The Wizard of Seattle (42 page)

Merlin leaned down and kissed her, gently but with his strong desire for her unhidden and barely restrained. “Waiting won’t change anything,” he reminded her.

Serena didn’t know how she would have responded to the truth of that, and before she could think about it, the sudden peal of the doorbell nearly made her jump out of her skin. The sound was both alien and familiar, and definitely disconcerting.

“Was it always that shrill?” she muttered.

“You’ve just forgotten,” Merlin replied, gazing thoughtfully toward the front of the house.

Because he was still holding her hand, Serena was immediately aware of his probing, and also of the results. She was pleased that the physical contact enabled her to share a portion of his considerable abilities, but the knowledge of just who had come calling on this already unsettling Friday morning put a damper on her pleasure.

“Kane.”

“Mmmm.” Merlin looked down at her with a slightly rueful smile. “We didn’t have the time to do anything about Mr. Kane before we left—but he does have to be dealt with.”

“You don’t think he’ll stop digging into our lives if we just ignore him?”

“He’s here, isn’t he?” Merlin squeezed her hand and then released it. “Let him in, Serena. Let’s find out what he has on his mind.”

Serena was curious herself, so she went out into the foyer and opened the heavy front door. Studying the reporter—who, as usual, looked rumpled and slightly hung-over—she said mildly, “Well, well, if it isn’t my favourite
former journalist. Good morning, Kane. What can I do for you?”

Jeremy Kane’s attempt at a pleasant smile was rather appalling. “Good morning, Serena. What did you think of my article?”

It took Serena a moment to remember—God, had it only been last week?—the details of the malicious article that had proven to be such a powerful catalyst. Gazing at Kane, she wondered if he could possibly imagine what an incredible chain of events he had set into motion.

Still smiling amiably, she said, “I thought the article belonged in a supermarket rag, Kane. It had all the journalistic class of a story about the latest sighting of Bigfoot or Elvis.”

Kane flushed an angry red. Harshly, he said, “I went to Merlin’s office, but it was closed. Is he here?”

Bring him into the study, Serena
.

She stepped back and opened the door wider, thinking how nice it was to hear that calm, resonant voice in her head. She felt very much connected to Merlin, and her awareness of that bond made her certain as his voice. Whether or not they had been successful in changing the society of wizards, together they definitely had found personal triumph.

Kane came into the foyer, looking around and then eyeing her warily as she shut the door behind him. “Where is he?”

“This way.” She strolled into Merlin’s study and took up a position near the desk as she leaned against the back of a leather wingback chair. She was situated perfectly to watch both men.

Merlin was in front of his desk and leaning back against it, with his arms crossed over his chest. His black eyes fixed on Kane as the older man entered the room—and there was a brilliance in them that Serena had never seen Merlin show to anyone in Seattle. It was the somewhat disconcerting look of a Master wizard: an almost hypnotic, unshuttered power.

Kane jolted to a stop a few feet from the desk, one
hand reaching for his loosened tie in nervous gesture. He wore a slight frown and was clearly unsettled.

“Hello, Kane,” Merlin said coolly. Even his voice was subtly different, so deep and vibrant it almost seemed to echo in the quiet room. “Is there something I can do for you?”

After a glance at Serena, the reporter said, “You might want to hear this in private, Merlin.” His voice was blustery, the attempt to verbally dominate the younger man completely transparent and hardly successful.

“No, I don’t think so. Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of Serena. She knows most of my secrets.”

“Most?” Serena queried with interest. “You mean, I don’t know them all?”

“Allow me to preserve some hint of mystery,” Merlin said, turning his head to look at her. “I don’t want to bore you.”

“Somehow, I doubt that could ever happen.”

“Perhaps not, but I’d rather be cautious.”

“Well … if you insist. But you know, of course, that now I’m very curious. In spite of myself, I’ll have to do my best to uncover your secrets.”

Merlin smiled. “I think I’ll enjoy that.”

“Excuse
me,” Kane sputtered.

Looking back at their guest, Merlin said politely, “Do forgive us. You were saying?”

“I
knew
there was something between you two,” Kane said victoriously, allowing himself to be led off on a slight tangent.

Merlin lifted an eyebrow with faint mockery. “Congratulations on your intuition.”

“You aren’t going to deny it?”

“Why on earth should I? What you see before you, Kane, are two—I believe the phrase is consenting adults—who are breaking no laws and harming no one. If there’s a story in that, I’d like to know what it is.”

“She was a minor when she came to live with you,” Kane pointed out nastily.

“Which was nine years ago. Whatever may have happened
between us then is definitely old news. In point of fact, I acted as Serena’s guardian until she came of age, and there was nothing sexual between us. If you think you can prove otherwise, go right ahead.”

Kane wasn’t quite willing to wallow in the gutter to the extent of threatening to ruin Merlin’s reputation with veiled accusations of impropriety, and his frustration was as visible as a cloud of steam.

Serena had to hide a smile. She was thoroughly enjoying the little scene, mostly because it was a striking indication of how much Merlin had changed since their trip through time. He was having fun with Kane, and that relaxed, nonchalant attitude was incredibly sexy; it made him seem very human, even as the vivid radiance of his black eyes was a reminder of the vast power under his control.

She didn’t know what he had in mind for Kane, but Serena had the distinct impression that Merlin’s solution for the problem the inquisitive reporter posed was going to be much more playful than it would have been before their visit to Atlantis.

“I’ve been digging into your background,” Kane told the Master wizard finally in a defiant voice.

“Why?” Merlin inquired, nothing in his tone but courteous interest.

“It’s full of weird things, that’s why. Name me somebody else who was involved—to put it politely—in half a dozen mysterious cases of fire before he was out of elementary school.”

“Richard, you didn’t.”

“You weren’t the only one who had trouble with fire, I’m afraid,” Merlin confessed to Serena gravely.

“And you had the nerve to rag me about it!”

“I was much younger at the time than you were, Serena. Much younger. And they were very small fires.”

She sniffed disdainfully. “Yeah, sure.”

Kane, clearly baffled, was scowling, and his voice broke a bit when he said, “There were other odd things too. I managed to track down a few of your schoolmates—”

“Who remembered me clearly after twenty-five years?” Merlin interrupted sardonically.

“Oh, they remembered you, all right. Most of them just said what they recalled was how incredibly lucky you were.”

Serena looked at Kane with lifted brows, and asked in astonishment, “Are you going to hang him for that?”

“No, not for that! But I want to know how he’s going to answer questions that have baffled quite a few experts for twenty-five years.” Kane glared at Merlin. “Questions like—how was it possible that during the several years you lived in Chicago, three planes that
should
have crashed, didn’t? Those planes were mechanically damaged to the point that all the experts agree they should have gone down. Even the pilots didn’t know what the hell had saved them. And it’s a funny thing. You were there all three times. Twice on field trips with a science class, and the third time about to leave on vacation with your parents.”

Serena gazed at Merlin’s calm face, thinking of a boy not knowledgeable enough to repair damaged planes in such a way that there would be no mystery for the experts, and yet powerful enough to bring the crippled aircraft down safely. Softly, she said, “So we can’t repair the ills of mankind?”

He looked at her and smiled. “No … just a few engines here and there.”

Kane was more than a little disconcerted by the exchange. He looked from one to the other, then blurted, “There were some other things—”

“Never mind.” Merlin studied the visitor briefly, then sighed. “Have a seat, Kane.”

Serena had a premonition. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked.

“Why not?” Merlin shrugged. “After all, we really owe him a debt. If it hadn’t been for his article …”

She agreed with a nod. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we have to go overboard with gratitude. It wasn’t like he had a positive motive for writing that piece.”

“It’s all right, Serena. Trust me.”

She matched his smile, thinking about how both of
them had come to value those two simple words. And since she had utter faith in Merlin’s abilities, it was easy to accept his assurances.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kane demanded, frowning. “I came here for a few answers—”

“You came here,” Merlin told him pleasantly, “for a story. I don’t know what you expected to find, and I doubt you were very clear on that point, but what you’re going to get is the truth.”

“Yeah? Let’s hear it.”

“Seeing it might be more convincing.” Smiling, Merlin straightened away from the desk and made a slight, graceful gesture with both hands. Instantly, he was wearing his midnight-blue Master’s robe.

Kane’s mouth dropped open, and he had to try twice before he could speak. “How’d you do that?”

“I’m a wizard,” Merlin replied simply.

“A
Master
wizard,” Serena contributed. “That’s top of the line, Kane. It means he’s the best. Your first clue probably should have been his name.”

“Serena.”

“Well, it should have.”

Gripping with white fingers the arms of his chair he had sat in, Kane muttered, “It’s a trick. Just a cheap magician’s trick.”

Merlin shrugged. “If you think that, then obviously there’s no story, is there? You were simply overly suspicious and misinformed. All the experts were wrong, and those planes were quite able to land safely. Those curious little fires in my childhood have a logical and reasonable explanation. And all the other mysteries you’ve uncovered in my past are really not mysteries at all.”

Kane found himself caught in the unenviable position of having been handed a possible answer to all his questions and uneasy suspicions—and finding it so incredible it defied belief. Yet all his instincts were screaming at him, urging him to believe the impossible. He stared at the man before him, at the curiously alien, shimmering robe and that easy, confident smile … and those eyes.
Those eyes
.

“And if I believe you?” he asked in a thick voice that was hardly more than a whisper.

Merlin was matter of fact. “Then you have one hell of a story, Kane. Just think of it. There are wizards in modern society, beings of power, something the public is hardly aware of. We can create fire and water and control the weather. We can, for the most part, heal the sick and injured, repair damage to virtually anything, and fly without a plane … or a broomstick. We can rearrange matter—meaning that I could turn your chair into a rock or a tiger, and you into a toad if I were so inclined. We can harness and use our own electrical energy as a weapon, precise and deadly as a laser beam. And we can travel through time.”

Kane laughed, harshly but shakily. “You expect me to buy all that? Then turn my chair into a tiger, mighty wizard! Show me your power.”

With no more than a flick of his fingers. Merlin did, and Kane jerked away from the large, warm, reclining body he found himself sitting on just as it turned its striped face toward him and growled softly.

“Jesus!”

The tiger rose to its feet and snarled again, yellow eyes fierce—and then reformed smoothly into a sturdy, inanimate chair. Kane backed away from it and from Merlin until he was pressed against crowded bookshelves. His face was very pale, but he was managing to control his panic.

“You asked,” Merlin reminded him dryly.

“I thought we couldn’t do that,” Serena said in an aggrieved tone. “Create living beings.”

“Some of us can,” Merlin told her. “But animals only, and the higher orders are extremely difficult.”

“You lied to me!”

“Not at all. I merely withheld the truth. Besides, you won’t be able to do it until you’re a Master.”

“Oh. Well, in that case, you’re forgiven.”

Ignoring this exchange, the reporter darted his gaze around the room as if looking for an escape, and fixed on Serena. The realization seemed to dismay him almost comically. “You too?”

“Afraid so I’m Richard’s Apprentice. I came to him at sixteen to learn how to be a wizard.”

Kane glared at her. “Bigfoot and Elvis sightings, huh?”

A
low laugh escaped her. “Touché. But we
are
different, you know. We aren’t tacky.”

Kane grappled a moment in silence, trying to work things out in his mind, then said, “That announcement about the grant. You did take it from my apartment.”

It took Serena a moment to remember, and then she nodded. “Yeah, I did. I wanted to know if Seth got the grant. So I sent for it to come to your pocket. And then I just put you to sleep before you could pass out.”

“I don’t believe this. Any of it.”

Merlin, able to sense as well as see the reporter’s rising agitation, spoke calmly. “We’re no threat to you, Kane. To any of you. I’ll tell you another little secret. Our kind has walked the earth as long as yours has; there have always been beings of power—and there always will be. With very few exceptions, we’ve learned to pass unnoticed in society.”

“Exceptions?”

“Some of us have been careless from time to time, which is why there are stories about witches and sorcerers and the like. And some born wizards don’t realize what they are, which is why they make a living performing parlor tricks like bending spoons and taking photographs with their minds.”