Kiss and Spell (Enchanted, Inc.) (28 page)

“We should probably split up, so if they catch one group of us, they won’t catch all of us,” I suggested. “Earl, you go with Perdita. We’ll meet you there.”

We climbed the steps and emerged on the sidewalk. It was the evening rush hour, so the sidewalk was busy and crowded, and we didn’t stand out too badly. We melted into the crowd and made our way toward the park.

We’d gone a few blocks when I noticed one of the gray guys on the opposite side of the street. I nudged Owen, but he didn’t seem to respond at all—until we reached the next intersection and he casually turned us down the side street heading toward the park, as though that was where we’d been going all along. I couldn’t tell if the gray guy had seen us, and looking back over my shoulder to see if he’d followed us would be a dead giveaway.

“What do we do?” I whispered to Owen.

“Just keep going.” In the middle of the block, he stopped and knelt to tie his shoe, then stood and reported, “He didn’t follow us.”

“Then let’s go before another one shows up,” I urged.

We didn’t encounter any more of the gray guys. I felt a lot better once we were inside the park even though I knew that we weren’t necessarily safer there. I just felt a lot less exposed surrounded by trees. The others soon joined us at the designated meeting place.

When we were all gathered, Owen said, “This should work better on natural ground, say, over there under those trees.” We trooped over to the place he’d pointed out, then he closed his eyes for a moment. Nodding with satisfaction, he said, “Yeah, this place should work.”

He found a stick and knelt to scratch something in the dirt. As he did so, he directed, “I need you guys to find me some small stones, preferably smooth and round.” The elves and I scrounged around on the ground, picking up rocks. Owen arranged the rocks in a circle around the symbols he’d been drawing in the dirt. “I should probably set up wards to keep this magic from being detected,” he said as he worked, “but I’m afraid we can’t spare the power. We’ll just have to make it quick, get our message out, then dash—and hope it works so they’ll send help in case we get caught.” He gestured for the others to join him and said, “In the absence of wards, Katie, you stand guard. I’d rather not draw on your power unless we have to. Yell if you see anyone coming.”

I wanted to see what they were doing, but I had to admit that keeping watch was more important than observing magic I’d never be able to do. Before I turned away, I saw Owen writing a note. Soon afterward, he started an incantation in a language I didn’t know. It might have been elvish, since the elves soon joined in.

I forced myself to focus on the surrounding park, looking for any sign that we were being watched. I was only one pair of eyes, though. Anyone could sneak up on us from behind wherever I was at the time. I settled for walking in rapid circles around the spellcasters, hoping that anyone who did approach us wouldn’t move quickly enough to reach us in the time it took me to get around the circle.

A slight glow was just starting to form in the circle when someone stepped out of the shadows right next to me, making me jump and yelp.

It was Florence, my colleague from the coffee shop. “Owen!” I called out. “We’ve got company!”

But she made no move to stop us, to hit us with the whammy, or to call the authorities. She just put her hands on her hips and snapped, “What do you fools think you’re doing?”

Chapter Eighteen

Behind me, the incantation stopped, and the park grew dimmer as whatever they’d generated faded away. “Um, nothing, really,” I said, trying to play innocent, in spite of the evidence around me.

“You weren’t trying to open a portal, were you?” Florence asked. “Did you really think you could escape that way? Do you know the kind of power it would take to punch a hole like that between realms?”

“Yes, which is why it was going to be a very small portal,” Owen said, sounding surprisingly calm as he came over to stand at my side.

“And did you think you could use that much power without anyone noticing?” Florence scolded.

“No. I just hoped we’d get our message through before we got caught.”

She shook her head and made motherly “tsk, tsk” noises. “It would never have worked. Now, come on, I need you to get away from here before anyone else shows up.”

The others all looked at me, and I said, “She’s one of the guards, but she’s always had my back, and tried to clue me in about what was going on, even before the spell broke. We may as well trust her.”

“It’s not like we have a lot of other options,” Earl grumbled, but they all followed as Florence bustled us away from that part of the park.

When we were in an area sheltered by hedges, she gestured for us to sit down, and then her appearance shimmered for a second before solidifying into something that was very different, if still recognizable as Florence. Her face was thin and angular, her body was willowy, her eyebrows slanted, and her ears pointed. She turned to Earl and Brad and said, “You’re with the underground, aren’t you?” Then she did something with her hands that looked like a graceful and elegant gang sign. Earl and Brad returned the sign.

“She’s okay,” Earl said. “She’s one of us.”

“She’s a double agent,” I said.

She sank to sit among us. “You figured me out? Yeah, I got in really deep with Sylvester’s organization and next thing I know, I’ve been shipped off to the Homelands and put to work as a cast member in the world’s creepiest theme park.”

“You knew what Sylvester was doing all along, and yet you did nothing? You told no one?” Earl accused.

“Don’t you think I’ve been trying to find a way to send messages back? That’s how I know you can’t make your own portal. Once you’re here, you’re here, even if you’re staff. There’s one portal, and it’s warded so heavily that no one can get through, not even those of us who are in on the scheme. I guess they figure there’s a chance some of us could be double agents, so they’re not letting us communicate with anyone back home. All I could do was sabotage their efforts.”

She turned to me. “You were right that I was trying to nudge you toward breaking the spell without breaking my cover. And man, but you were dense. I thought you’d never get it. To be honest, I’m not sure how you did eventually break through.”

“It wasn’t that I had a brilliant breakthrough,” I admitted. “It’s just that normally I’m immune to magic. My current magic supply is extremely limited, and as it wore away, it seems that the spell lost its grip on me.” Then I had a sudden burst of inspiration. “You said the portal is warded. Could a magical immune get through?”

She frowned in thought, but before she could answer, Owen protested, “Katie!”

“Actually, she may be on to something,” Florence said, nodding slowly. “Can you normally get through wards?”

“All the time,” I said.

“How hard would it be for you to get back to your immune state? You said your power was wearing off.”

Owen didn’t give me a chance to answer. He grabbed my hand and said, “This isn’t a good idea.”

I squeezed his hand as I turned to face him. “You said I was running low on magic and would eventually run out. Why don’t I just burn myself out and then make a break for it?”

“You’d give up your magic?”

“It’s not like I have a choice. It’s eventually going to be gone anyway.”

“But draining your power should be a last resort.”

“This
is
a last resort,” I snapped. More gently, I added, “I’m okay with it, really. I like being immune. I think I’m more useful that way.” I curled my fingers around his. “I know you hated being without magic, but that’s who you are. Being immune is what I am, and going back to that would mean being myself again.”

“I’m not sure what this place would be like to someone who can’t be affected by the illusions. You probably wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that you’re not affected for long. It could even be dangerous.”

“Have you got any better ideas?” Florence asked. “Because I’m all ears if you do. But I’m thinking that having an immune is our ace in the hole, and this is time to use it.”

“This is even better than sending a note,” I argued. “I can tell Merlin directly what’s going on.”

“You’d be coming through the portal into their headquarters,” Owen pointed out.

“Yeah, and they’ll use magic to fight me. Which won’t work because of the immunity thing.” I was feeling more and more confident about this plan.

“If you’re going to burn off magic, I suggest you do it here,” Florence said. “It won’t be as noticeable in the park, but then that means you’ll have to get across town without magic, and I honestly don’t know what that would be like for you. Magical immunity is incompatible with this construct.”

“I can only burn off so much power on my own,” I said. “I can get down to normal human levels of magic—enough to be affected by it—here, and then one of you can draw on me to drain me the rest of the way once we get to the portal. Something tells me I won’t be able to just walk up to it and waltz through it.”

“We’ll have to fight our way to it,” Florence confirmed.

“Then a little extra juice might come in handy for one of you,” I said. “We probably also need a better plan than just me walking through the portal.” I checked my watch. “It would be best if we could time it for right after the shift change—the fewer guards, the better. And maybe we should create a diversion elsewhere in the neighborhood to draw more guards away.”

“We could give Mac his uprising,” Owen suggested. “That would make him happy.”

“We’ll have to find Mac to revive him and loop him in,” I said. “Do we even know where he goes after dark?”

“You mean the two guys who play chess in the park all day, the Council men?” Florence asked. “I know where to find them.”

“You’ll have to go revive them,” I said to Owen. “You’re the one with memories that might trigger Mac.”

“I’m not leaving you alone while you drain your magic,” Owen insisted stubbornly.

“Maybe any memories from when he was himself will work, even if they’re from here,” Brad suggested. “Some of us could go to him and try that. If he followed directions, he has some written memories, too. We just have to make him look at them.”

“Let’s go with that approach,” I said with a nod. “You go get Mac and anyone else you can find, and then cause as much trouble and noise as you can, starting at eight thirty. Anyone who’s still standing and themselves an hour later should head toward the portal. If I’m able to send help, it’ll be easier if we have most of our people nearby.”

They all nodded in agreement. I stood and brushed grass off my skirt. “We may as well get started.” Florence gave Mac’s address to Brad, and the riot team headed off. I turned to Owen and said, “Now, how do I want to use my very last magic? Maybe a few more minutes as a blond bombshell.”

Owen winced as he stood to join me. “Please, not that one.”

“Okay, how about this?” I sent up a shower of sparks that danced down around us. It was like that night in the bookstore when we’d discovered our powers, and Owen smiled, at last.

Watching the sparks fall, I found myself growing wistful. As much as I believed every argument I’d made in favor of this plan, I couldn’t help but feel a little regret at losing magic for good, if only because I wouldn’t be able to do fun little things like this.

I twirled around, surrounding myself with magical sparks and laughing with the joy of it. Belatedly, I realized that putting on a light show wasn’t the stealthiest thing to do under these circumstances. I killed the sparks, then conjured up a bottle of champagne and enough glasses for all of us. Owen opened the bottle and poured the champagne, and I passed out the glasses.

“A toast to the last moments of magical Katie,” I said. “It was fun while it lasted, but I think I’m ready to be my normal self again. After all, if I’d been my normal self, I’d never have ended up here.”

“To magical Katie,” Owen toasted. I noticed that he left out the “end” part.

I’d never made the telepathy spell work the right way, but I tried it now, pouring every bit of power I had into it to direct a thought to Owen’s mind.
I really am okay. It’s not the same as for you,
I sent.

I barely detected the slightest whisper in my mind, so faint I had to think to decipher it.
You’re braver than I would be.

I didn’t have the energy to send another mental message, so I whispered to him, “I thought you’d already been that brave. Why shouldn’t I be?”

Instead of answering me directly, he said, “Try some more magic.”

I tried for the sparks, since they were the most obvious indicator of how much power I was putting out. Instead of the big showers I’d had earlier, I barely managed a few sputters at the ends of my fingers. Since that was barely visible a few feet away, I kept going until I couldn’t even generate a faint glow. “Okay, looks like I’m done,” I said.

I forced myself not to shudder. I was fine with being a magical immune, but I wasn’t looking forward to the in-between stage when I’d be like most humans—susceptible to magic, but unable to use it. I’d lost my immunity a time or two from a potion, and it had been a nightmare. I wasn’t sure how normal people survived. Being “normal” to me was as bad as the way Owen saw being immune.

“Then we should go, now,” Florence said, standing from where she’d been watching the magic-draining process. Her human appearance returned as she stood. “I think I can get you through the streets without any major guard encounters. If someone does stop us, try to act like you’re under the spell, and I’ll pretend I caught you. I’d rather not blow my cover if I can help it.”

Despite her assurance, I wasn’t happy about leaving the relatively safe harbor of the park. I associated the cityscape with being hunted and on the run. Once we were back in the city, it didn’t look any different to me, but I supposed it wouldn’t yet.

Owen took my hand in his as we walked. “I don’t know how long it will take to drain the last of the magic, so maybe I should start now,” he murmured.

“Good idea,” I replied, keeping my voice too low for the others to hear. “We won’t exactly be able to tell the portal guards to hold on a sec while we restore my magical immunity so I can get past their wards.” I shivered as I felt the tingle between our clasped hands.