A chorus of oohs and aahs swept through the crowd of youngsters. There were more suggestions from the audience.

“Make the dish vanish,” someone said.

“No, make the whole table disappear,” the dark-haired girl pleaded.

Alice and Houdini went to work. Together they made the saltshaker, the small bouquet of artificial flowers, and a paper napkin vanish. When Drake started back toward the table with a tray of pizza and a couple of beers, Alice decided to go for the wow factor. She positioned Houdini on the table.

“Mr. Houdini will now make the table vanish,” she intoned. “Leaving him suspended in midair.”

The kids waited, breathless with anticipation. Alice heard several chairs scrape on the floor as a number of adults moved closer for a better view.

“Are you ready?” Alice asked.

There was a chorus of yesses.

She touched the table. “Mr. Houdini, please make the table vanish.”

Houdini chortled and bounced up and down. He knew the applause line. Alice sent a heavy pulse of energy through her fingertips. The table vanished, leaving only Houdini and the artificial flowers.

The kids shouted with glee. Houdini was in the zone now. He dashed in circles around the top of the table, looking as if he was running in midair. He paused to pull one of the artificial flowers out of the little vase. He waved the flower madly at his audience, who responded with gleeful shouts.

Drake stopped a few steps away and met Alice’s eyes. He smiled.

“And the crowd goes wild,” he said.

Alice lowered her talent. The table popped back into view. There was a round of applause, much of it coming from the adults.

“But how does he do it?” a boy asked.

“I told you, Houdini’s a professional magician,” Alice said. “He has his secrets. But between you and me, I’m pretty sure it’s just a trick of the light.”

Drake set the tray of pizza and beer down on the table. He gave one of the slices to Houdini, who set to it with his usual enthusiasm for anything edible. Alice took her seat and reached for a slice.

She was about to take a bite when Devin’s grandmother stopped at the table.

“I’m Myrna Reed,” she said.

There was a short round of introductions.

“I’d say welcome to Rainshadow,” Myrna said, “but I imagine that, under the circumstances, you’d both rather be anywhere else but here. The chief told Officer Willis and me to expect you. He said the two of you were going to help out with the problem in the Preserve. I just wanted to say thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Alice said. “But I’m not the one who is going to fix whatever is going down inside the Preserve. Drake and his brother are the magicians on that job. I’m just the box-jumper.”

Myrna frowned. “Box-jumper?”

“The magician’s assistant.” Alice glanced at Houdini, who had devoured his pizza and was now table-hopping madly around the room, enjoying his stardom. “Pretty much the same job that I have with Houdini.”

Myrna smiled. “What you did just now with the kids, that was good. They loved it. The parents appreciated it, too. Things have been a little tense here. You can feel the difference in the mood now. You lightened up things for a while.”

“Magic,” Drake said.

He wasn’t looking at Houdini. He was looking at Alice.

Chapter 19

THE SOUND OF THE DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING brought Alice out of a restless sleep. She came awake on a hot tide of energy, leaping from the bed and instinctively rezzing her talent.

By the time she was fully awake she was on her feet, facing the door.

“It’s okay,” Drake said. He spoke calmly, as if her over-rezzed reaction was perfectly normal. “Houdini wanted out. He was very clear about it. I assumed it was all right so I opened the door for him.”

She felt the energy level rise a little in the atmosphere and knew that Drake had jacked up his talent so that he could see her. If he found that necessary, it meant she was doing a fade.

She took a deep breath and dropped back into her normal senses. She had to give Drake credit, she thought. Most men would have freaked at the sight of a woman jumping out of bed and disappearing into thin air. But it would take a lot to make Drake freak.

“Sure, that’s fine,” she said. “I told you, he often goes out at night. He’ll be back before dawn.” She hesitated. “Sorry about the disappearing act a minute ago.”

“No problem.”

Drake rezzed the lock and moved toward the chair in front of the window. He was wearing the trousers and clean T-shirt that he had produced from his pack. For her part she was still in the long-sleeved black pullover and the black trousers she had stuffed into her own pack. In the morning she was going to have to do some hand washing in the bathroom sink.

Earlier she had stretched out on top of the bed to get some sleep. She had expected Drake to settle down beside her. The bed was certainly large enough for two. It should not have been any more complicated than sitting back-to-back until dawn last night, she thought. Then again, maybe it would have been more complicated. Something about a bed changed things. In any event, Drake had insisted on dozing in the reading chair, his feet propped on the small hassock.

He came to a stop in front of the window and looked at her. “Good thing no one can see either of us now. We’re not exactly dressed like honeymooners, are we?”

She wrinkled her nose. “No, but we’re not your typical honeymooning couple.”

“And Rainshadow is not your typical honeymoon destination.”

“It certainly is for me,” Alice said.

“There is a pattern developing,” Drake conceded.

They both smiled. Alice relaxed somewhat.

Drake looked at her for a moment longer and then turned away to contemplate the night on the other side of the window. “The fog has gotten a lot heavier in the past hour.”

“It’s midnight.” She came to stand beside him. “According to the legends, they used to call this time of night the witching hour on the Old World.”

“This is the paranormal equivalent of high noon. If you don’t understand the science of para-physics, the effects can look a lot like magic.”

They stood together in the sphere of golden light produced by the amber lantern and looked out at the darkness.

Alice folded her arms. “It’s not nearly as bad as it was last night in the cove,” she said. “It helps being indoors.”

“It also helps that this sector of the island isn’t nearly as hot as the Deception Cove region.”

“But this area will get hotter if we don’t find Zara Tucker and those missing crystals.”

“We’ll find her,” Drake said.

“Good.”

“And then we’ll take care of Ethel Whitcomb.”

“Excellent.”

“Alice?”

“Yes?”

“About that kiss in the garage after we got our MC papers.”

She went very still. “I thought we agreed to pretend it never happened.”

“That was your plan, not mine. I’ve never been very good at pretending. I’m more of a facts-on-the-ground kind of guy.”

“You’re the guy in the audience who can’t enjoy the magic because he’s always trying to figure out how it’s done.”

“Yeah, that’s me, the boring guy who just wants to know what’s real and what isn’t.”

She pursed her lips, uncertain how to react to the edge on his words.

“That’s not quite what I meant,” she said.

“That kiss in the garage felt real to me. Just wondered how it felt on your end.”

“It was real.” She unfolded her arms and spread her hands wide. “I never said it wasn’t. But a kiss is just a kiss.”

In the shadows she could see that his mouth was etched with amusement. “Why does that sound familiar?”

“I have no idea. Look, what I’m trying to say is, it’s the reason I kissed you that’s complicated.”