Don't Hex with Texas (Enchanted, Inc. 4)

Idris laughed at him. “Nice one, Pops. Since this magic thing doesn’t seem to be working out so well for you in this millennium, maybe you could go into writing greeting cards. Now, since no one seems to be willing to shed this little lady’s blood, I’m going to walk out of here, and you’re going to let me.” As he walked past me, he paused and said, “Nothing personal. You just made a really bad choice in boyfriends. Too bad, because you’d be kind of cute if you wore more makeup.”

If I hadn’t had a knife to my throat, those would have been fighting words. I had to settle for glaring at him. I wasn’t the only one glaring. Merlin fixed Owen with a stern stare that clearly told him he would be the one to have to deal with this. If we got through this okay, I had a feeling Owen would never, ever rebel against his boss again. The price was way too high. Then Owen met my eyes with a long gaze that took my breath away and almost made me forget someone was holding a knife to my throat. He looked like he was the one in mortal peril, the anguish was so great. This seemed to be good-bye. I felt like I should say something meaningful. What was that bit from the end of A Tale ofTwo Cities, something about this being a far better thing to do? Or maybe the classic “We’ll always have Paris.” That would be meaningful between us because we’d talked about Casablanca being his favorite movie.

Instead, though, the words that came out of my mouth were, “Say hi to the dragons for me.” Those weren’t what I’d have normally chosen to be my last words, but the glint that went into his eyes made me suspect they wouldn’t be my final words, after all.

Owen said something softly and sternly, and I immediately felt the knife drop away from my throat.

And then I felt a pair of arms go around me, not in a threatening hold, but rather in a big hug. “Aww, you’re so soft and cuddly,” McCreary said in a voice that sounded like he was soon going to be petting me, squeezing me, and calling me George. If the dragons Owen had magically tamed could talk, I imagined this would be what they’d sound like. The moment the knife left my throat, Owen went after Idris.

Something hit me then, a sense of magic that had no effect on me other than to make me shiver, but it made my captor relax his hold on me. I turned away from watching Owen to see Dean readying a fireball. “Get your hands off my sister, you creep,” he said. He didn’t have to ask twice. I stumbled as the guy released me, but Dean stepped forward to catch me. “Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded, and he said, “I’m glad Owen gave me that necklace. I’ve never been able to do anything like that before.”

Owen and Idris were back locked in combat. Merlin stood nearby, but his attention wasn’t on the fight. Instead, he held his hands out, chanting. One by one, the remaining student wizards, including the prisoners, stopped in their tracks, wherever they were, and then slumped to the ground. It looked like he was eliminating the risk of anyone else jumping into the fray with magic or any other assistance. I was totally in favor of that. I moved toward the fight, but Dean held me back, sheltering me in his arms. “Don’t risk putting him in that kind of spot again,” he said. I knew he was right, but I didn’t have to like it. I vowed to find the meanest, sneakiest martial art around and become a master at it. Even if I couldn’t do magic, I’d make the next person who tried to use me as a hostage regret it.

The fight wasn’t going as well as I would have hoped. With the magical magnifier, Idris was a lot fresher than Owen, which made up for Owen’s usual advantages of strength and skill. Owen looked flat-out exhausted, but determined not to give up. “He can’t keep going like that,” Dean muttered. He released his grasp on me and pulled his necklace off. “Owen, catch!” he yelled.

The necklace sailed through the air, and Owen caught it easily with one hand. He stared at it for a moment, and then I noticed Merlin staring at him. I remembered what Owen had said about the dangers of using magic like that. But didn’t desperate circumstances call for desperate measures?

Apparently not. Owen shook his head and tossed the necklace aside. “No, not that way,” he said softly, but so clearly that his voice carried across the park. Merlin looked pleased as he continued dealing with students. Owen had apparently passed the test, but he hadn’t yet won the fight. A laughing Idris came after him with renewed vigor. Owen retreated, running back toward the creek where he had hope of more help from the nature spirits, but he was too exhausted to run very far or very fast, and when he tripped and fell, he hit the ground and didn’t make it up again. Merlin finished dealing with the students and turned to aid Owen, but he was moving slowly and looked exhausted.

ht have been able to think my way out of a more elaborate trap, but there was absolutely nothing I could do now. It didn’t look like anyone else had any better ideas, either. Even the pixies were still, looking to Owen for guidance.

Merlin was the one who stepped forward and addressed Idris solemnly. “Your inability to care about others is more dangerous than any spell you’ve tried to develop. If that is the way you see the world, all the magic you do will be stained with darkness.”

Idris laughed at him. “Nice one, Pops. Since this magic thing doesn’t seem to be working out so well for you in this millennium, maybe you could go into writing greeting cards. Now, since no one seems to be willing to shed this little lady’s blood, I’m going to walk out of here, and you’re going to let me.” As he walked past me, he paused and said, “Nothing personal. You just made a really bad choice in boyfriends. Too bad, because you’d be kind of cute if you wore more makeup.”

If I hadn’t had a knife to my throat, those would have been fighting words. I had to settle for glaring at him. I wasn’t the only one glaring. Merlin fixed Owen with a stern stare that clearly told him he would be the one to have to deal with this. If we got through this okay, I had a feeling Owen would never, ever rebel against his boss again. The price was way too high. Then Owen met my eyes with a long gaze that took my breath away and almost made me forget someone was holding a knife to my throat. He looked like he was the one in mortal peril, the anguish was so great. This seemed to be good-bye. I felt like I should say something meaningful. What was that bit from the end of A Tale ofTwo Cities, something about this being a far better thing to do? Or maybe the classic “We’ll always have Paris.” That would be meaningful between us because we’d talked about Casablanca being his favorite movie.

Instead, though, the words that came out of my mouth were, “Say hi to the dragons for me.” Those weren’t what I’d have normally chosen to be my last words, but the glint that went into his eyes made me suspect they wouldn’t be my final words, after all.

Owen said something softly and sternly, and I immediately felt the knife drop away from my throat.

And then I felt a pair of arms go around me, not in a threatening hold, but rather in a big hug. “Aww, you’re so soft and cuddly,” McCreary said in a voice that sounded like he was soon going to be petting me, squeezing me, and calling me George. If the dragons Owen had magically tamed could talk, I imagined this would be what they’d sound like. The moment the knife left my throat, Owen went after Idris.

Something hit me then, a sense of magic that had no effect on me other than to make me shiver, but it made my captor relax his hold on me. I turned away from watching Owen to see Dean readying a fireball. “Get your hands off my sister, you creep,” he said. He didn’t have to ask twice. I stumbled as the guy released me, but Dean stepped forward to catch me. “Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded, and he said, “I’m glad Owen gave me that necklace. I’ve never been able to do anything like that before.”

Owen and Idris were back locked in combat. Merlin stood nearby, but his attention wasn’t on the fight. Instead, he held his hands out, chanting. One by one, the remaining student wizards, including the prisoners, stopped in their tracks, wherever they were, and then slumped to the ground. It looked like he was eliminating the risk of anyone else jumping into the fray with magic or any other assistance. I was totally in favor of that. I moved toward the fight, but Dean held me back, sheltering me in his arms. “Don’t risk putting him in that kind of spot again,” he said. I knew he was right, but I didn’t have to like it. I vowed to find the meanest, sneakiest martial art around and become a master at it. Even if I couldn’t do magic, I’d make the next person who tried to use me as a hostage regret it.

The fight wasn’t going as well as I would have hoped. With the magical magnifier, Idris was a lot fresher than Owen, which made up for Owen’s usual advantages of strength and skill. Owen looked flat-out exhausted, but determined not to give up. “He can’t keep going like that,” Dean muttered. He released his grasp on me and pulled his necklace off. “Owen, catch!” he yelled.

The necklace sailed through the air, and Owen caught it easily with one hand. He stared at it for a moment, and then I noticed Merlin staring at him. I remembered what Owen had said about the dangers of using magic like that. But didn’t desperate circumstances call for desperate measures?

Apparently not. Owen shook his head and tossed the necklace aside. “No, not that way,” he said softly, but so clearly that his voice carried across the park. Merlin looked pleased as he continued dealing with students. Owen had apparently passed the test, but he hadn’t yet won the fight. A laughing Idris came after him with renewed vigor. Owen retreated, running back toward the creek where he had hope of more help from the nature spirits, but he was too exhausted to run very far or very fast, and when he tripped and fell, he hit the ground and didn’t make it up again. Merlin finished dealing with the students and turned to aid Owen, but he was moving slowly and looked exhausted.

Merlin was powerful, but he was also very, very old. He raised his hands to fight Idris, but the spell he threw at Idris wasn’t enough to be more than an irritant.

I couldn’t bear to watch, but I couldn’t tear myself away. I looked around for anything that could help Owen and realized that Granny, with her bottle full of sprite, was the only other magical person still standing. “Granny, your sprite!” I called out, hoping this was one of the things she was right about instead of being crazy. She stepped toward Idris, threw her bottle in the air, and swatted it with her cane like she was hitting a baseball for fielding practice. The bottle shattered in midair, the shards falling around Idris. Owen stayed on the ground, scrambling out of the way. I pulled away from Dean and ran to Owen, hauling him to his feet. He wrapped his arm tightly around my waist, almost cutting off my breathing, but I was so glad that both of us were still alive that I didn’t mind. With our arms around each other, I helped him back to where Dean stood.

Idris ignored his escaping quarry, he was so busy brushing himself off. At first I thought he might be brushing glass away, but then I realized that the bottle hadn’t been empty. Something had been in there, and that something was now free. It was hard to tell what that something was, it was moving so fast, like the cartoon Tasmanian devil, a whirlwind of destruction uttering incoherent snarls of rage and madness. Blood flew, along with bits and pieces of what I assumed were Idris’s clothes.

Granny came over to join Owen, Dean, and me. “They don’t like being captured, and they take it out on anyone they can as soon as they’re free,” she said with grim satisfaction. “Besides, being cooped up in a bottle like that is enough to drive anyone crazy. I forgot how long ago it was I caught that thing.”

Idris fell to his knees. “I give! Stop it! I surrender!” Merlin said something sharp in a foreign language and snapped his fingers, and the sprite’s mayhem ceased as the sprite vanished. Idris was left bloodied, his clothing shredded. He whimpered a little in relief once he realized the sprite was gone. Then he did something I never would have expected: He broke into sobs. “Oh please, you’ve got to help me. I need your protection. I throw myself on your mercy.”

Merlin stepped out of the way before Idris could grab onto his pants leg and cry on his shoes. Then he said sternly to Idris, “So, you surrender yourself to us? You place yourself under our power so that your power becomes our own and cannot be used against us?” There was something about his tone and the precise formality of his words that told me this was a ritual of some sort, possibly even a binding one.

Idris pulled off his necklace and handed it to Merlin, then he clasped his hands together and said, “I surrender myself to you. I place myself under your power so that my power becomes your own and cannot be used against you and yours.”

Merlin nodded. “Very well. Now, what is it that you need our protection against?”