Panic filled me as I shadowed, hoping against hope it would break the bond of the spell that held me to the ground. I struggled, squirming against it, twisting one of my feet in an attempt to break free. The spell wasn’t meant to hold someone who could shadow walk, allowing my foot to slowly gain freedom. I had just wrestled one foot out of the binding when the door suddenly opened, the figure of a man looming up in its place.

‘‘Perhaps you wouldn’t mind showing me where it was taken from? I have a curiosity about these sorts of things,’’ Gabriel said, flipping a switch near the door that turned on a standing lamp. I froze, my heart racing as I realized the direness of my situation: I was directly next to the case, one foot stuck to the floor, unable to free myself. The light was near the door, but it illuminated the room enough to allow someone to see me even if I could move. I was trapped good and proper.

‘‘That’s an odd sort of thing to be curious about,’’ the thief taker said in an aside to no one.

Gabriel ignored him, as did Kostich.

‘‘I don’t see what good that will do,’’ the latter said as he entered the room behind Gabriel.

‘‘I’ve found that there are some things that you least expect which can provide the most enlightenment.’’ Gabriel strolled toward me, his silver eyes flickering over me impersonally before sliding away, leaving me wondering for a moment if the room was dark enough that he couldn’t see me. If he hadn’t, he surely would as soon as he was closer. But if he had . . . My poor, confused brain had no time to work on the puzzle that Gabriel presented. Before I could move so much as a finger, he was directly in front of me, so close his arm brushed me as he turned to face Dr. Kostich and the thief taker.

‘‘You have some lovely things here. That fertility statue is Irish, is it not?’’ Gabriel asked, gesturing toward the case, his body blocking my sight of the two men.

Which meant that Dr. Kostich and the thief taker couldn’t see me, either.

‘‘Welsh, I believe.’’ Kostich’s voice held an edge of irritation that Gabriel seemed to ignore.

‘‘Indeed. And this is the case? I see there is one shelf empty. Would that be where the item was stolen from?’’

‘‘Yes. Now that your curiosity is satisfied, perhaps you wouldn’t mind leaving? It is late,’’ Dr. Kostich said abruptly.

‘‘I see you have used arcane runes for protection,’’ Gabriel said, ignoring his comment. ‘‘Very wise. Few beings would not be affected by them.’’

For some reason I had yet to fathom, Gabriel was providing me with cover. I didn’t stop to wonder at that, just struggled to free my bound foot.