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I had to think quickly Was it just the way she sounded, a friend looking for juicy details, or was she testing me to see if the spell had broken? If the latter, was that so she could help us or so she could report us to her superiors? She seeether with Oas part of the elves’ plan, but she could have been playing her role to the hilt It was too risky to trust her, so I merely smiled and said, "It was nice"

"Nice? That’s all you’ve got to say? Don’t let him hear you say that He’ll take it as an insult"

"That’s between us ‘Nice’ is all you need to know--and don’t you dare ask hiet it out of you sooner or later," she teased "But I really am happy for you"

In spite of his brave talk about facing Mac head-on, Oas pale when I met him with sandwiches from our café to take to the park "Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked

"No," he ad to do Let’s just hope this works and that he’s fair about it I’m sure he will be" I didn’t think he sounded too convinced, but he strode across the street like he was on ato talk hi a lot less confident than he was acting

Mac and his Council enforcer partner were at their usual table, playing their usual ga allowed to live out that they wouldn’t want to escape Sitting in a park and playing chess all day didn’t sound likeout a bad roh on my list, either It had just been as on aht

As luck would have it, the park was fairly full and the only spot where we could sit was at the other end of the picnic table where Mac and his buddy were playing Owen greeted theestured at the empty end of the table

Mac nodded and said, "Go ahead"

Owen and I sat and started eating our lunch Weto sound normal and innocent That’s ht You usually don’t even think about the things you say when you’re having lunch with soht overhear We chatted for a while about how good the sandwiches were and hoere glad the food in the café had iAll the while, Owen kept tabs on his target out of the corner of his eye

He abruptly steered the topic back to food "The s choice," he said "It goes ith the haets lad we found that bakery I’d swear it’s right out of the oven" Then I noticed Mac’s buddy glancing at our sandwiches as we ate and I thought I knehat Oas up to We went on praising the sandwich ingredients, and I then extolled the virtues of the cookies that had been delivered that"It smells like we baked them ourselves," I said "You know there’s chocolate in the house It’s divine"

Now the buddy looked like he was about to start drooling Mac was focused on the game, but he seemed to be stuck, unable to decide what lanced over at the board and said helpfully, "That knight has room to move"

Mac blinked, see afteron his gaoing to take a lunch break Want to join ht a lunch"

When the buddy was gone, Owen said, "Would you like a new opponent?"

"Why not?"

Owen threay the trash fro about chess, so what they were doing made no sense toa piece and Mac responding ily without even having to think about what to do Then Mac paused and leaned back, frowning at the board "I’rave; vu," he said "I could swear I’ve played this exact sa," Owen saida game he’d played before with Mac "Did you win that one?"