The next morning Roy took advantage of the motel’s breakfast. I couldn’t eat but I kept him company. I had a bottle of electrolyte water. I usually drank plain water, but I would probably need to cast today. The electrolytes would help keep me from getting too drained. “When do you need to go pray?” Roy asked. “Trying to get rid of me?” I asked. “No. I didn’t want you to get interrupted.” “I was up early. I did it then. I didn’t want to get interrupted either. I’ll pray again at lunch.” “Where will you go?” “Back out to the woods where I used to pray when I lived here.” Roy frowned. “Is that safe? If Gillman is upset that you’re here, will he try to take you into custody? He found you once out there. He knows your prayer schedule. It would be easy to take you and no one would know until tonight.” “I don’t have anywhere else to go here.” “Pray in the motel room.” “It’s supposed to be outdoors.” “You pray in the lunch room at the station all the time. And you prayed in the hospital room. It will be safer. You’re going home tonight. You can pray outdoors then.” I nodded. He was right. I rarely got to pray properly most days. Roy got a text. “Besides, you might be busy. Do you know where The Sunshine Center is?” “Yeah. Is that the next place to get hit?” Roy led the way to the car. “It looks like it. What is it? Some kind of youth center?” “It’s a department store. It does donate to the local non-profit groups in town and they hire people who might need help from those places.” “Not a good place to rob.” “No. And many of the locals are protective of it so we need to find the thieves first.” “Will they take the law into their own hands?” “Some probably will.” “Of course, if we can’t find them, how will others?” “That’s true.” At the store, we found everyone waiting outside. “No one’s been in yet. You said it’s clearer if nobody goes in,” Stoll reported. I nodded. “But I need to check for magic first.” “Are you going to be able to handle both spells?” Roy asked. “Why do you think I had such a big dinner last night?” “Yes or no?” Roy insisted. He knew I can’t lie. “I should be able to. Like I said, I had a big dinner and the electrolyte water this morning.” “What’s the holdup?” A woman demanded. “Why can’t we go in? He could be getting away.” I caught an eye roll from Stoll. “This is the store’s manager. Ma’am, we have both exits covered,” he assured her. “I just don’t understand why you can’t do your job and find the crook.” “Ma’am, I explained it to you. We can’t go in until Sean has checked the place. Once he’s done that, forensics can go in and process the place.” “You just want a chance to stand around drinking coffee and eating donuts.” “Do you see any coffee or donuts?” I asked. “That’s where his partner went, to go get them.” “He’s covering the front door,” Stoll insisted. “Sean, just do it and get it done, please.” I stepped towards the back door and started casting a spell. “What’s he doing?” The woman asked. “It’s a spell to see if magic was used to get in.” “There’s no such thing as magic,” the woman claimed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too until this guy started casting.” “Since that kook online started claiming to be an elf, people will believe anything.” I tried to ignore her. I couldn’t let her words affect my casting. “Ma’am, Sean is that kook,” Roy said. “And trust me, what he’s doing is very real.” “I don’t believe, so it won’t work.” “That’s not how it works,” Roy assured her. “Scientists have studied what he does, it’s quite real.” “Crackpots, not real scientists.” I finished the spell. “Ma’am, do you remember the fire here?” She frowned. “Yeah.” “Do you remember now it never spread even though there were plenty of combustibles around it? That was because I kept it from spreading.” “You lie.” I shrugged. “Magic was used to open the lock.” “Anything else you can tell us?” Stoll asked. “He didn’t touch anything. Someone else actually opened the door. Because of that, I can’t tell what kind of mage he is.” The woman scoffed. “Utter nonsense.” “Can we go in now?” Stoll asked. I gestured to the door. Stoll had on gloves. I didn’t. I had trouble finding some that fit me. I wasn’t just taller than humans. I was larger all over. I followed him in. Roy was behind me. The manager tried to join us but Stoll stopped her. “Let her come,” I said. “One extra person won’t change much.” Stoll shrugged and let her in. “Are you sure you can do this?” Roy asked. “Yes. I can cast this.” “Safely?” Roy pressed, realizing I was answering the question as worded. I only grinned. I thought I’d be okay. “Sean?” Roy pressed. “We’ll see.” I started the spell. At first, we didn’t see anything. “See?” The woman claimed. “He’s a fraud.” Then someone walked into the shop backward from outside. The woman jumped. I grinned. We watched as they “returned” the merchandise and walked out backward. At one point, the manager tried to touch one. Roy grabbed her arm and she pulled away, giving him a dirty look. “Ma’am, please stay still and don’t touch the spell.” When I finished the spell, I staggered. Roy shoved a candy bar into my mouth. If it wasn’t for the woman and her attitude, I would have spit it out. “What the hell was that?” The woman asked. “That was the criminals robbing the store,” Roy explained. “They were putting things back.” “The spell shows time backward.” “Why?” “That’s the way the spell works,” I said. “It goes back moment by moment.” “Ma’am now if you could step outside, our forensics team can do their job and we can find who did this.” Stoll ushered her back outside. Then he turned to me. “Sean, I saw you stagger too. You’re done for today. There’s no more for you to do anyway. Once Roy gets you back to the motel, he can help us make heads or tails of what we saw.” I nodded. I needed a chance to rest before I could open a passage Underhill to get home.