“It’s almost too good,” I admitted. “You mentioned my background before. I’m sure you can understand I might have reservations about encouraging Danny to follow the path of magic.”
She nodded and thought this over. “I can see that, I suppose. But if I may—I’ve been in education for a long time. Denying an eager student access to knowledge can make them more determined to learn it, not less.
“And let’s face it—the economy is evolving. Our society has become so addicted to the convenience of magic that the balance of power is shifting. It won’t be long until Adepts have a large portion of the economic and political clout in this country. Refusing to accept that fact out of pride or fear could leave Danny in the dust down the road.”
I sighed. She wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t like it.
“I have an idea that I think might make everyone happy.”
I crossed my arms. “All right.”
“After school’s over in a couple of weeks, we’re offering a summer camp for Adepts. It’s our way of orienting the new students to the Conservatory style of learning and allowing them to bond with each other so they have friends when school starts in the fall. Why not let Danny come? If he enjoys himself and does well on the exercises and classes at camp, then he can join us in the fall. If not?” She shrugged. “You can keep him in his current school.”
I thought it over for a moment. “Where’s the camp?”
“At Ohio University for the Arcane Arts. Only a couple of hours away. The students will live in the dorms. They’ll have workshops and team-building things during the day and time for socializing and some outings at night. It’s two weeks long.”
It sounded like something Danny would love. “How much does it cost?”
She smiled. “Free—everything’s included, too. He’ll just need some spending money.”
It all sounded too good to be true. Free magic camp, free top-notch training in clean magic, a kid excited about school. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that the only cost here was to my own pride.
But the truth was, there wasn’t a price I wouldn’t pay for him to be happy. I just had to pray that a good start would ensure he had an easier time on the arcane path than I had.
“All right,” I said finally, “we can try the camp.”
“If you want, I’d be happy to meet with you again afterward to discuss how he did on the projects.”
“That would be great.” For some reason, there was a lump in my throat. Part of me wanted to believe it was just that Danny was growing up too fast making me emotional. But deep down, I knew it was something more fundamental. Somehow, I had managed to give Danny advantages I couldn’t have dreamed of as a kid. Advantages that my mother wouldn’t have been able to give him.
“You okay?” she asked. The empathy in her tone almost undid me, but I managed to keep it together.
“I really appreciate your understanding about all of this.”
“I can only imagine how angry you must have been when you discovered his deception, but between you and me, it shows an incredible amount of drive on his part. We’ll just have to make sure we give him an opportunity to focus that energy in a positive direction moving forward.”
Something about her use of we made me feel enormously better. It also shifted something in my perspective.
For so long, all of the decisions for Danny’s welfare had been on me. Now I had a whole crew of friends and coworkers to rely on. It had taken me a while to realize that I didn’t have to do everything on my own, and to drop my defensiveness about needing help. Based on what I’d seen so far of Hidalgo, I was impressed by her ability to stand up to Volos and her obvious commitment to educating Adept kids.
She excused herself to go get the forms for the summer camp, and a moment later, Danny slinked through the door slowly. His head bowed in submission, as if preparing to hear the worst sort of news.
“You can relax,” I said. “How do you feel about going to a summer camp hosted by the school?”
His face crumpled into a scowl. “Summer camp? Like for little kids?”
I shook my head. “It won’t be like that. You’ll stay in college dorms and take magic courses, and you’ll also get to hang out with other students going here.”
His face cleared. “That sounds pretty cool, I guess.”
“Assuming that goes well”—I took a deep breath and dove off the cliff—“you’ll be starting the Conservatory in the fall.”
He let out a loud whoop and pumped a fist in the air. “This is going to be so lit.”
“Yeah, well, you ever lie like that to me again, and I’m sending you to military school, so watch yourself.”
His chest puffed out and his chin went up. “You won’t regret this. I swear.”
I wanted to hug him. To reassure myself that I could believe his oath. Instead, I smiled and nodded and tried to ignore the realization that when my two greatest adversaries—Uncle Abe and John Volos—each found out, they’d be ecstatic.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I was on my way back to the gym after dropping an elated Danny off at home when my cell rang. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Prospero,” I said.
“Peewee told me I had to call.”
“Hey, Sweet Ray, what’s up?”
“Chinese guy just showed up.”
I hesitated. “And?”
An annoyed sigh came through the receiver. “And he went to the mayor’s office.”
I chose my words carefully. “Did Peewee tell you that?”
“No, dummy, the mayor was with him.”
“Hold on, the mayor showed up with a Chinese guy? Did you see the car they got out of?”
“Mercedes, black.”
“How long they been inside?”
“Five minutes. I can see the car from the pay phone down the street. It’s still there.”
“That’s good, Sweet Ray. Real good. You keep an eye on it and call me back immediately if the Chinese guy comes back out.”
“Did I earn it?”
I tucked the phone under my chin and took a turn to head toward City Hall. “Huh?”
“You said if I did good, you’d get me a cell-a-phone.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I think so. I’m gonna hang up now, but I should be there in about five minutes.” I hit the button to end the call and punch another to ring Morales directly.
“Yo.”
“Meet me at City Hall.”
A beat of silence. “Why?”
“Hung is there, meeting with Volos right now.”
The sound of his chair squeaking came through the phone, indicating he was on the move. “Be there in a sec. Be careful.”
* * *
On my way to City Hall, I ran two red lights and almost hit a hexhead who was jaywalking across Reunion Boulevard. Luckily, I managed not to commit vehicular manslaughter and slid into a spot across the street from the municipal complex four minutes after I’d hung up with Morales.
Two minutes after I parked, Morales’s SUV pulled up behind me. I jumped out and ran around to get in with him. The surge of excitement had my heart thundering.
He turned his back to the street to watch me. “What’s going on?”
Before I could open my mouth to explain, Morales went for his weapon. “What the f—”
Something banged into the window behind me. I spun, reaching for my gun, too.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting to see, but it wasn’t Sweet Ray’s green face pressed into the tinted window. His turban was askew and his eyes were wild.
“Jesus Christ.” I rolled down the window. “You scared the shit out me, Sweet Ray.”
He threw up his hands. “Sorry,” he hissed. “I tried to call to you before you got in the car, but you didn’t hear me.”
“Um, Prospero?” Morales said from behind me. “Who is that?”
I’d forgotten that I’d never told Morales about my new informant. “Shit, sorry. Sweet Ray, this is my partner, Morales.” To Morales, I said, “Sweet Ray has been keeping an eye on the mayor’s office for me.”
Morales eyes went wide but he managed to say, “Hey, man.”
“Charmed, I’m sure.” Sweet Ray tipped his chin at my partner. To me, he said, “Where’s my cell-a-phone?”
I tamped down my impatience. “You’ll get it once I have confirmation Hung’s really in there.”
“Who’s Hung?” he said.
“Great hire there, Cupcake.”