He was so diplomatic, he was so soft, he was so charming, and it was so easy to smile at his words without paying any attention whatsoever to what they meant.

  Which was a bad thing, because many a young witch had been hoodwinked into letting a wizard do all the thinking because they happened to be too charming.

  “If this creature can manipulate space, by keeping your building here, you are a sitting duck,” Aaron said, turning to Harry.

  Harry was unhappy, his lips drawn so thin you could no longer see the pink flesh. “I have thought of that.”

  “As long as you have a location in ordinary space, it will be able to find you,” Aaron looked down and then up at Ebony, “and more importantly, it will be able to find Ebony.”

  “I’ll be able to hold it off – I’m confident of that,” Harry replied.

  “For how long? And how can you be sure that there are no others like it? How can you be sure that our friend won’t ask for backup?” Aaron asked.

  Harry grumbled. “I know what you’re thinking, and there’s no bloody way.”

  “You are one of the most powerful wizards from the last century—” Aaron began.

  “I am still one of the most powerful wizards,” Harry blasted back.

  “Technically you are dead, and you are no longer on our books, but I do appreciate that you are still very talented.” Aaron tried to pick his words carefully, not that any words other than “you are the greatest, best, most powerful, wisest, and most fantastic of wizards” would mollify Harry. “But you must appreciate that with Vale situated over a portal,” Aaron shot a quick look at Ben, “and that portal being in the state it currently is in, that you can’t possibly risk attracting too much power here. You could rupture the seal that keeps the Portal closed, and...” he trailed off. He didn’t need to paint a picture. Ebony had been painting the picture for herself ever since she’d met with the Forms in the sewers. If the Portal was opened, and whatever was trying to get through from the Other Side managed its task, well, she couldn’t keep going over this, but the simple fact was the complete and utter destruction of everything she knew and everything she loved.

  Harry let out a deep, reverberating sigh. “What you are suggesting will cost me a lot of magic, and will require a great deal of preparation. I’ll not be able to formulate the correct spells and lay down enough scrolls on my own.”

  Aaron nodded. “I’ll help you, and my tattooed princesses, as you put it, will be at your service as well. But I suggest we act quickly; as we are not privy to this creature’s plans, time is our only asset.”

  “Hold on.” Ebony put up a hand. Though she wasn’t following what Aaron and Harry were talking about, she could appreciate the conversation had taken a turn, and they were planning something large, something that had Harry talking about powerful magic, spells, and scrolls. She had a suspicion it would all boil down to her moving house. And considering the amount of junk she had, she really didn’t want to move house today. “What exactly are you two planning?”

  “We have to shift Harry, this building, to somewhere else,” Aaron replied.

  Ben snorted. “Shouldn’t you apply to the Council for a permit? Last I heard they hated it when you picked up buildings and put them somewhere else, messes up their maps something chronic.”

  Aaron let a wry smile cross his face. “That’s the whole point.”

  Ben narrowed his eyes. “You want to annoy the Council?” He scratched his head. “It would probably be easier to just go outside and graffiti the rubbish bins.”

  “We want to destroy their maps; not the Council’s maps, their maps. Whatever’s after Ebony. We want to obliterate its spatial reference, its ability to locate,” Harry supplied, voice brimming with power.

  Ebony was starting to understand, and she didn’t like what she was hearing. “Okay, hold on, what are you planning? Where are you going to take this building?”

  Harry shrugged. “It’s not so much a matter of where we are going to take the building. It’s more like what we are going to do to the things within the building and the things outside.”

  “Sounds like you need to call the City Council.” Ben shrugged. “They get angry when you don’t pay their rates and especially when you steal one of their bins. It sounds like what you’re planning is a lot worse.”

  “What we are planning,” Harry looked around the room, his eyes sweeping over everything, “is a big move.”

  “Where to?” Ebony asked, jumping to her feet, despite the fact she was still tired and dressed in a hideously fluffy, floral dressing gown. The prospect of her store being “moved” in a magical sense, was enough to distract her from the fact Vale’s most eligible magical bachelor was sitting across from her.

  Harry shrugged. “Like I said, it’s not as much a matter of where we are moving to, it’s a matter of how much we will be moving.”

  Aaron put up a hand, realizing that if it were up to Harry to explain this, it would take hours, colorful swearing, and Harry telling everyone just how stupid they were. “If the creature we are dealing with really can manipulate space, then he isn’t only using that ability to locate you, Ebony, but it’s actually the very basis of his magic.”

  She pressed her lips together. “But I don’t get it, no matter where we move, we will have moved somewhere. And if this being, this thing, this person, whatever it is, uses space to generate its magic, then it’s going to have no trouble tracking us down again. You could move us down the street, but that’s only going to buy us a finite amount of time.”

  “I don’t think the plan is to move down the street. I think the plan is to keep us moving.” Aaron shrugged.

  “I don’t like the sound of this,” she admitted.

  “If we can keep the building moving, and we can keep everything within the building moving, then it will be harder for our friend to locate us. With no fixed point in space as a reference, his ability to pinpoint either this store or you will be hampered. I’ll admit that it has been some time since I have brushed up on creatures like this, but from what I remember their sense of space is absolutely key to how they operate and how they use their magic. But if you find a way to muck up that sense of space, if you find a way to unfix what is usually fixed, and obscure whatever references are usually used to locate, then that’s a start. It may not protect us from him or it or her, or whatever it is, for long, but it’s our best hope. And it will give us enough time to do further research so that we can finally find out what we are actually dealing with.” Aaron had a calm tone as he explained the plan, and it was miles apart from Harry’s usual display.

  A deep frown had appeared on Ben’s face. “What do you mean you’re going to keep everything moving, inside the store and outside? Does that mean we’re going to have to frantically shift the furniture around for the next couple of days, with no rest? While Harry drives this shop around on the back of a truck? Because, and this might just be me, I think whatever magical criminal is after us might just notice. That, and I have a bad back and am not quite sure how much good I would be to you.”

  “Drive the store around on the back of a truck?” Harry responded with a snort. “I am magical, I’m powerful, and I have not held an official driver’s license for almost 80 years. What we will be doing is,” he straightened, “casting certain magical spells that will assist us in this endeavor and attempting to transport this building, foundations and all, to an area that’s more conducive to our goal.” It was unusual to hear Harry drop into such fancy vocabulary. Despite the fact he was a wizard, and all wizards loved complex terminology, Harry far preferred the direct almost brutish response that was as peppered with blasts and swear words as it could be. Yet now he was being all technical, and it scared the pants off Ebony.

  “Where are you taking us?” Her voice was quiet, careful, but still insistent.

  “Space,” Harry admitted, and dammit if a strange grin didn’t crumple the edges of his lips.

  “Space?” Ebony asked, her voice squeaking.

  “Think about it? With the low gravity, everything within the store that isn’t nailed down will be floating around, and if I manage to put the store in the right orbit, it can float on merrily around the Earth, never in the same position for too long. It’s the perfect plan.” He had a stupid, mischievous grin on his face.

  Ebony’s mouth now hung wide open, and she shook her head over and over again. “You can’t take this store into space!”

  “Don’t limit me, little witch; I can do whatever I want,” Harry pointed out with a sharp nod.

  “But we will all die!” Ebony erupted.

  “Oh pish. There will be plenty of magical spells around the building to ensure we don’t run out of air, and I’ll make sure that we don’t run into any little human satellites and scare the socks off every intelligence agency and space division. There will be a host of enchantments on the building to ensure it’s harder for our little friend to locate us, but the mere fact is, if we want to ensure that we keep on the move, then space is simply the most economical place to do that. The gravity will keep everything inside moving, or lack thereof, and our orbit will keep the store moving. Plus,” Harry’s grin really did spread now, and it looked like a virus that was about to take over his entire face, “you will get to see the Earth from above. And trust me, it really is quite beautiful.”

  Ben now cleared his throat pointedly. “Um, I’m not sure I signed up for this. Space? Don’t you need to train for years to become an astronaut? Don’t you need a fancy rocket, and don’t you need a fancy team of rocket scientists to ensure your fancy rocket doesn’t blow up?”

  Harry waved him off. “You will have a fancy team of wizards instead.”

  Ben shot Ebony a quick and quiet look. It was obvious that he wasn’t exactly thrilled about the plan, and to be honest, Ebony wasn’t thrilled about it, either. In fact, she thought this was downright one of the stupidest things Harry had ever suggested. And he’d suggested some whoppers in his time, everything from using nuclear weapons to get rid of the pigeons, to going on holidays to deepest darkest Europe to catch dragons and hunt for treasure.

  “You can’t take this house into space,” Ebony said, hands on her hips.

  “Stay here,” Harry’s voice dipped low and ominous, “and I can’t guarantee what will happen to you, though I have a feeling it won’t be very nice. Face it, little witch, this is our only option.”

  Pretending as if you only had one option was absolutely anathema to magic, it tended to be completely conversant with manipulation instead. Telling somebody they didn’t have anywhere else to turn, forcing them to agree with your stupid plan of action to take their store into space, was manipulation with great big bells on. As far as Ebony knew, there were hundreds of other things they could do, thousands of other plans they could try to enact, and nearly all of them would not involve submitting her entire store and house to zero gravity.

  She crossed her arms. “I think I need to call my mother,” she said, because it was time she sought out a witch’s point of view. She was pretty sure her mother would never suggest throwing the building into the orbit of the Earth just to get away from a strange creature who could manipulate dreams. Or, maybe she would, but the point was, right now Ebony kind of needed her mom.

  “Ebony, though I don’t begrudge you will need to seek further advice on this matter, I’m not sure how much time we have,” Aaron replied evenly.

  “But this plan is just ridiculous. If we go up into space, how will Nate find us? What happens if one of your precious spells fails, and suddenly we find ourselves without oxygen? What happens if we are hit by a piece of space debris? What happens if our friend finds us anyway, and we find ourselves without the ability to open the door and run away?”

  Harry put his head in his hands and massaged his brow. “Do you take me for a fool? If we find ourselves in a spot of trouble, we will simply create a magical portal, and transport back to Earth.”

  Ebony gritted her teeth hard. She didn’t know whether it was the fatigue talking, but she honestly thought this was a stupid plan. Then again, she had to admit that she couldn’t come up with one herself. From the fact she had not slept, to the fact she was still stressed by the ever lingering sense that she couldn’t tell a dream and reality apart, she wasn’t exactly in the best mood to figure out a proper solution to the problem.

  “We need to begin preparing the scrolls and enchantments immediately,” Aaron said, standing up from his chair and patting down his suit.

  Ebony crossed her arms and stared at Aaron, even though it wasn’t Aaron she was angry at. Or maybe she was, because she’d thought the handsome, well-dressed man would come to her rescue and offer her sympathy where Nate and Harry had only offered her annoyingly pragmatic and arrogant advice. Yet here he was siding with her mad bookstore about planning a quick trip to space.

  But maybe, just maybe, if Aaron thought it was a good idea, then perhaps it was. Ebony took an enormous sigh and wiped a hand down her face. “Fine, fine, if you guys think it’s a good idea, then we’ll move the store to space. But I maintain that this is a ridiculous plan.”

  Ben snorted from behind and then transformed it into a harsh and throaty cough.

  “You don’t have to come along if you don’t want to.” Ebony turned to him. “As you said, you didn’t sign up for this, and I’m almost 100% sure that it will end in tears, flaming debris, and ridiculous eulogies.”

  Ben looked at her evenly and then shrugged, gesturing with his hands. “Ebony, I wasn’t kidding when I said you reminded me of that old ginger cat I used to own. You will jump into any situation, no matter how mad it appears to be. But there was something that I forgot to tell you: no matter where that cat looked like it was heading, and no matter how dangerous and absolutely balmy its plans were, I always followed it. So if you want to go to space, go and find a space suit, because I’m coming.”

  Ebony let a smile spread her lips. “But this is so mad,” she admitted.

  “You can say that again. Now, should I bother informing anyone in the police station? Or should I let them infer what has happened after your store blasts off in a cloud of rocket fuel and heads into space?” Ben asked, looking at Harry with his usual unfazed expression.

  “No, secrecy is the key to this one. Even though I’m dead certain that the creature we are dealing with draws its magic from the manipulation of space, I’m not going to rule out the fact that it has ears and a mouth and can go around to the local police station and ask what happened to that famous second-hand bookstore.” Harry’s expression was haughty.

  “Secrecy it is, then. But I think I might have to tell the wife that I’m not going to be home for dinner.” Ben raised an eyebrow and grabbed the phone in his pocket.

  “And I think I might have to get dressed,” Ebony added. “As fun as it would be to go into space in my pajamas.”

  Aaron had a peculiar smile on his lips, and Ebony tried hard not to look at it. Instead, she waved a limp hand at both of the wizards and turned to walk down the corridor and into her bedroom.

  They could plan all of the fine details it would take to turn Harry’s store into a rocket, or however they were planning to transport it from its current location into an orbit around the Earth. That wasn’t her concern. Tying down all of her belongings, and especially her jewelry, so they didn’t float around everywhere and get all tangled was her current concern.

  Ebony walked into her bedroom, her bare feet sinking pleasantly into the plush carpet that covered the room. Her bed looked impossibly inviting, the cushions practically begging her to come over and put her head on them for just a second, to close her eyes for just a tiny moment. Ebony bit her lips and tried not to look at her bed again. The entire point of taking her house into space was so that she didn’t have to deal with whatever strange creature was trying to contact her through her dreams, and going and having a nap and dreaming would presumably completely invalidate the plan.

  She walked into her closet to try to find a costume that was suitable in zero gravity. Which, obviously, ruled out all dresses and skirts. Even blouses with a flouncy neckline had to be abandoned for today.

  The door to her bedroom suddenly closed on its own. Perhaps there’d been a gust of wind, or perhaps she’d knocked it as she’d walked past. She hardly bothered to look up as she kept searching through her clothes for an appropriate outfit.

  It was when she realized that every single one of the tops, jackets, skirts, and pants that she was looking through were exactly the same that she took a hesitant step backward. Where once there had been a great range of color, sequins, rhinestones, fabrics, and shapes, there was now all the same garment: a simple white dress.

  “What on Earth?” Ebony took several quicker steps backward now until her back brushed up against the other side of her closet. She turned sharply and saw that the same white garment was repeated on the other side as well.

  With a quick shudder that ran all the way through her shoulders and down her back, Ebony ran out of the closet and right back into her room.

  The door was closed, the windows were closed, and then the door to the closet behind her closed with a bang.

  “Harry? Harry? What are you doing?” Ebony shouted, voice desperate. “This isn’t funny! Stop it now.”

  Harry didn’t respond. Instead, as strange as it sounded, the walls gave a shudder and closed in an inch, the room suddenly becoming smaller.

  “What?” Ebony’s lips parted with a pop. “Stop this!”

  The walls gave another shudder and closed in another inch.

  Ebony immediately clasped a hand to her chest, feeling her heart beating powerfully underneath her palm. “This can’t be happening,” she told the room. “Stop this.”

  The room didn’t stop. It shuddered and closed in another inch. A powerful surge of fear rippled through Ebony, and she instinctively stood in the dead center of the room.

  The room shook again, and once again closed in around her. Even though she wasn’t changing in size, everything else appeared to be shrinking. It wasn’t just that the walls were moving in, and all the other objects in the room were being pushed further into the center. It was that the entire room was shrinking except for her. Her bed, her dresser, the door to her closet, even the windows, even her cushions, pillows, and blankets – they were all getting smaller.

 

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