Blood of Egypt (Witch Fairy Book 8) by Bonnie Lamer

spells were a little more conspicuous.
     
    The thing about light shows?  People love them.  Really, really love them.  Which is why they are moving en masse to where the five of us need to be.  I would teleport over there, but that would probably give a few people a heart attack or stroke and it would expose magic to humans on a larger scale than I already have.  Neither option is acceptable at this point.
     
    Kallen drops his circle and we can once again be seen by our new friends.  Josh, god love him, is enjoying the hell out of my spell gone awry.  Eliana looks worried.  Agent Amman’s eyes are burning hatred into my retinas.  Kallen?  He’s trying to look innocent and is inching away from me.  I stare him down until he admits what he needs to admit.
     
    With a loud clearing of his throat and a new shade of pink crawling into his cheeks, he says, “Desperate times call for desperate spells.”
     
    I am not letting him get away with that lame excuse.  “You knew the spell would be blown waaaaayyyy out of proportion if I did it.”
     
    He has the decency to look abashed.  “I was concerned that the kidnapper set a trap.  If that is the case, the crowd will foil any such attempt at catching us unawares.”
     
    “And you couldn’t have discussed that with me first?”
     
    He looks surer of himself now.  “You would have been nervous about performing the spell and may have channeled even more magic into it.”
     
    “Um, this may not be the best time for a marital spat,” Josh says quietly.  “We only have ten minutes left.”
     
    Now I’m the one who is abashed.  I can let Kallen know later how upset I am.  Right now, I should be worrying about something else.  We begin walking quickly towards the crowd.
     
    Turning to Eliana, he asks, “Do you want to go ahead of us?” 
     
    She shakes her head.  “I wouldn’t be able to get through the people unnoticed.”
     
    One of the skills that she demonstrated this afternoon was speed.  I may be able to teleport, but she is definitely not lacking a fast way to get to one place from another.  She can move so fast you can hardly see her.  But I can see how that would be impossible at the moment.
     
    We’re jogging at this point and the strain on Eliana’s face as she keeps pace with us is heart wrenching.  She desperately wants to be there already.  I have to admit, though, Kallen was thinking ahead better than the rest of us. 
     
    Of course there would be some sort of trap set.  This guy wants to torture the agent.  Kill him too, I’m sure.  As hard as I’m trying to, I just can’t get the idea out of my mind that he plans to kill the agent’s family no matter what.
     
     Pushing our way through the now dumbstruck crowd, we get to the source of the light show.  A cell phone sitting in a gouge in the stone wall of a mausoleum is glowing with different colored light.  As casually as he can, Josh moves to it and picks it up before anyone else does.  I’m so happy when it doesn’t burn him.  I have no idea of the ramifications of this spell, so I would not have been surprised if it did.
     
    “Great new app, isn’t it?” he says to the crowd as he pockets the phone.  There must be a few who speak English because they nod in astonishment.  The rest look at him like he’s an ass for making the lights stop.  Well, not stop exactly.  His butt is glowing different colors through the denim of his jeans.  The Fourth of July has moved to his pants. I’m not sure he’s aware of that, because he looks uncomfortable with the way people are checking out his behind.
     
    Impatient, Agent Amman flashes his badge, causing the crowd to start thinning rather quickly.  He grabs Josh by the arm and practically drags him behind the mausoleum.  Josh pulls the phone from his pocket and hands it to him.
     
    Calling the only number programmed into the untraceable cell phone, he barks, “I am here.”
     
    Before I can tell if the