He leaned in to whisper, “I’m sorry it’s turned into such a disaster.”
She kissed him.
“Well, my editor will be delighted this hasn’t come between you,” Hickok said. “Bless his soppy heart.”
When the doorclosed behind Hickok, they retraced their steps and confirmed that the room was still unbugged. As she finished casting, she turned to find Peter leaning against the table, arms crossed, staring at the floor.
“I wrote the contract in the bedroom, which we later determined had no snooping devices, and I only took it out that once to show you,” he said. “I felt around in my car that morning to make sure there were no hidden tele-vision cameras. Even if there were audio recorders tucked somewhere, we didn’t say anything that would alert themagiocracy about the contract or where to find it. So howdidthey?”
She shook her head, at a loss. After a moment, she suggested, “Maybe they’ve developed a monitoring spell that works like a tele-vision camera. There would be nothing to feel in that case.”
He frowned. “Not impossible, of course, but they would have had to develop it in the last couple of months. Otherwise they wouldn’t have installed cameras in your house.”
True. It seemed unlikely. She boosted herself onto the brewing table to sit, leaning against him. “You have a theory, don’t you. What is it?”
“I think someone is tailing us.”
Her breath caught. “Inside the house?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured. “Maybe. Not here, though, or we would have discovered them. I think a wizard under an invisibility spell is following us around at least occasionally because the only time I didn’t have that contract on me or well-hidden in here was when I left it in the car to walk you to work. It was tucked in that book under a seat, so I thought it was perfectly safe. That would also explain how a wizard happened to be outside our house at the exact moment I needed saving from the attacker.”
She stared at him, heart in her throat. “We have to get rid of the contracts. The remaining Vowcontracts.”
“What?”
“They’re not safe. They’ve always made me nervous, and now …”
He shook his head. “You don’t need Rosemarie under a Vow, but your former treasurer—and MissDraden?—”
“She didn’t sign it with her real name,” Beatrix said. “You saw what happened when I tried to call on her Vow—it’s worthless. There’s no danger in burning it. There’s every danger in keeping it.”
“Your treasurer, then. Surely you needherunder a Vow.”
“What do you think is more likely at this point? That the magiocracy sends a wizard to ask more questions of the woman they discarded as no longer useful to them—a woman they know will be angry at them because she had to drop out of college when they stopped paying her—or that they’ll find the document she signed?” She eyed him. “You know, the one that makes clear that League members are casting spells?”
Peter groaned. “You’re right. Absolutely right. Let’s do it now.”
They extracted the contracts from under the loose floorboard in what used to be Peter’s bedroom, light off in case any tele-vision cameras were pointed at them. Back in the new brewing room, they set all three on the floor.
Beatrix stared for a moment at Ella’s signature. Then she aimed her palm at the contracts, a leaf between her thumb and forefinger.“Formeltan.” The papers scorched, shriveled, vanished.
She hoped she’d done the right thing.
“Peter,” she said, “that invisible person who kept the drunk wizard from attacking you …” She paused, knowing he wouldn’t like her theory. “That might have been Ella.”
His eyes went wide. “You’veseenher?”
“No, but it makes sense. Listen,” she said, seeing his deeply skeptical expression, “if she switched back to regular spellcasting with leaves, she could well be in her right mind again. And if she is, she would want to make it up to you. She’dneedto. So Ella bodyguarding you when she knows from the newspapers that people have sent you death threats makes perfect sense to me, whereas a magiocracy wizard cooling his heels outside our houseafterwe lost the amendment fight—when there’s no need for further dirt on us—seems incredibly unlikely.”
“I don’t think he was there for dirt. I think he was doing exactly what you suggested Miss Draden would want to do.”
She snorted. “A spy happening to be on the spot might save your life to avoid the mess of having you killed with magic. I get that. But why would the magiocracy activelyguard?—”
“Because they want to keep me alive.” He took her hand, his expression so serious she knew better than to laugh at what seemed like a ridiculous statement. “Beatrix—the Pentagram called this morning to offer me my job back.”
As she stared at him, mouth agape, he added, “If I take it, they’ll pay our hospital bills in full.”
The shock of it was so great that all she could think to say was, “When—when did they …?”
