"We don't have to do that. He's clear. Of anyone toting magic, anyhow."
Liz gawked. "How do you know that? We didn't speak to him."
"Oh, well, there wasn't a sniff of magic in that whole corridor when we came in," Boo explained.
Enlightenment dawned as Liz recalled Boo's antics at the entrance to the Superdome. "Ah! So that was the meaning of that whole performance for the TV cameras. You were taking a reading."
"And settin' a detector," Boo said, with satisfaction. "Are you familiar with the Acardian Gate theory?" Liz nodded, wondering if he meant the original theory, or the update that had come down from the research boffins in the last six months. "Well, now, let's take a look at the rest of the Superdome. I want to see where they stove in the front doors, before they clean it up."
Now that Boo-Boo was out of sight of the others, Liz could tell he was impatient to get back to the arena. Liz made him wait before they went upstairs so she could set a protective cantrip over Fionna's dressing room. Not knowing where the attack might be coming from, if there was to be an attack, she drew power from the air around her and laid a spell on the door. As she gathered up the ball of energy, she could feel the tension permeating the Superdome. She disliked making personal magic in an unwarded space, but the cantrip itself was comforting, like a warm cat curled on one's lap. As old as time, the little spell couldn't stop anyone physically, but it would repel anyone of malign intent. It was layered with a fillip of her own invention that would alert her like a siren if something went wrong. She tied a knot in the energy and let it go, feeling it twang against the dressing room door. She hoped Fee wouldn't stir from there until she got back from their perimeter walk of the building.
Boo took Liz's arm and hurried her up the long ramps and escalators to the stadium level.
The fire department was withdrawing its equipment. The hoses which lay everywhere slithered underfoot as they were being rolled up. Liz saw Hugh Banks, the stage manager, trip over a coil that snaked around his foot. He got up, swearing, and went back to dressing down some of the stagehands.
Microphones were being brandished under the noses of the band members still on stage.
"Looks like a few of the reporters sneaked in," Boo said easily. "Can't blame 'em. Probably used police department credentials to get past the door."
"We need to get them out," Liz said, feeling frustrated that she couldn't manifest a huge broom and sweep them all towards the exit. "They couldn't have been here when the fire occurred, but we do not want them in the way."
It was time for Boo to look startled. "Why are you so sure none of them could be responsible?"
Liz tried not to look superior. "They'd have had to hide for hours. Can you imagine any of them waiting patiently in the wings before pouncing on their prey? Look at them!" The reporters were doing a fair impression of sharks shoving their way into a netful of bleeding tuna parts.
"They do kinda have that Christmas mornin' wrapper-tearin' thing goin' on," Boo said, with a grin.
Just in case Liz had misjudged one of them, the two agents did a quick walk-by of as many of the reporters as they could. None of them paid either Liz or Boo more than a cursory glance to make sure they weren't famous. Liz did a light magical frisking on them. None was imbued with more than a good luck charm's worth of magic, though there were many such charms, amulets and mascots tucked away in purses, pockets, and backpacks. Liz had never seen so much superstitious paraphernalia outside of the Avebury Stone Circle gift shop. New Orleans was steeped in awareness of the supernatural. What a place for Fionna to have planted herself! If there was a malign magical presence it might well be camouflaged by the locals.
Green Fire was living up to its name. The musicians were trying to be patient and gracious in the midst of the turmoil. They weren't succeeding. The reporters were relentless, trying to wrest any details they could about the attack. Eddie Vincent stood at the open side of his keyboards like a sentry, preventing entry to his sanctum sanctorum, and steering all questions toward the subject of the tour itself.
"Yeah, we're really happy to be here in New Orleans. I've always wanted to come here. The music's got its own soul, like. Fee has this vision of gathering up the spirit of the United States for the album we're cutting when we get back home... No, man, I don't know what happened. I was just setting up my boards. Sound good in here, don't they?" His long fingers danced up and down the keys, sending a weird, discordant wailing echoing through the auditorium. "Yeah, it's a thing I'm trying out for this gig. I think it's a new sound. Can't wait to see what they think of it in San Francisco." The music attracted the attention of the other reporters on stage. Like rats to the Pied Piper, they turned away from other victims and crowded in on Vincent, who played more eerie-sounding music to the rapt crowd.
Liz grinned. Vincent had a little benevolent magic of his own. Nigel Peters, Lloyd Preston and a cordon of security guards swooped in. They rounded up the protesting group of reporters and escorted them toward the door, talking all the while to distract them. Very quickly, the Superdome was cleared of members of the press. Green Fire seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Liz followed Boo into the boxes surrounding the stage. The two of them split up and went in opposite directions.
The tiers of seats were raked steeply and the space between them was alarmingly narrow. Liz hated to admit it, but she was afraid of heights. Her heart pounded every time she stumbled, grabbing for the metal railing to keep herself from plummeting down the concrete stairs. There was no way for her to watch what was going on down on stage and walk at the same time. If she was to concentrate on magic-sniffing, it was better for her acrophobia not to be able to see how far up they were. She kept her gaze on the few feet of floor immediately in front of her, and listened.
She began to understand why Green Fire had chosen the Superdome as a concert venue. The acoustics were surprisingly good. Voices carried well into the bleachers from the stage. Over the racket created by grips dragging equipment to its places, the tuning of instruments, and the pounding of feet on the hollow platform, Liz eavesdropped on the crew and the band. They all sounded impatient and resentful of the long interruption of their jobs.
"... my opinion, Fitz won't admit he had a cigarette in his hand under..." a deep male voice rose out of the hubbub. "... set fire to it himself and..."
"... silk goes up in a puff..." another man's voice agreed.
"... filmy sleeves..." one of the stagehands drawled, scornfully.
"... really an attack on Fee?" piped a woman's voice. Liz recognized Laura Manning.
"No!" "Maybe." "Yes, and by whom?" echoed around the stage.
"... one of us?" asked Lockney's voice.
"No!" came the immediate protest, but other voices chimed in. "Maybe." "Could be." "Who?"
"Who knows?" Michael Scott's clear voice cut above the noise. "Let's get this done."
Who indeed? Liz wondered, as she reached the end of the tier. She had not sensed any magical evidence whatsoever in the circuit. She glanced across the open arena at the sea of multicolored seats, but she couldn't see Boo-Boo. If it wasn't an accident, perhaps the prank was the work of an earthbound stalker trying to make Fionna's life miserable. In that eventuality Liz would have to turn the case over to the FBI. Ringwall wouldn't like that, but he'd be relieved. Anything that smelled of the mystical worried the ministry. On the whole he would be happier if Liz could prove a negative instead of a positive. You open the floodgates, she thought wryly, and that let in all the bogeys down the coal cellar, the walking ghosts, and before you know it Panorama and 60 Minutes are doing a special on you.