“This should do the trick,” he agreed. “The windows are even mostly blocked, so light shouldn’t be visible outside. Now we just need to find multiple entry points.”

We determined that the space could be entered directly through the basement apartment entrance under the front steps and from the apartment in the adjacent building, as well as the way we’d come in. Entering from farther down the block required a more complicated route that involved going upstairs and over an occupied apartment before coming down the main stairs where we’d entered. We saved that entrance and another entrance in the middle of the block for ourselves because they were more complicated to explain. Owen made note of the addresses and directions for the other entries so he could give the location to Mac and Earl in the morning.

*

Perdita wasn’t quite her usual chipper self when I stopped by for my morning coffee the next day. “Do you have any idea when we’re getting out of here?” she asked.

“We’re working on some plans,” I told her.

“Good, because I’m ready to go home. I like being your assistant more than I like being a waitress. I bet you like your job better than working in a bookstore, too, huh? Or do you even see the bookstore? What is this like for you, since magic doesn’t work on you? Or does it? I don’t get it. How could they have enchanted you?”

I was surprised it had taken her so long to get around to thinking of that. “I actually got a dose of magic awhile ago. It was an accident. I don’t have much, and it’s fading already, but I’ve been trying to learn to use what I’ve got.”

“Oh, that’s where you were going with all those ‘meetings.’” She made sarcastic air quotes with her fingers. “I just thought you were getting it on with Owen somewhere, since you came back all flushed and excited.”

I restrained a groan. I’d suspected that was what she was thinking. “I was just excited about practicing magic.” I was surprised by how wistful I sounded. Having magic had a lot to do with me being in this mess, though I didn’t know what might have happened if they hadn’t been able to imprison me this way. They might have locked me in an ordinary cell.

“And Owen? I thought magic wasn’t supposed to work on him, either.”

“The same accident that gave me magic restored his powers.”

“I thought he wasn’t evil.”

“He’s not evil. He’s just not harmless. There’s a difference. You haven’t noticed him doing anything bad in the last few weeks, have you?”

“No.” She dragged the word out like she wasn’t sure, and I tried not to sigh in frustration. If her reaction was any indication, Owen would practically have to sacrifice himself saving us all to prove he wasn’t as evil as his parents.

*

Even though my job mostly consisted of pouring coffee and putting baked goods in paper sacks, it was difficult to concentrate when I was thinking of that night’s meeting.  Before I left work, I gathered the day-old bakery products that we would have thrown away. I hoped that maybe having some sweets would keep the meeting from getting too rancorous. At least I’d have something to bite on so I’d be less likely to say something I’d regret.

Owen was working late at the store, so I went home by myself and then had to kill hours before it was time for the meeting. I dressed like I was heading over to visit a friend who’d made a late-night breakup distress call and headed out with my bag of cookies and scones soon after ten. That gave me time to be cautious and still get there before everyone else did.

The gray guys had stopped staking out my apartment, and I didn’t notice anyone else following me as I headed down the street. When I reached the right address, I went up the front steps and mimed hitting an apartment buzzer before I magically unlocked the door. That took me a couple of tries. It used to be such a simple spell, but now it left me so drained that I had to pause in the vestibule and eat a cookie before I could make it up the stairs to the empty apartment shell.

Picking my way across the floor was a challenge with next to no light, so I was glad I’d allowed myself plenty of time. After the unlocking spell took so much effort, I didn’t dare try to generate magical light, and a flashlight might have been dangerously obvious. I was incredibly glad to reach the doorway to the stairwell that led to the basement, where I didn’t have to worry about how I walked.

As early as I was, Owen had beaten me. He was waiting in the basement meeting area, a small globe of magical light glowing at his feet. “I wanted to make sure it was still a safe meeting place,” he explained. “I might have been able to call it off if it had been compromised.”