With that, he pulled what looked like a couple of blackboard erasers from the pocket of his jacket. At first, I thought he was going to try to throw them at me, but instead he clapped them together over his head, showering himself with what appeared to be white chalk dust. It would have been funny . . . if he hadn’t looked so grim as he started for me again.
Just to be on the safe side, I doubled up on the ward in front of him . . . and he walked right through it!
“That’s what I thought!” he called to his cronies, pausing once he had penetrated my defenses. “Real low level stuff. Go to Class Two or heavier, guys . . . in fact, the heavier the better!”
I should have seen it coming . . . maybe would have if I had more time to think. In a dimension that used both magik and technology, there were bound to be counter magik spells and weapons available. Unfortunately, it seemed I was about to learn about them first hand!
The other gang members were all reaching into their pockets and producing charms or spray cans. I had a bad feeling that my magikal ward wasn’t going to protect me much longer. Apparently Kalvin was of the same opinion. “Quick, Skeeve! Have you got any other tricks up your sleeve?”
“I’ve always figured that, in times of crisis, it’s best to play through your strongest suit. Still hoping to avoid any actual violence, I pulled my energy out of the wards and threw it into a new disguise: an over-muscled Pervect easily half again as tall as I really was.
“Do you boys really want me to get rough?” I shouted, trying as best as I could to make my voice a threatening bass. I had thought of making myself look like a policeman, but had discarded the idea. With my luck they probably would have surrendered, and then what would I have done with them? I wanted them to run . . . as far out of my life as possible!