Moira realized she was completely out of her depth.
"I think we had better talk to Wiz about this," she said finally. "I don’t think he is going to like it."
Wiz didn’t like it. He scowled through the whole recitation, or as much as you can scowl while you’re eating an apple. When Danny finally ran down he continued to scowl and kept on eating. Then he tossed the core of that apple away, selected another one from the bowl and took a hefty bite out of it while he tried to think. Danny stood silent and held one of June’s hands in both of his, as if he were afraid she would vanish if he let go.
"Won’t there be trouble if you don’t go back?" Wiz asked at last.
Danny shook his head vigorously. "Nah. My dad doesn’t want anything to do with me since I dropped out of school and my mom’s remarried. I’m over eighteen, so what could they do anyway?"
"You realize that if you don’t go back now it may be a long time before you get another chance?"
"I don’t want to go back. I want to say here with June."
Wiz thought for about as long as it took him to finish the apple.
"Leave us alone for a few minutes, will you?"
The couple left the room, still joined at the fingers.
"What do you think?" Wiz asked as soon as the door closed behind them.
Jerry shrugged. "I don’t know how much help he’d be, but I don’t think it would be a problem to have him around. He’s got more sense than most hackers his age." He caught the look in Moira’s eye. "Programming sense," he amended.
"Moira?"
"I doubt it will last. Both are children in more than just years and neither has a strong family upbringing. Still, they deserve the chance to try and I am not sure what June would do if they were parted forcibly." She looked at Wiz. "It has to be your decision, Lord. Ultimately you would be the one responsible for him."
Wiz grabbed another apple from the bowl and took two bites. "I’d just as soon he went back. He’s got potential, but sometimes he’s so obnoxious I want to kick his ass from one end of the castle to the other." He sighed. "On the other hand, I don’t like playing the ogre by separating them and he sure can’t take her back to Cupertino." He stood silent for a moment, chewing reflectively.
"Okay, if we can paper this over so he’s not missed, I guess he can stay." He looked sharply at Moira. "What’s wrong?"
"Wrong?"
"You’ve got that look in your eye."
"Oh, nothing," Moira said. "It is just that I got an odd feeling…" She shook herself. "No, nothing at all."
Wiz knew better than to pursue that. "All right, bring them back in here."
"Okay," Wiz said as he faced the pair. "You can stay. If," he waggled a finger at Danny. "If we can arrange this so you won’t be missed. You can’t just drop out of sight."
"That’s easy," Danny said. "I’ll write my mom a letter telling her I’ve taken a long-term contract overseas." He grinned. "That’s even true. Then I’ll throw in a couple of more letters to be mailed on her birthday and stuff. That way she won’t worry and we’ll just gradually lose touch."
Wiz wondered what Danny’s mother would make of getting letters on parchment, but he decided not to ask.
"All right. Get those letters written and get them back here before it is time to leave. We’ll see they get sent."
"I hope I’m not going to regret this," Wiz said after the pair raced out of the room.
"I wouldn’t lay you odds," Jerry told him.
Again the programmers—less two—gathered in a tight knot inside the circle inscribed on the chantry floor. As the sundial’s shadow shortened, they chattered among themselves and called goodbyes to the friends who had come to see them off. Wiz, Moira and Jerry stood on the dais next to Bal-Simba and waved back until the shadow reached its mark and the wizard motioned them to silence.
Once again the six-part chant welled up and the air shimmered and twisted about the group in the center of the room. The voices grew stronger and the people grew fainter until at last there was nothing but emptiness where they had been. The chant itself died away and nothing was left but the echoes.
In unison the wizards dropped their arms and at Bal-Simba’s dismissal stepped away from their places. As the others filed out of the chantry the huge black wizard stepped down from the dais and ritually defaced the circle with his staff.
Wiz, Moira and Jerry remained for a couple of minutes more, looking at the place where their friends had been.
"Well, come on," Wiz said finally. "We’ve got a full day ahead of us tomorrow."
"How do you feel?" Moira asked Wiz as they walked hand in hand back to their apartment.
"Tired, hungry and very glad it’s over." He frowned and sighed. "Only it isn’t over. We’re going to have to arrange some sort of meeting with the non-mortals to work out a treaty, and we’ve got a pile of work to do on the software."
They came to the door and paused. "But at least it’s over for today and yes, I’m very glad of that." He bent his head down to kiss her and she responded enthusiastically.
"But first, food," he said as he pushed open the door to their rooms with his foot. "What’s for dinner?"
Moira smiled mysteriously. "Something very special."
"Special or not, I hope there’s a lot of it. I’m starved again."
"Sit down and I will bring it to you."
Wiz plopped himself down at the table and poured out a large glass of fruit juice from the pitcher sitting on it. He tasted it and then added several dollops of honey.
"Here it is," Moira said as she came through the door with a large flat box in her hands.
"Pizza!" Wiz said lovingly, caressing the cardboard as she set it on the table. "A real pizza from Little Italy!"
"I got it when I visited your world," Moira told him. "I have kept it hot and fresh by magic since we returned."
Wiz opened the box and breathed deeply. "Pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms. With extra cheese! This is wonderful."
"Best of all, the cooks say that now that they know what a pizza is supposed to be, they can make them."
"Wonderful," Wiz said, concentrating on separating a slice of pizza without losing the toppings.
"I thought you would be pleased."
"Oh, you have your compensations, wench," he said mock-loftily as he lifted the steaming slice to his mouth.
Moira smiled sweetly, waited until just the right moment and jabbed her elbow into his ribs—hard.
And Wiz Zumwalt—mightiest sorcerer in all the World, conqueror of demons, twice victor over the Dark League and keeper of the World’s balance—tried to breath tomato sauce through his nose.
THE END