"Here? InSanta Fe ? But that's incredible! It's wonderful! I must see you!"

"Here? InSanta Fe ? But that's incredible! It's wonderful! I must see you!"

"Of course," said Paul, still feeling overwhelmed. "But how on earth did you—"

"I know you have a lot of questions, Paul," said Merlin, "but they can wait until we see each other. I'm

not here alone. I've come with friends and I want you to meet them. The reason we're here is that report

you sent in to Bureau headquarters."

"You know about that? Then the Bureau knows about you being—"

"No," said Merlin, "and I would prefer it if the Bureaudidn't know. It's rather complicated, I'm afraid. I'll

explain it all when we meet. So far as I know, the Bureau hasn't assigned a field agent yet, am I correct?"

"No, not yet. I'm still waiting to hear from them. That's what I thought this call was about."

"It's just as well. Paul, I must caution you to keep this strictly to yourself. I'd like for us to meet as soon

as possible, discreetly. Can you get away?"

"I can leave right now."

"Good. But I don't think you should come to the hotel. You're probably well known here and, for the

time being at least, I don't think we should be seen together. Is there someplace private we could meet?"

"What about my home?"

"I wouldn't want us to be seen going there. Can you give me a teleportation spell that will take us there?"

"Yes, of course." He recited the spell he used to teleport to his home and Merlin repeated it to make

sure he had it right.

"When are you leaving?" Merlin asked.

"I can leave right now."

"All right. I'll give you ten minutes and then we'll teleport from here."

They appeared in the living room of an old adobe house on Declovina Street, a short distance from the

college. It was a large, square, two-story home with beamed ceilings and oak plank floors. The walls

were off-white, all the corners gently rounded, and there was a large adobe brick fireplace dividing the

living room from the kitchen and dining area. There were beautiful, handwoven Navajo rugs on the floors

and several smaller ones hanging on the walls as tapestries. There were potted palms and succulents in

the deep adobe window wells and grape ivy, spider plants, ferns, and rosary vines in ceramic pots

suspended from macramé hangers.

The furnishings were mission-style, made of heavy, carved wood stained dark mahogany and the