“What do you mean?” I asked warily.
“Well, you were just telling me about some of your sibling issues growing up. It’s not outside the realm of imagination that it could work both ways. What if he didn’t care what his baby sister said about doing bad magic and only told you he’d given it up to appease you, and then he went right ahead with his plans?”
“Oh, you are sneaky. I’ll give him a call.”
I moved to head back into the house, but he handed me his cell phone. I called Dean’s cell and said,
“Have you actually posted any nasty stuff about Idris on that course message board?” I asked.
He groaned. “Sorry, Sis, I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“No, that’s good. See if there’s something going on about him rallying his troops in town. It seems like they’re congregating. You need to go meet with him and tell him your sister and her crazy boyfriend are full of it, and you wouldn’t listen to us anyway.”
“And then report back to you everything they say? Got it. I’ll give you all the details when I have them.”
I closed the phone and handed it back to Owen. “Looks like we have us a double agent. I just hope we can trust him.”
“You think he’ll turn on us?”
I sighed and worried my lower lip with my teeth. I felt like a turncoat. This was my brother I was talking about, and as much as he sometimes irritated me, I did love him. But there were bigger things at stake here than family ties. “He’s susceptible to flattery, so if Idris manages to get under his skin, it might affect his loyalty. You know, it’s too bad we can’t send Teddy as the spy. He’d fit right in with that crowd.”
Owen fought back a yawn. “With the right preparation, I bet I could fake him as a magic user.”
“But that wouldn’t be a good use of your resources. You need to get some rest. I have a feeling it’s going to be yet another crazy night.”
Sure enough, I’d barely fallen asleep when the usual tapping on my window woke me. I hadn’t planned to be going out, so I was in my pajamas instead of dressed for action. I opened the window, and Owen whispered, “I just heard from Dean and from Sam. Idris and his people are gathering on the courthouse square. It’s definitely some kind of magical rally.”
“And I take it we’d better be there, huh? Give me a second to put on some clothes.” I closed the curtains, then pulled on my black jeans and a black long-sleeved T-shirt. If we kept this up, I was going to run out of dark clothes. My wardrobe wasn’t designed for sneaking around in the middle of the night.
“It’s too bad there’s no Starbucks in this town,” I said with a yawn as we neared the square.
“It wouldn’t be open at this hour, anyway. I think even most of the ones in New York would be closed by now.” Owen pulled into a parking space in the grocery store’s rear loading area, then we went around the side of the buildings and approached the square, where Sam was waiting for us.
There were at least two dozen young men, including Dean, gathered around Idris, who stood in the gazebo. With some red-white-and-blue bunting behind him, he’d look like he was making a campaign speech. I supposed that was sort of what he was doing. Dean stood out in the group. He looked too handsome and self-assured. The rest of those guys, and they were all guys, seemed like they were probably making up for some sense of inadequacy. Dean was, too, I reasoned, but his inadequacies were better hidden.
Idris was in mid-speech, and his voice carried well to the bushes where we hid. “It’s time for your final exam. If you pass this test, you will earn the title of wizard. I’ve brought in a top wizard from New York to test you. You’ll have to find him and then defeat him in close magical combat. Now, I should warn you—he’s very powerful, and it may take all of you working together, but that’s part of the test.”
He waved a hand, and a flickering image formed in the air next to him. It took a while to solidify, and Idris talked as the image took shape. “Here is the wizard you should be looking for. Defeat him, and you will be a true wizard.” Finally, the image was recognizable. It was a picture of Owen.
S tanding as close as I was to Owen, I could feel his muscles tensing, preparing to spring into action. I grabbed his arm and gave it a firm squeeze, hoping that would remind him that this really wasn’t a good time to take all of them on at once. He looked at me and nodded, then after a few deep breaths, he relaxed and I let him go. With a tilt of his head, he indicated that we should leave, and we crept away, leaving the pep rally still in progress.
