No Quest for the Wicked

by Shanna Swendson

  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.”

  “I’ve got a guest room,” Owen said. “She can stay with me.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “It won’t be any trouble at all.”

  “I’ll owe you, big time.” I had no doubt that he loved me, but if he was willing to have my grandmother under his roof, then that was a true sign of devotion.

  The flying carpet reappeared outside Merlin’s window, and he said, “You should go to the station. We will notify you if we find anything. In the meantime, I will focus my efforts on learning who could have—and would have—stolen and fused the Knot and the Eye. Whoever that is would be very dangerous, and letting that brooch loose on the world may be part of a greater agenda.”

  As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, I thought. It was almost enough to make the prospect of another magic carpet ride less frightening. It wasn’t, however, enough to make stepping out of a tower window onto a hovering magic carpet less frightening. “You should install jetways for these things,” I said as I screwed up the courage to make the jump after Rod got on and extended his hand to help me. The carpet wobbled alarmingly as I boarded, and then again when Owen got on.

  “Penn Station, my good man,” Rod told the tiny driver, and soon we were flying up Broadway. I suspected that in addition to the magical veil that kept people from seeing a flying carpet, there was a magical windshield that protected us from the full force of the air rushing past us at that speed—and from getting bugs in our teeth. My hair still blew around a little, but it was easier to conduct a conversation on a magic carpet than in a convertible with the top down on a highway.

  “Why’s your grandmother visiting?” Owen asked me.

  “I have no idea. One of my family’s weird magical powers is the ability to sense my stress levels so they can be sure to do something to escalate them. My mother was probably too busy to come bother me during this crisis, so she sent Granny.”

  “I don’t know, I can’t imagine your grandmother ever being sent anywhere by anyone. She either goes of her own accord or doesn’t go at all.”

  “And you still want her in your house?”

  “I’m used to Gloria, remember?” Gloria was his foster mother, an elderly wizard just as fierce as my grandmother, though in different ways. “Besides, when I was in Texas, she talked to me some about potions, and I’d like to pick her brains. There’s plenty of potential research material there that doesn’t require magic.”

  We passed over Union Square—or, rather, an open and partially greenish blur that I assumed was Union Square. I jumped and clutched Owen’s arm when something suddenly appeared in the air beside us, matching our speed. It took me a second to recognize Sam.

  “I think you’ve picked up a tail,” he shouted.

  I turned to look behind us. There were no other magic carpets in sight, and Sam was the only other flying thing I saw. “Where?” I asked.

  “Look up.”

  All of us on the carpet—other than the driver, fortunately—tilted our heads back to see a hawk wheeling in the sky over us. “A bird?” I asked.

  “The elves have got some tame ones workin’ for ’em,” Sam said. “Featherbrained turncoats,” he added with a snarl.

  “Do you know if this one is working for them?” Rod asked.

  “Not sure yet, but better safe than sorry. Look out, and see if you can lose her.”

  The driver didn’t say anything, but the carpet banked steeply to the left. I whimpered as I felt myself sliding, but the carpet soon leveled itself out as we headed straight up one of the avenues. “Why does it even matter if they follow us?” I asked when I caught my breath. “We’re not on the mission right now. We’re going to pick up my grandmother at the train station.”

  “They don’t know that,” Owen said.

  “Yeah, but we’d be leading them straight to my grandmother.”

  “I have to admit, there’s some appeal to that thought.”

  “We need to at least pretend to evade them,” Rod said. “That’s a big part of the game. They’ll be suspicious if we make it too easy.”

  The carpet made another sharp turn and headed crosstown for a while before turning abruptly downtown. A few blocks later, we turned crosstown for a block and then back uptown. An overhead glance didn’t reveal the bird, but I doubted we could hide from it for long. The carpet lowered, then stopped to let us off on a side street. There we blended as well as we could into the usual midtown crush of pedestrians and headed to the station.

  “Do you know where you’re supposed to meet your grandmother?” Owen asked as we approached the station.

  “No idea. But if I know Granny, we won’t have to look too hard. She’ll be causing the kind of commotion that draws attention. I don’t know how long ago she called, but she may even have been there long enough to take over. We might be just in time for her coronation.”

  Owen’s cell phone rang, and after a brief conversation, he closed it and reported, “Minerva’s people found a personal shopper reservation at Macy’s for a woman with the same name as one who’s engaged to a Jonathan Martin. They don’t know if she’s in any way connected, but since we’re nearby, we may as well check it out after we find your grandmother.” He checked his watch. “We’ve got about half an hour.”

  As we rode the escalator down into the station, I said, “Listen for someone loudly criticizing something. That’ll be Granny.”

  “Do you know if she came in on Amtrak or on New Jersey Transit from the airport?” Rod asked. “That could help us figure out where she might be.”

  “I have no idea, as I said. For all I know, she flew in on her broom and thought this would be a convenient meeting place.”

  We’d reached the food court area of the station, and I started to fear that I’d been overly optimistic in assuming I could easily find my grandmother. Even as colorful a character as she was could be lost in these throngs and in this noise. She wouldn’t even be the craziest person in this place.

  But then I heard a piercing voice ringing above the din. “I think I’ve found her,” I said, grabbing Owen’s arm. The three of us followed the sound and found a group of young thugs cowering in a corner as a tiny old woman menaced them with her cane.

  “Now, give the lady back her purse,”
she said, giving one of the guys a threatening poke with the cane. He nervously glanced at her before meekly stepping forward and handing a purse to the harried young mother standing next to Granny. “Everything’s in there, right?” Granny asked him. He nodded mutely, and Granny turned to glance at the woman. “Check it out, honey,” she said, more gently.

  The woman opened the purse and checked through it. “It doesn’t look like anything’s missing,” she reported.

  “Okay, then, I won’t shrink your manhood to the size of a boiled peanut,” Granny told the guys, who all flinched. “Now, what do you say to the lady?”

  “Uh, we’re sorry?” one of the guys ventured.

  “And?” The cane made a menacing move.

  “And, um, we won’t do it again?”

  “That’s right, you won’t. And if you do, well, let’s just say you’ll have to buy smaller undershorts. I’ve already set the curse, so if you break your word, it’ll happen, whether or not I’m around.”

  “Wow, her first day here, and she’s already cleaning up crime,” Rod muttered. “The mayor may want her to stay.”

  The thugs nodded wide-eyed at her, then slunk away. The purse’s owner turned to Granny. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t caught them. My whole life is in this bag.” She opened her wallet, took out a bill, and tried to hand it to Granny, but Granny shook her head.

  “No, I’m just looking out for my neighbor like the good Lord says to do. You go on and have a good day.”

  The woman shifted the baby on her hip, reshouldered her purse and said, “Well, thank you very much.”

  When she was gone, I stepped forward to approach Granny, but froze when a gruff voice behind me said, “So, now you’re bringing in an outside wizard for the search. What do you have planned for when you get that brooch?”

  Chapter Five

  I slowly turned around to see a bearded gnome wearing a track suit with white pants, a yellow jacket, and a baseball hat. There was something awfully familiar about him. If those white pants were tucked into tall boots, if he posed properly, and if I saw him out of the corner of my eye, he’d look like … “You!” I blurted. “You’re the extra jockey! I knew I saw something at the restaurant.”

  “Aw, you spotted me back there?” the gnome grumbled. “I thought that was a pretty good disguise, even if I hadn’t also used some magic.”

  “Your magical veiling doesn’t work on me,” I said. “And I haven’t seen too many jockeys with long, white beards.”

  “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.

  “Why have you brought this powerful outside wizard?” the gnome asked. “Don’t you realize that someone like her would be dangerous around the Eye?”

  “She’s not an outside wizard,” I said. “Well, she is, but she’s my grandmother, who picked a very interesting day for a visit.”

  The gnome turned to frown at her. “This is true, lady?”

  She pulled herself to her full height, which wasn’t much taller than the gnome. “Do I look like the sort of person who lies?” she said, her tone so icy it made me shiver. “I do my magic the old-fashioned way, without trinkets. If it doesn’t come naturally, I’ve got no use for it.”

  He stared at her for a long time while she returned his stare, then at last he nodded. “You, I trust.” He turned back to us. “This bunch, on the other hand …”

  “Hey!” I protested.

  Rod stepped forward with his hand outstretched and said in his most charming tone, “Rod Gwaltney, MSI. Glad to meet you.”

  The gnome frowned. “You’re MSI?”

  “All of us
are,” Rod said. “Allow me to introduce my colleagues. This is Katie Chandler, magical immune extraordinaire and granddaughter of Mrs. Callahan, our esteemed visiting wizard. The gentleman is Owen Palmer.”

  The gnome took a step backward, pulling a tiny double-headed axe from under the back of his track suit jacket. He hissed through his teeth as he glared at Owen. “Palmer? After the Eye? I don’t like this.”

  Owen held his hands up in a halfhearted gesture of surrender. “I’m getting really tired of this,” he said. “A: I’m not evil. Never have been, never will be. And B: No magic. None at all. I lost it completely. I’m even immune to magic. The Eye would be even less useful to me than a snowglobe.”

  “You know, we should probably get you a button saying that so you don’t have to repeat it all the time,” I muttered. “Or a T-shirt.”

  Granny nodded sagely. “Yep, I thought you looked different. What happened, boy?”

  “I’ll explain later,” I whispered to Granny.

  She addressed the gnome. “Do you think I’d let him near my granddaughter if I thought he was evil? Do you not trust my judgment?”

  The gnome studied her for a moment, turned to look at Owen, then bowed to Granny and said, “I accept your wisdom.” To Owen he added, “But I’m watching you, Palmer. Try any funny business and you won’t be immune to my axe.”

  Owen gave him a thin smile. “Likewise. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have an evil piece of jewelry to track down before all of Manhattan is laid to waste, and we have about—” he checked his watch “—ten minutes to catch up with a possible lead.”

  The gnome re-holstered his axe, then said, “I’m coming with you. I figure you’re more likely to find this thing first than those dopey elves are, so I’m throwing my lot in with you.”

  “I don’t recall inviting you,” Rod said, looming over the gnome, who only came up to his waist.

  “I’m not giving you an option, kid.” The gnome gave us a formal bow and said, “Thorson Gilthammer, at your service. But you can call me Thor.”