We still needed to catch the boggart, but we had to deal with the gremlins first. More maniacal chortling echoed from the rooftop.
“Wonderful, they’re on the roof.” I reached inside my jacket for my own wand, grasped the wood. The wand was still, inert. Hellfire. It had been drained, probably when I’d had to deal with the gremlins earlier. That was fast, too fast. I gritted my teeth. I must not have been issued a fresh one. It should have had more charges in it. The chaos magic couldn’t have drained it that quickly. Or could it? It didn’t matter now.
The gremlins capered on the roof, chortlingly manically. The mall sign suddenly began running a cartoon of a dragon falling out of the sky while gremlins laughed from the sidelines.
“I’ve got to end this,” I muttered.
“There are two of us, remember?” Tully held a slingshot. He began chanting in Portuguese. He finished the spell and let loose with a trio of magical missiles, silver balls that whistled softly as they flew.
The balls exploded like liquid fireworks right above the gremlins. The three of them went motionless, frozen in manic poses. A moment later, they dissolved into wisps of mana “smoke” which faded away an instant later.
I took a step back to look around his muscular bulk to see the other two stores, which were deserted now. I’d have to call Simms soon, once we’d made sure that the manifestations were cleared.
I let out my breath. That had been tougher than I liked.
“What’s the mana and magic like?” I asked Tully. I peered around, hoping to see what he saw, but of course I wasn’t a seer.
“Mana is back to normal levels,” Tully said. “No magic in the vicinity.”
Not for the first time I wished I’d had his ability. Not instead of my binding sorcery, but along with it. But two sorceries equaled wizardry, and only a very select few of the select few who could use magic could be wizards. Like my mother.
I pushed the annoying thought away. Focus, Liz, I told myself. Tully was putting me off my game. I wasn’t usually this distractible. Not without provocation at any rate.
“Okay, let’s check out the jewelers,” I said. Tully nodded. He picked up his wand.
I eased myself past the shattered door into the jewelry shop. Ceiling panels littered the floor, and the overhead LEDs were dark. I pulled a penlight out of my jacket and flashed the beam around.
The glass counter tops were cracked. The big wall safe yawned open, and the jewelry trays which had been put away for safe keeping lay empty on the floor.
Tully quickly went over the various nooks and crannies inside the store, peering carefully at surfaces, edges, opening drawers, looking under chairs, the works. It took him just a few minutes, but it felt like hours. I tapped my toes while I waited, shifting from side to side. I wanted to leave five minutes ago, because we still had the boggart to track down.
“No sign of any lingering magic, or manifestations,” he said when he had finished.
I didn’t think there would be, but he had to check. New manifestations, level ones, could appear in the wake of magical turbulence, and cause a cascade effect. We went out the back, closing the steel door behind us.
I called Simms. “Marquez here. We just dealt with a four-manifestation outbreak.”
“Great.” He sounded bitter. “I see that there’s a gaggle of police and rescue headed your way.” Right on cue came the sound of sirens. “You’d better have taken care of the supernatural shenanigans.” Okay, he used a shorter word than shenanigans, but like I said, I gave up conventional swearing when I joined R.U.N.E. Words have consequences, and we sorcerer agents needed to stay focused.
“We did,” I lied. Simms was going to have a serious case of heartburn if I let on that a rogue manifestation was still on the loose, so I didn’t. To be fair, we’d zapped the gremlins. We just need to catch up with the boggart.
“Why do I think that’s not exactly the case?” Simms said. Definitely heartburn.
“The gremlins are gone,” I insisted. “We’re vacating the area now.” I hung up.
I turned to tell Tully, but he was already heading toward the Continental.
“We have to find that boggart,” I said.
“I know.” He walked briskly toward our vehicle.
“Hey, I’m supposed to be the leader,” I said, following. The sirens were louder now. I broke into a sprint.
“We’re partners,” Tully replied. “There isn’t a leader.” He ran faster.
We pounded across the parking lot, past where the cowering bystander had been and across the street to our vehicle. Tully was behind the wheel and starting the car before I’d reached it.
I yanked open the door and hopped in. The Lincoln pulled away from the curb with a deep rumble. I yanked on the door to close it. It shut with a heavy sounding clunk.
I buckled my seat belt as we sped off. “What happened to assessing the situation before diving in?” I mean, come on, being reckless is my thing.
“I spotted a new mana trail. Has to be our boggart,” he said. Muscles worked in his jaw. He was not a happy man. “Besides, we should be out of the area before law enforcement arrives.”
“You still have your omni-badge. Mine has more one use for today. Besides, I told Simms—”
“I heard you. You lied to Simms. Please stop playing around and act professional.”
Tully suddenly reminded me of my Uncle Robert, who’d also served in the army. That was a cut-the-nonsense tone if I’d ever heard one.
I sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just the way I handle things.”
“This isn’t the time for banter,” he said. His stern expression eased and his tone turned puzzled.
The Continental’s engine sputtered and died.
“Daylight burns,” Tully swore. I blinked.
He managed to get our battleship of a sedan to coast to
