Storm Front

Murphy is waiting for Harry outside the hotel. They go to the seventh floor, where Murphy shows him into a penthouse. As usual, Harry tries to hold the door open for Murphy, insisting on his old-fashioned sense of chivalry even though he knows that Murphy finds this habit annoying.

Murphy shows him to the penthouse bedroom. Murphy’s partner, Detective Carmichael, cynically promises to have a bucket waiting for Harry. Harry thinks that Carmichael is being dramatic until he steps into the room and sees two bodies on a bed—a young woman and a man in his forties. The victims’ bodies are still entwined; their rib cages are torn open, and blood is splattered all over the room as if their hearts exploded out of their chests. Harry examines the bodies, confirming that that the deaths are magical, and then rushes out of the room. True to his word, Carmichael has a bucket waiting for him outside the door, and he vomits into it. Once recovered, Harry explains his findings, based on his magical expertise. He says that there are two possible methods: evocation, which would require the murderer to be present in the room, or thaumaturgy, which allows the murderer to work from a distance, using something of the victim’s body, such as hair. He suspects that thaumaturgy was used, believing it unlikely that someone stood in the room to do this. However, such violent deaths would require immense magical power and strong emotion, and he is uncertain of the method used.

The female victim is Jennifer Stanton, an escort who worked for The Velvet Room. The Velvet Room is run by a vampire named Bianca, but Harry doubts that she is involved. The other victim is Tommy Tomm, an enforcer for Chicago’s notorious crime boss, “Gentleman” Johnny Marcone. Murphy demands that Harry determine how the killing was accomplished, and he tries to refuse. Harry cannot explain that he previously broke one of the Seven Laws of the Magic and the White Council—the law against using black magic—and is now essentially on parole, with the governing body of wizards just waiting for him to make another wrong move so that they can summarily execute him. Harry knows that the White Council of wizards may see his attempts to replicate a murder spell as justification for his execution, even if he does not intend to use the spell himself. However, when Murphy pressures him, he relents.

He suddenly recalls his appointment with Monica and rushes out of the hotel, only to find a strange car waiting for him. A large man forces him into the back seat, where a second man introduces himself as Johnny Marcone.

Marcone wears a dark suit and speaks with calm politeness. He offers to pay Harry his usual private investigator rate for two weeks if Harry will agree not to investigate the murder case. Harry refuses the offer. Trying to intimidate him, Marcone stares into Harry’s eyes.

Staring into a wizard’s eyes triggers a soul gaze, which allows each person to momentarily see into the other’s mind and perceive the essence of their soul and personality. Harry avoids looking directly into people’s eyes because it is rude and because he fears what others might see in him. He has a dark past, and some have reacted badly to a soul gaze with him. Now, as Marcone stares at him, Harry perceives the man’s determination; his cold, calculating personality; and his willingness to trade in human suffering for the sake of profit. Harry now understands precisely how dangerous Marcone is. Despite this new insight, he again refuses Marcone’s offer. Marcone warns him that he is making a mistake but lets him leave. Unsettled, Harry walks up the stairs to his office.

Monica, a woman who appears like a wholesome suburban mother, is waiting when he arrives. Her husband, Victor, has been missing for three days. She does not believe that the police will help. She also believes that magic might be involved. Her husband had recently been buying books about magic and experimenting. Monica adds that he might have gone to their vacation home, a house by Lake Providence. She gives Harry a photograph of Victor, a cash retainer, and a charm that Victor owned: a preserved scorpion on a leather cord. Harry promises to have news by Sunday, and Monica leaves. Harry is unnerved by the scorpion, which is symbolic of black magic. Though he thinks it likely that Victor had a midlife crisis and ran away, he also wonders whether the man was dabbling in black magic and got himself into trouble.

That evening, Harry goes to McAnally’s, a local pub known as a hangout for members of Chicago’s supernatural community. He sits at the bar and talks to Mac, the taciturn owner. They discuss the recent headlines about a new drug on the streets called ThreeEye, which supposedly gives normal humans access to paranormal levels of perception even as it destroys users’ mental stability and renders them violent. Harry scoffs at the idea that the drug gives its user magical sight and insists that those who take the drug must be experiencing hallucinations.

As he eats, a beautiful woman named Susan Rodriguez walks in and sits beside him. She is a reporter for the Chicago Arcane, a paranormal magazine, and she has previously consulted with Harry on several cases for her articles. She flirts with him to find out about the double-homicide case, but Harry refuses to answer her questions. However, when she asks him to dinner on Saturday, he agrees, hoping that her interest is more romantic than journalistic.

After dinner, he returns home to retrieve supplies and drives out to Lake Providence, an expensive community with large houses and estates. Victor’s house is set back from the main road and surrounded by trees. Harry inspects the outside of the property and finds a camera film canister beneath a balcony. He considers breaking in, which would be an easy feat with magic, but he decides against it. Instead, he walks out to the lake shoreline and sets up his supplies to capture a faery.

To lure the faery in, he places milk, honey, and bread inside a magic circle, with a tiny dab of his own blood on the bread. Small faeries like milk and honey, and with the blood and circle to bind him, the faery will be required to obey Harry’s commands before being released. Harry also needs the faery’s true name to successfully summon him because a being’s true name has power. He summons and traps the faery, whose name is Toot-toot.

Toot-toot screams, furious but unsurprised. Harry asks Toot-toot to find out what the local supernatural creatures know about Victor’s house and then releases him. Toot-toot soon returns and reports that last night, a pizza delivery car drove to the house, and several humans in the house ate the pizza in between their “sporting” (75). Harry understands that for faeries, “sporting” means sex. He begins to suspect that Victor is not in danger but has left his wife to have illicit liaisons in his vacation home. However, he plans to find the pizza delivery driver to gain more information. As Harry turns to leave, a tall man with a broadsword appears, stating that binding the faery is a violation of the Fourth Law of Magic. The man also declares that because this is Harry’s second infraction under the Doom of Damocles—a wizard-style probation—he will now be sentenced to death.

The man with the sword is Morgan, the Warden responsible for monitoring Harry’s behavior and reporting his misdeeds to the White Council. Harry explains that he is investigating a missing persons case and that summoning faeries is a harmless, minor use of magic. However, Morgan believes that Harry is responsible for the murders of Jennifer Stanton and Tommy Tomm, and he intends to find out how Harry did it. Harry dismisses this and snidely asks Morgan to tell him if he finds out anything useful about the case. He then walks away, pretending that he is not terrified that Morgan will simply stab him in the back.

Harry reflects on the Doom of Damocles. Years ago, his mentor, Justin DuMorne, tried to “seduce [him] into Black wizardry” and then tried to kill him when Harry refused (85). In self-defense, Harry killed his mentor instead. Doing this broke the First Law of Magic, which forbids using magic to kill; Harry would have been sentenced to death if not for the extenuating circumstances. Instead, the Doom was placed on him and functions as a kind of magical probation; one more infraction will result in immediate execution, and he is now even more afraid to study the murder method. However, he decides to speak with Bianca to find out more about the case.