No Quest For The Wicked

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.”