Much Ado About Magic

by Shanna Swendson

  “Of course.”

  He ran outside to get it, and Owen turned back to me. “Be ready in case this gets out of control. You two can jump in without being hurt. Put out any flames and scatter the herbs. But otherwise, don’t cross the salt circle.”

  Ethan came back with the fire extinguisher. “I think the manager’s been watching me get stuff out of my car. She’s got to be wondering what kind of honeymoon I’m having,” he said dryly.

  I shrugged. “Maybe I’ve got firefighter fantasies.” More seriously, I asked Owen, “Are things likely to go wrong? This sounds dangerous.”

  “It can be,” Merlin answered. “In doing this, we’re searching for the negative magical energies at work, and that can leave the door open for them to find us.”

  “Ah,” I said, unconsciously taking a step away from the bed.

  “You should also watch carefully and pay attention to whatever you see. Our focus may be elsewhere.”

  “Now, lights out, please,” Owen said, and Ethan hit the light switch, plunging the room into near darkness, the only light coming from around the edges of the heavy curtains.

  I realized I was holding my breath while I waited for them to begin, but the room was so silent that breathing might have been disruptive. Merlin started the chanting, and in that moment I fully realized exactly who he was. I knew, intellectually, and I’d even seen him do some awesome things. But as he said words that sounded incredibly ancient, that were probably even in his native language, I got the full force of the fact that this was the greatest wizard who’d ever lived and a man who was more linked to some nearly forgotten time than he was to today.

  Then Owen joined him, and the sight of him being serious and actually working at the magic made my pulse race. He was usually so casual about magic. It was something he did with a muttered word and a careless flip of his wrist. If he was focusing this intently, this had to be big stuff.

  While they chanted, the candles spontaneously lit, one after another. Soon, the room took on a sweet, spicy smell as the herbs smoldered. The candlelight reflecting off Owen’s glasses kept me from seeing his eyes, making him look darker and more mysterious. I might occasionally have joked about my boyfriend the wizard, but I got the full sense of what that meant as I felt the power in the room swell. I took another involuntary step away from the bed.

  Owen placed the compass on the map and passed a hand over it. I couldn’t see from where I stood what had happened, but my guess was that he’d aligned the compass with the map, disconnecting it from the actual orientation. I blinked as my eyes watered from the smell of the smoldering herbs, and I started to feel woozy.

  After another round of chanting, Owen opened the container of body glitter, poured it into his palm, and then scattered it onto the map. Merlin and Owen then joined their chants and there was a flash of light as the candles and burning herbs flared. When the flash reflected in the mirrors all around and over the bed, it was nearly as bright as if we’d turned the lights on. Then the candles dimmed, going lower than they’d been earlier, but there was another glow as the body glitter shimmered beyond the manufacturer’s wildest advertising hyperbole.

  While the glitter shimmered, it also swirled around the map, twisting into curls and shapes that gradually converged onto one point. Once all the glitter had piled up there, it shot into the air, forming a familiar-looking shape before suddenly collapsing and going dim. Owen and Merlin both jerked forward, like they were grasping at something that eluded them, and then the candles died out.

  Once again, I was afraid to breathe. It was Merlin who broke the spell when he reached over to pat Owen on the knee. “Owen?” he asked softly, then turned to Ethan. “Mr. Wainwright, the lights, please.”

  I blinked as the lights came back on, and Owen gradually came out of his trance. He shook his head and stretched his shoulders, then said, “I thought I had him, but I lost him.”

  “Lost who?” I asked.

  “Someone caught us prying and tried to trace back to us,” Merlin said.

  “And I almost figured out who it was,” Owen said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Did you get the aspirin?” I handed him the little container. “Thanks. Could you please get me some water?” I ran into the bathroom and took the paper cover off one of the glasses, filled it, and brought it back to him. He swallowed a couple of the aspirin, then said, “Doing magic like that always gives me a splitting headache.”

  “Unfortunately, we were too busy evading detection and trying to determine the identity of our foe to see the result of the spell,” Merlin said. “What did you see?”

  I then realized what shape that glitter had taken. “The Empire State Building.” I said.

  “That’s what I saw,” Ethan agreed.

  “That must be the location,” Owen said, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes and massage his temples.

  “Location for what?” I asked.

  “They’re transmitting a spell,” Owen said. “That’s what’s causing that illness. It’s a spell being sent out from one of the highest points in the city, affecting every magical person who isn’t protected.”

  “But what kind of spell?”

  “That will require more research,” Merlin said. “But at least we now know what to look for.”

  They both headed to the pile of books on the table, and Ethan set about cleaning up the remnants of the spell. The air had an odd smell—a mix of sulfur, candle wax, the herbs, and that ozone-like fragrance that the air takes on after a heavy lightning storm. I figured that was what the air freshener was for and sprayed it around the room after opening a window.

  Owen looked up from the book he was studying. “There’s a precedent for this spell, something nearly identical to what’s been happening,” he said.

  Merlin leaned over to look at that book. “Yes, an interesting case in medieval times that almost went unnoticed because it happened during a wave of the plague.”

  Owen added, “But it was far more localized, reaching only as far as a particular crystal could spread energy. Now, though, they can combine magic with technology and affect an entire city. That’s what they’re transmitting from the Empire State Building.”

  “The question,” Merlin said, “is what to do about it.”

  “Can you counter it?” I asked.

  “There are a couple of different approaches,” Owen said, turning pink behind the dark scruff on his jaw. He took off his glasses and rubbed his red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes again. “It can be done on an individual basis with a simple amulet that protects the wearer, which is probably how Spellworks—or whoever’s doing this—is protecting their people. We could get our entire company back on its feet reasonably quickly, and then we could track down the source of the spell and destroy it.”

  “But I believe it would be far more efficacious to cancel the spell over the entire affected area,” Merlin said. “Our enemies likely have personal protection. That means it’s the innocents who are suffering, and we can’t hope to get the general magical populace on our side if we don’t help them in their hour of need.”

  Realization dawned on me. “Ooooh. So we take credit for curing the magic flu. Nice. It might help us against Spellworks.”

  “We’d deserve the credit,” Owen muttered.

  “Well, yeah, but maybe we can beat Spellworks at their own game. If we can stop this spell for everyone before they start selling anti-flu charms, we win.”

  Owen raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Now we have to find a way to cancel their spell by disabling or altering their transmission device. And we’ll have to find someone nonmagical to do it because getting that close to that kind of magic is dangerous. If it made everyone in the city sick from up there, being near it could be deadly.”

  “Getting into the building and up to the top should be easy,” I said. “Gemma’s got a friend who works in the Empire State Building. She can get the special access pass, and then we could get to their transmitter without ev
en waiting in line.”

  Owen grabbed another piece of paper and started scribbling. “Then I guess we’d better get to work.”

  “And you’d better do it fast, before they can get their own ‘cure’ going.”

  *

  Ethan and I went out to find dinner to give Owen and Merlin room to work. They might have agreed upon an approach to take, but they disagreed rather strongly about the specific methods. I didn’t understand one word in ten they said, and the magical chatter combined with the remnants of smoke from the spell had given me a headache. It was a relief to get out of the room, but I couldn’t help but cringe when I saw the motel manager staring at us through the office’s side window as we got in the car. “She’s really going to wonder about us,” I said to Ethan.

  “I don’t see why,” he said calmly, giving the lady a wave as he drove away. “It’s not like a honeymoon means all that much these days. If you’ve been living together for a few years, it’s not like you’re doing anything new.”

  “Yeah, but I just bought a stack of candles, some body glitter, and some bath herbs for lovers. That makes it sound like we’re at least trying something new.”

  “Maybe we’re saving them for tonight, after dinner, for round two after the fireman follies of the afternoon.”

  Ethan’s cell phone rang as we pulled up at a pizza place. He answered, listened, then said, “Yeah, we can do that, but I think I have one in the trunk.” After he hung up, he said, “That was Owen. He needs a transistor radio. I may have one for emergencies.”

  I followed as he got out of the car and went to check the trunk. “What emergencies could possibly require a transistor radio? You’ve got a radio in your car.”

  “What if my car breaks down and the radio won’t come on? How will I know the weather forecast?” He dug in a latched plastic box in the trunk. “Aha! I knew I had one,” he said, coming up with a small radio. He flicked it on and got a news program. “And the batteries are still good.” I could only shake my head. I was all for preparation and liked to be ready for any situation, but Ethan took it to extremes.

  We got back to the room with pizzas and drinks to find even more piles of diagrams. Ethan tossed the radio to Owen, then I took it away from him and put a slice of pizza in his hand instead. “Eat something first, then work,” I instructed. “You still look awful.”

  After Owen ate enough for me to be willing to let him have the radio, I left him to the work while I lay on the bed and watched a movie on TV. Owen kept sending Ethan out to the car for supplies, and I worried about what the motel manager would think when he went out to get duct tape and a tool kit. It didn’t help that Ethan reported with glee how much time she spent staring out the side window of the office.

  Sometime during the evening, I must have fallen asleep. I woke groggy and disoriented from not having the slightest idea how long I’d slept or what time it was. There was light coming from around the edges of the curtains, but I couldn’t tell if it was daylight or the parking lot lights. Merlin sat snoring in an armchair and Ethan was curled up on the other side of the bed. Owen was nowhere to be seen.

  I jumped and bit back a shriek when the door opened, but relaxed when I saw that it was Owen. He looked tired but a million times better than he had the day before. He’d shaved and his hair was damp, as if from a shower, and he carried a doughnut box and a cardboard holder full of coffee cups. He set the doughnuts and the coffee on the table, and I eased my way off the bed, trying not to disturb Ethan.

  Owen took one of the cups out of the holder and handed it to me, took another for himself, then gestured toward the box. We each took a doughnut and went outside, where there were lawn chairs on the walkway outside the rooms. “I suspect they’d rather sleep, and I can reheat the coffee later,” he said once we were outside and sitting on the chairs.

  “Didn’t you need some rest?” I asked. Out in the morning light, the dark circles under his eyes were painfully visible.

  “I got a few hours of sleep.”

  “But not enough. So, what’s the plan?”

  “I’ve rigged up a device that should cancel out the spell being transmitted. You, Gemma, and Marcia will need to get it into the Empire State Building. The device should help you locate the transmitter, and then all you’ll have to do is set it up. I can talk you through it by phone, but I can’t go near the city until you’ve got it working.”

  “Are you sure the cell phone will work up there?”

  “Marcia’s will. I made a few enhancements to it.”

  “Why were you souping up my roommate’s phone?”

  “Rod wanted to be sure he could reach her anywhere. It only works between magically enhanced phones, though, so if anyone else calls her when she’s in a dead spot, she’s out of luck. If you had a cell phone, I’d do the same for you.”

  “Okay, since you’ve thought through the communications logistics, it should be a piece of cake,” I said, even though it sounded like anything but that. “How will I get back to the city?”

  “You can get a train to Manhattan from a station not too far from here. We’ll drop you off, then stay here until the job is done and Ethan can drive us back.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “That motel manager is really going to be curious if the bride disappears during the honeymoon and the honeymoon suite is occupied by three men.” Speaking of which, the motel manager went out of the office to sweep the sidewalk, then did a double take to see me sitting outside with a shorter, darker-haired man after I’d checked in with a tall man with sandy-brown hair. I gave her a cheerful wave, and she blinked and shook her head.

  “Yeah, we’ll have to cross this place off the list for potential honeymoon spots,” Owen said with a wry grin. “We probably won’t be welcome back.”

  I had to work very hard not to visibly react to that, even as my heart practically leapt out of my chest at hearing him refer to potential honeymoon spots. It was probably just a joke, I told myself sternly.

  After a long silence, he said, “I don’t think I’ve properly thanked you.”

  “Thanked me?”

  “For thinking clearly when nobody else was. I can’t imagine what might have happened if you hadn’t figured out what was going on.”

  I thought of and then discarded about a dozen responses, finally settling on, “I guess you’d have had to buy the Spellworks cure.”

  “I guess so.” There was another long pause, and then he said, “I wasn’t avoiding you. I mean, before I got sick.”

  “I was starting to wonder,” I said with a weak laugh. “When a guy disappears after you’ve argued, it’s generally a bad sign.”

  He winced. “Sorry about that. I should have thought about how you’d take it. I got busy trying to fix things in my own way—if we could figure out what was going on, then we wouldn’t have anything to argue about.”

  “Well, maybe in the future you could respond to my messages or send up an ‘I’m alive and I don’t hate you’ balloon every so often.”

  He grinned at me. “I’ll remember that. In case you hadn’t noticed by now, I’m not too good at communicating and relationships and all that.” His grin gradually faded and he looked more serious. I wondered if I should say something, but then it looked like he might say something, and I didn’t want to interrupt him, so I kept quiet and watched him.

  And then the motel door opened and Ethan came outside with a cup of coffee. “I don’t know who got the coffee,” he said, “but I think I love you.”

  Owen turned scarlet before he broke eye contact with me and looked up at Ethan. “That was me.”

  “In that case, I meant ‘love’ in the spirit of friendship and brotherhood. Thanks, man.”

  “You’re welcome,” Owen said. “Need a reheat?”

  I was left wondering what he was about to say to me, but it would have to wait because we had work to do.

  Chapter Eleven

  We went back inside, where Merlin was now also awake. While Merlin and Et
han ate, Owen talked me through what I would have to do. I wasn’t sure what he’d done to Ethan’s radio, but it was wrapped in duct tape and I felt a faint vibration when I held it. “I’ve already got it mostly set, but when you find the transmitter you’ll have to turn the radio on and rotate the tuner dial until the radio is in sync with the transmitter. Wear your magic-detecting necklace and you’ll be able to feel it.”

  “But how will we find the transmitter?”

  “The radio will vibrate more the closer you get, and you should feel it in your necklace.”

  “Okay,” I said, turning the radio over in my hands. It didn’t look like anything magical at all, and yet this little thing could affect every magical person in the Manhattan area. “You’re sure this will work?”

  “Magic is a very uncertain art, my dear,” Merlin said. “We always have to leave room for the unexpected.”

  As soon as Ethan had finished his coffee and doughnut, he drove me to the nearest train station. While he drove, I used his cell phone to alert my roommates that we were being called to action so Gemma could get her friend’s building pass. As I’d expected, they were more than eager to take part. I’d be lucky if they hadn’t created clever disguises by the time I got home.

  And I wasn’t lucky. They met me at the door of our new apartment wearing Bermuda shorts and loud Hawaiian shirts. “See? We’re tourists!” Gemma said.

  “You’ve got a pass to the building,” I reminded her. “That means you aren’t a tourist.”

  Her face fell. “Oh. Right.”

  “You can be the local showing us around. But I refuse to wear a Hawaiian shirt.”

  “And Bermuda shorts make my thighs look fat,” Marcia said. “I’m changing.”

  “Or maybe black catsuits,” Gemma mused.

  “No!” Marcia and I vetoed her, and I added, “We’re going in legitimately. Looking like cat burglars would probably draw unwanted attention. Unless you want to scale the outside of that building at night.”

  She finally decided that she was the local who worked in the building showing around a foreign friend (Marcia) and her country cousin (me). I didn’t think anyone would much care what our cover stories were, but it kept her from asking too many questions about the magic, so I let it go.