might.”
“Well, we wouldn’t have to be here if you’d answer your phones.”
“We made a pact. No distraction by phones while we’re here. Plus, it meant that Owen had an excuse for not being available for you-know-who.”
“I’d bet she’s here,” I said. “I’m pretty sure the game is their venue for their big demonstration.”
Owen slapped himself on the forehead. “Of course. It’s very public, on TV, and she knows I’m here. How did I miss that?”
“Anyway, the gang’s all here, and we need to get you out of here so they can’t blame whatever shenanigans happen here on you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Owen protested. “You’ll need me to help counter whatever they try to do.”
“They’ve called an all-hands. We have plenty of other people here to handle this,” I said, but that worked about as well as I’d expected it to, which wasn’t at all. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any of the knockout potion with me, so I wasn’t likely to be able to get him out of there without him kicking up a fuss that would be noticed, and he was right. Short of Merlin, he was the best wizard we had, and Merlin didn’t seem to be here yet, so we’d probably need Owen.
Since we weren’t going to win this argument, I figured we might as well stay with the guys. Our seats were in the row behind them, so I gestured for the others to go ahead and find their seats. Gemma and Marcia filed in, Nita and I followed them, and Trish and Carmen came in behind us.
As soon as Carmen took her seat, she gasped. “Oh. My. God,” she said, staring at the top of the stadium, where gargoyles were perched so they could watch the field. “They aren’t always here, are they? I don’t think I’ve seen them before.”
“No, they’re just here to handle things today,” I said. “They’re our security team.”
“What’s she talking about?” Nita asked, squinting in the direction of Ca
rmen’s stare.
“She’s seeing something that’s veiled by magic,” Gemma explained. “That means we’re out of luck. We won’t see it.”
“Who’s this?” Rod asked, gesturing toward Carmen.
“This is Carmen. She’s a magical immune who saw enough to realize what was going on,” I said. The full explanation and any apologies could wait until the immediate crisis was averted.
I felt an intense surge of magic, followed immediately by another one. “Hey, wait, I think I do see something!” Nita said, pointing. “Oh, no, now it’s gone. Maybe I just imagined it.”
“No, there was magic,” I said, rubbing my arms to try to make the goosebumps subside.
“Probably that veil drop they attempted on the building, but Sam and his people countered it,” Rod said.
“So, I did see gargoyles on top of the stadium?” Nita said.
“Probably,” I said.
“Let’s hope no one else did,” Owen said.
“Who looks at the stadium roof during a game?” Gemma remarked.
“Well, now we know that we were right about what event they were hitting,” I said. “If they tried to unveil the gargoyles, this must be the place, so everyone, keep your eyes peeled and be ready to take action.”
Jake peered at the field with binoculars. “Whoa, what’s that?” he wondered out loud, pointing toward the batter. We weren’t that far away, so I could see the batter fairly clearly without binoculars, but I wasn’t quite sure what Jake had noticed. Only after staring at the batter for a few seconds did I notice that something funny was happening with the bat. Like, it was sprouting leaves. No sooner did I notice the oddity than it was gone. Jake turned to Owen with a grin. “I told you that spell would come in handy.”
“Which one did you use?” Owen asked. “The McKetchney or the Ferguson?”
“Y’all can discuss magic theory later,” I said. “For now, focus!” I turned to my friends. “Let’s divide and conquer. I’d like an immune and a nonmagical person to work together so you can be sure to spot what’s veiled and what everyone else can see. Nita, you’re with me. Carmen, you and Gemma work together. Trish, team up with Marcia. We’ll look at the roof and sky, Carmen’s team can focus on the stands, and Trish’s team will keep an eye on the field. The moment you see something even slightly odd, tell the wizards.”
“What, exactly, are we looking for?” Nita asked, squinting as she scanned the sky.
“Anything even remotely weird. If you see something that you even think might be magical, let me know. And I’ll be running what I see by you because there are things I can see that most people won’t. You don’t see any gargoyles now, do you?” I saw at least three on the roof over the bleachers and several more circled the sky over the stadium.
