No Quest for the Wicked (7 page)

“For now I’ll take your word that your people won’t use the Eye for themselves,” Sylvester said. “But without magic, how will they destroy it?”

“We figured we’d climb Mount Doom and throw it in,” I quipped, which earned a fleeting grin from Earl.

Ignoring my interruption, Merlin said, “It can’t be destroyed magically. Believe me, I tried, and though magic has adapted over time, it hasn’t fundamentally changed in such a way that we can do things now that were impossible then. Technology, however, has changed significantly.”

Earl opened his mouth again, but Sylvester waved him to silence, saying, “We don’t need your input, Earl.” I wondered why they’d bothered to bring him. They must have needed something to step on to get into their car. I gave him a sympathetic smile, but he didn’t respond. “And what of the Knot?” Sylvester asked Merlin. “What happens to it when you’re destroying the Eye?”

“That would depend on which technology works to destroy the Eye,” Merlin said. “If the two can be safely separated, we will return the Knot to you.”

“Gold does have a lower melting point than sapphire,” Owen said, earning another smile from Earl.

“We could give you what’s left,” I added.

Merlin gave us a stern glare before continuing. “But we don’t even know how they were joined—are they merely joined physically, perhaps by a jeweler who was immune to magic and didn’t realize what he was doing, or were they fused magically by someone who planned to combine their powers? Do you have any idea who stole the Knot?”

“It was long before my time,” Sylvester said with a shrug, and I imagined that meant it was a very long time ago, indeed. “It is possible that the fusion was recent, and it is the combination with the Eye that made the Knot powerful enough for Lyle to sense.” I couldn’t read Earl’s expression as Sylvester said this, but he definitely had an expression.

“I think the fact that this was done at all is of some concern to all magical races,” Merlin said. “Who did it, and why? This is as important as retrieving the brooch.”

“Your man—” Sylvester indicated Owen “—suggested we work together on this. Why should we assist you?”

“I rather thought of it as us assisting you,” Merlin said mildly. “My priority is to find this thing and render it harmless as soon as possible. That’s more likely to happen if we combine our resources. If you prefer not to cooperate with us, I would understand.” His tone sharpened considerably as he added, “But rest assured, I will not allow you to keep the Eye if you do find it first. I will get it back, no matter what it takes.”

Sylvester stared at him, unblinking, for a long time, but he was the first to break the gaze. He did so in the guise of shoving his chair back from the table. “It’s good to know exactly where we stand. I’m sure we’ll be speaking again within the next day or so.” He stood, and Lyle popped up beside him. Earl barely got out of the way before they trampled him on their way out, then had to hurry to catch up with them. As they left the office, the golden light, Enya music, fog, and soft breeze returned, along with a faint peaty scent, but Merlin cut it off again with a gesture and waved the office doors shut.

He then turned to face Owen and me. “You will find it first.” It was an order.

“Yeah, I have to agree with Sam,” I said. “I don’t trust this guy.”

“He’d definitely keep the Eye and use it if he got it,” Owen added. “I’m not even sure I want him in possession of the Knot.”

“It belongs to him by right,” Merlin said with a heavy sigh. “That’s why it would be a real pity if it were destroyed along with the Eye.”

Owen and I exchanged a glance. It sounded like we’d been given another order. “The elves won’t like that,” Owen said.

“If it can’t be helped, it can’t be helped, and they can take it up with me if they’re unhappy. At any rate, we need to find it before we can destroy it.”

My stomach growled, and I figured that meant it had finally rejoined me after the magic carpet ride, so I leaned forward and picked up a sandwich. “I wonder how Rod and Minerva are doing on tracking down the fiancée,” I said.

Of course, that was the moment when Minerva opened the office doors and entered with Rod in her incense-scented wake. “This is not gonna be easy,” she said. “Would you believe, several of the Jonathan Martins we’ve found are engaged, and we haven’t yet figured out which one goes with which.”

“Doesn’t the fact that today is her birthday help narrow it down?” I asked.

“Not as much as you’d think. It takes a little more hacking to get that kind of info, and believe it or not, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Motor Vehicles have pretty good magical firewalls.”

“Then you could look for the Jonathan Martin with the aura of having his life sapped out of him by an evil vampire woman.”

She shook her head sadly. “Sorry, honey, but when you’re dealing with wealthy old men, that doesn’t narrow it down much. They’re usually being drained by somebody. There are also a lot of charity galas going on tonight. Did you get from Martin whether his chippy is really running hers or maybe just on the board?”

“I got that he wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, other than that he wasn’t invited because it was past his bedtime and she was concerned for his health.”

She tossed aside one of the sheets of paper she held. “That rules out that one. He’s listed as a cochair. That would mean he’s invited. One of the galas tonight is at Grand Central, but I guess that doesn’t do you much good until then.”

“Oh my gosh!” I gulped, clapping my hand to my mouth in horror as the mention of Grand Central triggered a recollection. “My grandmother’s at Penn Station waiting for me to pick her up.”

“Your grandmother came for a visit?” Merlin asked, looking far too pleased about that for my comfort.

“Not a planned one. I only just found out she was here. I don’t know what’s going on, but she’s been there long enough to have caused all kinds of trouble.”

“You had better go get her while we continue our research,” Merlin said. “You could take the carpet.”

I shook my head. “Oh, no, we don’t want Granny on a magic carpet. She’d insist on driving. That is, if she didn’t object to riding something so small and sporty. She’d insist on a room-sized rug.”

Owen put a comforting hand on my arm—he’d met my grandmother and knew what I meant—and said, “We could take the carpet up there to get there faster, then send her back here in a cab. Odds are that any of these women will be uptown, anyway, so we’ll be closer to our next stop when Minerva finds something we can use.”

“We could always sic Granny on the elves,” I suggested hopefully.

“I would prefer to be able to maintain somewhat cordial relations with them,” Merlin said with a perfectly straight face. Only the twinkle in his eye gave him away.

“And I have no idea what to do with her while she’s here. We don’t have a guest room. Maybe Nita can get her a room in the hotel where she works.”

“I’ve got a guest room,” Owen said. “She can stay with me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“It won’t be any trouble at all.”

“I’ll owe you, big time.” I had no doubt that he loved me, but if he was willing to have my grandmother under his roof, then that was a true sign of devotion.

The flying carpet reappeared outside Merlin’s window, and he said, “You should go to the station. We will notify you if we find anything. In the meantime, I will focus my efforts on learning who could have—and would have—stolen and fused the Knot and the Eye. Whoever that is would be very dangerous, and letting that brooch loose on the world may be part of a greater agenda.”

As if I didn’t have enough to worry about
, I thought. It was almost enough to make the prospect of another magic carpet ride less frightening. It wasn’t, however, enough to make stepping out of a tower window onto a hovering magic carpet less frightening. “You should install jetways for these things,” I said as I screwed up the courage to make the jump after Rod got on and extended his hand to help me. The carpet wobbled alarmingly as I boarded, and then again when Owen got on.

“Penn Station, my good man,” Rod told the tiny driver, and soon we were flying up Broadway. I suspected that in addition to the magical veil that kept people from seeing a flying carpet, there was a magical windshield that protected us from the full force of the air rushing past us at that speed—and from getting bugs in our teeth. My hair still blew around a little, but it was easier to conduct a conversation on a magic carpet than in a convertible with the top down on a highway.

“Why’s your grandmother visiting?” Owen asked me.

“I have no idea. One of my family’s weird magical powers is the ability to sense my stress levels so they can be sure to do something to escalate them. My mother was probably too busy to come bother me during this crisis, so she sent Granny.”

“I don’t know, I can’t imagine your grandmother ever being sent anywhere by anyone. She either goes of her own accord or doesn’t go at all.”

“And you still want her in your house?”

“I’m used to Gloria, remember?” Gloria was his foster mother, an elderly wizard just as fierce as my grandmother, though in different ways. “Besides, when I was in Texas, she talked to me some about potions, and I’d like to pick her brains. There’s plenty of potential research material there that doesn’t require magic.”

We passed over Union Square—or, rather, an open and partially greenish blur that I assumed was Union Square. I jumped and clutched Owen’s arm when something suddenly appeared in the air beside us, matching our speed. It took me a second to recognize Sam.

“I think you’ve picked up a tail,” he shouted.

I turned to look behind us. There were no other magic carpets in sight, and Sam was the only other flying thing I saw. “Where?” I asked.

“Look up.”

All of us on the carpet—other than the driver, fortunately—tilted our heads back to see a hawk wheeling in the sky over us. “A bird?” I asked.

“The elves have got some tame ones workin’ for ’em,” Sam said. “Featherbrained turncoats,” he added with a snarl.

“Do you know if this one is working for them?” Rod asked.

“Not sure yet, but better safe than sorry. Look out, and see if you can lose her.”

The driver didn’t say anything, but the carpet banked steeply to the left. I whimpered as I felt myself sliding, but the carpet soon leveled itself out as we headed straight up one of the avenues. “Why does it even matter if they follow us?” I asked when I caught my breath. “We’re not on the mission right now. We’re going to pick up my grandmother at the train station.”

“They don’t know that,” Owen said.

“Yeah, but we’d be leading them straight to my grandmother.”

“I have to admit, there’s some appeal to that thought.”

“We need to at least pretend to evade them,” Rod said. “That’s a big part of the game. They’ll be suspicious if we make it too easy.”

The carpet made another sharp turn and headed crosstown for a while before turning abruptly downtown. A few blocks later, we turned crosstown for a block and then back uptown. An overhead glance didn’t reveal the bird, but I doubted we could hide from it for long. The carpet lowered, then stopped to let us off on a side street. There we blended as well as we could into the usual midtown crush of pedestrians and headed to the station.

“Do you know where you’re supposed to meet your grandmother?” Owen asked as we approached the station.

“No idea. But if I know Granny, we won’t have to look too hard. She’ll be causing the kind of commotion that draws attention. I don’t know how long ago she called, but she may even have been there long enough to take over. We might be just in time for her coronation.”

Owen’s cell phone rang, and after a brief conversation, he closed it and reported, “Minerva’s people found a personal shopper reservation at Macy’s for a woman with the same name as one who’s engaged to a Jonathan Martin. They don’t know if she’s in any way connected, but since we’re nearby, we may as well check it out after we find your grandmother.” He checked his watch. “We’ve got about half an hour.”

As we rode the escalator down into the station, I said, “Listen for someone loudly criticizing something. That’ll be Granny.”

“Do you know if she came in on Amtrak or on New Jersey Transit from the airport?” Rod asked. “That could help us figure out where she might be.”

“I have no idea, as I said. For all I know, she flew in on her broom and thought this would be a convenient meeting place.”

We’d reached the food court area of the station, and I started to fear that I’d been overly optimistic in assuming I could easily find my grandmother. Even as colorful a character as she was could be lost in these throngs and in this noise. She wouldn’t even be the craziest person in this place.

But then I heard a piercing voice ringing above the din. “I think I’ve found her,” I said, grabbing Owen’s arm. The three of us followed the sound and found a group of young thugs cowering in a corner as a tiny old woman menaced them with her cane.

“Now, give the lady back her purse,” she said, giving one of the guys a threatening poke with the cane. He nervously glanced at her before meekly stepping forward and handing a purse to the harried young mother standing next to Granny. “Everything’s in there, right?” Granny asked him. He nodded mutely, and Granny turned to glance at the woman. “Check it out, honey,” she said, more gently.

The woman opened the purse and checked through it. “It doesn’t look like anything’s missing,” she reported.

“Okay, then, I won’t shrink your manhood to the size of a boiled peanut,” Granny told the guys, who all flinched. “Now, what do you say to the lady?”

“Uh, we’re sorry?” one of the guys ventured.

“And?” The cane made a menacing move.

“And, um, we won’t do it again?”

“That’s right, you won’t. And if you do, well, let’s just say you’ll have to buy smaller undershorts. I’ve already set the curse, so if you break your word, it’ll happen, whether or not I’m around.”

“Wow, her first day here, and she’s already cleaning up crime,” Rod muttered. “The mayor may want her to stay.”