I thought I might not need Owen's help to break this spell after all. "Come on, I'd like you to meet my friends," I said to Jeff. Then I shouted, "Hey, hold on a second!" to Marcia before she let the front door close. The three of them paused in the doorway as Jeff and I hurried to catch up.
Gemma and Marcia looked pointedly at Jeff, who was very clearly not Ethan. I gave them my best "I'll explain later" look and launched into introductions. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Jeff. He's a friend I ran into on the way home. Jeff, this is Gemma, Philip, and Marcia."
Gemma gave him a dazzling smile. Philip gave him a proper handshake and said,
"Pleased to make your acquaintance," then frowned and asked, "Do I know you?
You look familiar." Marcia ate him up with her eyes, then glanced guiltily at me. I gave her a "go ahead" nod.
"Hi, Jeff," she said, her voice low and husky.
He took one good look at her, blinked, and shivered. Then he lost the silly love-struck expression he'd had since I'd kissed him and got a totally different silly love-struck expression, one that was much more suited to him. "Hey," he said, not taking his eyes off her face. "I know a great place just around the corner."
"Okay," she said, then said to us, "I'll catch you later," without taking her eyes off him. They took off down the street.
"And they say there's no such thing as love at first sight," Gemma remarked as she started up the stairs with Philip. I had a feeling the spell had been well and truly broken, with no magical help needed. And now both my roommates were dating former frogs. My life was so weird.
* * *
I got a brief reprieve from providing a date report since Marcia was out and Philip was around for most of the evening. Then, the next morning as we sat around the table, eating breakfast and sharing sections of the New York Times, the focus was on Marcia and Jeff. Marcia was downright giddy, and she didn't usually do giddy, so this had to be something special. But I couldn't avoid the issue forever. Soon enough the topic of conversation turned to my social life. "You didn't say how your date went last night, Katie," Marcia said. "Was Ethan as boring as I remembered?"
"It couldn't have been too great if she came home with someone else," Gemma quipped.
"It wasn't bad, actually. He's a nice guy," I said. The date had been deeply strange, but he had been nice.
"Did he talk about anything other than work?"
I'd more or less planned it that way, so I couldn't blame him if he hadn't. "I found his work interesting, but we did get around to other subjects." Like my work and the existence of magic.
"Do you like him? Do you think you'll see him again?" Gemma asked.
"I have a feeling I'll see him again," I said in all honesty. "At least, I hope so. And I think I do like him." He was cute and smart, and he seemed to have a sense of humor. He was also as ordinary as I was. He didn't hide behind an illusion, and he couldn't work his will by waving his hand. That set him apart from all the other men in my life these days.
"He was pretty cute, in a nerdy sort of way," Marcia mused. "It was too bad he had no personality."
"I thought he had plenty of personality," I protested. "You just didn't like not being the smartest one in the room for a change."
"You may have a point there," she said. No one could say Marcia wasn't honest, even with herself. "But still, you're welcome to him. He's a better fit for you than he is for me anyway. Just as Jeff was definitely suited to me."
"Maybe we should swap dates more often."
* * *
By this time I was no longer surprised to find Owen waiting for me on the sidewalk each morning when I left for work. I was surprised neither of my roommates had commented on the gorgeous guy who made a habit of hovering in front of our building. This was Owen, though, who had a talent for making himself seem invisible, whether he used magic or not.
"That was quite a discovery you made this weekend," he said as we began the walk to the subway station. "You honestly had no idea you were dealing with an immune?"
"Not really, though I suppose there was a clue I missed. But it works out well for us if he is immune and he's a lawyer who may be able to help us. That's if he doesn't just go nuts."
"It must be difficult, to see things you know shouldn't be there and not understand why."
"You two didn't help with that. Were you trying to outdo each other in weirdness?"
He turned red. "How do you think he'll respond? Do you think he'll show up?"
"I certainly hope so. If he does, be gentle with him. He seems to have been on the verge of a breakdown for a while. He's been under a lot of stress, and that's why he thought he was losing it."
"Didn't we do a good job telling you the news?"
I tried to recall that day when my view of the world had been turned upside down. It seemed so long ago, I couldn't remember a time when I didn't know about magic. "I didn't go insane, and I seem to be functioning okay, so I suppose you didn't do so bad," I admitted.
He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, then shut it abruptly, clenching his jaw like he was making a concerted effort not to say anything more.
We didn't talk much the rest of the way to work. He looked pensive, totally lost in thought, and I let him think. We needed all the brainpower he could muster right now.
I let Sam and the lobby security guard know I was expecting a visitor, then went upstairs to check in with Merlin. "He's coming at ten this morning," I said. "I hope that's okay."
"It's wonderful. I can't believe you found us such a good resource."
"Let's not get carried away. He was really freaked, so I'm not sure how willing he'll be to cooperate. This might have been easier if we hadn't had to spring the truth about magic on him the way we did."
"I'm sure he'll be fine. We'll meet with him in my office."
"Okay, I'll let you know when he gets here."
It was hard to concentrate on my other work—going over some reports for Merlin—while I waited for ten to arrive. Then it was ten after ten, and I hadn't heard anything. I tried not to be disappointed. It was a lot to expect someone to deal with.
I'm not even sure I would have shown up if I'd known ahead of time what I was facing.
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 imaginethe 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 wouldn'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."
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