An Unreliable Magic by Rin Chupeco

Author:Rin Chupeco
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

17

In Which Ken Gets His Shadow into Trouble

“I’m pretty sure I can pull this off on my own,” Ken said. “The more people with me, the more dangerous it’s gonna be. I brought Horse with me. It’s waiting a mile out, in case I run into danger.”

“What’s your kelpie gonna do?” Tala asked dryly. “Kick people?”

“And the last time you went off on your own,” Loki countered, “you destroyed a library.”

“Well, sure. When you put it that way, it makes me sound bad.”

“While I have no doubts that you can charm everyone all on your own, I’m sure you’ll do just as good a job with us around,” Nya assured him, keeping her voice low to avoid attracting the attentions of the two Avalonian ministers walking in front of them.

“I’m charming?” Ken’s voice brightened considerably and then grew suspicious. “Wait. Are you trying to placate me, Rapunzel?”

She grinned briefly, and then her smile faded. “Of course not. Why would I do anything like that?”

Why couldn’t she stop being so attractive for maybe just one second? They were better now since the Schaffers’ party, though still not as tight as before. He knew Nya was trying to find a way to broach the topic and that it was his fault for constantly changing the subject whenever she made the attempt. He really didn’t want to talk about it yet. If he had his way, he would pretend like he’d never even heard what her doom was to begin with. He could feel himself start to sweat, trying not to panic, at the memory of it alone.

He concentrated on his earpiece instead. “Say, Dex. You sure my shadow won’t trigger any spells inside?”

“I’m pretty sure it won’t,” Dex’s voice responded.

Their mission this time around was a bit more challenging: infiltrate OzCorp and find information about Nome’s secret project that was apparently so powerful and costly that the CFO of one of the most lucrative companies in the world had to solicit funding from other potential rivals for it. Loki led the team, which also had Ken, Nya, Tala, Tito Boy, Tita Baby, and General Luna.

And Ken’s shadow, if that counted.

Under the pretense of cooperating, OzCorp had agreed to a preliminary inspection from Avalon’s Department of Trade at Marooners’ Rock. In a stroke of genius, Alex had assigned the kind but bumbling Minister Fasshagh with his less well-liked colleague, Minister Ancilotto, to oversee the proceedings. Both were vocal supporters of OzCorp establishing a bigger presence in Avalon, which helped to head off any suspicions, and Alex had introduced them to the duo as his personal administrative team. Only the lightest number of glamour spells had been cast on Ken and the others, relying more heavily on traditional makeup and prosthetics as provided by Seraphina, one of the Neverland pirates. Tala’s presence would handle the rest.

They had better reason to use the subterfuge now. The wildlife preserve that had offered to care for the baby jabberwock (their social media account had been posting videos,

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