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put my fingers to my lips the way one of my brothers had taught me and gave a piercing whistle. “This way!” I bellowed. The crowd split off and followed us as we stepped onto the sidewalk. The police and fire engines had arrived by then, and the police officers directed everyone to the sidewalk across the street from the restaurant. Nobody questioned the glassless windows without any shards on the ground below. “Are you going to put those back?” I asked Owen, my teeth chattering as the cold outside air hit my thoroughly soaked hair and clothes.
    “Oh, sorry, I can’t believe I forgot,” he said, but when he waved his hand, the window glass didn’t come back. Instead my clothes suddenly became dry. Then he helped me with my coat, which was drier because it had been folded over my arm, but he worked his magic on that, too. His clothes were suddenly drier, as well. “I’d do something about drying your hair, but that’s more difficult with your magical immunity, and besides, it might be suspicious if we both suddenly looked blow-dried in this crowd,” he said with a rueful grin. I looked around and noticed that all the other escapees from the restaurant looked wet and miserable. “And the glass should come back in an hour or so.”
    He pulled me against him, holding me inside his coat with his arms tight around me. That made me a lot warmer, in spite of my damp hair. He wasn’t a big guy, but he had a fair amount of muscle packed onto his slim frame, so being held by him made me feel safe. “My dating luck strikes again,” I said with a sigh. “Normally it only affects me, but now I can ruin the evening for everyone, just by being there.”
    He chuckled and hugged me a little tighter. “I don’t think you can take the blame for this. It just happened.” Then he paused and said, “Or maybe…”
    “Maybe what?”
    “Take a look at the building and tell me what you see.” I turned my head to look at the building where the restaurant was, and while I saw flames, those flames didn’t appear to be actually doing anything. The structure of the building wasn’t changing at all. I also didn’t smell smoke. Nobody who’d been in the supposedly burning restaurant was coughing or wheezing.
    “It’s not a real fire,” I said. “Magic?”
    “More than likely. Come on.” He released me from his arms and took my hand, then led me to the side of the restaurant building. He put his palm against the building, closed his eyes for a second, then said, “Yep, it’s a magical fire. Do you think it would raise too many questions if I killed the spell now?”
    “Could you make it fade away, so the firemen’ll think they put it out? It’s not hurting anyone, is it?”
    “It shouldn’t be. I think I even know which spell they’re using. If it’s what I think it is, countering it will be easy. I can’t actually undo it, but there are plenty of spells to stop it.”
    “I don’t suppose they left a trail we could follow.”
    “I’m already on it,” a rough voice said. I looked up and saw a small stone gargoyle perched on the bottom rung of a nearby fire escape ladder.
    “Hi, Sam,” I said to the gargoyle. Sam was MSI’s chief of security.
    “You didn’t see anything, did you?” Owen asked.
    “Nope, but my people are on the case. We’re fanning out in a search pattern.”
    Owen nodded his approval. “Good.”
    “We’re sure to catch ’em before long,” Sam assured us. “Now, you two kids probably ought to find someplace warm and dry to finish your dinners. We’ve got the situation under control.”
    “You heard what the gargoyle said,” Owen said, holding his arm out to me. I took it, and then we made our way down the street with the rest of the restaurant crowd that was milling away from the scene. About a block away from the restaurant, I felt a warm breeze ruffle my hair and turned to look at Owen. He shrugged and said, “We shouldn’t be walking around with wet hair.” I couldn’t