Kiss and Spell (Enchanted, Inc.)
Page 20
Smiling, he nodded and said, “Okay, you’re on.”
We paid for our coffee, and I took his arm to lead him out of the café. I caught Owen’s eye as we passed and shook my head slightly, warning him to keep his distance. We turned onto a side street and walked by the building where I’d put on my illusion. When we reached that spot, I pulled Dan into the niche and instantly dropped the illusion.
“What is this? What’s going on?” Dan protested, trying to back away from me. “Are you mugging me? And who are you? Where did Victoria go?”
Figuring I had nothing to lose and very little time before he started shouting loudly enough to draw attention, I snapped, “Your undercover identity is as a bicycle messenger and you worked with the gargoyles to foil an elf attack.” It might not have been a particularly vivid memory for him, but at the very least I thought it should provide a significant level of cognitive dissonance. With any luck, when combined with my presence, it would do the trick.
He swayed for a moment. He blinked, then his eyes widened as he took in his surroundings. A moment later, as it apparently all caught up to him, he went deathly pale. He lurched forward, grabbed the lapels of my jacket and blurted, “We have to stop him! He’s bringing through an army!”
Chapter Sixteen
I grabbed his arms and said, “Are you kidding?” It probably wasn’t the best way to treat a guy who’d just snapped out of a spell, but I couldn’t help myself. A little more calmly, I asked, “Is that what he’s using the portal for, to bring an army from the elven realms to our world?”
Dan seemed to notice that he still had a death grip on my coat. He quickly released it and took a step back. “Sorry about that. Yes, that’s what seemed to be going on. I tracked a lot of the disappearances—including yours—back to a warehouse in Chelsea, and I saw the army coming through. And then somehow I was here”—he glanced around, frowning at his surroundings— “wherever here is.”
“We seem to be in some kind of construct in the elven realms, meant to make us think we’re other people in an idealized, nonmagical version of New York,” I explained, wishing I could remember how Owen usually phrased it.
“How many captives are here?”
“I don’t know. A lot, mostly elves.” I tried to think of the questions Owen would ask. “How many soldiers do you think you saw?”
“It’s hard to say. It seemed like a pretty steady stream, but I don’t know if that was a one-time transfer or if that’s going on all the time. If it is …” He shuddered as his voice trailed off. “But I don’t think they’re leaving the warehouse yet. I didn’t see any signs of that.”
“Maybe that’s why they’re using a warehouse,” I suggested. “You wouldn’t think you’d need a building that large just for a portal, but if you need barracks for your otherworldly army, it would be just the thing.” I rubbed my forehead wearily. “We’ve got to get back and warn someone that Sylvester’s gearing up for war.”
“Do you have any ideas for how to do that?”
“We found what we think is a gateway to a portal, and we have people working on finding a way to get through.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“For now, the information you gave me is what’s important. We’ll let you know when there’s something else we need. I hope it’s soon if we have to stop an interdimensional war.”
“How should we stay in touch?”
“You know Earl, right?”
“Yeah.”
“He works in the bookstore a few blocks from here. You were there the other day for coffee.”
The light dawned in his eyes. “Oh yeah, I remember seeing you there.”
“But I think my coworker is one of their spies or guards, or whatever, so don’t come talk to me. Talk to Earl in the science fiction section, if you can find him alone. If you run into anyone here you recognize from our world and you’re sure they’re on our side, you can break the spell by bringing up some vivid memory from our world that doesn’t fit with this place.” I tried to think of anything else he’d need to know. “Oh, and you may start seeing some elves in bland gray outfits wandering around. You shouldn’t see them if you’re still under the spell, so ignore them. Otherwise, just keep acting like nothing has changed. We don’t want them knowing we know the truth.”
He nodded grimly. “Okay, got it. How often should I check in?”
“Try the day after tomorrow. By then, we should know something more.” I stuck my head out of our little shelter, saw that the coast was clear, and hurried away. I didn’t look back to see how long he waited to leave.
Owen met me at the corner. “How’d it go?” he asked.
“It worked.”
“Did he know anything?”
“Yeah, and I hope the elves make some progress tonight because it’s a little more urgent than we thought.”
“What did he say?”
I bit my lip, feeling the full weight of my position as resistance leader. It had been something of a joke, but now it felt a lot more real. “I can’t tell you.”
He grinned for a second, like he thought I was teasing, but the grin faded when he realized I was serious. “You’re not going to tell me, really?”
“Hey, you said it was probably the best idea. I know you feel obligated to share information with Mac so he doesn’t think you’re hiding things from him out of evil intentions, and I don’t trust him not to do something crazy because of this information. If I don’t tell you, you don’t have any dilemma about what to say to him.”
“So, you’re protecting me?”
I hooked my arm through his elbow. “Yeah, and you’d better get used to it.”
“The power is obviously going to your head,” his tone was lighter, so I felt like he really was teasing me, not just masking hurt feelings.
“You should have thought about that before you elected me the resistance leader. You know, it would be well within my rights to have you shot for unauthorized sharing of information.”
“Oh, so you’re the ruthless kind of leader.”
“You’d better believe it.”
*
When I got to work the next morning, he was chatting with Mac and McClusky in the park, so I knew I’d done the right thing, even if I felt lousy about it. If Mac knew about the army, he’d insist on carrying out his prison uprising plan, and I agreed with the elves that it would be disastrous.
I found Earl in his section and quickly told him what I’d learned from Dan. “How did your end of the operation go?”
“We’ll attempt to infiltrate them tonight. If our person can get through the portal, he can pass the message on. This does make things pretty dire, doesn’t it?”
“An enemy army usually isn’t a good thing. We need to act quickly, before Sylvester can pull off whatever he has planned.” Though it pained me to do so, I added, “And Owen doesn’t know about the army, so don’t say anything. I’d rather Mac not find out.”
Earl winced and nodded. “I don’t envy Owen.”
“Yeah. I just wish I could find a way to make him look like a self-sacrificing hero—without any actual sacrifice, of course—so we could put an end to all this. It’s just ridiculous.”
Earl looked uncharacteristically somber when he said, “I’m afraid we might all get a chance to sacrifice before this is over.”
*
I got to the store early the next morning because I couldn’t wait to learn what the elves had discovered. It had taken all my self-control the night before not to return to the building across from the gateway park and spy on the operation. Instead, I’d dragged Owen to a movie—Casablanca, since they only ever screened classics in romantic movies and it was Owen’s favorite—and then tried not to let on that I knew anything was happening so he wouldn’t have anything he felt obligated to tell Mac.
Owen was with Mac in the park, although I couldn’t think of what he might have to share with the Council guys, since I’d been keeping him out of the loop. I waved a g
reeting and then went into the store. Earl wasn’t around when I went through his section, so I went upstairs to the coffee shop.
Florence was already there, and she seemed unusually jittery. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone back on caffeine,” I joked.
She didn’t seem to find it funny. “Don’t you have a meeting with the boss?” she snapped.
“We do meet most mornings. Has that been a problem for you? I know we get busy up here, but that’s when I can catch him.”
“You should probably get back downstairs and talk with him.”
“He’s not in yet. He’s still talking to some friends across the street.” I gestured toward the windows that faced the park.
She followed my gesture with her eyes, and then she took what appeared to be an involuntary step forward. I turned to look and saw that gray guys were massing in the park and heading for the store. “You’re right, I probably ought to go meet with him,” I managed to choke out before fleeing down the stairs.
I saw Earl first. “Hey, I was just going to talk to you,” he said.
I grabbed his arm. “Not now. I think something’s up. Did anything happen last night?”
Suddenly alarmed, he asked, “Why?”
I didn’t have to answer, since there were now gray guys in the store. Without a word, we both ducked behind the nearest bookshelf. Instead of lurking, the gray guys were approaching people and facing them directly for a few seconds before moving on. “They’re not just watching,” Earl said. “It looks like they’re enchanting everyone. We have to go, now.” Without waiting for me to respond, he took off toward the back stockroom. I ran after him.
He magically unlocked the stock room, and when we were both inside, I locked the door from the inside and he added a magical ward. “Owen’s out there,” I said softly when that realization struck me, but I suspected it was already too late for him. I knew how to revive him, though. All we had to do was wait it out, then when the gray guys were gone, we could find Owen and set everything right.
That was, if he hadn’t already done it himself. We were all carrying memories with us, so he was sure to find one of those pieces of paper he had stashed. He’d probably be worried and looking for me before I got to him.
“What happened last night?” I asked Earl.
“Our spy reported back and didn’t seem to be discovered. Like you thought, it was a shift change. He didn’t get anywhere near a portal.”
“You know, the operative word there is ‘seem.’ How do we know they didn’t turn him—or that he wasn’t a mole all along?”
“Have you always been this suspicious?”
“They’re sending guards around to redo the spell on everyone. I don’t think I’m overreacting.”
“No, I trust him.”
“What about someone who might have heard the information?”
“There weren’t many of us.”
“Or maybe they let him go, since it doesn’t sound like he learned anything we can use.”
Both of us were quiet for a while, and then I said, “I think we should go back out there.”
“Are you crazy?” His first word came out as something of a shriek before he remembered where he was and modulated his voice.
“If they’re re-enchanting everyone, they’re probably working off a list, and they’ll track us down. But the spell will probably be weak on me because my magic levels are really low, and I know a shield spell that might deflect enough to keep me sane without it being obvious to them that their spell hasn’t worked. I can revive you again once they’re gone, and then we can go back to the way things were, with them thinking we’re enchanted and us being free. We’ll have to start over with waking people up, but as long as one of us stays free, that’s a minor setback.”
It took him a while to answer, and I could practically hear the gears moving as he thought about it. At last, he said, “Well, I guess it beats hiding in here forever.”
Hoping I knew what I was doing, I collected an armful of books, secured my shield spell that would work like magical immunity, then headed into the store. Earl came behind me with his own load of books. “Now, we’d better get these shelved,” I said loud enough to be overheard. Not that there was anyone to overhear. There weren’t any gray guys lurking around the stockroom, so they must not have noticed our escape.
As we rounded the corner into the science fiction section, we nearly ran into a gray guy. It took me a split second to remember that I wasn’t supposed to see him, and I forced myself to keep going without wincing at the imminent collision. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Earl go still, and I felt my shields being surrounded by magic, so I, too, froze. A little of the magic made it through to tingle my skin, since my shields were awfully flimsy, but I didn’t feel the magic working on me.
While I kept my eyes unfocused, I focused my mind on who I was and where I was. The tingle stopped a moment later, and the gray guy moved on. When I saw Earl resume walking, I joined him.
I still knew exactly who I was, much to my relief. I wasn’t so sure about Earl, but there were people around, so I didn’t dare ask him any questions. Besides, I thought it would be safer to wait until the gray guys were sure their mission had been accomplished. As long as I knew who I was, I could start the ball rolling again.
Earl and I went to work on shelving those books we’d brought from the stockroom. He didn’t say much to me, but I couldn’t tell if he was being discreet or if he was back to thinking he was just another bookstore employee. It seemed like forever before the gray guys left the store.
“Okay, I think I’ve got it under control,” Earl said. “You can get back to the coffee shop. Thanks for the help.”
I studied him, looking for clues of self-awareness. There certainly wasn’t any “wink-wink, know what I mean?” on his face. They had him, I was pretty sure. “Just one more thing,” I said. “Do you have that receipt I gave you? I thought I saw you put it in your pocket.” I hoped Earl had followed directions and stashed potentially triggering memories where he was sure to find them.
“Receipt? I don’t remember a receipt.”
“Could you please check, just in case? I could swear I gave it to you.” When he just frowned at me suspiciously, I took another approach and gave a nervous laugh. “At least, I hope I gave it to you. You’re my last chance of finding it. Could you just check your pockets, please?” I gave him my best pleading look, the one that usually got my dad to cave and give me what I wanted.
With a sigh of exaggerated put-upon patience, he stuck his hands in his pockets, then his eyebrows rose when he apparently found something. He pulled his right hand out of his pocket with a piece of paper in it. “Huh, I guess this might be it,” he said. He unfolded it to check, then said, “No, I don’t think so. This is my handwriting.” A moment later, he swayed, and I jumped to steady him. He looked at me, blinking, then said, “Whoa, they really got me, huh?”
“But you’re back now?”
“Yeah. They didn’t get you?”
“No. I must be running out of magic for them to work with, so they didn’t seem to notice my shield spell.” Then I gasped, clutching at his arm. “Maybe that’s it. No one betrayed anyone. Did your guy use an illusion to infiltrate the gray guys?”
“Yeah, he had to, since he doesn’t look like an elf here.”
“They might have detected that and let him get away so they’d know who he was in contact with, and then they would have gone after the people they were in contact with.” And if that were the case, then they might not have Owen, since as far as I knew, no one from the elves’ faction would have spoken to him since the night before.
But then where was he?
“I’d better track down Owen,” I said to Earl, fighting to keep my voice from squeaking with tension. “You go see to any people you have around here.”
“You don’t want me to come with you?”
“Not now. I’m sure everything’s fine. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
Florence was at the counter, and she still looked a little tense, though not as jittery as before. “How’d the meeting go?” she asked.
“I didn’t find him. He hasn’t come up here looking for me, has he?”
“Nope. Are you sure he’s in yet?”
I went over to the windows and saw him playing chess with Mac. My sigh of relief was probably audible on the store’s lower level. “I bet he lost the last game and couldn’t leave before a rematch,” I said. Forcing a smile, I added, “One of the benefits of being the boss is that no one can yell at you for being late to work.”
“Maybe you’d better go remind him that he has a store to run,” Florence said. Although she seemed to be trying to smile, her voice sounded quite stern. I felt certain now that even if she was working for Sylvester, she was secretly on my side. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have all but suggested that I go break the spell on Owen.
Forcing myself to sound like I didn’t have anything bigger to deal with than an errant boss, I said, “If you’re okay up here, I’ll go drag him back to the store and see what he wants us to do to get started for the day.”
“I’m fine,” she said with a careless flap of her hand. “Business is really slow today. Makes you wonder what’s going on, huh?”
I was afraid I knew all too well what was going on—and she did, too. But all I said was, “Be back in a sec.”
I collected Earl on my way out, in case I needed backup. I checked my pockets for my written memories, then, in a moment of paranoia, before I left the store I got out a ballpoint pen and wrote on my palm, “Check your pockets.”