“Florence!” Owen called out. She stopped and turned around. “Can you see the gargoyles on the roof?”
“Nope. My security clearance is pretty low. I had a limited assignment. You’re saying some of your gargoyles are up there?”
“Maybe.”
“We have to try,” I urged Owen. “We still have some time before our diversion starts.”
“Give us a few minutes,” Owen said. Still holding my hand, he led me to the nearest set of steps, and then we went into the building and up until we reached the stairs that led to the roof.
The higher we climbed, the less substantial the staircase looked. The upper landing was as blank as those unformed rooms had been, without all the touches that had made these buildings seem real. It was disconcerting. To cover my dismay, I said, “You know, I feel ripped-off. If they were going to give me the ideal New York movie life, I should have had access to a romantic rooftop oasis, where we should have had at least one good scene. There’d be twinkling lights, some potted plants, and space to have dinner for two before dancing in the rain.”
“Really? That’s something you want? Dancing in the rain?”
“It’s what’s in all those movies. I don’t know if it’s actually any fun, though. I’ve never tried it.”
This rooftop wasn’t at all romantic, probably because I was back to my usual state in which illusion no longer worked on me. Part of me wanted to cry out in relief, but this wasn’t the best place to be a magical immune. The most realistic thing I saw was a row of frozen gargoyles.
I moved closer to them, still holding Owen’s hand, so that now I was leading him instead of the other way around. Sam wasn’t among the group, much to my relief, since I wanted him to be around on the other side to help take care of Sylvester, but I knew two of the gargoyles, Rocky and Rollo, who made the most unusual chauffeur team I’d ever met.
I faced Rollo and said, “Hey, Rollo, BRAAAAAAKE!” It was all I could think of, and I figured that tag-team driving, with one looking out the windshield and steering and the other working the pedals, was something truly unique to their existence in the real world.
The gargoyle shuddered, then slowly turned around to face me. “Oh, hi, Katie.” Then awareness of his surroundings seemed to hit, and he asked, “Where are we?”
“Not in Kansas,” I quipped. When he obviously didn’t get the reference, I said, “We’re prisoners in the elven realm, and you’ve been enchanted. But we’re about to try to get to the portal that will let us go warn Merlin about what’s happening.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, nodding as though that was a perfectly reasonable explanation. “Do you need some help with that?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact. Do you know all these other gargoyles well?”
He looked up and down the row, then said, “Sure do.”
“Then talk to them. Call them by name and say something that should remind them of the real world. And then join us across the street.”
“Got it,” he said. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed at the best of times, but I figured I could count on him for that much, so Owen and I left the rooftop. I avoided looking beyond the immediate vicinity because I didn’t want to see what the idealized New York romantic comedy neighborhood looked like now. From the bits I’d seen, I had a feeling I’d have enough nightmares about being trapped in a featureless world, as it was. Without the illusions, it was like something out of a dystopian science fiction movie.
“Were they ours?” Earl asked, his voice tight with concern.
“I recognized Rocky and Rollo,” I said. “I was able to wake up Rollo, and he’s taking care of the rest.” Sure enough, dark shapes were already swooping down from the rooftop to join us.
At the same time, there were loud booms in the distance. It sounded like our diversion had begun. We hurried to hide behind a set of front steps and watched as gray guys ran from the park and into the neighborhood.
“Looks like we’re ready to go,” Florence said with a smile of grim satisfaction. “Are you fully immune now? Because hitting the wards would be a bad time to find out you aren’t.”
“I was able to see the gargoyles,” I said. “And this place no longer looks anything like the Upper West Side.”
“I’ll make sure she’s okay,” Owen said.
The gargoyles flew in first, doing some aerial reconnaissance, then returned to report that there were four guards, two at the gateway and maybe two more at the portal. I started to feel like that was more than manageable, but then I realized that if they were at the portal, they were inside the wards, and I’d have to deal with them on my own.
