Elodie grinned. “Things are about to get interesting.”
“This situation appears on the verge of disorder,” Gabriel said at the same time.
Crack!
A pebble farther along the road exploded. They pivoted to stare at it.Crack!Another went up in flames. The air blanched with a phantasmal, silvery-blue sheen.
“Magic,” Elodie gasped.
“Eek!” Algernon cried, clutching his hands to his mouth.
Gabriel’s pulse ticked up. “Everyone indoors!” he shouted.“Now!”
Chapter Four
Geography is a science of measurement;
for example, “How many minutes until I can
get out of this mosquito-ridden bog and go for a beer?”
Blazing Trails, W.H. Jackson
For a brief,stark moment, the tourists stared dumbstruck. Then all at once they sprang into action; which is to say, produced binoculars and barometers, excitedly looked around for signs of magic, and demanded one another get out of the way because it was impossible to see clearly with all the parasols and mustaches.
“Ahoy!” Hapsitch shouted, pointing to a levitating stone. “Poltergeistic activation at two o’clock!”
“Polter-what?” Elodie murmured to Gabriel, who did not respond. He was pulling a thin coil of braided iron and gold from his trouser pocket and hooking it around his left ear. Prompted by the sight, Elodie removed a similar crescent wrapped about her wrist and attached it with practiced ease to her own left ear. The simple device offered protection against any thaumaturgic sound waves that might disrupt one’s thoughts, although in Elodie’s experience its greatest effect was merely to make one look thrillingly expert.
Gabriel attempted once again to warn the tourists of theirperil, to no avail. “This is ridiculous,” he growled as he watched them try to catch blazing pebbles in upturned hats and parasols. “They’re not even listening.”
“So they get enchanted,” Elodie said. “It’s their own fault.”
“It’s our responsibility. We are the professionals here.” He said this as if she needed reminding; as if he suspected she was half-inclined to join in the foolishness, which of course was utterly preposterous and insulting andgoodness what a fantastic catch from the lady with the white-feathered hat!
“The point is,” she replied, “these people have been informed of the risk. It’s their choice if they wish to court a hideously painful death.”
Hearing this, the tourists paused, glancing anxiously at one another. “Did she say hideously?” someone whispered.
“When people are being irresponsible,” Gabriel countered, “it is incumbent upon the sensible among them to take charge before someone gets their hair set on fire.”
“Egad!” exclaimed a Miss Trevallion.
“I say, that’s not very jolly, old chap!” cried out one of the gentlemen.
“And what about free will?” Elodie argued, setting her hands on her hips.
“What about it?” Gabriel asked, as if free will was something he, as a university professor, simply could not countenance.
“Why shouldn’t they let magic transform them into frogs if that’s what they want?”
“Frogs?”squealed the other Miss Trevallion.
Gabriel shook his head. “The middle of a thaumaturgic squall is not the place to debate philosophy.”
“Codswallop!” Elodie retorted.
“That’s your best argument? ‘Codswallop’?” Gabriel was too proper to scoff outright, but Elodie had no difficulty imagining that he was doing so on the inside.
