Once Upon Stilettos (Enchanted Inc #2) by Shanna Swendson Page A

changed her mind and started a catfight.
    Next, I headed to R&D. If my steps were lighter and my spirits boosted, it had nothing at all to do with seeing Owen. He must have known I was coming, in that uncanny way he had, for the usually locked door opened easily for me. I didn’t know the head of the R&D department or even where his office was, but Owen was head of the theoretical magic section of R&D, so he was sure to be able to point me in the right direction.
    Both Owen and his assistant, Jake, were at work in the theoretical magic lab. They had a giant book open on the table and a much-erased series of words on a nearby whiteboard. Owen said a few words that sounded like nonsense to me, there was a tingle of power in the air, then Jake yelped and dropped his clipboard.
    Owen winced. “Sorry about that. And it looks like that one didn’t work.” He erased some of the words on the whiteboard, then bent over to look at the book again. “Hmm, maybe they spelled it wrong, and this is what they meant.” He wrote a different series of foreign words on the whiteboard while Jake, still shaking his right hand, bent to retrieve his clipboard.
    Jake was probably the one person other than Owen who stood a chance of getting into Owen’s office without looking suspicious. He’d struck me as fairly loyal to his boss, but that could have been an act. On the other hand, he’d been the one to find the first commercial spell Idris had produced and had brought it to Owen for testing. Would he have helped like that if he’d been working for Idris? But that also meant he tended to frequent places where dark spells were sold. I left him in the “possible” column. His proximity to Owen made it too dangerous to write him off so soon.
    I cleared my throat. “Before you zap Jake again, I need your help with something.”
    “Of course. What is it?” Owen asked, re-capping his dry erase marker and looking over at me with a welcoming smile that made my knees feel a little watery.
    “Memo for the department head, from the boss. I don’t think I know where his office is.”
    “I’ll get it to him.”
    “It’s no problem. I can deliver it myself if I know where to go.”
    “Let me take a look at it.” His tone had gone from casual to the least bit commanding, so I handed over the memo. As he read it, I tried to contemplate the unthinkable. Owen had been the victim in this situation, and he was the one who’d reported the crime. That would generally leave him above suspicion. Then again, that sort of thing happened on TV all the time, where the killer was the one who “found” the body and reported the crime. Maybe he’d reported this so he could go on spying and we wouldn’t suspect him.
    I shook my head. It couldn’t be Owen, and not just because he was so incredibly cute. Idris really hated him, so even if Owen went crazy and decided to become a spy, Idris would probably laugh in his face. I’d seen how freaked out Owen got over the idea of dark magic. He wouldn’t go near the stuff, and that was what Idris was all about. For the time being, I put Owen in the “safe” column.
    He finished reading the memo and looked up at me. “It’s enchanted, isn’t it? A binding spell, it seems, jointly cast by Rod and Mr. Mervyn.”
    “Yeah. How’d you know?”
    He shrugged. “Magic has fingerprints. I’ll get this to the director.”
    “Thanks,” I said, wondering if I should be suspicious about his evasion.
    I must not have hid it well, for he grinned and said, “Don’t worry, there’s nothing sinister going on. Mr. Lansing tends to avoid people in general. Almost everything for him goes through me.”
    “Oh. Okay. Well, thanks again. I guess I’d better finish my rounds.”
    As I left, I heard another zap behind me, followed by another yelp from Jake. “I don’t think that’s it either, boss,” Jake whispered painfully.
    On my way out, I was surprised to find Sam entering the department. “What’s up, Sam?”