Kiss and Spell

With the self-consciousness from being watched and from needing to shout, I didn’t have to conjure up the feeling of being on a first date. It was just as awkward as any “he’s a great guy, but he just needs a little confidence” blind date I’d ever been on. As we drank wine and shouted superficial inanities at each other, I noticed that the gray guys were drifting away, apparently convinced by our act. When we were down to one observer, we left the bar.

We walked arm in arm toward my nearby apartment. The gray guy was still with us, but far enough away that we could whisper without being overheard, unless he had magically enhanced hearing. “You know, none of this is quite perfectly New York,” I said as we walked through streets that looked right but that were all wrong. “It’s all slightly similar, but not the same.”

Then I knew what it reminded me of. “It’s like those movies or TV shows that are set in New York but filmed in Toronto or on a backlot in Hollywood. You get the establishing shot of New York, and then the street scenes look New York-ish, but a New Yorker would know that those locations aren’t anywhere in the city. This neighborhood could play the Upper West Side in a movie, but I’d bet you’d never find any of these places in the actual Upper West Side.” I groaned and added, “So not only did they stick me in a bad romantic comedy movie, but it’s also a low-budget one!”

“Elves are notoriously frugal,” Owen said with a grin.

When we reached my charming brownstone apartment, we paused at the foot of the front steps, like any couple saying good night at the end of a first date. “This is one thing I wish I could have in the real world,” I said, gazing up at the building. “I’d never be able to afford this. I wonder what it really looks like.” And then I realized something that made me gasp. “You mentioned that because of my current condition, I have enough magic for the spell to work on me. Does that mean that if I’d been immune, they wouldn’t have been able to bring me here?”

“They might have been able to bring you here, but the spell to mask your identity wouldn’t have worked. You would have known who you were the entire time, and you’d have seen this place the way it really is.”

I nodded slowly. “So, when we wake these people up and they realize what happened, they’ll know I’m not magically immune anymore. And that means …”

I didn’t have to complete the sentence. All the color drained from his face as he said, “My secret will be out.”

Chapter Ten

Owen shook his head with an exasperated sigh. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I’m so used to being magical that I totally forgot that the wizards think I’m immune right now. That does put a wrinkle in things.”

I clutched his arm urgently. “So maybe we should learn more about the situation before we start waking people up—if we even have to wake them up. Maybe we could get them home somehow, and that will break the spell, and then they won’t have to know about you.”

“I don’t think that’ll work. Too many of them have interacted with me, so they’ll know I was affected, and I think it looks worse if I don’t do something about it as soon as possible. I’ll just have to be up front about it and take whatever consequences come.” He took a deep breath, then set his jaw and said firmly, “In fact, I think we should revive Mac and his partner first.”

“Owen, that’s insane! It’s like telling them, ‘Oh, by the way, I got my powers back awhile ago.’”

“That’s going to be a problem,” he agreed. “And maybe I should have been honest all along instead of hiding it. But I think it’s a show of good faith if I revive them first and bring them in on this. They may know more about the elven realms than I do, and they may know more about what happened to us, since presumably they were taken because they saw it happen. Mac’s a good guy, and he’s known me most of my life. I believe I can trust him to be fair.” He gave a hopeful smile that would have been more convincing if it had gone all the way to his eyes. “And maybe saving the day here will help change my image. Either way, it means I can quit hiding, even if they still don’t trust me.”

“Do you have a memory you can use to revive Mac?”

“I’ve got a few things he might recall from when he visited my parents when I was a kid. He’ll have to wake his partner because I don’t know him well enough, and I’ll leave that decision to Mac. I’ll just have to try to find a way to get Mac alone to talk to him.”