The Magician's Dream (Oona Crate Mystery: book 3) by Shawn Thomas Odyssey Page A

pedestrian path that led from the front gate to the pond. Coming down the path was a woman in a long white dress riding a bicycle. The feather in her hat wafted wildly in the breeze, and as she approached, Oona realized that the woman was riding quite fast.
    As if responding to Oona’s thought, the woman cried: “Too fast! We are going much too fast!”
    Oona’s face pinched in confusion. What did the woman mean by we ?
    And then the bicycle turned slightly, and Oona understood perfectly what the woman had meant. It was not a one-seater but a two-seater bicycle. The only reason Oona had not been able to tell earlier was because the bike was coming straight at her, and the rider on the rear seat was hunched over behind the woman and pedaling like a madman.
    Except that’s no man , Oona thought. It’s a faerie .
    And she understood all too quickly what Samuligan was up to. Knowing that Oona would be reluctant to perform a powerful spell for fear of hitting an innocent pedestrian, he was using the woman as a kind of shield.
    “When I said we could share the bike,” the woman called back to Samuligan in a high-pitched, panicky voice, “I thought you meant for a leisurely ride! Now please slow down, sir, or we’ll end up in the pond!”
    But Samuligan did not slow down. If anything, his long faerie legs began pumping harder, and Oona had a suspicion that ending up in the pond, right next to the metal ball, was precisely what he had in mind, regardless of sending the frightened woman and the bike into the muddy waters.
    “Oh, dear, this can’t be good,” Oona heard her uncle say beside her. He raised his wand, clearly meaning to stop Samuligan from going too far, but Oona put up her hand.
    “No, Uncle, I have this,” she said, and aimed her wand at the bike tires. She waited.
    “Now would be a good time,” her uncle advised her, and she could hear the tension in his voice.
    “Wait,” Oona said. She continued to track the wheels with the tip of her wand, turning as the bicycle approached.
    “Oh, dear, we’re going to crash!” the woman cried.
    The front tire came up even with the water and Oona caught a glimpse of Samuligan’s grin from beneath his hat.
    “Alabarium!” she called.
    It was not a spell that she had ever used before. Indeed, like the spell she had used on Deacon, she had not even known that it existed. It was the knowledge and power of Pendulum House that provided her with just the right spell for the occasion, and Oona had to admit, it was quite brilliant.
    Light sprayed from the tip of her wand and struck the tire, which morphed instantly into a curved hull. The entire bicycle transformed as it hit the water, changing from metal frame to wooden boat in the blink of an eye. A sail popped up between Samuligan and the woman in white, and before Samuligan could make a leap for the metal ball, Oona raised her wand and called: “Wind!”
    The sail immediately filled with a burst of air so strong that the ship shot across the surface of the pond like a sled on ice. The observing couples across the water were suddenly scrambling to get out of the way as the boat slid out of the water and came to a stop on top of one of the picnic blankets.
    Oona could hear the woman in white shout several rather rude names at Samuligan as he climbed leisurely out of the boat. The man whose blanket the boat was presently resting on seemed to have something to say about the matter as well, but Samuligan ignored them all, and instead turned to face Oona from across the water, holding up two fingers.
    “That’s two down,” the Wizard said, clearly relieved.
    Oona exhaled, realizing that she had been holding her breath for quite some time.
    “One to go,” she said.
    This time , she told herself, I won’t take my eyes off him.
    But when something shiny moved at her feet, Oona couldn’t help herself. The metal ball all at once rose to shoulder height, hovering briefly, tauntingly before her. She grabbed at it with her