I took Owen’s cell phone out of my purse, making sure I got some powder on my fingers as I did so. “Okay, first a picture of you with the envelope. Smile!” I took the picture, then I reached forward to adjust the envelope in Vinnie’s hand so that the handwriting on it was visible—and so that I got a good dusting of magical powder on it. I felt the tingle of magic when I touched it and knew that getting it out of Vinnie’s hand really would be impossible.
I tried to read the note on the outside in the quick glance I got. Owen certainly hadn’t inherited his mother’s penmanship, but then again, the woman had just given birth and was in a hurry, so I cut her some slack. I took the picture, then said, “That’ll do it. Thanks, Vinnie. Now, if this doesn’t work, I’ll have to just club him over the head and drag him down here.”
Hoping I’d done enough to make this work, I hurried back to the place where I’d left Perdita. With either her natural charm or magic, she’d managed to soothe the shopkeeper and had roped in a few bystanders to help clean up. I slipped in among the helpers as though I’d been there all along. Perdita bought a couple of watches, a handbag, and a scarf, and then after exchanging several bows with the shopkeeper, we headed back to the office.
I’d wanted to go straight to Owen as soon as I’d rigged the envelope, but Sam convinced me that wasn’t the best idea. I needed to convince my followers that this had been nothing more than a lunchtime shopping trip, which meant going back to the office for the rest of the workday. Once we were safely back in our office, Perdita burst into giggles. “That was so much fun!” she said. “I like using my clumsiness as a power for good. And, you know, it’s hard to be deliberately clumsy.”
“You were brilliant,” I said.
“Did you get your mission done?”
“I think so.”
Sam joined us a moment later. “My guys say you made a clean getaway. Your shadows never left that area.”
The next trip was even riskier because I didn’t dare lead them to Owen. I left the office a little early and walked up Broadway, stopping to window-shop my way through SoHo. I bought a new blouse at one store and hoped I was thoroughly boring my followers. I went into the subway at Prince Street and caught a train to Union Square. While I was in the maze of the station, I put the new blouse on over the top I was wearing and twisted my hair up into a bun before catching another train toward Grand Central. Meanwhile, Trix, wearing a Katie illusion, left the station and headed to my apartment building.
I left the subway at the station nearest the hotel and put on one of my new pairs of sunglasses before going up the stairs to the street level. The glasses were only lightly tinted, so I kept them on as I went through the hotel lobby to the elevators. It was a relief to be the only person on the elevator. I hit buttons for the floors above mine before I got off, just to muddy the waters.
I knocked on the door before using the key card to let myself into Owen’s room. He was lying on the sofa, reading the book I’d left him. “I think I may have something,” I said, by way of greeting.
He sat up, and I sat next to him. I got out the vial of powder and the spell booklet. “I got some powder on the envelope. Do you think you could use the moving spell to get it here?”
He pondered it for a moment. “It’s worth a shot. The specifics might be a little different, but I can adjust.” He sprinkled the outline of a square on the coffee table using the powder, then read through the booklet before putting it aside. He held his hands out palm-down over the square, said a few words in a foreign language, and then snapped his fingers. There was a flare of light and the square of powder vanished, but the envelope lay in the middle of where it had been.
I couldn’t resist a fist pump. “Yes! It worked.”
He blinked. “It did. Wow.” His voice quavered. “So, I guess I have to open it now, huh?”
“If you don’t, I will have wasted my day and Perdita will have terrorized a Chinatown shopkeeper for nothing.” At his confused expression, I said, “I’ll explain some other time. It’s a good story.” He studied the envelope lying on the table in silence, and when at least a minute had gone by without him doing anything, I said, “I noticed there’s magic around it.”
“Yeah, there’s an enchantment, but it feels benign enough. Just a mild compulsion that’s not aimed at me.” He frowned and chewed on his lower lip. “There’s something else, but I think it protects the contents. I don’t feel anything beyond that.”
