They all shook their heads. I got the feeling that claiming the ability to do that time-stopping thing was the magical equivalent of a nonmagical person claiming the ability to fly or see the future.

“Would you like me to demonstrate?” Owen asked, sounding too innocent for this to be good. If any of the Council members, aside from Merlin, had known him at all, they would have known better than to let this go any further. They’d have dismissed the trumped-up charges, issued an apology, and let him go. But they played right into Merlin’s plan. At least, what I assumed was Merlin’s plan.

“The wards on the circle make a demonstration impossible,” Merlin said. “There is a reason we prevent the use of magic by prisoners.”

“The wards on the circle would have to be altered for a demonstration, but we do have other security measures in place,” another Council member said.

“It would definitively prove that he is capable of everything for which he stands accused,” Merlin said, as though he was being talked around to the idea.

I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from laughing out loud. They were seriously going to let Owen stop time in the room for everyone but himself? That was like the prison guard handing the keys to an inmate and wandering off. But they didn’t seem to believe it could be done.

Rudolph stood and held his staff over his head. There was a shift in the sense of magic in the room, and then he said, “Now, Mr. Palmer, if you would demonstrate.”

“I’ll need my hands free,” Owen said. After a nod from Rudolph, the guard next to Owen touched the silver cord around Owen’s wrists, and it vanished. Owen rubbed his wrists, then said, “Okay, here’s how the spell goes.” He knelt and put a hand to the ground before whispering a few words.

I knew what to expect because I’d seen it before in a more impressive setting when he’d frozen Times Square. No one else in the room, other than Ethan, would even know what happened. The room went silent as everyone in it but Owen, Ethan, and I were frozen in time. Owen turned to look at us, grinned, and said, “That was almost too easy.” His grin faded, and he added, “Now comes the hard part.”

“What will you do?” I asked.

“Try to remain free long enough to figure something out. I’ll try to get to that fire station. I don’t stand a chance in this hearing. I just hope they consider the circumstances when this is all over. I’d rather not spend my life on the run.”

“What do you need us to do?” I asked.

He headed for the door behind the table, where the Council had entered—and where I’d have bet that Merlin had altered the wards—and with his hand on the doorknob, he said, “I’ll need a diversion for a second or two.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll figure out something. Now, the diversion?”

“Okay,” I said. “But take care of yourself. On the count of three.”

He opened the door, said, “One, two, three.” On “three” he broke the spell, and at that moment I faced the windows and screamed my head off.

“What is that–that thing?” I shrieked, pointing toward nothing. “It came through the window. Can’t you see it? It must be veiled by magic. Someone has infiltrated this hearing!” I knew I was laying it on a bit thick, but most of the Council had never met me, so they didn’t know that I wasn’t the screaming, hysterical type.

The reaction was a lot like what you’d get if you shouted “Mouse!” in a crowded room. People in the general vicinity of where I’d pointed scurried away, the guards ran toward it, and a lot of magic flew through the air. By the time the guards and the Council decided that the thing had gone out the way it had entered, Owen was long gone. It took a moment or two after everyone settled down for Rudolph to shout, “Where did he go?”

Merlin pinned him with a glare. “You asked him to freeze time. And that meant freezing all of you, so that he was then able to escape.”

“But he didn’t…” Rudolph started to protest, and then his voice trailed off as he caught on.

Merlin nodded sagely. “Exactly. You wouldn’t notice if you were affected.”

“But he can stop time?” the wizard sitting next to Merlin asked. “That makes him even more dangerous than we thought.”

“And he has just proved that these charges were valid,” Rudolph said. Then he pounded his staff on the floor and added, “This hearing is dismissed and will reconvene when the accused has been returned to custody.”