“We may want to disable the smoke detector,” Owen said as he settled cross-legged on the bed in front of the map. Ethan took a chair and climbed up to remove the batteries. Merlin sat across from Owen on the bed.
“What do you need me to do?” I asked.
Instead of answering me, Owen turned to Ethan. “Do you have a fire extinguisher?”
“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.”
