“I’m sorry, I was in such a rush I didn’t—” Freddie-or-Marbella stopped short. “Well. Omnimancer.”
“Yes,” he said from the floor, rubbing his neck. A burst of inspiration made him say, “Help me up, would you?”
Draden hesitated, then took Peter’s outstretched hand and pulled him to his feet. Draden’s hand was at least as large as his—there was no illusion making it appear bigger than it was. They looked at each other for a moment, eye to eye, Draden’s height roughly the same as his own. He abruptly glanced down at Draden’s feet, remembering that the petite Miss Draden, some six inches shorter than he was,had floated to cover up the height difference when she masqueraded as Beatrix. Draden’s boots, though, looked firmly planted on the floor. Which of course they would have to be in order to give someone a hand up.
“What happened,” Peter said, “that you decided to completely change your life?”
Draden swallowed. Then his lips stretched into a sharp smile that did not reach his eyes. “You think you have the right to ask me that?”
“Six weeks ago you cursed me out in the middle of a public street, and now—now it’s as if you’re a different person. Someone else entirely.”
It was a test. Draden passed. Looking bored rather than alarmed, the vice president’s son (for itwasthe son, Peter was now sure of that) shrugged and said, “Got sick of my old life. Same as you, or so I hear.” He gave a short bark of a laugh. “We have a lot in common, Omnimancer.”
Peter only just managed to hold in a shoutedno we do not.He crossed his arms. “You know what I’m trying to accomplish in my second-chance life. What about you?”
Draden’s expression morphed from mocking to something else—more serious, even grim. “Omnimancer?—”
“Pardon me.” The interruption came from behind Draden, giving him a visible start and making Peter’s stomach flip. He hadn’t heard anyone walking toward them or seen movement to signal that they were no longer alone. “Your father is waiting outside.”
It was Morse.
“I’d better give my regrets to dearest Mrs. Kendrick,” Draden said, the mocking edge back. He swept off—Morse like a shadow behind him—without another word.
“I wish I’d been there,”Beatrix said once they were back home in their bedroom. “You’recertainit’s not Ella?”
“Illusion takes you only so far, and it’s not far enough if you’re a small woman trying to appear to be an average-sized man.” Peter sat next to her at the foot of the bed. “Four months ago, she couldn’t create the impression of being as tall as you are. She had to float several inches off the ground to make it less obvious. Even if she came up with some magical equivalent of stilts in the intervening time, she wouldn’t be able to give me a hand up without unbalancing herself. And Draden’s hand—there was no mistaking its size.”
He paused, shaking his head. “Look, I’m not saying there’s not a shred of a chance. But if you’re asking me whether I’m ninety-nine percent certain? Yes.”
She nodded, unable to argue with this logic. It made sense—unlike her desire to find Draden again, yell out “Ella!” and see how he reacted. No, that made no sense at all.
“Did Morse recognize you?” she asked, shivering at the memory of what Ella had said of him. The vice president’s personal wizard, an alumnus of the same dirty-tricks squad that employed Garrett, and potentially the reason that all Draden’s competitors for VP ended up out of contention—one of them dead in a car crash.I don’t know that he had anything to do with it,Ella had said.I just … wondered.
Peter shucked off his coat and began unbuttoning his shirt. “The man goes through life wearing a perpetual poker face, so who knows. But I presume he recognized me. And here’s the thing …” He frowned. “He came out of nowhere. I suppose he might have a sound-dampening spell on his feet, but I didn’t see him moving toward us, even out of the corner of my eye. For all I know, he followed Draden under an invisibility spell.”
“Perhaps Morse doesn’t trust ‘dear Freddie.’”
He snorted. “Smart man.”
She leaned against him, pondering. Twice now she’d told him she thought someone was Ella—first the invisible enigma who saved his life, and now this. She would have to be more circumspect before offering up any other theories about what her former friend was up to.
“I wish we knew what Miss Draden is actually doing,” he said, as if reading her mind.
“Yes,” she murmured. What, indeed.
CHAPTER 23
“How long did you save to make this possible?” Peter asked, standing with her on the expansive Hazelhurst College lawn in wait for Lydia and the rest of the new graduates to emerge for the reception.
“Sixteen years.”
His eyes widened. “How old was she, six?”
She smiled, remembering her sister as she had been—a remarkably bright child who was forever askingwhy. “Five, actually.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Class of ’21!” someone bellowed, and Beatrix applauded the line of young women in black robes snaking toward them. She bit her lip, a rush of emotion catching her at the sight of her sister at the front, class valedictorian.
“As soon as we can sell the townhouse, it’s your turn,” Peter said, smiling at her.
