"I don't believe you!"
"You must have some kind of trick. Magic is always like that—it seems unbelievable, but once you pierce the veil, you find it's actually quite simple. Don't think you can fool me, especially—"
Miss Magda Gurzsky walked barefoot along the East River in New York, carrying her high heels. Grinning, she pulled a face and said:
"Especially with that excuse about genetic mutations. You might as well tell me you were taught by some mysterious wizard from the East."
Erik Lehnsherr remembered his father mentioning a mysterious place where sorcerers lived. They possessed all kinds of wondrous magical abilities. He wondered whether they could really use so-called magic to do what he did—to twist a spoon into the shape of a flower, then turn it back again.
The Hudson River seemed to be forever busy with cargo ships. As the western extension of the Erie Canal, which had helped New York prosper since the nineteenth century, this great river stretched for more than five hundred kilometers and served as an economic lifeline for New York State, revitalizing the seven cities along its route.
"What if it's true, Magda? Imagine if people really could gain all kinds of incredible powers, like 'magic.' Would you want to be one of them?"
Erik laughed heartily as he followed the beautiful woman at an easy pace, hands in his pockets. He sounded as if he were asking seriously.
Magda tensed for a moment. She considered how she should answer. Had she already aroused his suspicions?
And did Erik Lehnsherr—the key member of the Howlett Family, identified by the intelligence agencies in their top-secret files by the codename "Magneto"—know about the agency's operation?
"I wouldn't."
Magda didn't dwell on it for long. As long as there was no clear sign that