Chapter Two

Penelope

Simon calls me when I'm out with Micah.

I ignore his first call, but my mobile just keeps buzzing and buzzing. It's unlike Simon to be this persistent. He hates the phone.

"It's fine," Micah says, after the third call. "Just pick up."

We've just finished dinner, and we're walking down the street towards our favorite little park. Hand in hand, of course. Micah, for all his impressive American spells, is a romantic at heart.

"I'm sorry," I say.

"No, it's cool. He needs you."

He watches as I dig my mobile out of my pocket. It's still got the same spells Mum put on it in eighth year, which means it's impossible to silence. It's really fucking annoying sometimes.

"Hello?" I say.

"Penny!"

Simon sounds frantic. It's at least eleven-thirty in London.

"What's up?"

"Baz left."

"What do you mean?"

Micah puts a steadying hand on my shoulder. He's nice enough he doesn't try to lean in and eavesdrop, but he can see I'm scared.

"He left. He said he was going on a walk, but it's almost midnight, and then he cast his stupid spell on me so I can't go after him, and I'm scared he's going to-"

"Simon. Simon."

"He's been so weird," he says, plaintively. "He hasn't hunted in forever and he never calls me Simon."

I try to remember the article I read on Baz's spell. "How long does the spell last?"

"Four hours."

"Shit. When did he leave?"

"Fifteen minutes ago."

I look at Micah. "Simon, can I put it on speaker? Micah's here."

"Sure," he says, and there's a defeated tone to his voice that I've never heard before.

Micah:

I listen in silence. I'm just an honorary member of the whole Simon-Baz-Penny coven, and I don't usually like to start anything controversial.

But Simon sounds torn up. He really does. I'm not Baz's number-one fan, by any means, but the way Simon's voice cracks when he says his name-you can hear how much he loves him. You can hear how much he cares.

I slip my arm around Penny. Some gut reaction, feeling like she'll leave, the same as Baz. She won't, of course. She was the one who proposed to me. Stopped time. Said she wouldn't start it again until I said yes. Then, once I'd said yes (I would have anyway, a hundred times), she stalled it for a little longer, and we stood in the restaurant among all the frozen waitresses and kissed.

"Micah," Simon says.

"Yeah?"

I put as much sympathy as I can into my voice. Not sure how much it translates over the phone, but I can try.

"Is there a spell you could cast? To reverse his?"

I consider. "The Drop it?" It's a brilliant spell. I have to give Baz that. He won all sorts of awards for it, both in England and America. It's supposed to help women alone in cities and spies who don't want to be followed. Not angsty vampires running out on their boyfriends.

"Maybe," I say. "I'd have to think. He didn't use it in the way it's meant to be used, so it's possible."

"Four hours," Simon says.

"He probably just went hunting," says Penny, but from the look she gives me it's obvious she's unconvinced.

Penelope

I tell Simon we'll call him if we think of a spell, and then I hang up. There's nothing else I can do, except curse Baz with everything I've got.

"He could just be hunting," Micah says.

"Then why would he lie? And why would he cast that spell?"

Micah puts an arm around my shoulders. He's tall and warm and steady, and I feel myself relax against him.

"There's nothing we can do," he says.

"I know."

Micah turns my face into his shoulder, and we stand for a moment on the corner. Some kind of stupid painting: Distraught Mages in New York. A bloke staggers by and whistles at us.

"It's going to be okay, Pen," Micah says.

"Where'd he go?"

He slips his hand into mine. "I don't know. But we'll find him."

"I hate that he does this to him!"

"We'll find him," he repeats.

"But what if-"

"What if the moon crashed into Earth? What if Russia started nuclear war?" He squeezes. "Probably he just needs a break and doesn't want Simon seeing him drunk. Okay?"

"Okay," I say.

But all the same, without exchanging another word, we skip the park and go straight home.