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“Nope, they’re gone,” she said.
I heard the others calling things out to each other, but I tried not to get distracted. From what I could tell, they were all little oddities, and if our gang wasn’t taking care of them, the security forces that had convened were doing the job. I didn’t know how many people we had on-site by now, but as far as I could tell, the rest of the fans weren’t noticing anything odd about the game.
I saw a large shape in the sky heading toward the stadium, and it got larger as it drew closer. “Do you see that?” I asked Nita, pointing.
“See what?” she asked.
Now I could tell that it was a dragon. It was close enough and obvious enough that if it hadn’t been veiled, people would definitely have been reacting, even if they just thought it was a kite or balloon. I called Sam and said, “I don’t know if your guys can see it, but we’ve got a dragon approaching the stadium.”
“A dragon?” Nita squeaked.
“It’s still veiled,” I reported into the phone, “but I have a feeling that won’t be for long.” This, I was certain, was the big demonstration. The other things had probably been meant to distract us and test what the response would be, but it would be very hard to explain away a dragon attacking either the field or the fans during a baseball game that was being aired on live television, possibly on both coasts. And I’d bet that they had someone set up to use magic to stop it, since the dragon in and of itself wasn’t necessarily proof of magic. Or did they expect our wizards to step up to defend the crowd from the dragon, so they were the ones to use magic in public, even if it was to save people?
“Can’t you guys keep it away from the stadium?” I asked Sam. The gargoyles circled the dragon like they were trying to herd it, but it didn’t veer from its course.
“I think it’s under a spell. It’s actin’ like it doesn’t even notice us,” Sam reported.
“Well, whatever you do, don’t let its veil drop. I bet they’re about to expose it.”
“It can still attack while it’s veiled,” Sam warned.
I leaned forward and tapped Owen on the shoulder. “We’ve got a dragon incoming. Sam’s gargoyles can’t get it to turn away. They’re trying to keep it veiled, but he thinks it’s enchanted. Do you think your taming spell would do any good?”
He looked up, and I supposed the dragon wasn’t veiled to him—validating my theory that he was meant to do something to stop it—because he reacted like he saw it. “I might be able to make it tamer, but I’m not sure I can override the compulsion to come here. And I’m not sure what the range is on that spell.”
“We have to let it get in the stadium before you can stop it?” I was alarmed enough that I barely kept my voice down.
“I’ll try before it gets here, but no guarantees on when it will start working.”
“And can you do it in a way that doesn’t look like you’re doing magic? Because I think the plan was for you to out magic for them by valiantly saving the crowd from a dragon. I guess she doesn’t know that you have other ways of dealing with dragons.”
“Or she was counting on her spells making me do what she wanted. Good thing you spotted that.” He laced his fingers together and stretched his arms out, flexing his wrists, then separated his hands, wiggled his fingers, and began making subtle gestures as he murmured under his breath. I could feel the magic around him building.
Meanwhile, the dragon kept coming.
“Do you see anything yet?” I asked Nita.
“No. I guess that’s good, huh? Though I would kind of like to see a dragon. Dragons are real?”
“Yes. But don’t count on them giving you a ride. It doesn’t work that way. That I know of.” My experience with dragons had mostly been limited to an encounter with a small colony that had been living adjacent to the sewers. I wasn’t sure what they were like in the wild.
“It’s not responding to my suggestions to turn away,” Owen said. I could tell that much because the dragon had cleared the edge of the stadium and was directly overhead. It circled above the field, at about the level of the roof over the stands, but it didn’t show any sign of aggression. It cast a shadow on the field, but I couldn’t tell if anyone else might see it. At least the shadow was just a blob, not anything obviously dragon-shaped.
“I think I see—” Nita said, but then she shook her head. “No, it’s gone. It was like just for a split second there was a shimmer in the sky, and I thought I saw wings. Or it could have been my imagination because that’s what I’m looking for.”
“No, they tried to unveil it, but Sam’s guys must have got to it,” Owen said, still staring at the sky.
I supposed this was when the dragon was supposed to attack, but it wasn’t showing any signs of hostility. It circled lazily. Even if it had been visible to most of the crowd, it could have possibly been written off as a kite being towed by an airplane.
“Oh, wow, that’s really a dragon,” Carmen said.
“Eyes on your sector,” I ordered.
“But, dragon! I’m so glad you clued me in before I saw this.”
The dragon came closer, and I braced myself. I knew Owen wouldn’t let it roast thousands of people, even if it did mean outing himself as a wizard and getting in all kinds of trouble for doing so, but I still couldn’t help but imagine flames coming at me. The dragon opened its mouth, but it only yawned. It spread its wings, letting them fill with air so they functioned like a parachute to slow its descent until it hit the field, just in front of the outfield wall, where it curled up and promptly fell asleep.
Owen let out his breath in a big “whoosh” and sank back against his seat. “I don’t know how long that will hold, and I hope no one hits anything toward that part of the wall,” he said. “Maybe I should get over there and see if there are some spells I can untangle and then deepen my control.”
