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I went to the phone next to the cash register and dialed 911. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Merlin take the thug's gun, empty it of bullets, then put the gun back in the thug's hand. On the other end of the phone line, a recorded voice told me to please stay on the line if this was an emergency. "Put the phone in the clerk's hand," Merlin instructed me. I did as he said. "Now, we should go. I have legal papers establishing my residence here, but it's best that I not be questioned by the police."

That seemed like a good idea to me. I wasn't sure how long he could sustain whatever cover he'd established before he said something that would get him locked up for psychological evaluation. We headed for the door, but before we got there I took the Camelot DVD out of his hand. "You can't take this out without paying."Advertisement

"Ah, good point. I shall have to come back here another time."

I put the DVD on a nearby display, then hurried to catch up with Merlin, who was holding the door. As the door closed behind us the store came back to life. I thought I heard the clerk say, "We're being robbed."

"We're near City Hall, so I'm sure there'll be police here soon," I said, more to make myself feel better than to reassure Merlin. Then a thought crossed my mind and I gasped. "What if they have security cameras? It'll show up on tape that we were there, that we tinkered with the scene, and then that we left before the cops got there."

"Don't worry, that was taken care of as part of my spell."

"You know about security cameras?"

"I know about a great many things. My focus in the first few months after I was brought back was intensive study of your world. Now, some lunch would be nice, don't you think?"

Merlin spotted a pizza stand on a side street and said, "I want to try this food. I've seen it in the movies, and it looks interesting." So, we got a couple of slices to go and took them to a nearby plaza to sit and eat. He struggled with the strings of mozzarella that came off his pizza, and it became easier once more to think of him as a kindly old man who was a little out of his element, not as someone who could freeze the world around him.

We had just finished lunch when Sam swooped in and settled onto a nearby bench.

"Good, I found you," he said, sounding about as out-of-breath as a stone creature could.

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"What is it, Sam?" Merlin asked.

"You need to get back to the office right away, boss."

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I glanced around to see if any of the other people in the park were staring at us. Even though I knew there was magic in place to keep people from seeing Sam or us interacting with Sam, it still felt funny to talk to a gargoyle in public.

But everyone continued eating and talking, paying us very little attention as we got up and walked away, Sam flying just ahead of us. "Sam, what's going on?" I asked. I couldn't help but worry. Maybe I was in trouble for taking Merlin outside.

"They got their hands on one of that guy's spells. Palmer's about to check it out. He thought you'd want to be there, boss. Katie-bug, too." He glanced over his shoulder with a smirk. "Apparently, we need a professional opinion on the marketing and packaging. And we need to make sure there's nothing hidden in it." It was nice to have an excuse to tag along without having to come up with one on my own.

Merlin moved pretty quickly for a man more than a thousand years old. In fact, I was the one lagging behind him and Sam. With his wings, Sam had an unfair advantage. We reached the building, and Sam took his usual post on the awning.

Merlin and I went inside and straight to the R&D department.

Owen and Jake—this time without a shredded pants leg—were in Owen's lab, both their heads bent over something that lay between them on a table. They looked up as we entered. "Mr. Mervyn, Katie," Owen greeted us.

"So, this is it," Merlin said, leaning over to look at the booklet on the table.

"Yeah, found it in that hole-in-the-wall dive charm-and-record shop in the East Village," Jake said.

"I'm afraid to ask what he was doing there during office hours," Owen said dryly. I thought the fact that Jake was wearing a New York Dolls T-shirt was a pretty good clue, but Owen didn't strike me as a punk fan. I only knew because of a college roommate who was the reason I ended up moving off campus with Marcia, Gemma, and Connie, which eventually led to me moving to New York. I owed a lot to the punk movement.

Merlin made "Hmmm" sounds as he flipped through the spell book. "Well, then," he said as he closed it and handed it to me. "What do you think, Katie?" pqdm.com