I forced myself to focus on the surrounding park, looking for any sign that we were being watched. I was only one pair of eyes, though. Anyone could sneak up on us from behind wherever I was at the time. I settled for walking in rapid circles around the spellcasters, hoping that anyone who did approach us wouldn’t move quickly enough to reach us in the time it took me to get around the circle.
A slight glow was just starting to form in the circle when someone stepped out of the shadows right next to me, making me jump and yelp.
It was Florence, my colleague from the coffee shop. “Owen!” I called out. “We’ve got company!”
But she made no move to stop us, to hit us with the whammy, or to call the authorities. She just put her hands on her hips and snapped, “What do you fools think you’re doing?”
Chapter Eighteen
Behind me, the incantation stopped, and the park grew dimmer as whatever they’d generated faded away. “Um, nothing, really,” I said, trying to play innocent, in spite of the evidence around me.
“You weren’t trying to open a portal, were you?” Florence asked. “Did you really think you could escape that way? Do you know the kind of power it would take to punch a hole like that between realms?”
“Yes, which is why it was going to be a very small portal,” Owen said, sounding surprisingly calm as he came over to stand at my side.
“And did you think you could use that much power without anyone noticing?” Florence scolded.
“No. I just hoped we’d get our message through before we got caught.”
She shook her head and made motherly “tsk, tsk” noises. “It would never have worked. Now, come on, I need you to get away from here before anyone else shows up.”
The others all looked at me, and I said, “She’s one of the guards, but she’s always had my back, and tried to clue me in about what was going on, even before the spell broke. We may as well trust her.”
“It’s not like we have a lot of other options,” Earl grumbled, but they all followed as Florence bustled us away from that part of the park.
When we were in an area sheltered by hedges, she gestured for us to sit down, and then her appearance shimmered for a second before solidifying into something that was very different, if still recognizable as Florence. Her face was thin and angular, her body was willowy, her eyebrows slanted, and her ears pointed. She turned to Earl and Brad and said, “You’re with the underground, aren’t you?” Then she did something with her hands that looked like a graceful and elegant gang sign. Earl and Brad returned the sign.
“She’s okay,” Earl said. “She’s one of us.”
“She’s a double agent,” I said.
She sank to sit among us. “You figured me out? Yeah, I got in really deep with Sylvester’s organization and next thing I know, I’ve been shipped off to the Homelands and put to work as a cast member in the world’s creepiest theme park.”
“You knew what Sylvester was doing all along, and yet you did nothing? You told no one?” Earl accused.
“Don’t you think I’ve been trying to find a way to send messages back? That’s how I know you can’t make your own portal. Once you’re here, you’re here, even if you’re staff. There’s one portal, and it’s warded so heavily that no one can get through, not even those of us who are in on the scheme. I guess they figure there’s a chance some of us could be double agents, so they’re not letting us communicate with anyone back home. All I could do was sabotage their efforts.”
She turned to me. “You were right that I was trying to nudge you toward breaking the spell without breaking my cover. And man, but you were dense. I thought you’d never get it. To be honest, I’m not sure how you did eventually break through.”
“It wasn’t that I had a brilliant breakthrough,” I admitted. “It’s just that normally I’m immune to magic. My current magic supply is extremely limited, and as it wore away, it seems that the spell lost its grip on me.” Then I had a sudden burst of inspiration. “You said the portal is warded. Could a magical immune get through?”
She frowned in thought, but before she could answer, Owen protested, “Katie!”
“Actually, she may be on to something,” Florence said, nodding slowly. “Can you normally get through wards?”
“All the time,” I said.
“How hard would it be for you to get back to your immune state? You said your power was wearing off.”
