Once Upon Stilettos (Enchanted Inc #2) (32 page)

“I don’t. There’s not much of anyone for me to ask.” I mentally kicked myself for asking without thinking. Given what he’d told me about his home life, I should have known better.

We reached Grace Church, where Sam’s occasional appearances used to make me uneasy before I learned about magic. I tried to keep from looking at the church as we passed, instead keeping my pace brisk. I didn’t like the reminder of what I’d lost. Owen slowed down, though. He paused, and then he seemed frozen in time. If I hadn’t known that something was likely going on, I wouldn’t have noticed it at all. So that was what the rest of the world saw when one of us paused to chat with a gargoyle. The frozen image must have masked the conversation. Losing my immunity might have been a pain at times, but it was certainly educational. I was more than eager, however, to end the lessons and get back to what passed for normal in my life.

Owen unfroze and resumed walking with me. “Odd,” he mused out loud. “Sam usually takes that shift.”

I tried to pretend I had the slightest clue what he was talking about. “He did say he’d worked a lot over the holiday. Maybe he traded off with somebody else.”

“That’s probably it.” I was surprised that he didn’t even question me about not participating in the conversation.

We reached the bookstore, and he headed straight for the rare-book collection in the adjacent building. Apparently, he’d done this sort of thing before, which shouldn’t have surprised me, considering the stacks of old books in his office. He probably knew every rare-book dealer in town. We went up in the elevator, then entered the rare-book room. The bookseller on duty there recognized Owen, and Owen seemed to know him, which was good because I doubted I could have handled this transaction if Owen had gone mute on me again.

Owen walked past shelves and tables full of books. He stopped in front of one bookcase, frowned, then ran his hand about an inch behind the spines. At one book halfway down the shelf he grinned and pulled the book out. “Look at this,” he whispered. “It looks like a fairly early printing of a Dickens, which would be valuable enough, but what do you see?”

He was asking me for my opinion as a magically immune verifier, and I couldn’t see anything.

“I
don’t know anything about rare books,” I managed to stammer even as I fought back a flood of panic.
I should tell him now,
I thought, but the encounter with Mimi was still too fresh in my mind. I couldn’t risk losing my job because I’d lost the ability that made them want me.

“I do know you were once able to tell the difference between a Tom Clancy and a rare codex.”

“Yeah, but that difference was obvious—new book as opposed to really old book. All old books pretty much look alike to me.”

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the bookseller wasn’t watching too carefully, then held his hand over the book. It shimmered, then an even older, more ornate book appeared. “Ah, just what I thought,” he said. “This is very rare. James will love it.” He took the book over to the bookseller and asked, “How much do you want for this one?”

The bookseller’s eyes grew huge. “I didn’t realize we had that. Let me check for you.”

“If you want to have it appraised, I can come back and pick it up later,” Owen offered. The bookseller took his contact info and promised to call when he had an answer.

As we left the store I asked, “How did you know that was there?”

He shrugged. “I felt the magic. You sometimes find things like that, truly rare items veiled as moderately rare things. It’s a way of hiding valuables in plain sight. And then when an estate has to be sold off, the heirs may not even know what they have. Sometimes books can go for generations hidden like that.”

“You could have reveiled it and paid only for the Dickens, you know.”

“But that would have been cheating.”

“I think I’ve finally found someone who’s more of a goody-goody than I am,” I said with a laugh. Not that I was too much of a goody-goody, considering how much I seemed to be lying lately. “And I don’t think you needed me all that much, after all.”

“I wouldn’t have found the brooch without you, and a book was your idea. Now, dinner? There’s a restaurant I know a couple of blocks from here. It’s run by magical people, although I doubt most of their customers have figured that out. We won’t have to be so careful about our conversation there.”

That left me with quite the dilemma—I wanted to spend more time with him, but there was no way I could keep my secret at a magical restaurant. In fact, the more time I spent around him, the harder it was to keep my secret.

I must have hesitated longer than I realized, for he frowned at me and asked, “Katie? Is something wrong?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure I’m up for dinner right now,” I said, and it wasn’t a lie at all. My stomach had tied itself in knots and I felt queasy. “Do you mind if I call it a night?”

If he was disappointed, he hid it well. “Not at all. I’ll make it up to you some other time.”

“I think I’m the one who would have to make it up to you,” I said as we resumed walking up Broadway.

“You were the one doing me a favor,” he argued.

“I made a couple of gift suggestions. That’s not worth a dinner.”

He didn’t say anything after that, and I feared I’d pushed back too hard. While I didn’t want him to know how big a crush I had on him, I also didn’t want him to think I didn’t like him at all. Though really, the crush had faded somewhat with time, which was what I’d hoped would happen. He was less of an ideal and more of a real person, even if his smiles did make my legs turn to jelly.

He walked me to my front door, then said, “Thanks again for the help.”

“No problem. You’ll have to tell me what they think.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” I looked over my shoulder after unlocking the door, and he’d already disappeared.

Owen was uncharacteristically quiet the next morning. Not that he was usually all that talkative, but there was a subdued quality to his quiet that was new. I hoped I hadn’t hurt his feelings. Maybe he was just lost in thought.

The quiet commute was a sharp contrast to the building lobby when we got to work. It seemed like almost the entire MSI workforce was gathered there, and judging from the bits of muttered conversations I overheard, I got the impression that no one else had any more of a clue about what was going on than I did. Owen edged closer to me. He looked distinctly uncomfortable in the crowd.

Hughes, the lobby doorman, approached us, ticked something off the clipboard he carried, then murmured a few words under his breath. Two baseball caps with the MSI logo on them appeared in his hand. “Here you are, sir, Miss Chandler,” he said, handing one to each of us. “You’ll find an envelope inside your cap. Please keep it sealed until you’re instructed to open it.” Before we had a chance to ask questions, he moved on to greet the latest arrivals.

Owen studied his ball cap like he thought it was going to bite him. “What’s going on?” he asked.

I spotted Rod moving through the lobby toward us. He looked more energized and excited than I’d ever seen him, and I wished I could see what that lively expression would have done to his true face. He’d probably be almost as irresistible as he was with all his spells. Speaking of spells, I felt his magnetism hit when he got within about five feet of me. While I was still moderately in control of myself, I took a step backward and sighed in relief when that eased the urge to throw myself into his arms.

“Great! You two are here,” Rod said.

“For what?” Owen asked.

Rod grinned and took a step forward. I shifted sideways and back half a step. “It was one of Katie’s ideas. We’re boosting morale and teamwork. Don’t worry, this’ll be fun.” He turned to me. “Can I take your coat and your other things? I can get them up to your office.” In order to hand him my coat and bag, I had to step within his sphere of influence. I could feel the waves of desire wash over me, and I forced myself to keep my eyes on Owen. Surely his very real charms—his strong jaw, sculpted cheekbones, and blue eyes full of intelligence, kindness, and a hint of sadness—would be enough to counteract any other man’s attraction spell.

It must have worked, for I was startled when Rod said, “Oh, gotta run. I need to brief the boss. Katie, your things will be in your office.” Only then did I notice that he no longer held my coat, purse, or tote bag.

Once he was gone, Owen turned to me with a look that almost made me feel like I’d stabbed him in the back. “This wasn’t my idea,” I insisted. “I may have suggested that boosting morale and teamwork might counteract the effects of the mole, but I didn’t suggest anything like this. I’m afraid I may have created a monster.”

“And what, exactly, do you think this is?”

I looked around at the ball caps and at the posters I now saw hanging from the balcony railing above. “I suspect we’re in for a company pep rally and a team-building exercise. There will probably be sharing and hugging, that kind of thing.”

“Oh.” He looked like he’d rather be wrestling a dragon, or maybe having dinner with Idris. I turned to watch Rod with Merlin. Merlin looked utterly fascinated by the goings-on. He was even wearing his ball cap proudly.

I turned back to reassure Owen that I’d try to do what I could to get him out of stuff like this, but he was gone. I had a feeling that if my magical immunity had been in place, I would have been able to see him sneaking around the periphery of the lobby and then up the stairs to the relative safety of his lab. It was no fair. Why couldn’t I veil myself with invisibility?

A trumpet sounded a flourish, and the whole crowd turned to face the stairs. The playerless trumpet that hung over the stairs near Merlin disappeared. “Thank you all for being here this morning,” Merlin said, his voice ringing through the room. Not that we had much choice, given that they’d ambushed us at the front door. “I know we’ve had some challenges in the past weeks, but it’s important that we remember who we are and what we do. We need to accept—even embrace—the fact that our world has changed and move forward proudly. To that effect, I would like to present a challenge. If we reach our productivity goals for the year before the holidays, everyone will receive a bonus.”

The crowd cheered, and I had to give the old guy credit. He knew exactly how to motivate people: money. I wasn’t sure where the hats and posters fit in, though. It seemed to me that he could have delivered the same message via e-mail.

“Now Mr. Gwaltney will take over,” Merlin said, then stepped aside for Rod.

“Thank you, Mr. Mervyn,” Rod said. His voice appeared to have been magically amplified, but it didn’t have the same ringing quality to it that Merlin’s had. “We’re going to be working hard in the next couple of weeks, but we can also have some fun. We’ll be conducting the first-ever company-wide treasure hunt. If you’ll open your envelopes, you’ll find out what team you’re on, and you’ll have a list of clues. The clues won’t make sense until you match them up with the clues the rest of your team has. Then you can find all the items for the hunt, which are hidden around the building. The prize for best team will be given at the holiday party. Good luck, everyone!”

His last sentence was nearly drowned out by the sound of ripping paper as everyone tore open their envelopes. I watched to see how the group would react to the idea of having to work that closely with each other, and I was surprised by how many actually seemed okay with it. There were smiles and laughter—things I hadn’t seen in weeks. I opened my own envelope to find that I was on the Unicorn team. The list of clues made no sense to me. They were like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I had to admit, Rod had come up with something clever that might actually work.

“Unicorns, over here!” I heard Isabel bellow. I joined the group gathered around her, where we made plans to meet for lunch to go over our clues. Then I made my escape up the stairs to my office.

Rod caught me at the top of the stairs. “What do you think?” he asked.

“Good idea, both the productivity bonus and the treasure hunt. They seem to be having fun, and it looks like we might even get through this without anyone killing each other. The hats might be overkill, though.”

He grinned, and I swayed and had to catch myself on the banister. “The hats are enchanted,” he said.

“They’re what?”

“A subtle spell that gives a sense of well-being to the wearer. We thought about doing something to the building in general, but this is more direct and efficient.”

I went up one step so I could move myself out of his sphere of influence and think more clearly. “So you put the whammy on the company?”

He gave a casual shrug that made my heart skip a beat. I moved up one more step. “It was Mr. Mervyn’s idea, but I came up with the idea of doing ball caps. I notice you’re not wearing yours.”

“Hat hair avoidance,” I explained.

“Not that the spell would affect you. Good luck on the hunt. You should have a good team.”

I was glad I’d more or less ruled him out as a suspect, because his mention of my immunity made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up. But unless he was veiling his real expression along with his real face, I didn’t think he meant anything by it.