No Quest For The Wicked

That wasn’t something I could just sit by and watch happen. Forcing myself to my feet, I took the gun from my purse and aimed it at Raphael’s head. “Let him go!” I commanded. The order didn’t make its way through the fog of crazy. I thought about firing a warning shot, but I wasn’t sure I could do that without causing a ricochet or drawing a security guard who’d ask questions we couldn’t answer. Instead, I stepped forward and ground the barrel of the gun into the back of Raphael’s neck. “I said, let him go.”

That got his attention. Unfortunately, it didn’t get his obedience. He did take one hand off Owen, but only to gesture casually. The gun jerked in my hands, like it was trying to escape my grasp. I held on as tightly as I could, my knuckles growing white with the strain, but it was no use. The gun slipped out of my fingers and flew into Raphael’s hand.

“Damn!” I muttered. I was so used to magic not working on me that it hadn’t occurred to me that magic could work on objects I held. That perhaps explained why weapons weren’t used too often in magical fights.

Raphael shoved Owen roughly against the nearest pillar and pointed my gun at him with one hand while frisking him with the other. “Where is the Eye? What have you done with it?” he demanded.

“He doesn’t have it. He never has,” I said. “If anyone’s power hungry and holding onto this dreadful eyesore, it’s me, not Owen. And in case you’re worrying, I have no plans to give it to him.”

“Yes, she has been very stubborn about it.” All three of us turned to see who’d spoken. The puritans had caught up with us. They must have tracked the Eye like magical bloodhounds. The mad professor led the group. “It took us some time to find you,” he said. “I see you’ve taken the Eye back from that foolish woman.”

He came toward us, ignoring Raphael, and although he claimed that the Eye didn’t affect him, I thought his eyes had a suspicious glint in them when he got close to us. “Yes, I believe the girl has it once more. Give it to me, young lady, and things will go much better for you.”

“Keep away from her!” Raphael said in a commanding tone, much to my surprise. He released Owen and stepped in between me and the puritans. Owen moved around to my side, and we exchanged a puzzled look. “You have no right to the Eye,” Raphael continued.

“Neither do you,” the lead puritan said.

“I’m not trying to take it.”

“Then may I ask what your interest in the Eye is?”

“I am not interested in the Eye. My interest is in bringing Owen Palmer to justice.”

“Then I would think you’d want to get the Eye out of his sphere of influence. He may not be holding it, but his girlfriend is, and do you have any doubt that she’d comply if he told her to give it to him?”

While they debated, Owen bent to whisper in my ear, “When you get a chance, go into the tunnels and hide. You know which ones are safe.”

“I’m not leaving you here with these lunatics,” I said.

“You agreed earlier that the important thing is keeping the brooch safe.”

“It doesn’t seem to be in immediate danger,” I said, not budging from my position.

“We don’t want these people getting their hands on the Eye,” Owen said. “So, go. It won’t be long until we have help.”

“The puritans would just chase me, leaving you alone with the guy who hates you,” I said. “I’m not seeing an upside to leaving you, for either of us.”

“Katie, go!” His voice was sharp with urgency.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll get through this together, and if we’re lucky, they’ll take each other out.”

During this whole debate, another one of the puritans had edged his way around the platform, and he made a lunge at me. I jumped out of the way, protesting loudly. That got Raphael’s attention. He hit the attacker with a burst of magic, then held his hands over his head and said something in a foreign language. “He’s setting wards,” Owen whispered to me.

“Well, maybe he’s not so bad, aside from hating you,” I said.

But it was too much to hope that we’d be safe for a moment. Raphael glanced over his shoulder at us, and then his eyes changed. He already had the mad gaze of the fanatic, but then he took on a look I knew all too well after the events of the day. The Eye had its hooks into him. It really seemed to love a fanatic. This would have been a great time for that protective box to show up, I thought.