But details were never Phelan's strong suit."
"You're going to fight a duel?" I asked, not sure whether I should believe what I was hearing. "Isn't that kind of archaic?"
"I'm more than a thousand years old," Merlin said with a wry smile. "I'm the very definition of archaic. I might as well live up to it. Are you in, my boy?" he asked Owen.
Owen went pale. "I've never done this sort of thing before, not seriously. Just what they taught us in school."
"You're our strongest. I can't think of anyone who'd be more up to the task."
"Wait a second, you're more than a thousand years old?" Ethan asked, lagging somewhat behind the conversation.
I leaned over to whisper in his ear. "He's Merlin, the real one. I'll explain later." He stared at me, then at Merlin, then back at me, and I nodded to confirm it. He shook his head in amazement.
"If we get to select the location, we might as well make it one to our advantage,"
Merlin continued, ignoring Ethan's question. He raised a hand, and a large book flew off the shelf to land on the conference table. He leaned over the book, stroking his beard as he studied the page. Then he pointed to a spot. "There, that seems to be the area of weakest magical influence in this region."
I came over to the book and saw that he was pointing to a spot on the southern New Jersey coastline. Ethan joined us. "Yeah, I would have guessed that the Jersey shore was pretty nonmagical, especially this time of year. The place should be more or less deserted." He bent to look closer at the map. "Hmm, Wildwood. We went there once on vacation when I was a kid. Very kitschy. The boardwalk is nice, though. It has a good amusement park."
"But why are you choosing a nonmagical area?" I asked. "Don't you need something to draw on for power?" I remembered what Rod had said about the need for a power supply.
"That will weaken him more than it weakens us," Merlin said. "We have a secret weapon." He turned to look at Owen, who appeared uncomfortable. A couple of bright spots formed on his cheeks, then spread over the rest of his face.
"I can probably outlast him," he said softly. That must be what Rod had meant about Owen being particularly powerful. He didn't need to draw on other energy sources as much as others did. Or something like that. One day I was going to have to get that physics of magic lecture from somebody.
Then Owen's lips turned up in a mischievous grin. "Let's meet at the amusement park. That will keep us out of sight so we won't have to worry about masking while we're fighting, and it gives us something to work with."
"It'll give him somewhere to hide, though," I pointed out. "Do you really believe he'll stick to the rules he set out?"
"That's why you'll be there, both of you," Merlin said. "We'll need our legal counsel, of course, upon the outcome of the battle, but it will be very handy to have a couple of immunes on our side. I doubt that's something he'll have."
"And we can work with that." Owen was really getting into this. It was the most enthusiastic I'd ever seen him about anything. "He may bring extra people and mask them, but we can make him think we've got a few other things on our side." He grinned, and a wicked gleam formed in his eyes. "It's all about the sleight of hand."
"So, we get back to him," Ethan said, "tell him he's on, and we'll meet at the boardwalk amusement park in Wildwood, in front of the roller coaster, at dawn.
Does that work for everyone?"
Merlin nodded. "Please let him know we accept his challenge, according to his terms."
"Is there a phone I can use?"
"My office," I said.
While he went to make the call, I thought of logistical matters. "That's about a three-hour drive from here. My roommates and I once drove down to Atlantic City, and this is even farther. We'll need to leave pretty early in the morning—more like the middle of the night— to get there on time. That means we'll need a car, or do you guys have magical transportation?"
"That would be unwise, as we'll need to save our energy for the fight itself," Merlin said.
"Okay then, we'll need a car. I still have a license, so we can rent one." I was looking forward to getting on the open road. That was something I missed from Texas.
"I have a car," Ethan said as he came back to the office. "No need to rent one. We should leave by two in the morning, to give us plenty of time to get there, scope the place out, and get situated. Oh, and he did agree to the location. We're definitely on."
Merlin looked satisfied. "Good."
"This isn't to the death, is it?" I asked, suddenly nervous.
Owen shook his head. "No, it shouldn't be, not unless he refuses to surrender when he's clearly beaten."
"You sound awfully confident."
He shrugged. "I am. I've gone up against him before, though never in so formal or so serious a fight, and he's never given me any problems. But if we are clearly beaten, we'll surrender so he doesn't have to kill us."
"And what then?"
"Depending on the outcome of the fight, I'm sure we'll work out an agreement regarding what spells he's allowed to produce," Merlin said. "We win, he stops using these spells. He wins, we have to let him."
"Maybe we should bring back dueling," Ethan mused. "It would really unclog the court system, and thin out the ranks of lawyers."
"We'll all need our rest, so everyone should go home and prepare," Merlin said.
"I can pick everyone up, depending on where everyone is," Ethan said. "I live in Battery Park City."
"My home is in this building," Merlin said.
"Katie and I live near each other," Owen put in. "She's off Fourteenth, and I'm in Gramercy."
Ethan fed all our information into his Palm Pilot, then we arranged pickup times and places and headed out. The thought crossed my mind that we could have tried to find hotel rooms in the area so we wouldn't have to drive all night, but by the time we all got home and packed for an overnight stay, it would be rush hour, so it would take us about as much time to get out of the general metro area as it would to make the whole drive in the middle of the night, and in the off season, finding a hotel room late at night might be a challenge.
I ran into Owen at the subway station. He looked tense but excited. "Are you really up for this?" I asked him while we waited for a train.
"I think so. I know what to do, but I've never had the chance to try it."
"And you're really more—" I searched for a word I could use safely in public.
"—capable than he is?"
"Apparently so. People are gifted in a lot of areas. This happens to be mine." He shrugged. "Maybe it's genetic."
"Were your parents like that?"
"I don't know. I never knew them. They died when I was a baby. At least, I think they did. I don't even know who they were."
As usual, a train showed up just as things were getting interesting, and a crowded subway train wasn't the place to get into a conversation about someone's mysterious origins. If Owen was an orphan, that could explain some of his awkwardness around people.
He walked me home from the subway station, saying he didn't want to take any chances, then we said we'd see each other very soon. I went upstairs and laid out an outfit for the morning. I wasn't sure what one should wear to a magical battle—not even Gemma the fashion maven would have an answer to that—so I went with warm, comfortable clothes that were still businesslike—a black wool pantsuit with a gray sweater underneath and low-heeled short boots.
I knew I should go to bed early, but I was too wired to sleep. Instead, I baked cinnamon rolls. Cooking always relaxes me, and I had a feeling all of us could use some sugar in the morning. The rolls were rising when my roommates got home.
"What are you up to?" Marcia asked when she saw the flour-spattered kitchen.
"I have to go on a very early road trip for work in the morning."
"Ah, sucking up to the boss with some goodies, huh?"
"Or impressing the cute guy?" Gemma teased.
"Mostly just sorting out my thoughts," I said, although they were both partially right.