“Yeah, I noticed,” I replied, guessing who she meant. “That’s not a surprise.”
“Do you think he’s up to something here? This would be a good place for him to get his followers to help him take over. I’ll tail him throughout the conference, watch his every move, just in case.”
Why did everyone around me have delusions of being a secret agent? Before I could respond to Kim, a deep voice behind me said, “Ladies, is there a problem?” It was Merlin.
I was tongue-tied for a moment. I didn’t think I yet had enough evidence to tell Merlin about my suspicions, so I brought up something that might be a problem worth discussing in the green room. “A lot of the guests have those charms and amulets that Owen thinks could be used as conduits,” I said. “That has me worried.”
“I’m sure you have the matter well in hand,” he said.
There was a commotion at the doorway and Ramsay swept in. “This looks like an outstanding event,” he boomed.
“Ivor, good of you to make it,” Merlin said tightly.
“I wouldn’t have missed it. We need to present a united front. I’ve been out there mingling, and the customers have very nice things to say. My compliments to Katie for all her hard work.”
“Thanks,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth, “And speaking of hard work, I’d better get back to it.”
As I hurried back to the assembly area, the attendees were moving into the auditorium tent, where swirling lights and eerie music created a magical wonderland. It looked to me like a prom on steroids, but the guests were eating it up, so I figured it was working. “Great job, Rina,” I said as she scurried by me, barking orders into a headset. She flashed me a smile and kept going, and I gave myself a moment to take a deep breath.
As the opening session began, I went back to the dragon enclosure to check on Owen.
“How’s it going out there?” he asked.
“Okay, I guess. I had no idea what a celebrity Ramsay is, though.”
“Did someone ask him for an autograph?”
“Oh yeah. I thought a couple of those guys might faint.”
He grinned, then he frowned and tilted his head as he stared at the charms he was monitoring. “What is it?” I asked.
Instead of answering me, he called, “Jake!” His assistant ran over to join us, and the two of them placed their hands on the glass cases. After a moment, Owen said, “There’s a surge coming through,” and then his eyes went unfocused, like he was looking within. “Okay, got it, got it, got it,” he muttered to himself, then abruptly he said, “Damn!”
“I lost it, too, boss,” Jake said, panting. His hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. Owen looked equally beat.
“What happened?” I asked.
“They sent a signal, but I don’t think it was a spell or a directive. It was more like a test, like the magical equivalent of ‘testing, one, two, three’ with a microphone. I thought for a moment I’d tracked it back to the source, but they stopped the signal before I could disrupt it. I might be able to counteract anything else they send, though.”
“What about when you’re doing the demonstration?”
Owen and Jake looked at each other. “I’d leave it to Jake, but I need him with me to help handle the dragons.”
“Then get someone else to keep an eye out. If I were the bad guys—who seem to know all about who you are—that’s when I’d choose to strike.”
“I’ve got more charms set up back at the office,” Owen said with a weary sigh. “I’ll give them a call and see if they caught anything.”
“Delegation won’t kill you,” I reminded him. “I’ll go see if anything happened when that surge hit.”
I ran back into the main hall, where a member of the sales team was giving highlights of the year. It didn’t look like anything major had happened. The place was still standing and I didn’t see any blood. The audience hadn’t turned into an army of magical zombies. So far, so good. I went out to the assembly area and poured myself a glass of juice from one of the buffets. I’d eaten breakfast before leaving home, but that was hours ago, and I was already starving again. Before I could drink it, Rina came running over to ask me a question. It went like that all day. The conference was going smoothly, but there seemed to be a conspiracy against me getting anything to eat. By the time for Owen’s presentation late in the day, the most I’d managed to eat was a cube of cheese during the afternoon breakout session, and I was becoming light-headed.
