the magic-wielding variety, anyhow.
She ushered him into a big room and pointed at a
row of chairs at the back. “Sit there. Watch. Don’t move.”
Jake sprawled on a chair and got his first look
at a Delinquent Drama rehearsal. A kid with tattoos over every
visible inch of skin was currently running everyone through a dance
sequence.
He tried to think back to the time he’d flown
his sister to New York for her birthday, and they’d caught West
Side Story. Rival gangs, soppy teen love story, lots of dancing.
Tattoo Boy must be one of the gang members. If he wasn’t, casting
had totally screwed up.
Except for Darlene sitting in the corner, there
didn’t appear to be any adults present. Maybe do-gooder Romy had to
pee or something.
Time to give the power-detection spell another
crack. You only set off the Sentinel alarms if you had pretty
decent power. If his target witch was one of the kids currently
learning how to dance in formation, this was plenty close enough to
tell.
Jake muttered under his breath. A slight,
redheaded girl in the back row of dancers lit up like a Christmas
tree, to witch-sight at least. Check. Witch located.
Then the glow abruptly disappeared. Crap. One,
the girl had noticed his power-detection spell. And two, she had
enough control over her magic to lock it down and go stealth.
Normally, he was a fan of people who could
control their magic, but anyone with that kind of skill was going
to be a little trickier to rescue.
She hadn’t found him yet. However, judging from
the way she was ping-ponging off other dancers, Tattoo Boy’s
choreography wasn’t her current focus.
He’d learned a few things in his five years with
Sentinel. If you were trying to snatch a witch and run, speed was
your friend.
Grabbing power through concrete sucked, but he
did it anyhow. No way he got the two of them out of here without a
fairly jazzy piece of spellwork.
“ I ask the power of earth and land,
Come on out, give me a hand.
Freeze the people in this room,
Long enough for us to zoom.
Lock down the magic of the red-haired witch,
And leave these folks with a memory switch.
Gotta do what must be done,
Make it so, Number One.”
Everyone in the room went stone-still. Awesome.
Jake jumped up from his chair, threw the immobilized girl over his
shoulder, and ran.
The freeze part of the spell would give him a
couple of minutes, but he didn’t trust the lock-down on the redhead
to hold for that long.
Tossing out a quick “don’t notice me” spell, he
ran through the front room. The clerk at the front desk never
looked up.
He felt the bundle over his shoulder start to
wiggle and cursed. Any witch who could go stealth could also
uncloak with a vengeance, and just like the Romulans, they could be
mean once weapons were online.
Throwing an ignition spell at his motorbike, he
tried to climb on and dump the girl behind him. It wasn’t the most
graceful of maneuvers, and he lost his grip.
She was out of reach in a split second and
rounded on him from several feet away. “Hands up, you bastard. What
the hell are you trying to do?”
When you were facing a monumentally pissed-off
teenage witch with sparks flying out of her fingers, and you were
straddling a gas tank, there was only one smart thing to do.
Jake was no dummy. He cut the ignition and
dropped his illusion spell. Time for an adult to take charge.
Chapter 2
Romy was trying not to freak. She’d hallucinated
a time or two in her life, but this wasn’t one of them. Her teenage
assailant had just aged a whole bunch.
“Who are you, and what do you want?”
The wanna-be kidnapper held his hands up. “Take
it easy. I’m here to help you.”
Romy waved her sparks closer to the gas tank.
“Try again.”
“I’m Jake. To make a long story really short,
you set off an alert with all that firepower of yours. I’m here to
take you to a better place.”
Romy took a couple more steps backward and
wished with all her heart she could get the
She ushered him into a big room and pointed at a
row of chairs at the back. “Sit there. Watch. Don’t move.”
Jake sprawled on a chair and got his first look
at a Delinquent Drama rehearsal. A kid with tattoos over every
visible inch of skin was currently running everyone through a dance
sequence.
He tried to think back to the time he’d flown
his sister to New York for her birthday, and they’d caught West
Side Story. Rival gangs, soppy teen love story, lots of dancing.
Tattoo Boy must be one of the gang members. If he wasn’t, casting
had totally screwed up.
Except for Darlene sitting in the corner, there
didn’t appear to be any adults present. Maybe do-gooder Romy had to
pee or something.
Time to give the power-detection spell another
crack. You only set off the Sentinel alarms if you had pretty
decent power. If his target witch was one of the kids currently
learning how to dance in formation, this was plenty close enough to
tell.
Jake muttered under his breath. A slight,
redheaded girl in the back row of dancers lit up like a Christmas
tree, to witch-sight at least. Check. Witch located.
Then the glow abruptly disappeared. Crap. One,
the girl had noticed his power-detection spell. And two, she had
enough control over her magic to lock it down and go stealth.
Normally, he was a fan of people who could
control their magic, but anyone with that kind of skill was going
to be a little trickier to rescue.
She hadn’t found him yet. However, judging from
the way she was ping-ponging off other dancers, Tattoo Boy’s
choreography wasn’t her current focus.
He’d learned a few things in his five years with
Sentinel. If you were trying to snatch a witch and run, speed was
your friend.
Grabbing power through concrete sucked, but he
did it anyhow. No way he got the two of them out of here without a
fairly jazzy piece of spellwork.
“ I ask the power of earth and land,
Come on out, give me a hand.
Freeze the people in this room,
Long enough for us to zoom.
Lock down the magic of the red-haired witch,
And leave these folks with a memory switch.
Gotta do what must be done,
Make it so, Number One.”
Everyone in the room went stone-still. Awesome.
Jake jumped up from his chair, threw the immobilized girl over his
shoulder, and ran.
The freeze part of the spell would give him a
couple of minutes, but he didn’t trust the lock-down on the redhead
to hold for that long.
Tossing out a quick “don’t notice me” spell, he
ran through the front room. The clerk at the front desk never
looked up.
He felt the bundle over his shoulder start to
wiggle and cursed. Any witch who could go stealth could also
uncloak with a vengeance, and just like the Romulans, they could be
mean once weapons were online.
Throwing an ignition spell at his motorbike, he
tried to climb on and dump the girl behind him. It wasn’t the most
graceful of maneuvers, and he lost his grip.
She was out of reach in a split second and
rounded on him from several feet away. “Hands up, you bastard. What
the hell are you trying to do?”
When you were facing a monumentally pissed-off
teenage witch with sparks flying out of her fingers, and you were
straddling a gas tank, there was only one smart thing to do.
Jake was no dummy. He cut the ignition and
dropped his illusion spell. Time for an adult to take charge.
Chapter 2
Romy was trying not to freak. She’d hallucinated
a time or two in her life, but this wasn’t one of them. Her teenage
assailant had just aged a whole bunch.
“Who are you, and what do you want?”
The wanna-be kidnapper held his hands up. “Take
it easy. I’m here to help you.”
Romy waved her sparks closer to the gas tank.
“Try again.”
“I’m Jake. To make a long story really short,
you set off an alert with all that firepower of yours. I’m here to
take you to a better place.”
Romy took a couple more steps backward and
wished with all her heart she could get the
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