“Why have you brought this powerful outside wizard?” the gnome asked. “Don’t you realize that someone like her would be dangerous around the Eye?”
“She’s not an outside wizard,” I said. “Well, she is, but she’s my grandmother, who picked a very interesting day for a visit.”
The gnome turned to frown at her. “This is true, lady?”
She pulled herself to her full height, which wasn’t much taller than the gnome. “Do I look like the sort of person who lies?” she said, her tone so icy it made me shiver. “I do my magic the old-fashioned way, without trinkets. If it doesn’t come naturally, I’ve got no use for it.”
He stared at her for a long time while she returned his stare, then at last he nodded. “You, I trust.” He turned back to us. “This bunch, on the other hand …”
“Hey!” I protested.
Rod stepped forward with his hand outstretched and said in his most charming tone, “Rod Gwaltney, MSI. Glad to meet you.”
The gnome frowned. “You’re MSI?”
“All of us are,” Rod said. “Allow me to introduce my colleagues. This is Katie Chandler, magical immune extraordinaire and granddaughter of Mrs. Callahan, our esteemed visiting wizard. The gentleman is Owen Palmer.”
The gnome took a step backward, pulling a tiny double-headed axe from under the back of his track suit jacket. He hissed through his teeth as he glared at Owen. “Palmer? After the Eye? I don’t like this.”
Owen held his hands up in a halfhearted gesture of surrender. “I’m getting really tired of this,” he said. “A: I’m not evil. Never have been, never will be. And B: No magic. None at all. I lost it completely. I’m even immune to magic. The Eye would be even less useful to me than a snowglobe.”
“You know, we should probably get you a button saying that so you don’t have to repeat it all the time,” I muttered. “Or a T-shirt.”
Granny nodded sagely. “Yep, I thought you looked different. What happened, boy?”
“I’ll explain later,” I whispered to Granny.
She addressed the gnome. “Do you think I’d let him near my granddaughter if I thought he was evil? Do you not trust my judgment?”
The gnome studied her for a moment, turned to look at Owen, then bowed to Granny and said, “I accept your wisdom.” To Owen he added, “But I’m watching you, Palmer. Try any funny business and you won’t be immune to my axe.”
Owen gave him a thin smile. “Likewise. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have an evil piece of jewelry to track down before all of Manhattan is laid to waste, and we have about—” he checked his watch “—ten minutes to catch up with a possible lead.”
The gnome re-holstered his axe, then said, “I’m coming with you. I figure you’re more likely to find this thing first than those dopey elves are, so I’m throwing my lot in with you.”
“I don’t recall inviting you,” Rod said, looming over the gnome, who only came up to his waist.
“I’m not giving you an option, kid.” The gnome gave us a formal bow and said, “Thorson Gilthammer, at your service. But you can call me Thor.”
I couldn’t keep a straight face at the idea of someone who looked like a lawn ornament on a weekend trip to Atlantic City with his friends from the senior center being called “Thor.” But he did carry an axe that would probably shatter my ankle, so I turned away and disguised my giggles in a coughing fit.
Granny didn’t understand the concept of tact, so I worried that she’d start an interspecies incident, but all she said was, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Thor. You can call me Granny. Glad to have you on the team.”
“Um, Granny, you don’t have to come with us,” I said. In spite of what she’d said about not needing trinkets, I didn’t like the idea of her anywhere near the Eye. “We were going to get you a cab. Merlin said he was looking forward to seeing you and offered to let you stay at his office while we’re wrapping this up.”
“You’ll not get rid of me that easily, Katie Beth,” she said, shaking her cane at me. “I’m not letting you out of my sight. That’s the reason I came up here. That thing I felt could happen at any moment, and I will be there for it.”
“Don’t you have luggage?” I asked in a desperate attempt to find some reason she had to go to the office. “We’ll need to do something with it before we can go wandering around town.”