Much Ado About Magic
Just as the choir ended their song, Gemma’s voice rose above all the hubbub, screeching, “You pervert! You never said that was the kind of relationship you were looking for!” Every head on the observation deck turned to stare, and a security guard came over.
“Miss, what seems to be the problem?” the guard asked.
“This–this freak just exposed himself to me!” Gemma sputtered in righteous indignation.
“Sir, we can’t have behavior like that up here. I’ll have to ask you to leave,” the guard said.
Sleepless put up a protest, but that only made the guard more stern, and he grabbed the guy roughly by the upper arm to haul him away. Soon, the guard released him and backed off, rubbing his hand like he’d been zapped. I tried to think of something to do, then remembered that I had a wizard on hold. “Owen, our supposed cyber dater is using magic to keep the security guard from taking him away,” I whispered. “What do I do?”
“Is the way clear to the transmitter?”
“For a moment, yeah.”
“Get over there. He can’t do anything to you while guards are around.”
I moved as quickly as possible toward the transmitter while Marcia blocked me from view. The security guard had called for reinforcements, so Sleepless was busy for a moment. After another angry outburst, Gemma joined Marcia. “Okay, I’m there,” I said to Owen.
“Now, see if you can open it,” he instructed.
I got out my Swiss Army knife and pried open the cover, then as soon as I did, I gasped in pain and had to pull my necklace off and drop it in my purse. “There’s some serious magic coming off this thing,” I said.
“Then that’s definitely what we’re looking for. Turn the tuner until it stays on five when it’s close to the box.” I did what he said, then he told me, “Now, turn the radio on and tape it to the inside of the door. Will it fit when you close it?”
“It should.”
“And what’s that sound? Is it singing? It’s terrible.”
“Gemma and Marcia are singing ‘New York, New York.’ I think their theory is that it’s so embarrassing that no one will come over here. Sleepless can’t come back, either—even if he’s escaped from the guards.”
“That’s actually pretty clever.”
“I’ll tell them you said so.” I ripped off a strip of duct tape and secured the transistor radio to the inside of the metal box, then closed the lid and stood up. “Mission accomplished,” I reported to Owen.
“Good work. Are they still singing?”
“Yeah. And everyone on the observation deck is studiously ignoring them.”
“Make them stop and then get out of there before that guy does something.”
“I don’t see him.” Gemma and Marcia finished their song with a flourish and a couple of high kicks, then I asked, “Are you two quite finished?”
They turned around. “Are you?” Marcia asked.
“Ages ago.” I walked past them toward the elevators. “Honestly, I can’t take you two anywhere.”
Once we were out of the building and heading home, Gemma said with a groan, “I may never be able to show my face around that building again.”
“You were brilliant,” I assured her.
Gemma and Marcia were still rehashing their adventures when we got back to our building, so they didn’t notice the young Indian woman leaning against the wall beside the front steps. She jumped up when she saw us coming. “Surprise!” she said.
Chapter Twelve
It was my best friend from high school, Nita Patel, who had been working at her family’s motel in our hometown the last time I saw her. “Nita!” I blurted before my brain could think of anything more diplomatic to say. “What are you doing here?”
“I got a job at a hotel here in New York! Isn’t that great?” she said.
“Wow, yeah, that is great!” I said, fighting to sound enthusiastic as I stepped forward to hug her, even while I was inwardly groaning at the remarkably bad timing. I was glad to see my friend, but she wasn’t in on the magical secret and that could make things complicated. Then I remembered my manners. “You remember Gemma and Marcia, don’t you?”
“Of course! Hi!”
“Hi!” they chorused.
Nita clapped her hands in glee. “I can’t believe I’m really here!”
“How long have you been here?”
“I got in this afternoon. I guess I should have called you, but I wanted to surprise you. I said I was getting out of that town, and now I have!”