We walked over quickly to where Bijou stood. Or at least, everyone but Mr. Bixby walked. He didn’t much like getting his paws wet. Sinda had offered Minerva a lift and got only a hiss for her kindness.
The frost that covered the rest of the park had mysteriously melted here.
“Not so mysterious,” Bixby said. “Magic often runs a little hot.”
Ren drew her scarf closer to her neck. “Then I don’t have enough of it, because I’m freezing.”
“Nerves,” Bijou said. “It’s fine, Renny-Ren-Ren. Can’t smell any roadkill.”
Bixby applied his sniffer to the situation, too. “The poodle is correct. All clear on bad magic. Time for some good magic.”
I stared at the circle in the grass, which was larger than I expected and smaller than I feared. As if the size would make a difference. Our magic had to be big enough.
“It’s something we already know,” I said. “And we can’t secure what we can’t see. I say we deliberately reveal it and then hide it.”
“Won’t the mayor know?” Ren asked. “She had video cameras on Orville Tingle’s statue.”
Minerva came over and brushed against my legs. It was as close to confirmation as I was likely to get. “The mayor already knows,” I said. “And I presume she can’t do this herself or she would.”
“We’re doing what the mayor can’t?” Ren’s voice was incredulous.
“I think so, but I don’t know why. It may be that attackers would sense she’s here. But we’re too—”
“Weak?” Bixby interrupted.
I bent to set him on his paws. “We’re not weak, just misguided. This isn’t the moment to run me down to boost me up, pal.”
“It’s always that moment. But I was merely suggesting Ruthann might send out a strong signal, gained over eons. Your pilot lights are still young.”
“Young is better, then.” I beckoned for my friends to bunch up. “Let’s hold hands. Don’t know if it’s necessary but I could sure use the support.”
Ren took off her mitten and grabbed my bare hand. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”
Sinda did the same on my other side. “We can do this. We’ve revealed things before.”
“Bixby and Bijou,” I said. “Can you lean into our legs? Maybe we can do this without you but I don’t want to find out.”
There was no argument from Bixby this time. I suspected he wanted to be close, too. His voice arrived in my head. “It’s my job. You heard the feline crone.”
A hiss behind me said Minerva was staying out of this. We were on our own.
But not alone. This was all about togetherness. A shared purpose. Maybe that’s what set the original magicals apart from Oscar’s crew. Their intentions were pure. To protect rather than exploit. Ren, Sinda and I had no hidden agenda, other than to do right by the town. And correct my blunder in leaving it vulnerable.
Minerva gave a meow that sounded like an order to get spelling.
On the count of three, we delivered the revelation spell from my book, our voices overlapping. It must have been flawless because a large white shape appeared in front of us slowly, as if out of dense fog. I recognized Adeline Brynne from her portrait in City Hall. She was even more beautiful here.
“Oh, everyone looks good in marble,” Bixby said. “Take a quick look and then erase her.”
“Erase her?” I said. “I was planning to use the invisibility spell.”
“Have you hiccupped since you erased them?” he asked. “No. But how many times has the invisibility spell gone wrong?”
“Good point. How about we erase first, and then throw invisibility on top of it? Ruthann said the founders combined spells.”
And that was what we did, our voices growing stronger with every line. By the time we finished the erasure spell, beautiful Adeline had vanished again into the mist. We moved confidently into the invisibility spell, but perhaps we got too cocky. A trio of small trees nearby became cloaked, too. I feared people would walk into them but didn’t want to risk exposing what had already been successfully hidden.
“Wise choice,” Bixby said. “In common parlance, don’t fix what ain’t broken.”
“Someone’s nose could be broken,” Bijou said. “Boink, boink, boink.”
“Maybe we could circle back at the end,” Ren said. “Feels more important now to get the other five sentries secured.”
We drove all over town as Elsa delivered us from one site to another to repeat our success. All went perfectly until we arrived at destination number five, Tingle Square. I should have known Orville would give us trouble.
Minerva’s hiss was instantly drowned out by the louder clamor of alarm in my head. “Intruder alert,” Bixby said.
“Magical flatulence?” I asked.
Bijou answered. “Faint whiff of old gas.”
“It’s a cover-up,” Bixby said.
“Or a makeover,” Bijou suggested. “Jury’s still out on this one.”
I already knew who it was because there was a familiar gravelly laugh in my head.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are, Cousin Liberty.”
