No Quest For The Wicked

She shook her head firmly. “Not on your life, son. I’m sticking with Katie.”

“It could get ugly in there, and if you show any sign of having been compromised by proximity to the Eye, we’ll have to deal with you,” he warned. Since I had the darts, I knew I’d be the one to deal with her. I wondered if I could bring myself to tranquilize my own grandmother. It was too bad my mother wasn’t here. She’d jump at the chance.

“You do what you need to do,” Granny told Owen. “I trust you to do the right thing.”

“Then I’d better disguise you, too, in case they’ve had a good look at you,” Rod told her.

“I can fix my own face,” Granny said. “I’ve been doing this sort of thing since before you were born.” I raised an eyebrow at that. Of course, I’d never have noticed, but I couldn’t help but wonder why my grandmother would ever need a disguise.

I couldn’t tell what she’d done, but Rod grinned. “Yeah, that should hide you,” he said. “Now, go get that brooch.”

The event space, an indoor courtyard, was connected to the small arms and armor gallery. Round tables were scattered about the space, with chairs arranged around them. Although the room was being set up, the staff were busy taking tablecloths off the tables and pulling cloth covers off the chairs. They didn’t look too happy about it.

Someone passed us, talking on a cell phone. “Yes, I know that’s what she ordered,” he said. “But this is what she says she wants. I don’t suppose you have that order in her handwriting or have her on video making that order? Yeah, she’s claiming this is what she ordered and we’re the ones who messed up. See what you can do on short notice, and we may need extra hands once we get the right colors here. Thanks.”

“Mimi strikes again,” I whispered to Owen as we moved away from the guy on the phone. “Now you see why it was so easy to recruit me away from her.”

“Do you see her?” he asked.

I scanned the room, then shook my head. “Not at the moment. Maybe she’s getting her hair done. Or she’s out back, biting the head off a puppy. Do they have medieval torture implements on display here? We might find her in there, shopping.”

Everywhere we turned in the room, there was more evidence of Mimi’s influence. A gorgeous ice sculpture of a graceful woman in a flowing gown stood on one of the tables, and a man nearby muttered to himself, “Not thin enough, huh? Give me a blowtorch, and I’ll give you thin.”

A woman wearing an apron with a florist’s logo on it cleaned up a scattered arrangement that looked like it had been angrily knocked off a table as she muttered, “Not fresh! The roses were cut this morning! They still had dew on them! And if you order flowers that have to be flown in, they can’t be same-day fresh. I could scatter dirt and seeds. That would be fresh.”

Nearby, other people in the same aprons glanced at her worriedly while they rearranged the floral displays, pulling out individual stems. Another woman ran in with a bucket full of flowers. “You wouldn’t believe the mess back there,” she said. “They do know there’s an event tonight, right? Because it looked like they were doing maintenance on the entrance from the parking garage.” She set down her bucket. “Okay, let’s see if these suit Her Majesty.” Then she bit her lip and glanced around guiltily. The florists went to work sticking those flowers into the arrangements.

“I don’t think she’s been wearing the brooch,” I said to Owen. “Wouldn’t that make people have to follow her? Instead, we’re getting rebellion. At this rate, she’ll need the Knot to get out of here alive. They’re a hairbreadth away from pitchforks and torches.”

“Is there a chance that she really doesn’t have the brooch?” he asked, his forehead creasing. “The puritans could have set us up to believe this is it and get us off-track so they can create their big show with the real owner.”

I shook my head. “No, remember, the elves were at the restaurant where Mimi got the brooch, and they’re magically tracking the Knot, not following sketchy research. They also weren’t at Macy’s when we were following the false lead.”

Rod, Thor, and Earl were in place now, with Rod guarding the main doorway and the other two lined up at the sides, where they could keep an eye on the room. I caught Rod’s eye and shook my head. He nodded acknowledgment.

We looked conspicuous by not doing anything when everyone else was rushing around busily, so Owen and I joined in pulling tablecloths off tables. One of the women working with us kept up a nonstop stream of grumbles. “Seriously, can anyone tell the difference between ivory and cream linens? I bet we’ll get the new ones on, and she’ll scream that we didn’t change them. Maybe we should leave one table the same and see if she notices the difference.” The others laughed at that, and I joined in. We’d once done a similar thing when I worked for Mimi, and she hadn’t noticed. She just liked making people jump through hoops. We’d learned that all we had to do was pretend to make the changes she ordered and let her think she’d forced us to obey an order.