Page 43 of More Than Meets the Eye

When I rushed over to him, he looked up at me and smiled. “Gravity is tricky after all those years.”

“You really are real!” I was so happy for him. “We should call an ambulance, though. Who knows what kind of health issues you might have after such an ordeal?”

Phin called 911, and I sat on the floor with the wizard to wait.

“I think I’ll destroy that mirror, just in case,” I told him. “I don’t want anybody else getting trapped inside it.”

“It’s perfectly safe,” he said, looking around with wide eyes. “I was the problem, not the mirror.”

“Maybe,” I said doubtfully. I didn’t feel like taking any chances. “Can you tell me how you got stuck in there in the first place?”

He grimaced. “No. Better to not go into details. I’ll never do that again.”

I smiled at him. “I’m just glad you’re out now. I wish I could give you a hug, but?—”

“Phin told me about your condition. Believe me, I don’t want to know anything about how I might die after I just escaped that prison.” He looked wistful, though, about the hug.

“Hold out your arm,” I said impulsively.

When he did, I patted his sleeve. “Not quite a hug, but the best I can do.”

He smiled at me, and he had tears in his eyes that both of us ignored.

“All right, Tess Callahan. Thank you for being the first person to be kind to me in centuries, and I’d like to offer you a wish.”

“But you’re not a djinn, right?”

“Correct. Not a djinn, but still a wizard. What can I do for you?”

I smiled at him. “Not a single thing, Mr. Mercury. I have everything I ever wanted, and more than I deserve. My only wish?—”

He leaned forward, careful not to touch me. “Yes?”

“I only wish that you have a wonderful life, now that you’re free.”

He was still smiling when they took him off on the stretcher for tests and IV fluids and whatever other medical procedures somebody trapped inside a mirror for centuries might need.

Phin lingered to talk to me. “Thanks for calling me, Tess. That’s one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever been involved in. Horatio promised to stay in touch. I think I could learn a lot from him.”

“Just be careful around mirrors,” I said dryly. “Is he going to stay with you?”

“No, he has family coming to get him.”

“Ooh! Where’s he from? Please tell me it’s somewhere exotic like Madagascar? Where do wizards live?”

He grinned at me. “Boise.”

I hugged Phin—because I could; I had before, and he was safe—and thanked him again. And then he drove off to meet Horatio at the hospital, so the old wizard wouldn’t be alone.

For the rest of the afternoon, I kept catching myself grinning at the idea of Boise wizards. I couldn’t wait to tell Jack.

At just before four o’clock, the chimes over the door sounded, and I looked up and smiled, expecting him.

Kay the stalker walked into my shop and locked the door behind her.

16

Tess

---