At the same time, Owen and I shouted, “What?”
The men moved to hold Owen’s arms, and he wormed out of their grasp. I clutched Mack’s arm and demanded, “On what grounds?”
“That is for the Council to discuss,” Mack said as he grabbed Owen again, and this time the two men didn’t give him a chance to struggle as they conjured a silver cord to bind his wrists.
“But there isn’t any proof of anything,” Owen protested. “If this is about that jewelry store incident, you were there! You know what happened.”
“A complaint has been made, and it must be answered,” Mack said stiffly, as if reciting something he didn’t entirely believe.
“Come on, this is ridiculous,” I said, grabbing Mack’s sleeve. “You can’t do this.” The other man raised a hand at me, and I smirked when his magic had no effect. “Sorry, doesn’t work,” I said. “Now how are you going to stop me?”
“Katie, don’t,” Owen shouted, his voice tight with desperation. “Get James and Gloria, now.”
I reluctantly released Mack’s sleeve, and I’d barely stepped away before all three of them vanished. Then I spun and took off as fast as I could run for Owen’s house, my heart pounding in time with my racing feet. I didn’t bother ringing the bell before I let myself in the front door with Rod’s key, then knocked briefly on Owen’s door before letting myself in and rushing inside.
“Gloria? James?” I called out as I stood dripping in the front hall and gasping for breath.
Gloria came running from the direction of the kitchen, while James emerged from the living room. “You’re soaking wet,” Gloria said, managing to sound stern and concerned at the same time.
“They took Owen,” I blurted between gasps. “The men from the Council, the ones in black. One of them was named Mack. He said he knew you. They said Owen had to answer to the Council for a complaint filed against him, something like conspiracy to commit magical crimes.”
Gloria’s anger was so fierce that I shrank away from her. Her nostrils flared and her eyes blazed with fury. “How dare they!” she said in a whisper that somehow seemed louder and more piercing than a shout. “James, we must stop this.”
James had gone so pale that he was almost blue. “We should talk to Merlin,” he said. “He surely will not allow this to happen.”
“Let me get my umbrella,” Gloria said.
It was theoretically impossible to hail a cab in New York when it was raining, but apparently no one had told Gloria. We walked to the end of the block to a major street, and then within seconds of her raising her umbrella, a cab had pulled over. I wasn’t entirely sure it was voluntary, but the cab didn’t have passengers in it, so I didn’t quibble.
We made it downtown in near-record time, which I suspected had something to do with Gloria’s influence. I wasn’t sure if it was magic or just the fact that she was the kind of person around whom the universe rearranged itself. Sam popped to attention as James and Gloria approached, then came inside with us. “The boss had a feeling you’d be comin’,” he said.
“He knows, then?” Gloria said.
“Yeah, and talk about steamin’ mad. I thought he was gonna set the building on fire just by glarin’ at it.”
Kim glanced up at us through her office doorway as we entered the executive suite, but even she knew better than to take on an angry Gloria, no matter how much it threw off Merlin’s schedule, and wisely stayed at her desk. Gloria marched into Merlin’s office and snapped, “How could you have let this happen?”
Merlin looked nearly as angry as Gloria did. His eyes were hard and stern, and his breathing was heavy. “It was done without my approval, and I was notified after it was done.”
“But why?” Gloria’s voice became almost plaintive. “There are no grounds. There’s no proof of who he might be, so how can he be blamed for that? And surely no one believes he’s been behind the magical crimes.” She sank onto Merlin’s sofa as though suddenly overcome with weariness. Her hands clutched her purse on her lap so hard that her arthritis-swollen joints whitened.
“I can only assume the chairman was unduly influenced in some way,” Merlin said. “Ivor Ramsay must hope to create an enemy to take the blame for his own actions, while eliminating a potential threat to his position.”
“But what can we do about it?” I asked.
“I’m afraid there must be a hearing,” Merlin said with a nervous sidelong glance at Gloria. “Even to drop the charges entirely, the Council has to convene once the complaint has been made.”
