The gargoyle returned a moment later. “I didn’t see anything. He must have gone to ground. Aerial surveillance isn’t foolproof, you know. You only have to crawl under something and poof, you’ve
vanished.”
A police car rounded the corner into the square. “Then I guess we’ll have to hunt on the ground,”
Owen said as he knelt and placed his hands flat on the ground. I felt another surge of magic coming up through the soles of my feet. The approaching police car slowed to the point it was almost motionless. Owen rose and said, “Split up and search the next couple of blocks.”
Sam tilted his head to one side. “Are you sure—” he started, but Owen cut him off.
“We’ll discuss it later. Go!”
I certainly wasn’t going to argue when he sounded like that. Even though I knew he could do nothing to me magically, he still sounded powerful and intimidating. I chose the side of the square where the grocery store was and ran to investigate the parking lot in back. Nothing was moving, and not just because it was the middle of the night in a small town that tended to be still and quiet at high noon.
Not even the things that usually moved were moving. A plastic grocery bag being tossed by the wind hung suspended motionless in midair. An alley cat stopped in mid-pounce, inches away from a paralyzed mouse. This was totally freaky, walking through a frozen landscape. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything human-sized and frozen, so I returned to the square.
Owen returned next. I could see his frustration in the set of his shoulders and the way he clenched his fists. “You didn’t find anything, did you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Sorry. And what is all this, anyway?” I gestured around the motionless square.
He ducked his head in what looked a lot like embarrassment. That was a relief. At least he had the good grace to seem a little abashed by having done something so incredible. “It was a theory,” he said with a shrug. “It has to do with energy feedback and inertia manipulated magically.”
I was rescued from the Mr. Wizard—literally—explanation by Sam’s return. “Didn’t see a thing,” he reported. “That spell spread, what, three blocks? Our guy probably made it farther than that. So maybe you ought to set time right again before things get really odd.”
Owen knelt and put his hands on the ground again, and everything changed. When the evening breeze hit my face and I heard all the little night sounds that had been silent, I realized just how still things had been under the spell. The police siren came back as the car lurched forward and then stopped across a row of empty nose-in parking spots in front of the jewelry store. Owen gestured toward where we’d left his car, and we ran in that direction, Sam flying low behind us.
As soon as we were back at the car, Sam lit into Owen. “What in the blue blazes was that stunt supposed to be?” Owen opened his mouth to respond, but Sam cut him off with the wave of a wing.
“I don’t wanna know the theory. I just wanna know what you thought you were doing even going there. That’s not stuff you play with, even if you’re about the only one who could pull off something like that.”
Good. So I wasn’t the only one who was a little freaked out. And now I was even more freaked out because I’d never seen Sam that upset. As well as Sam knew the ins and outs of the magical world, if Sam was worried about what Owen had done, I knew I had reason to worry.
“It was a calculated risk,” Owen argued once Sam let him get a word in edgewise. “This is a nonmagical area, and there weren’t a lot of civilians around. The sooner we catch this guy, the lower our risk for exposure is. I know what I’m doing, and I thought it was worth a chance. Time is of the essence here, Sam.”
Sam folded his arms across his chest and his wings against his back. “Hmmph. Just don’t get cocky, kid. One rogue wizard is enough.”
“I don’t think I’m in any danger of being drunk with power. I’m actually kind of exhausted.”
“We do have to stop this guy,” I put in, hoping to steer this conversation back to the reason we were here in the first place. “Our local wizard is even worse than Idris in a way, since I don’t think we ever caught Idris using magic to actually commit a crime. Idris’s spells may be on the darker side ethically, and he may encourage others to do bad things, but we’ve never seen him use magic to steal, have we?”
“He doesn’t have to if he can get other people to do the dirty work for him,” Owen said. “He’s probably charging a commission.”
“So, we’ll stay on the case,” Sam said. “I’ll keep an eye on the place, see when the glass comes back, and make sure nobody else tries to take advantage of the situation. You two get out of here before anyone sees you.”
“And before my parents realize we’re not there,” I added.
The next morning, I got up early enough to try doing something with my hair other than the usual ponytail. It had grown past my shoulders, and it didn’t seem to want to do anything other than lie lifelessly against my head. I even went all-out and put on a bit of makeup. Owen might have caught me off guard the day before, but I wanted to show him that I hadn’t let myself slide completely. I knew it was a bad idea to even think of getting back together with him. We had to keep our relationship strictly business, but I’d want to look nice for a business relationship, as well. At least, that’s what I told myself as I put on some lip gloss.
I got downstairs to find Owen already sitting at the kitchen table, sharing a newspaper with my dad while silently drinking coffee. Mom was cooking an elaborate breakfast. She jabbered on while the men more or less ignored her. Every so often, Dad would pass a newspaper section on to Owen. From what I could tell, nothing in what Mom was chattering about had anything to do with any suspicions about where we’d been the night before.
“Katie!” Dad greeted me as I entered the kitchen. Owen looked up at me and flashed me a smile. He was fully dressed, complete with contact lenses.
“Good morning, everyone.” I headed straight to the coffeepot to pour myself a cup before I took a seat at the table next to Owen.
“Why don’t you take the day off to spend with your friend?” Dad suggested. “You’ve been working harder than you ought to, considering I haven’t been paying you a real salary other than room and board and spending money. Besides, it’s Saturday, and we’re only open half a day, anyway. Someone comes in all the way from New York, you should spend time with him.” I took that to mean that Dad thoroughly approved of Owen.
“Well, okay, twist my arm,” I said. “Though I’m not sure what we’ll come up with to do. We saw all the local sights yesterday. Both of them.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Mom said.
“I know what we could do today,” I said. “Maybe we could get a tour of the courthouse. It’s got some really interesting architecture, and there’s that little museum of Cobb County justice.”
“That sounds like fun,” Owen said, catching my eyes and giving me the slightest of nods to show he knew that I really didn’t have that warped a definition of fun. “I think the courthouse square is definitely worth checking out. And then I’d like to explore some of the surrounding countryside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much open space.”
“I’ll pack you a picnic lunch!” Mom chirped. “Oh, Frank, doesn’t that sound romantic?” Dad just rustled his newspaper as he turned the page and folded it over again.
It did sound romantic, but I forced myself not to get my hopes up. So far, romance didn’t seem to have entered Owen’s mind. “Speaking of romance,” I said, “did Dean come over last night?”
“Why would he do that?” Mom asked.
“I saw him and Sherri in the Dairy Queen having one of their knockdown, drag-outs. Usually he comes crawling home after one of those because she kicks him out. I wonder where he slept last night if he didn’t come here.”
“Stop saying such things about your brother. His marriage may be a bit rocky, but it’s nothing for you to gossip about. Now, give
me a few minutes, and I’ll have a picnic all packed for you two. Just don’t stay out too late. Tonight’s the big family dinner, and you’ll want to get back in time to get cleaned up and changed. I’m sure Owen would like to see you in something other than jeans. Surely you don’t dress like that in New York.”
“In New York I don’t have a job that involves moving around bags of fertilizer and cattle feed,” I muttered. I glanced over at Owen, and he looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel from trying to hold back his amusement. I rolled my eyes at him, and he went into a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like laughter.
When we were safely out of the house with a picnic basket that could have fed an entire scout troop, I said, “It was so much easier at your folks’ house.”
“For you, maybe.”
“Oh, don’t start that. Yeah, you got a lecture or two, and they’re not exactly cuddly, but they weren’t that bad. At least we didn’t have to try to hide or cover up anything.”
“That’s because they already know everything, and I do mean everything. There’s no point in hiding anything from them.”
“Well, compared to my family, they’re sane.”
“I’ll give you that one.” This time, it was my turn to fight a smile. He was thawing ever so slightly, getting back to his old self in his more relaxed moments.
We went straight to the courthouse square, with the pretense of taking that tour we’d mentioned. The local police department must have used up every piece of crime scene tape they had to seal off most of the storefronts on the square. All the windows were back in place, and a crowd had gathered around the perimeter of the taped-off area.
I led Owen through the crowd to where one of the local deputies was trying to keep the crowd back.
I’d gone to high school with him and had seen him around town since I’d been back. “Hey, Jason!” I called out. “What happened here?”
He grinned as he pushed back his hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Damnedest thing—oh, sorry, didn’t mean to curse in front of you. Anyway, most of these stores were robbed overnight, very select things taken, no sign of forced entry.”
“Really? What kind of stuff was stolen?”
“Oh, the kind of stuff you’d take if you had five free minutes in a store—and a criminal mind, of course. Some jewelry from the jewelry store. Not the really good stuff, because that was locked up, but a few of the pieces they had on display. Some of their china. A few of the more expensive knickknacks from the pharmacy’s gift shop, that kind of thing. They didn’t seem to be after drugs, and they didn’t even take the over-the-counter stuff that can be made into crystal meth, which is what we see in most drugstore robberies these days.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” I said. “Thanks for the scoop.”
He tipped his hat to me. “Any time, Katie.”
“So, there we are,” I said as Owen and I wove our way back out of the crowd. “It’s almost like this whole correspondence course is on how to use magic to get rich quick.”
He scanned the crowd. “I bet our culprit is here right now. They say a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. Someone who’s pleased with himself for doing something so clever wouldn’t be able to resist watching the aftermath.”
“There’s one problem with that: Everyone in the whole town is here. I already see at least two of my brothers and every single one of our suspects.”
In fact, Gene was walking right toward us, though his attention was elsewhere, so I doubted he was really aiming at us. The clock in the courthouse tower chimed, and he frowned and glanced at his watch. “The clock is five minutes slow,” he announced to no one in particular. “Someone should do something about that.” He changed course and headed off, apparently to do just that.
Teddy came up to us in Gene’s wake. “This is something else, isn’t it?” he said. “Who’d have thought this town would have its own criminal genius?” Then he frowned and looked at Owen. “Do I know you?”
“Teddy, this is my friend Owen, who’s here from New York. He was in the store yesterday when you were running around talking about your formula.”
The light dawned in Teddy’s eyes. “Oh yeah, I thought you looked familiar.” He shook Owen’s hand.
“Welcome. So, you’re friends with my little sister, huh? I’m glad to hear she has friends up in New York.”
“Teddy,” I groaned.
Dean then joined us. “Hey, it’s practically a family reunion,” he said, draping his arms around Teddy and me. “My favorite sister and my second-favorite brother.”
“Second-favorite?” Teddy knew the routine well enough to act affronted. Then he turned to Owen and asked, “Do you believe this guy?”
“Whoa, no forming outside alliances,” Dean said with a laugh. “I thought you and I were supposed to gang up on the new guy to make sure he’s good enough for our baby sister.”
“I think Katie’s smart enough to choose for herself.”
I stepped out from under Dean’s arm and blew a kiss at Teddy. “And that’s why you’re my smartest brother,” I said. “Now, we have things to do. You can torture Owen tonight at dinner.”
Once we were in the car and pulling away from the square, Owen said, “I’m glad my intentions toward you are totally honorable. It looks like you’re well defended.”
“They’re all talk. You have nothing to worry about, so you don’t have to keep your intentions too honorable.” I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the flush that spread across his cheeks.
We drove out to a roadside picnic area on a creek bank, complete with sheltered table. I hated to admit that my mother was right, but it really was the perfect spot for a romantic picnic. Mom had even packed the picnic basket accordingly, with dainty finger sandwiches, strawberries, and other foods that were perfect for feeding to each other. She’d also included a tablecloth and plastic dishes. I set the table, wondering if maybe, just maybe, he had some other agenda in bringing me out here. We could have talked work almost anywhere, but this was the perfect place to talk about us.
“It’s nice out here,” he said as he sat at the table. “I guess that creek over there is the same one that runs through town.”
“Yeah, that’s the one.” I passed him the plate of sandwiches. “Do you think the magical creatures are there?”
He took a few sandwiches and passed the plate back to me. “Maybe. They’ve probably moved out of town, but we wouldn’t see them at this time of day. They tend to be nocturnal.”
“I guess we’ll have to come back at night, then.” I could certainly go for that.
“If we need them, we will.”
I tried not to sigh in frustration that the conversation was stuck on work, but I couldn’t think of a way to bring up anything else. Life was so much easier in junior high when you could hand a guy a note that said, “Do you like me? Check yes or no.” Not that I’d ever had the nerve to do that kind of thing, even when I was in junior high. I picked up a strawberry and put it to my lips, trying to eat it as seductively as I could. The juice dripping down my chin to stain my shirt probably didn’t help the image I was trying to project.
Still, he did react. His eyes went wide and the tip of his tongue touched his lower lip, at the same spot where the juice dripped from my lip. Then he blinked several times, looked away from me, cleared his throat, and said, “So, how do we catch our culprit?”
With a sigh, I got out a notebook and started to take notes. I’d been a secretary—or administrative assistant—long enough that it had become habit, and it didn’t look like he was yet ready to move out of the business arena with me, no matter how much I tried to tempt him. “Do we keep trying to uncover him, or try to catch him in the act and then unmask him?”
“In the absence of any definitive clues, we might have better luck trying to catch him and unmask him. Unless he’s some freak prodigy, I don’t think we have to worry much about me not being able to beat him magically. Even if we’re equals
, power-wise, which I think is highly unlikely from what I’ve sensed, I have years of experience and a lot more spells at my disposal than he could ever get from a correspondence course.” He frowned and stared off into space for a moment, then said, “We could always set a trap—give him something he can’t resist. But what do we use for bait?”
“I’m guessing it’ll take more than a hunk of cheese to trap this rat,” I said. “What we need to do is figure out what he wants, what’s really driving him, and then make that available somehow.”
“Or not make it too available,” Owen replied, his eyes a little unfocused as he brainstormed. “Make it a challenge. He does seem to want money, but what it looks like he’s really enjoying is getting the chance to one-up everyone, to feel special and know he’s the only one around who can do this.”
“Shows how much he knows, with you in town,” I quipped. “Maybe we can use that, though. How likely do you think it is that our culprit even knows there are magical immunes like me?”
I saw the spark light in his eyes and knew he had an idea. “Not very likely. That’s seldom in Magic 101. He may know there are other magic users, but he probably doesn’t think there are any in this town. I’d bet the knowledge would disturb him. He wants to be the best.”
He grabbed my notebook and pen and went straight to work, outlining a plan in his textbook-perfect handwriting. “See, we find something he can’t resist that he’s sure to try to get into, then magically ward it. That should intrigue him enough to stop and study it. I doubt they’ve yet covered wards, so he won’t know what’s going on. Then we can grab him. He’ll probably try using magic to defend himself, but it won’t work on you, and I can deflect it. He’ll think he’s outclassed and outnumbered.”
He looked up at me and grinned. “See, this is why I need you around. You make me think better.”
Then he blushed furiously and looked back down at the notebook. “Well, most of the time. When you’re not in immediate danger.”
At least he’d acknowledged that he needed me, even if he’d felt the need to throw in the part about me in danger. That’s what had tripped us up the last time, and I didn’t like the reminder. “Then maybe we should just lock me up in a bank vault, and you can come visit me when you need to brainstorm.”
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