The Wizard Returns: Book Three of the Wizard Born Series by Geof Johnson Page A

in the bleachers. Plus, he didn’t want Fred to distract him.
    There was plenty of room right below the platform that held the camera tripod, and Jamie waved a quick hello to Harvey before settling on a seat.
    Jamie planned to use his magic slow-motion vision, a trick he’d inherited from Eddan. The only times he’d ever used it was during stressful situations, like the night Renn tried to kill him, but Jamie was pretty sure he could call it up when he wanted to.
    Jamie turned his attention to the court and focused on Rollie. Jamie didn’t want to use the heightened sense all the time, only when Rollie made one of his explosive sprints down court.
    Jamie sat, tense as a baited mousetrap, watching Rollie dash about, harassing the other team’s ball handlers when he was on defense, dribbling and passing when he was on offense. Several times Rollie seemed on the verge of making a break on the ball and Jamie called up his power, only to have a false alarm. Jamie felt warm beneath his purple North Henderson High sweatshirt and a trickle of moisture ran down his side from one armpit.
    Then Rollie flashed to a lazy pass. Jamie called up his power and the whole court seemed to slow as if they were playing underwater. Rollie pushed the ball to the floor with one hand as he dribbled ahead, but it took seconds to reach the polished hardwood, to Jamie’s magically enhanced eyes. Rollie took a step and blurred, then vanished momentarily, only to reappear another couple of yards ahead, then blurring before vanishing again. The pattern repeated — blur, vanish, reappear; blur, vanish, reappear — all the way down the court, until Rollie slowed near the basket and laid the ball up for a score.
    Oh — wow! Jamie thought. What in the world was that? I’ve never seen anything like it before . He sat there, open mouthed, watching the game, until Rollie broke on another bad pass and it happened again. Blur, vanish, reappear. Jamie put the fingertips of one hand to his temple and blinked hard, realizing that he felt the magic tingling stronger than ever, and he wasn’t sitting by Fred.
    Rollie’s using magic .
    Lanny’s Pizza rocked again with the sound of exuberant teenagers, still pumped up from their basketball victory. Jamie waited until Fred, Melanie, and Tanisha went to visit some friends at another booth before leaning across the table and telling Rollie and Bryce what he’d seen earlier that night at the game.
    When Jamie finished, Rollie stared back at him, hands behind his head, eyes as hard as his tone. “I can’t believe it. Just can’t believe it. And I thought you were my friend.”
    “What?” Jamie said. “I am your friend.”
    “Doesn’t sound like it right now. Sounds like you’re jealous.”
    “I am not jealous. I’m just trying to help.”
    Rollie leaned forward and put both hands flat on the table. “I’m finally having some success, finally , after all these years of playing sports, and now you want to ruin it...to...to make it into something else.”
    “Rollie....” Jamie looked away for a moment and gathered his thoughts before facing Rollie again. “You’ve always been better at sports than me. Always . At everything. Baseball, swimming, soccer, football, you name it, you’re better at it. I’ve always wished I was as good as you, but it ain’t gonna happen. I’ve accepted that.”
    Bryce crossed his arms. “Then why do this now?”
    “Because something very strange is going on, and Rollie needs to know. Denial is never good.”
    Rollie stared at Jamie for a long time, working his lower jaw like he was chewing hard gum. “What if I say I don’t believe you?”
    “I’m prepared for that, and I think I can prove it to you. If you see it with your own eyes, will you believe me?”
    Rollie answered with a small shrug.
    “Then I need you and Bryce to come over to my house tomorrow when you guys get off work.”
    “Why me?” Bryce asked.
    “I need your help. I’ll show you why