Knowing why he did this still leaves the question of how he accomplished the deception.

“Quiet please!” Knoll is holding his phone and motions everyone back to the table. He asks one of the techs if they can get Internet access. The man nods and pulls up a browser. Still on the phone, Knoll relays a link for him to go to.

“It seems the Warlock couldn’t wait for us to release the observation deck footage,” says Knoll. “The news just got ahold of a video uploaded to the Web. It shows the whole thing from someone’s camera phone up here.”

The tech plays the video. Same girl, same effect, different angle. The “miracle” happens in the background as the person taking the video films the city at night.

Knoll calls over to the NYPD detective and the head of the FBI field office. “We need to find out who uploaded that ASAP.”

While we were sitting on the observation deck footage we could control part of the message. We were denying the Warlock his full effect. But he wasn’t going to let that happen. He wants the world to see the entire illusion in all three parts when they wake up. The vanish. The descent. The revelation of the fallen angel. The whole miracle he created before we have a chance to explain it away, assuming we can. He wants us to explain it away with talk about holographic projectors and not have any to show.

We’ll look clueless.

He’ll win.

I get an idea, but it’s just a notion.

I need us to dismiss the phantom-girl concept if we’re going to put all our energy into finding her now. I have to go out on a limb to do it. I’ll probably look like a fool. But I don’t have a choice.

I turn to Knoll. “Mind if I try something?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Better if I just show you. Give me a minute. Can we get a live feed from the camera outside where she vanished?”

The tech at the table nods.

“Just start recording in a minute,” I explain. “It’ll probably look dumb. But I just want to see something.”

I step outside the lobby and walk around the back of the observation deck to the spot where the girl was last seen. I feel like I’m about to make the biggest ass of myself in front of everyone. My grandfather would yell at me for trying something like this without practicing first. Every second counts here.

But this isn’t a show. This could be life and death.

TWO MINUTES LATER I walk back into the lobby. Everyone is crowded around the monitors.

“Did it work?” I ask, afraid I made a complete ass of myself.

They spin around to look at me. They’re all shocked.

I guess it did.

Knoll is searching for the words. “You . . . you vanished.” He’s clearly shocked.

I hear someone mutter in the background. “She is a witch.”