Much Ado About Magic

“My house is warded, so it’s safe, and you never know when you might need cash.”



I split the wad, sticking some in my front pocket and the rest inside my bra. “I just hope I don’t get mugged between here and the hotel. Now, how will I let you know I’ve got the room? I’ve got your cell phone, but that can be traced, too.”



He pulled a phone out of his pocket. “Pre-paid, and paid in cash,” he explained. “All the best spies and criminals use them.” He wrote the number on the back of a cash register receipt and handed it to me.



“Wow, you’ve spent some time planning what you’d do if you ever became a fugitive.”



“I had a lot of time to think over the weekend.”



Before I could leave, he caught me in another hug. “Thanks, Katie. I should have listened to you and gone to the fire station sooner.”



“They’d have probably arrested you the moment you left your house, whenever that was,” I said.



“Or we might have this whole thing wrapped up by now.” He bent to give me one last kiss, then reluctantly released me. I didn’t let myself look back over my shoulder as I ran down the tunnel and then eased my way back onto the platform and then into the terminal. I noticed a number of men dressed all in black in the concourse, but at least two of them appeared to be Hasidim, not magical law enforcers. Unless maybe they were Hasidic magical law enforcers. I didn’t plan to stick this in the Council’s suggestion box, but their guys would be a lot less conspicuous if they wore something else. I supposed they were used to dealing with people they could fool magically.



There was another man in black leaning against a nearby wall, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed him shove away from the wall and follow me once I’d gone a few feet past him. I ignored him, pretending I didn’t see him at all even though the space between my shoulder blades itched with the sense of being watched. I knew he was technically one of the good guys, but that didn’t make it any less creepy to be followed.



I went up to the level where the shops were and spent some time browsing in the bookstore, just to pretend that I had a reason for being in the building. I bought a spy novel I thought Owen would like, then went down to the food court in the lower level and bought a slice of pizza that I ate at a nearby table while pretending to read the book.



My follower was still with me when I left the terminal and headed up Lexington Avenue. I was so busy glancing at store windows to see if he was still there that I almost bumped into a tall, thin man wearing an overcoat and a hat that were both entirely inappropriate in the summer weather. I caught only the slightest glimpse of a face beneath the hat brim before the man whirled away from me, but I could have sworn there wasn’t a face there, just a skeleton. Either the Grim Reaper was on my case, or my old buddy Mr. Bones, one of Idris’s creepy creations, was also tailing me. Suddenly I felt better about having the magical law-and-order squad watching me. Mr. Bones wouldn’t dare do anything while the magic cops were around. Good or bad, I needed to lose all my followers before I went to the hotel.



I walked uptown to the next subway station, then caught a train heading back downtown and got off at Grand Central, this time leaving through the front entrance instead of going through the main concourse. I didn’t notice Mr. Bones or the man in black behind me in the shop windows as I hurried uptown, but just to be safe, when I got to the hotel, I entered the hotel’s coffee shop through the street entrance, then joined a crowd leaving the shop to go into the hotel lobby.



There wasn’t a line at registration, so I went straight up to Nita’s position. “Hey, this is a surprise!” she said. “What are you doing here? I’m going on break in half an hour, so we could go have coffee if you can hang around that long.”



“Yeah, that’d be great, but first I need to ask you for a favor. Do you have any rooms available?”



She grinned and winked. “Oh, you naughty girl. But I thought Owen had his own place.”



“That’s not why I need it.” I launched into the celebrity charity story I’d developed while leading my followers on a merry chase.



Nita was just as excited as I expected to hear about a mystery celebrity staying at her hotel. “Oh my gosh! Who is it? No, wait, you can’t tell me because it’s top secret. It’s Bono, isn’t it? No, don’t tell me.”



“But can you get me a room?”



She tapped at her keyboard. “Let’s see. I don’t have any of the super-fancy rooms available, but I do have a mini suite. What name do you want to put it under?”