Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8) - Jim Butcher Page 0,18

all kinds of things in towntrack down lost objects, listen in on conversations happening within the area depicted by the model, follow people through town from the relative safety of my lablots of cool stuff. The model would let me send my magic throughout Chicago with a great deal more facility and with a far broader range of applications than I could currently manage.

Of course, if I hadn't done it correctlyhellip;

This map, Bob said, is pretty cool. Id have thought you would have shown it off to someone by now.

Nah, I said. Tiny model of the city down here in my basement laboratory. Sort of projects more of that evil, psychotic, Lex Luthor vibe than Id like.

Bah, Bob said. None of the evil geniuses I ever worked for could have handled something like this. He paused. Though some of the psychotics could have, I guess.

If thats meant to be flattering, you need some practice.

What am I if not good for your ego, boss? The skull turned slowly, left to right, candleflame eyes studying the model citynot its physical makeup, I knew, but the miniature ley lines that Id built into the surface of the table, the courses of magical energy that flowed through the city like blood through the human body.

It lookshellip; He made a sound like someone idly sucking a breath through his teeth. Hey, it looks not bad, Harry. Youve got a gift for this kind of work. That model of the museum really altered the flow around the stadium into something mostly accurate, speaking thaumaturgically.

Is that even a real word? I asked.

It should be, he said with a superior sniff. Little Chicago might be able to handle something if you want to give it a test run. The skull spun around to face me. Tell me that this doesnt have something to do with the bruises on your face.

Im not sure it does, I said. I got word today that the Gatekeeper

Bob shivered.

thinks that theres black magic afoot in town, and that I need to do something about it.

And you want to try to use Little Chicago to find it?

Maybe, I said. Do you think it will work?

I think that the Wright Brothers tested their new stuff at Kitty Hawk instead of trying it over the Grand Canyon for a reason, Bob said. Specifically, because if the plane folded due to flawed design, they might survive it at Kitty Hawk.

Or maybe they couldnt afford to travel, I said. Besides, how dangerous could it be?

Bob stared at me for a second. Then he said, Youve been pouring energy into this thing every night for six months, Harry, and right now its holding about three hundred times the amount of energy that kinetic ring you wear will contain.

I blinked. At full power, that ring could almost knock a car onto its side. Three hundred times that kind of energy translated tohellip; well, something Id rather not experience within the cramped confines of the lab. Its got that much in it?

Yes, and you havent tested it yet. If youve screwed up some of the harmonics, it could blow up in your face, worst-case scenario. Best case, you only blow out the project and set yourself back to ground zero.

To square one, I corrected him. Square one is the beginning of a project. Ground zero is the area immediately under a bomb blast.

One may tend to resemble the other, Bob said sourly.

Ill just have to live with the risk, I said. Thats the exciting life of a professional wizard and his daring assistant.

Oh, please. Assistants get paid.

In answer, I reached down to a paper bag out of sight below the table and withdrew two paperback romances.

Bob let out a squeaking sound, and his skull jounced and jittered on the blue-painted surface of the table that represented Lake Michigan. Is that it, is that it? he squeaked.

Yes, I said. Theyre rated Burning Hot by some kind of romance society.

Lots of sex and kink! Bob caroled. Gimme!

I dropped them back into the bag and looked from Bob to Little Chicago.

The skull spun back around. You know what kind of black magic? he asked.

No clue. Just black.

Vague, yet unhelpful, Bob said.

Annoyingly so.

Oh, the Gatekeeper didnt do it to annoy you, Bob said. He did it to prevent any chance of paradox.

Hehellip; I blinked. He what?

He got this from hindsight, he had to, Bob said.

Hindsight, I murmured. You mean he went to the future for this?

Well, Bob hedged. That would break one of the Laws,