Read Undercover Magic for Free Online Page B

dangerous and clever things and only fools assumed life was
     safe.
    Drawing my gun, I backed up against the cool, packed earth of the tunnel wall under
     the fireplace trap door.
    When nothing jumped at me, I headed off to the right. Time to get the only other person
     I cared about to safety.
     
    *  *  *
     
    Traveling through the tunnels, I'd managed to cross the city in a few hours without
     mishap. I'd stopped once for food and water at one of the lockers we had scattered
     throughout, but other than that, I'd kept an unbroken, steady pace. When I reached
     the access point I needed, I eyed the hole in the wall just above eye level with distaste.
     This one had been Falcon's idea. Figured.
    Resigned to my fate, I backed up to the other side and judged my trajectory. I got
     a running start, jumped and dove into the hole. I managed to get my upper body in
     and scrambled the rest of the way, feeling like Winnie the Pooh stuck in Rabbit's
     house.
    Once my thighs passed the entrance, I commando crawled up the ascending passage. Only
     four and a half feet high, the short tunnel narrowed down to three and if you didn't
     know any better, you'd think you'd just gone to a lot of trouble to get to nothing
     but a dead end.
    Anyone claustrophobic, or with knowledge of tunnel integrity, wouldn't give it a second
     look and would move on to pursue more obvious exits. As it was, this particular little
     sweetheart was our main access point to Falcon's shop.
    When I reached the debris piled at the end, I squeezed over onto my back. The tunnel
     above me looked like nothing special, mostly dirt and roots and no way out. It was
     actually a fake composite of soil mixed with plaster and various realistic touches
     like dead bugs and rocks that we'd spackled over the cement foundation under the store. 
    I pressed the pads of my forefinger and middle finger to a spot just to the right
     of a large fake root, spitting crud and a few curses when soil showered into my face.
     I tried again and was rewarded with the sluggish clatter of locks disengaging. When
     the noise died down, I braced my palms on the surface above me and pushed. The trapdoor
     into Falcon's shop didn't budge.
    With a grunt of effort, I pushed harder, my teeth crunching on an extra dose of dirt.
     Slowly, painfully the door inched up. As I squinted and coughed from the sawdust drifting
     down on me, I heard a large container of some kind laboriously coasting off the door.
    Annoyed, I gave a final shove. The blockage slid away with a complaining thump, the
     door flipped open and late morning light spilled into the tunnel. Pulling myself up
     using the edge of the frame, I climbed out into Falcon's back storage room.
    A jumble of shelves, barrels, trunks and tables full of all things magical, magically
     enhanced or just plain gadgety cluttered the space around me, making the twelve by
     twelve room look like the playhouse of a magician hoarder gone mad.
    I shut the trapdoor and pushed the blasted crate back over it. Brushing sawdust and
     dirt off my clothes, I opened the door to the shop and stalked out.
    Magical Bits, as I liked to call it, wasn't open yet and the main area spread out
     in front of me was empty of people except for the lanky, bespectacled seventeen year
     old hunched over the counter. Falcon's faded jeans, stained cartoon-covered T-shirt
     and his eternally mussed rusty brown hair were as hodgepodge as his uncle's shop where
     he'd worked since he was twelve.
    Also like the shop, his external appearance effectively hid a wealth of powerful secrets.
     Unlike the shop, that included an astronomical level of genius. At least, I didn't
     think the shop was sentient. I'd have to remember to ask him about that. Right now
     I was too pissed about the tunnel entrance.
    "Jesus, Falcon. An old crate of books? Seriously?" I complained.
    "What up, Addie K?" he said, grinning as he continued fiddling with the insides of
     some ill-fated electrical device.
    "No