No Quest For The Wicked

“But if they find out about the Eye and learn it was there, they’ll know you were after it.”

“I don’t intend to do anything with it that would give them a reason to worry. In fact, maybe it’s better that I have official witnesses along the way. Then nobody can accuse me of anything.” I would have expected him to say something like that with bitterness, but he was remarkably cool about it, if perhaps a bit weary.

Even though the restaurant was well out of sight by this time, I couldn’t help glancing back over my shoulder to see if we were still being watched.

Chapter Four

Much to my horror, the flying carpet didn’t let us off at ground level when we reached MSI headquarters. Instead, it stopped and hovered in front of the open window of Merlin’s tower office. It was bad enough getting off one of those things when it was a few feet off the ground. Stepping from the carpet to a window ten stories up in the air was sure to give me nightmares for the rest of my life. Rod had the longest legs, so he made the jump into the building and then helped Owen and me across the terrifying gap. Once inside, I clung to Rod until I convinced myself that I really did have a solid floor under my feet. I’d never had a bad fear of heights, but if I had to travel by flying carpet too many more times, I thought I might develop one.

A tray of sandwiches on the conference table reminded me that it was lunchtime. I decided to wait until my stomach made it the rest of the way downtown before I tried to eat. Owen also looked a little green, but Rod leaned over and grabbed a sandwich and took a big bite before he picked up a plate.

Minerva Felps then burst into the office, making another dramatic entrance. “Unfortunately, engagements aren’t a matter of public record, so we can’t just get the documents from the courthouse, and not everyone gets a write-up in the Times,” she said. “We’re digging, though. I’ve got my people reading his cards, and then the hackers are looking for wedding registries and cross-referencing that with any galas happening tonight. Oh, and Katie? Your roommate’s looking for you—the glamorous one.”

No sooner had she left with Rod to do further research than Trix, Merlin’s fairy receptionist, came in and said, “Katie, Perdita called and said Gemma was looking for you. She’s at work.”

While Merlin and Owen discussed possible ways to destroy the Eye, I used Merlin’s desk phone to call Gemma. “Wow, you’ve been out of the office all morning,” she said when she answered.

“I’m on a quest.”

“In your line of work, I have a feeling I should take that literally.”

“You should. What’s up?”

“I checked the voice mail at home, and there was a call saying you need to pick up your grandmother at Penn Station.”

“What?”

“You weren’t expecting her?”

I shook my head, even though I knew she couldn’t see me. “No. When did she call?”

“A few hours ago.”

“My grandmother’s been at Penn Station all morning? How did she get there?”

“I’m guessing on a train.”

“Very funny. But my grandmother has barely left the county. There’s no way she’d come all the way to New York without making a big production out of it. I’d have known about it weeks in advance.”

“Hey, all I know was that there was a message from her saying she was at the station and she needed you to get her.”

“Great. This is just what I needed,” I said with a groan. I was about to hang up when I got an idea. Gemma worked in fashion at one of the designer houses, so she might know some of the local high-rollers. “Maybe you could help me with something. There’s supposedly some big gala going on tonight, being put on by the fiancée of a financial big-wig billionaire named Jonathan Martin. She sounds like a real gold digging type—using a rich old man to buy her way into society, where she can soon enjoy a wealthy widowhood. I need to get her name.”

“I know the type, but the name doesn’t ring a bell. I could check around, though. Where should I call if I find something?”

“Owen’s cell.”

“Someday you’ll have to join us in the twenty-first century and get your own cell phone.”

“But then people could find me. Thanks a lot, Gem.”

I got off the phone, still puzzling over what to do with Granny. She was a wizard, and if she’d chosen now to leave Texas for the first time in her life, I suspected it was because she felt there might be trouble. Had she sensed something about the Eye? Considering all the trouble I’d been through in the past year without her making the trip, that worried me. If I could get away to pick her up, I could probably leave her with Merlin while I was questing. She and Merlin got on pretty well and had a lot to talk about.