No Quest For The Wicked

“You saw him before?” Owen asked me.

“He was hiding among those jockey statuettes in front of Twenty-one. I guess I got distracted by that other guy I saw and forgot to say anything.” To the gnome, I said, “But how did you find us here?”

“I’ve got my ways,” he said, stroking his beard.

“The hawk works for you, not the elves,” Owen concluded.

The gnome’s bushy white eyebrows shot up. “You spotted the hawk?”

“I thought we evaded that hawk,” Rod said with a scowl.

The gnome chortled. “Yeah, you thought you did.”

“There you are, Katie,” Granny said, spotting me. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting all day.”

I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry, Granny, but I only just got the message. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“It was an emergency. I didn’t have time to call.”

My heart leapt as I imagined all the horrible things that could have happened to my family. “Oh no! What is it?”

“I don’t know yet. But something’s about to happen to you, I can feel it in my bones, and you’ll need me there when it does.”

That was even more alarming. I reached for Owen’s hand and clutched it as I said, “Something’s going to happen to me? Something bad?”

“Good, bad, who can say? I just know that you’ll need me here, and I want to be ready when the time comes.” She turned to fix Owen with her beady eyes. “Good to see you again, boy.” Then she frowned. “My, but you’ve changed. What happened to you?”

Owen winced. “It’s a very long story.”

“Granny, Owen has offered to let you stay in his guest room,” I said, changing the subject before she could demand the whole story, right there in the station. “We don’t have room for guests in our apartment, and Owen’s place is nicer than a hotel.”

“That’s kind of you,” she said, then she smiled at Rod. “And you’re here, too. What a welcoming committee. I guess if you can’t get here on time, you bring more people.”

“And it’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Callahan,” Rod said smoothly.

She fluttered her eyelashes at him and extended her hand to let him kiss it gallantly. “It’s good to see that someone in this city knows how to treat a lady.”

“Hey, excuse me, but I wasn’t finished!” the gnome said, elbowing his way into the middle of the group.

“Manners, little man,” Granny scolded with a warning shake of her cane. “You don’t talk to ladies like that—or gentlemen, either, for that matter. What do people teach their children around here?”

The gnome ignored her as he focused on Owen. “Now, as I was saying, I want to know what you people have planned for that brooch. It looks like you’ve got a whole operation going on here.”

“We’re trying to find that brooch,” Owen said.

“I can see that, son. I’ve got two perfectly good eyes. I’ve also got a perfectly good battleaxe, and I’ll start swinging it if I don’t get a straight answer soon.”

I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from telling him that we also had a perfectly good battleaxe, and that she was probably sharper and more dangerous than his. Granny might take offense at that.

“We want to make sure the brooch doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, and when we do find it, we want to destroy the Eye to make sure it can never be used again,” Owen explained patiently. “Now, what is your interest in the brooch?”

“It’s an epic story of the sort that should be shared over food and ale.”

“We don’t have time for that right now. Short version?”

“Let’s just say we have similar goals—and I’m here to make sure you people aren’t the wrong hands. I’m also hoping that by following you, I might be able to find and catch some of those wrong hands.”

“What’s this brooch?” Granny asked.

“A very bad magic thing,” I explained. “Makes everyone around it crave power while making the wearer extra powerful and invulnerable.”

She snorted. “Any wizard worth his salt doesn’t need that sort of trinket. If you can’t do it on your own, then you don’t deserve the power.”

All of us turned to stare at her, and I gave an involuntary shudder. I’d only recently learned that my grandmother had magical powers, and now I had to wonder what, exactly, she could do.