Lee’s helmet was in the dressing room. So was his biker jacket. He’d left wearing his costume; gone out into the world as James Taylor Grant. And the only good thing about that was, given their latest numbers, the odds were high no one would recognize him.

Bike keys were in the jacket pocket.

One hand gripping the smooth leather, Tony had a sudden flashback to the feel of smooth skin.

It wasn’t really Lee, he reminded himself, shrugging into the jacket. It doesn’t count.

He hadn’t been on a bike in years and never one so powerful. As he guided the big machine into the city, Tony prayed that the cops were busy busting more deserving heads. If he got pulled over, he was totally screwed.

He’d never had a license.

But he had to get to Arra and this was the fastest way. He had to force her to help him. Help him find Lee. Help him free Lee. Then they’d talk about the whole forgetting thing.

Except . . .

She could just make him forget again

She was a wizard.

And she blew things up for a living.

He was just a PA for a third rate production company. How could he stop her?

Roaring past a late ’70s pickup, he squinted into the red and gold of a brilliant sunset over the distant towers of the downtown core and smiled.

Tony’s message had been short and to the point. “I’ve remembered. I need you to meet me at the Coast Plaza Hotel or she’ll make me forget again.”

So Henry had canceled his plans for the second night in a row. Just like Tony had known he would. He couldn’t quite decide if he was pleased that the young man not only needed his help but acknowledged his right to give it or if he was annoyed at being so predictable it was unnecessary to even ask for his help, secure in the knowledge that he wouldn’t refuse. A bit of both, he decided as he parked the car.

And there was, of course, the curiosity factor. What had Tony forgotten? Who had made him forget and how had she done it?

After four hundred and fifty years, the unexpected was almost as great a motivation as concern for a friend or plain possessiveness. Impossible to separate the latter two anyway.

He spotted Tony pacing in front of the hotel, caught his eye, waved, and walked over to him.

Tony had phoned the moment he’d parked the bike behind the wizard’s building. Specifically, the moment his hands had stopped shaking enough for him to actually hit the right numbers. Adrenaline had started letting him down about the time he reached the city and the last bit of the ride in rush hour traffic had been less than fun. Waiting for Henry to arrive, he’d worked through his reaction and emerged ready to be freaked about wizards and shadows and Lee once again. “Hey. Thanks for coming.”