Page 44 (1/1)

With the self-consciousness fro to shout, I didn’t have to conjure up the feeling of being on a first date It was just as aard as any "he’s a great guy, but he just needs a little confidence" blind date I’d ever been on As we drank wine and shouted superficial inanities at each other, I noticed that the gray guys were drifting away, apparently convinced by our act When ere down to one observer, we left the bar

We walked aruy was still with us, but far enough away that we could whisper without being overheard, unless he had"You know, none of this is quite perfectly New York," I said as alked through streets that looked right but that were all wrong "It’s all slightly similar, but not the same"

Then I knehat it reminded me of "It’s like those movies or TV shows that are set in New York but filet the establishing shot of New York, and then the street scenes look New York-ish, but a New Yorker would know that those locations aren’t anywhere in the city This neighborhood could play the Upper West Side in a movie, but I’d bet you’d never find any of these places in the actual Upper West Side" I groaned and added, "So not only did they stick et one!"

"Elves are notoriously frugal," Owen said with a grin

When we reachedbrownstone apartment, we paused at the foot of the front steps, like any couple saying good night at the end of a first date "This is one thing I wish I could have in the real world," I said, gazing up at the building "I’d never be able to afford this I wonder what it really looks like" And then I realized soasp "You h ic for the spell to work on me Does that mean that if I’d been iyou here, but the spell to mask your identity wouldn’t have worked You would have knoho you were the entire time, and you’d have seen this place the way it really is"

I nodded slowly "So, ake these people up and they realize what happened, they’ll know I’ically immune anymore And that means …"

I didn’t have to complete the sentence All the color drained from his face as he said, "My secret will be out"

Chapter Ten

Owen shook his head with an exasperated sigh "I can’t believe I didn’t think of that I’ot that the wizards think I’s"

I clutched his arently "So maybe we should learnpeople up--if we even have to wake theet them home somehow, and that will break the spell, and then they won’t have to know about you"

"I don’t think that’ll work Too many of them have interacted with me, so they’ll knoas affected, and I think it looks worse if I don’t do so about it as soon as possible I’ll just have to be up front about it and take whatever consequences come" He took a deep breath, then set his jaw and said firmly, "In fact, I think we should revive Mac and his partner first"

"Owen, that’s insane! It’s like telling theo’"

"That’s going to be a proble instead of hiding it But I think it’s a show of good faith if I revive the them in on this They may know more about the elven realms than I do, and they may know more about what happened to us, since presuood guy, and he’s known me ave a hopeful sone all the way to his eyes "And e Either way, it , even if they still don’t trust me"

"Do you have a ot a few things he ht recall from when he visited my parents when I was a kid He’ll have to wake his partner because I don’t know hih, and I’ll leave that decision to Mac I’ll just have to try to find a way to get Mac alone to talk to him"