Chapter 28: Competition

They all crammed around the diner booth, Darlene cramming in next to Bram for the increased stomach space. Thomas sat next to Wil, as stiff as a statue, save for the occasional twitches when he’d been still for too long. Isom sat on the ground, watching the people around him with the familiar overstimulated expression that came from being around too many people.

“Well?” Darlene asked after she and Thomas put their orders in. “You want to explain? Explain.”

“I know them,” said Thomas. “Not well, but they also worked for Ferrovani. As far as I know, they’re still working for him. They’re some of the others Cloverton sent to spy on you.”

“Fat lot of good that’ll do,” said Darlene. “We haven’t really discovered anything concrete yet, and you guys just warded Wil and Bram’s houses. We’d know if they tried to get access to them, right?”

Wil nodded, taking a sip of his soda. “I’m not the best at intricate wards, but even someone like me can manage a few basic perimeter alerts and traps. I have to be careful because of how many lookey-loos come around. I often have to fly past people who want to talk, but only a few have tried to get in. They’ve failed, obviously, but other wizards could be trickier to deal with. What can you tell us about them?”

“Not much,” said Thomas with a sigh. “I know who they are and what they’re good at, but I don’t know how they operate. They were on a different team. I know that Gayle is an earth wizard and metalworker, and Mark is excellent with enchantments and breaking down their construction. That last one, McGinnis, I don’t know at all. He must be new.”

“Well, that’s all awfully convenient,” said Darlene, giving him the side-eye. Working together the past few days had helped her dislike Thomas less, but the fact was she still didn’t care for him. “If they were here to spy on Wil, why would they walk up and introduce themselves? That seems like a bad idea.”

“I don’t know.” Thomas pursed his lips in frustration. “It doesn’t make any sense, and it makes me wonder what the hell it is they’re planning, or if they just decided to take a stupid risk to tweak your nose.”

“Is there any chance it might be benign?” Bram asked, but with no conviction. “Or at least not entirely hostile? How many other groups of wizards do you think Cloverton sent?”

That was the worst thought of all. There were just over a dozen wizards in Harper Valley now, last Wil checked. He could probably ward off or handle three of them, but if all of them were determined to get through his security and try to take their work, there wasn’t anything Wil could reasonably do to stop it.

“What do you think, Thomas?” Wil prodded after the wizard had fallen silent. “How many people are spying on me?”

“I don’t know,” said Thomas. “I only know for sure that those three are. Ferrovani must want one last discovery under his name before he retires. I can’t think of any other reason they’d be sent here, other than to maybe tweak my nose.”

Candy came by with their drinks and Isom’s steak. The wampus cat eyed the redhead with interest. She set the plate down a couple feet away and slid it over to Isom, who snapped the meat into his mouth and tore off chunks. They’d need to clean the area thoroughly. Wil mouthed an apology to the waitress.

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Darlene sipped her tea, eyes locked on Thomas. “And you’re not still working for Ferrovani too, are you?”

His face contorted with rage. “I hate Ferrovani. I want to make it without him. I want nothing to do with those three jackasses that came here, and I hate that they’re here.”

Right from the beginning, Thomas had been up front about wanting to work with Wil on his discovery. He’d never lied about it, even if it had been dressed up in jokes or convincing arguments. Wil hated what he did next, but paranoia gnawed at him.

Isom? Is he telling the truth?

The wampus cat looked up from his rare steak. His face was covered with the meat’s juices and he looked a fright. Isom sniffed the air and returned to the last few bites of his meal. Yes. He hates the other humans and wants to break away from him.

“I believe you,” said Wil, earning looks from all of his friends. “I know how much you’ve chafed being under his name and fame. We can do that together. We just have to work harder now to prevent discovery.”

“And,” Bram added, jiggling nervously in his seat, “we need to, you know, actually make a discovery worth stealing. Everything we’ve done is great and I think that our batteries, and fusing leylines or moving them could prove to be a huge gamechanger. Especially since today’s leyline adjustment worked. Some of those seeds we planted are already sprouting.”

“They are?” Wil perked up. “Excellent! If nothing else, we can use this to improve farming yields a considerable amount. I can include that in my next report to Cloverton.” Some, not all, of the anxiety lifted. They had enough to possibly make Harper Valley the produce capital of the world, if nothing else. That had to be worth something.

“We need more than that if we’re going to win a possible race,” said Darlene. “We need something concrete, but this is a direction. And we need to keep an eye on them.”

“She’s right,” said Thomas. He bowed his head. “Sooner or later, they’re going to get in the way or cause trouble. We can’t ignore them. But we have something on our side. We know that if they’re going to try replicating our progress, they’re going to need a leyline to work with.”

Bram lit up and slapped the table. “That’s right! There are only so many places they could work in town. They’d need a place they can rent or buy that has a leyline and is out of the way, but close enough to be able to move around and keep an eye on us. Wil, weren’t you going to map out all the leylines in town?”

Wil slumped backwards, groaning. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to do it, but we’ve been so busy.”

“Well,” said Darlene with a grin, “no time like the present, right? You’ve been looking for an excuse to go flying anyway. Driving on the road with the rest of us peasants has been eating at you, hasn’t it?”

“You’re not wrong,” Wil mumbled. “About wanting to go flying, I mean. We’ve been so damned busy I haven’t had as much time for destressing. Although this would still be work.”

Bram tapped the table excitedly. “This is a perfect test for the ley-lens. They work up close, but we can see how far away you can see them.”

He’d been insistent on the name of the spectacles that allowed the viewer to see leylines represented as glowing rivers of light. Wil preferred to use his wizardsense, but that was a good way to crash and get himself killed. So he just nodded and said, “Good idea.”

Candy came by with their food, killing all conversation. Wil and Bram both had ludicrously large burgers, smothered in onions, pepper jack cheese, bacon, and house BBQ sauce. Darlene had been craving protein lately, got the meatloaf, while Thomas had a simple shaved beef sandwich with aus jus to dip it in

“After lunch,” said Wil, picking up his burger and watching it drip sauce, melted cheese, and diced onions. “If I don’t need a quick nap, of course.”

“Of course,” said Darlene.

“Right,” said Thomas.

“Well, that just makes sense.” Bram alone could hold the burger in one hand, and he did so, taking a small, dainty bite.