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He deftly flipped a slice of French toast "There’s coffee in the pot if you want some"

"Owen," I warned

"Yes, I worked late I wanted to finish before I left for Christ on plates, which he carried to the small table in one corner of the kitchen Unless he’d cleaned house significantly in the last couple of weeks, the dining table was probably too full of books for anyone to be able to eat there "And breakfast is served," he said

"It looks great," I told him as I took my seat at the table Loony iers and pointed, and she ju offended

"I hope you don’t o out to eat," he said as he took his own seat "It’s easier for us to talk this way" He grinned and added, "And you’ll need your energy for what I have planned today"

"Now you’ve got ued" I ate and complimented him on the food, then finally said, "So, what did you discover fro" He sounded discouraged "It didn’t ht side, that does ent"

"But on the not-so-bright side, it also h every layer of security we’ve got"

"Oh I hadn’t thought of that" I ate so my mouth busy with the food so I wouldn’t be teh, I couldn’t help myself "Could it be an ex-eht not be in your current files but ould know soet past security? I don’t know if you could e the locks, so to speak, but that would explain soe the security wards after Idris was fired I can’t think of anyone as at a high enough level to have that kind of access who has left between then and now"

"There’s the former boss," I reminded him

He frowned "No, I don’t think so As I said, he retired on good ter in the city anyue with Idris, that would be the last thing he’d want to do He was the one toIdris If he wanted to delve into that kind of ic, you’d think he would have stayed on board and turned the direction of the company around" He raised an eyebrow and flashed erous rogue wizard trying to bring down the company"

"I suspect you’d have been a lot more successful than he has been"

"That’s because I’d be the good guy"

"Yeah, because the good guys alin in the real world Meanwhile, Ielse" I briefly told him about Philip’s predicament and the skeletal creature in the office

"I haven’t heard of anyone else using that kind of creature," he said "It seems to be unique to Idris If he’s allied with so, and it ht support his goals That widens the scope of our problem somewhat"

After we finished breakfast and washed the dishes, we bundled up against the cold, then headed outside, where alked side by side down the street We took the subway and got off at Thirty-fourth Street for a quick peek at Santa at Macy’s, then headed over to Fifth Avenue We worked our way up the avenue, stopping in front of each elaborately decorated storeI felt like a little kid, back in the days when I’d been utterly enchanted by the tinsel and lights strung around the shop s on the town square back home

At one particular store, Owen et a good look at theIt was an intricate woodland scene, with fairies fluttering over a toadstool village inhabited by gnomes while snow drifted down from overhead This wasn’t one of the famous department stores, but it was theincredibly lifelike They even had facial expressions One of the fairies winked as she fluttered past the front of the displayAfter atched thefor a while, I realized that the patterns of the figures didn’t repeat They were spontaneous and randoht myself just in time and whispered it to Owen instead