Breath of Magic

Boy millionaire Tristan Lennox, a pagan satyr in a $2000 suit, throws an annual magic contest in Manhattan to try to trace his former partner, who stole a magic computer program named Warlock and disappeared into the ether. Smack into the middle of his special event, riding her willow broom, flies Arian Whitewood, a 17th-century witchlet from Massachusetts, who rubbed her emerald amulet and conjured herself away from the mob of Puritans who were trying to drown her. Arian, petite and fiery, has to contend with the new magic of the 20th century; and Tristan has to learn to trust again, as is the vogue. Medeiros is unrelievedly cute as she shuttles her characters back and forth across the centuries. It's a fairy tale wherein Prince Charming carries condoms. (Feb.)