No Quest For The Wicked

She slowed as we neared Madison Avenue. The window of a designer boutique distracted her. If the shop had been open, I was sure she’d have gone in and demanded that they give her everything she wanted. As it was, her eyes grew wide and she practically drooled with her face pressed against the glass like a kid perusing the thirty-one flavors in an ice cream parlor.

I was immensely grateful for the opportunity to stop and catch my breath. Being the chaser instead of the chased wasn’t any easier. It still had the same effect on my heart, lungs, and muscles. Sam perched in a nearby tree and Owen and I hung back while Mimi window-shopped. She seemed to have forgotten we were there.

The respite gave our pursuers time to catch up, though. The sound of running footsteps approached, and Owen and I ducked into the shadow of a spindly sidewalk tree. A moment later, I saw that it was Rod and Granny, but without the puritans.

Owen gestured for Sam to keep an eye on Mimi, then we stepped out of the shadows to meet Rod and Granny. “What happened with the others?” Owen whispered.

“They’re confused, wandering around like they’re looking for something,” Rod said.

“What about the museum party people? Did you see them?”

“They were milling aimlessly. It may take them a while to get a fix, since they don’t know what they’re looking for.” Then he frowned and stared at me. “You don’t have the brooch anymore. What happened?”

I gestured over my shoulder at Mimi. “She got it back.”

“Damn! I guess there’s not much we can do to help.”

“I might be able to talk her out of it this time,” Granny said.

“No, don’t!” Owen hurried to say. “We’re keeping an eye on her, but it’s probably better for now if she has it.”

“We’re using her as a brooch mule,” I explained. “Since it works on her, nobody but us can take it from her, and that means they’re not attacking us. Which, believe me, is a really nice change of pace.”

“We’ll get it back when it’s time,” Owen said. “We just have to keep her away from anything that would stir up problems.”

Rod nodded. “I see. That’s actually pretty clever.”

“I wish I could say we planned it,” I said, “but we’re making the best of a bad situation.”

“Hey, gang!” Sam called out softly, “She’s on the move.” He stayed hidden in the trees to avoid panicking her again.

Mimi, tiring of the sights in that window, moved on to another one. We followed from a safe distance, like wildlife experts on a nature show, tracking a skittish animal through its native habitat.

Just then, Mimi shrieked, even though Sam was nowhere in sight. She’d come to the intersection with Madison Avenue and had run smack into the ragged remnants of the group of puritans that had attacked us in the park. Her ex-minion was front and center, with the mad professor standing beside him. They must have circled around on the adjacent street to cut us off.

With Mimi wearing both brooches, we couldn’t throw them off the trail by staying nearby and pretending to have it. For the first time in my life, I hoped that Mimi retained her essential Mimi-ness and could keep these guys at bay.

“I fired you legitimately!” Mimi said to her ex-minion. “That’s no reason for you to go get your cronies and stalk me. You’ll get paid for the hours you worked, but I’m not giving you your job back.”

“It’s not a job I want,” he said. “I want that brooch.”

She put her hands on her hips. “You’ve got some nerve! What is this, a holdup?”

He gambled on the possibility that she didn’t know that the brooch made her invulnerable and pulled a gun on her—apparently our gargoyles hadn’t disarmed all of them. “As a matter of fact, it is,” the ex-minion said. “Now, hand over the brooch and I won’t shoot.”

I held my breath, wondering what we should do. Should we intervene? The last thing we needed was the puritans getting the brooch. Next to them, Mimi was little more than a controlling bitch.

But the Eye’s hold on Mimi was too strong. She put her hand up to the brooch, cupping it protectively, and shook her head as she backed away. “No. It’s mine. You can’t have it. You can’t take it from me.” Her voice grew shriller as she shouted.

“Are you willing to die for it?” the ex-minion asked, curling his lip menacingly.

She held her head high and looked down her nose at him as she said, “Go ahead and try.”