Damsel Under Stress (Enchanted, Inc. 3)

I glanced at Owen, who sat next to me, to see if he’d reacted to Ethan being there, and then I realized that this same dilemma could apply to Owen someday. What if it didn’t work out, if he was right about what he’d said earlier, if all the disasters piled up and made one of us give up? Would we one day face each other across a conference table and try to decide if we should just pretend nothing happened? It was almost as sobering a thought as the implications of what Idris had unveiled the day before.

Merlin called the meeting to order by summarizing what we’d seen on Christmas. “As Miss Chandler pointed out to me, the real concern appears to be that Mr. Idris has the funding to operate like a legitimate, high-level business.”

“It gets worse,” Owen said. “Katie, tell them what you saw last night.”

“Was anyone watching TV last night?” I asked. I was met with a room full of blank faces. I felt like I must have been the only loser with no life, but then I remembered the sheltered magical enclave Owen was from and realized that explained a lot about the things I took for granted that others at MSI didn’t get.

Then Merlin said, “Are you referring to the television commercial?”

I turned to him in shock. Merlin, of all people, was the one watching TV? Then again, that could account for his rapid adaptation to modern life. “Yes, the commercial. If he’s buying TV time, it means he’s got even more resources than we realized, and he’s trying to reach an even broader audience. The commercials must be masked to nonmagical people because my roommates didn’t notice anything odd.”

“According to the commercial, Mr. Idris and his company have now opened a retail establishment,” Merlin added. “I believe our first order of business should be to investigate and determine what spells he is currently selling.”

“We could send someone in undercover,” Mr. Lansing, Owen’s boss, said. “Otherwise, I’m pretty sure most of our staff would be recognized.”

Owen shook his head. “Not a good idea. It’s easy enough to screen out disguises, and then it would be even more obvious what we’re up to. That person would either be thrown out or given something entirely different. I’m not even sure it’s good for a magical person to go in. For all we know, he’s using some of his darker-influence spells on his customers to get them to buy or to make them more agreeable to him. Remember, that’s why we were fighting him in the first place. The storefront and the ads may all just be a way to get more people under his influence.”

I was rather impressed that he’d dared contradict his boss, but the frog-man didn’t seem to mind. “So we send in an immune? A regular nonmagical person probably wouldn’t even see the store or be able to enter it.”

He looked straight at me when he said it. It was my turn to shake my head. “No, he knows me too well. We’d have to send someone he’s never met.”

All heads in the room turned toward Ethan, who also shook his head. “Sorry, no can do. I was there for our first showdown, remember? He’s not likely to forget a flying tackle.”

“When he was working here, he shouldn’t have run into anyone from Verification too often,” Owen mused. “Surely we’ve got someone around here we can count on to get the job done who would also be anonymous.”

I remembered the group of people I’d worked with in Verification before I got my current job, and I wasn’t sure we could count on any of them. People who were immune to magic saw odd things they couldn’t explain, which wasn’t necessarily good for their mental health. If that didn’t get them, knowing that their abilities were so unique and that magical people couldn’t do anything to them tended to create champion slackers. There was one person I thought might be able to get the job done, as much as I hated to admit it.

“Kim could do it,” I said, even though my stomach was already churning at the thought. “She’s probably the sharpest verifier we’ve got.” I reminded myself sternly that this was for the good of the company, possibly for the good of the magical world, maybe even for the good of the entire world. When I got back to my office, I was going to have to write, “It’s for the greater good,” a hundred times in my day planner to make sure that sank in. Maybe then it would counter my fears that she really was taking over my job.

Merlin nodded. “Yes, she is quite efficient. Very well, we will send her to investigate.”

“I’ll give her a list of what she should look for,” Owen said, making a note in his lab book.

“It would be interesting to learn how he’s disguising his operation from the rest of the world,” Merlin said. “That may be more problematic. It would appear that his veiling spells filter for anyone with magical ability, so all of us see what’s really there, as do our immunes. We have no one in our employ who is nonmagical and nonimmune, and I am hesitant to bring anyone from outside in on the secret. That is a step we take only in particular circumstances, and I don’t believe that curiosity about what the rest of the world sees is yet that extreme.”

I was glad he’d said that, as I was probably the one in the group who knew the most so-called normal people, since Ethan had that thing for weirdness and had likely ditched his old nonmagical friends, and I really didn’t want to drag my friends into this. I figured they’d eventually see something I’d have to explain, but I preferred to wait for Merlin’s extreme circumstances to face that. There was one other option, though.

I didn’t want to bring it up. In fact, it made me queasy even to think about it. But I couldn’t come up with a way around it. “You know, you can temporarily create a nonmagical, nonimmune person,” I said.

Owen’s head snapped toward me. “No, I don’t think so. Not a good idea.”

“I got through it the last time when I had no idea what was going on and hadn’t told anyone. We could do it under more controlled circumstances, with people there to watch and make sure I’m okay. Don’t tell me you haven’t worked out the precise formula to temporarily dim immunity.” He turned red and looked away from me, which was confirmation enough. “Besides, it’s not like I’d be going on any major secret mission. It would be a walk through Times Square, a look at a few subway ads, and maybe a stroll past the store. If y’all can’t keep me safe for that much, then you don’t stand a chance of winning this.”

“But, as you just pointed out, we have other immunes on staff,” Owen said.

“But none who has experienced a loss of immunity,” Merlin put in. “Miss Chandler has learned to recognize the differences and even compensate for them. We might want to consider training some of the other immunes that way in the future, but for now, she is the best suited for the assignment.”

I turned to Owen with a smug “So, there!” look, but he didn’t seem to see me. He was focused on Merlin. “But I need her!” he said, more forcibly than I’d ever heard him say much of anything. Then he seemed to realize how that sounded, and a flush crept upward from his shirt collar to his hairline. “I mean, I’ll need her help analyzing the items we get from this Spellworks store so we can see if there’s anything hidden in them. Finding out what the rest of the world sees in the advertising is surely a much lower priority.”

oked straight at me when he said it. It was my turn to shake my head. “No, he knows me too well. We’d have to send someone he’s never met.”

All heads in the room turned toward Ethan, who also shook his head. “Sorry, no can do. I was there for our first showdown, remember? He’s not likely to forget a flying tackle.”

“When he was working here, he shouldn’t have run into anyone from Verification too often,” Owen mused. “Surely we’ve got someone around here we can count on to get the job done who would also be anonymous.”

I remembered the group of people I’d worked with in Verification before I got my current job, and I wasn’t sure we could count on any of them. People who were immune to magic saw odd things they couldn’t explain, which wasn’t necessarily good for their mental health. If that didn’t get them, knowing that their abilities were so unique and that magical people couldn’t do anything to them tended to create champion slackers. There was one person I thought might be able to get the job done, as much as I hated to admit it.

“Kim could do it,” I said, even though my stomach was already churning at the thought. “She’s probably the sharpest verifier we’ve got.” I reminded myself sternly that this was for the good of the company, possibly for the good of the magical world, maybe even for the good of the entire world. When I got back to my office, I was going to have to write, “It’s for the greater good,” a hundred times in my day planner to make sure that sank in. Maybe then it would counter my fears that she really was taking over my job.