Finally, at fifteen after, Hughes called me from the lobby to say my guest had arrived. I hurried downstairs and found a pale, sweaty Ethan standing there, looking dashing in a dark power suit. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said. “I almost didn’t come at all. I walked around the block a few times before I made up my mind.”
“That’s okay. We understand. Come on up with me and you can meet my boss and some others who are better at explaining all this than I am.”
His eyes roamed the ornate, cathedral-like lobby. “Interesting place you have here. I can’t believe I never noticed it.”
“It does sort of sneak up on you, doesn’t it?”
The turret escalator took him aback, but I explained, “It’s mechanical, not magical. Not everything here is weird. Just most things.”
He did a double take when he saw Trix at her desk. “She’s the one—”
“Yes, she’s the one you saw the other night. Trix, this is Ethan. Ethan, this is Trix.”
“Nice to see you again,” she said. “The boss is expecting you. Go on in.”
The big wooden doors opened before we got to them, and Ethan’s eyes grew large. “Oh, boy,” he breathed.
I patted him on the arm. “It’s okay, really.”
Rod and Owen were already in the office, sitting at Merlin’s small conference table. They both stood as Merlin approached us. “Ah, so this is our new recruit,” he said.
“Mr. Mervyn, this is Ethan Wainwright. Ethan, I’d like you to meet Ambrose Mervyn, our CEO.” I decided not to bring up the Merlin issue. It was enough to expect him to believe that magic was real without throwing in the fact that the company was run by a legendary enchanter.
Ethan shook hands with Merlin, then I introduced him to Rod and Owen. Rod wasn’t quite as friendly to Ethan as he’d been to me when they were first recruiting me, but I imagined that he only really poured on the charm for women. In contrast, Owen wasn’t nearly as shy as he’d been with me. He was in full-on professional mode, still soft-spoken and reserved, but able to be direct and articulate. Fortunately, Ethan had been too busy being freaked out Friday night to notice them, and even if he had, I’m not sure he would have connected them to the odd events.
We all sat around the table, then Rod asked, “Would you like some coffee?”
Ethan cleared his throat. “Yes, please.” A mug instantly appeared in front of him, and he jumped. “Oh, boy. Wow. Yikes. You didn’t do that with mirrors, did you?”
“That is just the smallest of demonstrations,” Merlin said. “I understand Katie has already told you the basics.”
Still staring at the coffee mug, Ethan said, “Yes, magic exists, but it doesn’t affect me, and you need a lawyer.”
“Very well, then.” Merlin then launched into the same briefing I’d heard during my first formal interview. It was funny how much of that information I now took entirely for granted. Ethan seemed to be absorbing it all. He asked good questions, even though his face remained pale and his eyes were wide. I had a feeling he was going to come through this okay.
When Merlin finished, Ethan shook his head. “You know, I find all of this incredibly hard to believe, but I’m not sure I can come up with a simpler explanation.”
“Occam’s razor,” Owen said softly. “The simplest explanation is most likely to be correct. Just imagine the resources it would require to play a prank this elaborate, and what would we have to gain?”
“Meanwhile, doesn’t this explain a lot?” Rod added. “Doesn’t it make you feel better to know why you’ve been seeing things? You’re not going crazy. You’re not working too hard. You simply see a reality we don’t let others in on.”
“I can’t believe it took me this long to notice,” Ethan said with a nervous laugh. “That says a lot for my powers of observation.” He took a deep breath and grasped the edge of the table until his knuckles turned white. “Okay, I’ll believe you until I have good reason not to. Magic is real, but it doesn’t work on me, which is why I see things I’m not supposed to. It makes a strange kind of sense. Now, Katie says you have a possible intellectual property dispute?”
Owen leaned forward, clasping his hands together on top of the table. “Yes, we have a former employee who’s gone into business for himself, competing with us. In most cases, we wouldn’t have a tremendous problem with that, but this situation is dangerous. We’re very careful to make sure our spells can’t be used to harm others. He’s selling spells designed to cause harm. We’re worried that if he’s successful, it will unleash darker magic on the world, the kind of magic we’ve tried hard to suppress for generations.”
“And he’s basing what he’s selling on work he did while he was employed here?”
Owen nodded. “He was on my staff in Theoretical Magic. Most of what we do is study the ancient texts, looking for spells that could be updated for use in the present. He found some spells that were darker in nature than we normally deal with. He worked on developing practical applications for them, but when he presented them as potential products to the board, they declined to pursue commercial production. When we found out he was still working on these projects, we dismissed him.”
“Was he working on these projects on company time, using company resources?”
“Yes. All of his work was based on a spellbook we own.”
“It’s not information he could get any other way?”
Owen shook his head. “We have the only existing copy.”
“Do we have a case?” I asked.
“It’s hard to say based on only this information,” Ethan replied. “I’d have to take a closer look, and even then, it’s not particularly clear-cut. The fact that your company declined to commercialize his work when given the opportunity shades things somewhat, but then there’s also the fact that he was using company resources. And then it might ultimately be up to a judge or jury. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take action. You can sometimes get a favorable result just by sending a carefully worded letter. A lot of people back down when they see the letterhead.”
“You could write such a letter?” Merlin asked.
“That’s what I spend a good amount of my life doing.”
“So you’re willing to take our case?”
Ethan smiled for the first time that day. “I couldn’t pass it up. It’s too fascinating.”
“This won’t cause a problem for you at your firm, will it?” I asked.
“I have my own firm. If I want to take a case, it’s my business.”
Merlin looked supremely satisfied. “Very well. You can discuss your fees with Mr. Gwaltney. Mr. Palmer can give you access to all the information you need. He’s also your best resource for any questions you might have about magic.”
Ethan pulled a Palm Pilot out of his breast pocket. “Let’s see, I have tomorrow afternoon open if you’d like to meet then.”
“I’ll work around your schedule,” Owen said. A business card appeared in his hand, and he handed it to Ethan.
“Okay, you just pulled that out of your sleeve, didn’t you?”
Owen grinned. “Actually, I did. Stage magic is a hobby of mine.”
That was news to me, but then I remembered that I knew nothing about Owen’s personal life other than that he liked baseball and opera.
“That seems like a weird hobby for a real wizard,” Ethan remarked, and I had to agree.
“It’s fun,” Owen said with a shrug. “But what I’ll show you tomorrow has nothing to do with sleight of hand.”
Rod made a show of shoving his sleeves up, then his business card appeared in his hand. “And here’s my card. Call me to discuss your retainer.”
Ethan slipped his Palm Pilot back into his pocket. “I suppose I’ll see all of you tomorrow afternoon.” They shook hands all around, then I walked Ethan to the exit.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so. In fact, I feel better than I have for a while.”
“That’s good to hear. I w
ouldn’t want to think you were going around the bend. We need you too much.”
“This stuff that’s going on, it’s that bad?”
“They’re afraid this is the first step in a possible magical war. It opens the door for magical people who want to use their powers in a darker way, and that makes life riskier for everyone. If we stop it now, we may be able to prevent a lot of suffering.”
“Then I’d better do a damn good job.” He started to go, then paused and turned back. “I realize you didn’t exactly have dating on your mind when you had me get in touch with you, and I know our date isn’t going to make the hall of fame—at least, not in a good way—but would you be interested in trying again? This time, I promise not to have a nervous breakdown.”
I hesitated. I did like him, and he was cute. He was also the most normal man I knew. But did I really want to date him? This didn’t seem like the best time to mix business with pleasure. “Can we talk about it once the immediate crisis is averted?”
“That gives me plenty of incentive for getting this done right, and soon. I hope I’ll see you tomorrow when I come by.”
“I’ll try to at least drop by and say hi while you’re here.”
“It would be a good idea for you to be there when Ethan comes by this afternoon,” Owen said as we walked to the subway station the next morning.
“Why’s that?”
“It’ll help him feel more comfortable. He’s going to see things that are beyond his imagination, and it’ll help to have someone he knows and trusts nearby. You’re an anchor to him, someone he knows is real.”
“I’ll see if Mr. Mervyn needs me for anything, and if not, sure, I’ll come down.” I was more than a little curious about what Idris had been working on before he was fired, and this would be a good way of finding out.
At the same time, I thought this was the ultimate evidence that Owen had no romantic interest in me. If he were interested, would he want me spending even more time with a guy he knew I’d gone out on a date with—even if my reasons behind that date were strictly business? While Rod had shown the slightest hints of jealousy upon meeting Ethan, Owen had been friendly, in his reserved sort of way.
I grinned then. “Magic tricks, huh?”
He laughed. “Yeah, card tricks, coin tricks. I have quite the collection.”
“Everyone needs a hobby, I suppose.”
“What’s yours?” It was the closest thing to a personal question Owen had ever asked me.
“I like to cook. I don’t have time for it often, and my kitchen here is pathetic, but it’s fun to see what I can make out of what I have available. I grew up on a farm, so we were always working with fresh produce in season. I also love to bake.”
“That’s interesting. I’d love to try some of your cooking sometime.”
“This time of year, I get baking urges. I’ll have to bring in some bread and cookies to share around the office.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
That afternoon, I headed down to Owen’s office just before two. His desk was piled with books and papers. “Is that all your stuff on Idris?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m missing just one thing.” He was rummaging through a filing cabinet. “There it is.” He added the file he’d just found to the pile. Just then the crystal on his desk glowed and Hughes’s voice said, “Mr. Wainwright to see you, sir.”
“Thanks, Hughes. I’ll be right down.”
I went with him to meet Ethan, but before we got to the door of the R&D department, I stopped him. He must have spent the morning digging through bookshelves and cabinets, for his hair was rumpled and his tie was askew. I straightened his tie, then brushed his hair out of his eyes. “There, that’s better,” I said.
His ears turned red. “Thanks.”
But he was right back to professional cool as he greeted Ethan and escorted him up to R&D. He gave a perfunctory tour of the department on the way back to his office. Ethan’s eyes drank in every detail.
While Owen talked, I compared the two men side by side. Ethan was half a head taller than Owen, and both had slender builds, but Owen’s shoulders were a little broader, proportionally speaking. He looked sturdier than Ethan. Owen was all sharp contrasts—nearly black hair, very fair skin, dark blue eyes—while there was something almost blurred about Ethan. His hair was brown, with the slightest hint of silver showing at the temples, and his skin had more color to it than Owen’s did. His eyes were a silvery gray that barely showed up as a color. He wouldn’t stand out from any crowd unless he tried, while Owen was likely to draw anyone’s eye, unless he was making an effort to hide.
Oddly enough, I got the sense that their personalities weren’t all that different. They were hitting it off well enough, so well that I wasn’t sure Ethan really needed me to be his anchor. Today he was taking the magic in stride.
We got to Owen’s office, where Owen gestured us toward the chairs facing his desk. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Is it going to appear out of thin air?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Brace yourself,” I warned. “But you do get used to it.”
A mug appeared in Ethan’s hand, and he only flinched a little bit.
“Katie?” Owen offered.
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
Owen leaned against his desk, facing us. “Well then, I suppose we should get down to business. First, do you have any questions about what you learned yesterday?”
“Maybe one more demonstration, to prove to myself I didn’t imagine all this.”
“Okay.” Owen took a quarter out of his pocket and held it in his right palm. He waved his left hand over it, and the quarter disappeared. Then he opened his left hand to reveal the quarter. “That was sleight of hand.” He held his left hand palm up with the quarter in it, then the quarter rose to hover an inch over his palm, flip over, and land back on his palm. “That was magic. Can you tell the difference?”
Ethan frowned. “For one thing, I can’t tell how you did it. For another, I think I felt something, like a charge.”
Owen nodded. “You did.”
“But I’m supposed to be immune to magic.”
“You can still feel the energy at work. Everyone does. Most people just write it off as a shiver up their spine or static electricity. It’s amazing how good the human brain is at rationalizing things it doesn’t understand.”
“Yeah, I spent the past year thinking that fairies were making a fashion statement and that elves had seen The Lord of the Rings too many times,” I said.
“You know, I think I’m ready to believe you,” Ethan said. “So what do you have on our case?”
Owen handed him a file. “This is Phelan Idris’s employment record. I was careful to document everything, every assignment, every reprimand, every performance evaluation.”
Ethan flipped through the file. “This is very thorough. Did you know he was a troublemaker from the start?”
“I had a feeling. No evidence, though. I just knew that I’d need documentation someday.” He scratched his ear and looked embarrassed, although for once he didn’t blush. “I have a touch of precognition—not enough to be a real seer, just the occasional flash of insight. This time it proved useful.”
“Can I take this?” Ethan asked.
“They’re copies. Go ahead.”
Ethan slipped the file into his briefcase. Owen handed him another file. “These are the projects he was working on while he was employed here. I’ve made copies of his source material.”
“And you have the only known copy of this source material?”
“On the bookshelf over there.”
Ethan stuck that file in his case, and Owen handed him yet another file. “This is my analysis of the spells he’s marketing. I’ve highlighted the comparisons where I think he lifted work he did while he was here. His work here forms the core of these spells. Without that work, he’d have nothing.”
Ethan frowned as he studied these. “I ha
ve to admit that this makes very little sense to me. I’ll have to rely on your notes. They seem pretty extensive. Anyway, our goal is to just get his attention. I should have enough to go on.”
“Let me know if you have any questions or if you need anything explained. You have my card.”
Ethan closed his briefcase. “Anything else I need to know?”
“That should do it, unless you have questions along the way.”
“Then I should be able to get a letter drafted by the end of this week. Should I send it to you for review?”
Owen nodded. “And I can get it in front of Mr. Mervyn.”
“Then I’ll talk to you later this week.”
I walked Ethan to the exit. “He seems nice enough, not at all what you’d expect of a wizard,” he remarked.
“What would you expect of a wizard?”
“Oh, I don’t know. More mystery, I guess. Maybe more intimidation and power.”
“You haven’t seen him really working.” At least, not that Ethan knew of. It was best that he didn’t know who was behind the shenanigans at the restaurant.
“To be honest, I’m not sure I want to. I’m comfortable with this level of involvement. I don’t think I’m ready for full immersion. I don’t know how you do it.”
“It’s easier than you’d think.”
On Thursday afternoon there was a tap on my office door, and I looked up to see Owen. “Hi, there!” I said. “Can I help you with something?”
“I just got Ethan’s letter draft, and I want you to take a look at it before I show Mr. Mervyn.”
“I’m no legal expert,” I warned him.
“Neither am I. Maybe between the two of us, we can tell if this makes sense.”
The letter was full of legal mumbo jumbo that was less intelligible to me than the spell Owen had made me read. “I have no idea what this says, other than that the gist of it is that Idris has to stop using his stolen spells and pay restitution to the company, or something like that. It seems legitimate enough to me. Do you think Mr. Mervyn will understand it?” I wasn’t sure a guy who’d spent a thousand years asleep was going to grasp the intricacies of the modern American legal system.
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