“We’d better do something so we don’t look like we were rolling around on the floor,” she said, reaching out to tuck behind his ear a strand of hair that had escaped his queue.
They both had a layer of grimy dust down their backs and the sides they’d leaned on. He told Beatrix the spellword she needed to fix the problem and held back a grimace as hermagic washed over him. Why did his loss feel so much keener whenever she cast, as if one had anything to do with the other?
“Oh,” she said, eyes widening. “Peter—bend down, let me see the top of your head.”
He did, knowing immediately what she was looking for. Once, he had searched her hair for any sign of silver. Now she was checking to see if the roots of his hair were brown.
“I think I’d better cast that color spell,” she murmured.
It shouldn’t have mattered—he knew this was coming, and it told him nothing he didn’t already know. But his stomach sank all the same.
Forty-five minutes later, clothes neat and hair color obscured, they boarded a Washington-bound train. The furtive looks and hushed murmurs began almost immediately.Blackwell. Harper. Scandal.
He glanced at Beatrix. She looked completely unsurprised, which said volumes about what she dealt with every day.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I never considered what the train was like for you. I’ll drive you to work from now on.”
“It’s—it’s nottooawful,” she whispered, then shook her head. “All right. It is. I will gladly let you rescue me from it.”
They rode the rest of the way to D.C. in silence. He didn’t want this warped fame that had overtaken them. He didn’t want to mislead the authorities about Garrett or live in fear that police actuallywouldfind the man. All he’d wanted when he came to town was to fix a mistake, one he now had no ability to do anything about, and he’d gone so far downthe rabbit hole that he wondered if he would ever be permitted to surface again.
A mournful sigh escaped him as the train pulled into Union Station. Beatrix shifted closer and slipped her hand into his.
They were in this hole together. That shouldn’t have made it more bearable, but selfishly, it did.
CHAPTER 14
March 14, 2021
Roger Rydell Dishes the Dirt
‘ROMEO & JULIET’ ATTACKER CHARGED: Peter Blackwell and Beatrix Harper finally spoke out (oh so briefly) about the love-triangle attack that left them for dead.
During a police press conference in Washington that announced charges against the still-missing Theodore Garrett, Omnimancer Blackwell said he and his fiancée were indebted to the boys in blue.
“We’d been drugged,” he said, Miss Harper clutching his hand. “We still have more questions than answers about that day. But we’re grateful to be alive, and very grateful to the police for their work on this difficult case.”
And that was it — the whole statement. Miss Harper, who’ll go on and on about “typic rights” if you give her an opening, did nothing but say “very grateful” like some sort of echo.
But never fear, rabid readers. I’ve got the dirt. Here’s the picture of Wizard Garrett painted by people who actually know him:
“A delightful young man.” (His neighbor for the past five years, Joseph Travis.)
“A fellow who always had a smile on his face.” (His senior advisor at the Los Angeles Wizarding Academy, Ralph May.)
“A good friend.” That’s from Ted Regel, a childhood buddy, who adds, “I wish to God he’d never met that woman.”
“That woman,” of course, is Miss Harper. My well-placed sources say she was leading Wizard Garrett on until she hooked Omnimancer Blackwell, at which point she promptly dropped the unfortunate swain.
“He came undone,” said Mr. Regel. He hadn’t seen Wizard Garrett for several years and noticed the difference when they had a boys’ night out a month ago. “I would go crazy, too, if it were me.”
March 15, 2021
Alleged attacker had troubling fixation with ‘Juliet,’ former colleagues say
By R.T. Singh
Washington Heraldreporter
