No Quest For The Wicked

He made the mistake of firing, in spite of what he knew about the brooch’s properties. Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion. Mimi screamed at the sound of the gunshot and ducked, but the bullet was too fast for that to do any good. It flew straight at her, but less than an inch away from her it deflected as though it had hit a bulletproof barrier. The ricochet hit one of the puritans, which I felt was just desserts.

Mimi stood openmouthed, still clutching her brooch, as the wounded puritan fell and some of his comrades went to his aid. “I’m bulletproof!” she said in awe. “I knew this brooch made me powerful. It saved my life.” To her ex-minion, she snarled, “Now try to take it from me. You can’t hurt me.”

She had him there, and I could see from the look on his face that he knew it. I didn’t know if they’d planned for her to end up with it, but if they had, they’d picked entirely the wrong woman. She was too strong to let it go to anyone who could really use the power, but she was too petty to do much with the power other than boss people around. About the only difference the brooch made for Mimi was making her bulletproof.

It was now late at night, and we were in a part of town not known for its nightlife, but we were also on a major street in a part of town not normally known for gunfire. Since there had been a gunshot, a crowd was forming. Most people just craned their necks to see what was going on, but I recognized a certain look in the eyes of some of them and elbowed Owen. “We need to get her away from here.”

We didn’t get a chance to act before someone made a lunge for the brooch. Mimi knocked the man aside, then faced the crowd. “Don’t get any ideas! Now, get out of my way. I’ve had a long day, and I’m going home.”

Most of them—even some of the puritans—did get out of her way. She strode through the path they cleared, but then as soon as she had passed them, they fell into formation behind her as she headed down Madison Avenue. Some of them wore evening attire, but I couldn’t tell if they were part of the museum mob.

“Oh, this is not good,” I muttered. If we took the brooch while she was surrounded by people, we’d then be back where we started, with all of them trying to get it from us. We needed to get Mimi alone.

“Rod, could you pull the time trick again?” Owen asked.

“Maybe, but not for long, and after that I’d be totally wiped.”

“Okay, wait for my signal. We need to get to a place where we can get away with Mimi. Sam, some veiling after that would be nice. And let’s hope that the brooch’s magical immunity works the same way it does for us. It won’t help if she’s frozen, too.”

Owen and I worked our way through the crowd to flank Mimi. The puritans had lost all interest in us now that we no longer had the brooch, but I wasn’t sure how long that would last after they realized we had Mimi.

Once Mimi was between us, Owen signaled Rod and then everything went still. We grabbed a protesting Mimi by the arms and ran into the street, weaving our way between frozen cars. The spell wore off just before we reached the other side. We put Mimi between us and the oncoming traffic, hoping that she’d work as a human shield since the cars couldn’t hit her. Brakes and tires squealed, and there were some close calls, but Mimi didn’t seem any the worse for wear. Once across the avenue, we ducked back onto the side street and ran, dragging Mimi along with us.

“Katie, what are you doing?” Mimi asked once she calmed down enough to recognize me.

“Rescuing you,” I replied. “Those people back there were bad news.”

“But they couldn’t hurt me. Didn’t you see that I’m bulletproof?”

“They wanted to take your brooch,” I reminded her.

“But they can’t! They can’t do anything to me. All I wanted was to go home, and I’d be safe there. I didn’t need your help.”

“Yeah, but do you really want an army of stalkers finding out where you live?”

That thought alarmed her, and her eyes bulged with horror. “Oh! No, I wouldn’t want that. But I do have a good doorman. He wouldn’t let them in the building.”

“I don’t think he’s bulletproof, and neither is your fiancé.”

“Probably not,” she admitted.

Mimi was capable of being meek for only so long, especially when she was being magically influenced. Before we made it to Park Avenue, she tried to pull away from us. “I don’t need you anymore,” she said, jerking her arms out of our hands. “I’m invincible. You’re just trying to get my brooch back, anyway, and let’s face it, Katie, it doesn’t suit you.”