No Quest for the Wicked

by Shanna Swendson

  We made it out of the subway station and up into the terminal itself, with Mimi behind us every step of the way. We ran across the concourse, down to the food court and then up again by another stairway, then back down again on the other end. The terminal wasn’t entirely deserted, but it was late enough that there weren’t too many people and there were fewer trains. When we seemed to have lost Mimi for a moment, we ran around a plastic “platform closed” barrier and down an empty platform. This part made me nervous, since we didn’t have magic to hide us from station officials.

  At the end of the platform, we scrambled down, avoiding the tracks, and headed deeper into the tunnel until we reached a break in the wall that led into another chamber. Mimi was nowhere in sight, so it was with great relief that I followed Owen through the gap and into a pitch-black cavern.

  “Are you sure about the dragons?” I asked Owen. This chamber certainly smelled like dragons. It reeked of sulfur and charred wood.

  Instead of answering me, Owen asked, “Do you still have that little flashlight in your purse?”

  I dug blindly for it, trying to ignore the weight of the gun in my bag. When I found the light and switched it on, it didn’t shed much light in the vast darkness. The tiny spot barely helped us find our footing. The light bounced off something shiny, and as we drew nearer, I saw that we’d stumbled upon a uniquely modern and urban treasure trove.

  It consisted of old subway tokens, blinged-out cell phones, a few hubcaps, some keychains, and a couple of roadwork barriers with reflectors on them. There must have been at least one more of those barriers farther back in the cavern because I caught a glimpse of the light reflecting off it.

  But then it moved. And blinked.

  “Okay, maybe we missed one,” Owen said, backing up.

  “And this one isn’t tame?” My panicky whisper echoed off the cavern walls.

  “Likely not.”

  We edged away from the blinking eyes, back toward the entrance to the train tunnel. The dragon didn’t move. With any luck, it hadn’t noticed us.

  Then a screech came from behind us. “Katie! Give me my brooch!”

  We froze, caught between Mimi and a dragon. I wasn’t entirely sure which was worse. Mimi was crazed under the spell of the Eye and would probably stop at nothing to get it. The dragon was huge, had long, sharp teeth, and breathed fire. It was a toss-up.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I flicked off the flashlight, hoping that would keep Mimi from finding us, but she was drawn to the brooch, and the sound of her footsteps drew closer and closer. “Run!” Owen ordered, yanking on my arm, but he was dragging me toward the dragon, which I thought was nuts, but he had weight and momentum on his side, so I had no choice but to run with him. A burst of flame filled the cavern ahead of us, stopping me in my tracks, but Owen kept pulling me.

  The dragon moved slowly, like it was just waking up and wasn’t accustomed to being disturbed. We ran past it, with Mimi right behind us. She caught me by the back of my shirt collar, yanking me backward. Her fingers groped for my pocket, and I slapped them, then jabbed my elbow into her solar plexus. I scrambled away, but I wasn’t quick enough. She got me in a headlock and held me tight. With the last bit of breath I had, I cried out to Owen for help, and then I heard a terrible roar in my ears.

  Next thing I knew, I could breathe again. I was still being held tight, and I fought against my captor until a gentle voice said in my ear, “It’s okay, Katie, it’s me.” I realized that it was Owen holding me and I sagged against him. However, there was still a roaring sound, and now it wasn’t coming from inside my head.

  I looked up and saw the dragon rushing toward us, its flame lighting the cavern and showing off even more troves of shiny treasure. “This definitely isn’t one of yours,” I told Owen as I started running, dragging him with me.

  Mimi had finally noticed the dragon and was screaming her head off. “Hush, you’ll make him angry,” I shouted at her. I didn’t know whether or not that was true. I just wanted her to shut up. At least she was too busy screaming to attack me, which was a plus.

  “It’s a dragon! A dragon! They don’t exist!” she shrieked.

  Then the need for the brooch overcame her fear of the dragon, and she lunged at me, clawing at my pocket. Owen grabbed her by the shoulders and sent her sprawling into a treasure pile, then took my hand as we ran from both Mimi and the dragon.

  “I have an idea,” he said. “Come on, where is it? I know it’s around here somewhere.” He had picked up the flashlight I must have dropped when Mimi attacked me and shone its meager beam around in the darkness. I wasn’t sure exactly who he was talking to or what he was talking about, but I went along with him, hoping he was telling the truth about having a plan.

  Finally, he said, “Aha!” He switched off the flashlight, pushed me down, and shoved me against a wall. I felt a gap and crawled through it, hoping that what lay on the other side wouldn’t be any scarier than what we were escaping.

  It was just as dark on the other side as it had been in the cavern, but I didn’t smell sulfur, which meant this space was dragon-free. I considered that a distinct improvement. It was also Mimi-free, at least for the moment. Now I knew why Owen had turned off the flashlight. He hadn’t wanted her to see the exit.

  “You’re leaving her in there?” I gasped when he joined me.

  “She tried to kill you!”

  “Well, yeah, but that’s a dragon in there!”

  “I know. I hate to do that to the dragon, but we don’t have a choice. We can come back and rescue the dragon after we safely box up the brooch. Until then, you know she’s going to keep attacking. Now, come on, let’s get out of here.” He switched the flashlight back on and began walking, and I reluctantly followed him.

  I’d never thought I’d feel bad for Mimi. If anyone ever deserved to become dragon chow, it was Mimi. “She and the dragon should have plenty to talk about,” I said in a feeble attempt at a joke. “They have a lot in common. They can exchange tips on making friends and dealing with people.” In spite of my quips, I was still uneasy about leaving her.

  “It’s my decision,” Owen said firmly.

  It was for the greater good, I told myself. I knew that if it came to it, I’d have to leave Owen behind to protect the brooch, so why not Mimi? “Do you know the way out?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “I think I do.”

  “You think?”

  “If we get too lost, I’m sure someone will eventually be drawn to that brooch and find us.”

  “That isn’t very reassuring.”

  We reached a wall, found a gap in it, and crawled through. That brought us into a railroad tunnel that, thankfully, was also sulfur-free. I couldn’t help but keep glancing over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if I was afraid Mimi would come after us or afraid she wouldn’t.

  Finally, I saw light ahead, and it wasn’t an oncoming train. It was the platform where we’d started. “We’re there!” I said, giving Owen a quick hug for joy.

  Owen’s phone rang, the sudden noise making both of us jump. His magically souped-up phone really did work everywhere. He handed me the flashlight and took his phone out of his pocket. I couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation or see his face as he talked, but from what I could piece together, the box was ready. “We’re in Grand Central, and we’re safe for now,” he said. “But it would be nice if you could hurry. ‘Safe’ isn’t lasting very long for us, and I’m not sure how much more we can take.”

  As he put the phone back in his pocket, he said to me, “It’s on its way. We’re almost done with this, for now.” He put his arm around me, and I leaned into him gratefully.

  We reached the end of the platform, and I helped him up. He was limping pretty badly now. We headed arm in arm for the exit to the concourse, but as we passed a pillar, someone leapt out from behind it, jerking Owen away from me and tackling him.

  I tried to pull the assailant off Owen, but I couldn’t get enough leverage to shi
ft him. Owen shouted, “Katie, go, now!” After one more fruitless tug, I reluctantly ran for the exit, my hand held protectively over my pocket full of brooches.

  I had a decent head start, but I doubted I’d be able to outrun a man, so I forced myself to put on as much speed as possible. The farther away I was before he realized that the brooch had gone, the better.

  And then when I reached the “platform closed” sign in the doorway, I chanced a quick glance over my shoulder and saw that no one was chasing me. Even though the magical brooch that drew everyone to it with an intense lust for power was getting away, Owen’s attacker was still focused on Owen. This wasn’t about the brooch.

  I paused, hesitating. The first priority was keeping the brooch out of the wrong hands, but if this guy didn’t want the brooch, then I wasn’t exactly going against the mission to stop and help Owen. I’d had to leave him in danger once before. I wasn’t going to do it again.

  With a deep breath and a silent prayer for strength, I turned and ran back, as hard as I could. As I drew closer, I heard the attacker shouting at Owen, “I should have known you’d destroy your rivals for the Eye of the Moon!” I flung myself at him, using my full body weight to knock him off Owen’s back and onto the ground, where I kept him pinned down with my knee in the small of his back.

  “I thought I told you to leave,” Owen said, sitting up and pulling the gun from his waistband to level at his attacker.

  “He wasn’t after the brooch. He was after you,” I said.

  “You still should have gone.”

  “Yeah, because you were winning that fight so decisively.”

  Ignoring me, Owen said to the attacker, “I’ve got you at gunpoint, so don’t try anything funny. Katie, get off him. Now, sit up slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.”

  I eased myself off the guy and resisted the urge to fan myself at the sight of Owen playing the steely cop, which was hot enough to stir me in spite of my fatigue. The attacker sat up, holding his hands in the air. He’d seemed so menacing and angry in his attack, like some ninja commando, but he turned out to be just an ordinary-looking man.

  In fact, he was extraordinarily ordinary-looking. I used to joke that I could get away with bank robbery because any description of me would also fit half the city, but compared to this guy, I’d stand out in any crowd. He was utterly nondescript—average height, average build, brownish hair, brownish eyes, no distinguishing features, no scars, birthmarks, or tattoos that I could see. He wore a beige trench coat over a dark suit that, depending on the light, could probably look black, navy blue, or a variety of shades of gray. You could stand face-to-face with this guy and then not be able to pick him out of a lineup later.

  And yet, he looked vaguely familiar.

  “I should have known you were up to no good,” he said. He didn’t sound like someone being held at gunpoint. He sounded rather pleased with himself. “You’ve certainly been determined in your quest to obtain the Eye. I can only imagine what you’d want with power, control, and invulnerability.” His bland face remained perfectly neutral. He might as well have been chatting about the weather.

  The assailant’s fingers twitched slightly, and Owen said, “Don’t even try a spell.” Then he sighed wearily and asked, “What makes you think I have plans for the Eye?”

  “You said you had plans for it, and you’ve worked very hard to keep it in your possession.”

  Owen grimaced and shook his head. His ruse to make the magical puritans think he wouldn’t get in the way of their plans had backfired. But that meant this guy must have been there in the park. I didn’t recognize him, but it had been dark and there had been so many people and things there. There was still something familiar about him, though. I knew I’d seen him somewhere recently.

  Abruptly, his bland, neutral face twisted into a mask of sheer hatred, his eyes narrowing, and furrows appearing in his forehead as his lips thinned to a harsh slit. “What do you want with the Eye and its power?” He spat the words at Owen.

  “I want to keep it out of the wrong hands,” Owen said with his characteristic crisis calm.

  “Not to mention foiling an evil plot to stir up the magical world,” I said, moving to sit beside Owen in a show of solidarity. Sitting may not have been a position of strength, but it was stronger than falling, which was what might have happened if either of us had tried to get up and run. “You aren’t another one of those magical puritans, are you?”

  “I have nothing to do with those fanatics,” the man said with a shake of his head.

  “Then who are you?” Owen asked. “What do you want with me?”

  “My name is Raphael Maldwyn.” He paused for a moment, like he was waiting for Owen to react. When Owen showed no sign of recognition, Raphael went purple with rage. “You don’t know who I am? My name means nothing to you?”

  Owen shook his head. “I’m sorry, nothing is coming to mind. It’s been a really rough day. How about a hint?”

  His name didn’t mean anything to me, either, but I finally realized where I’d seen him. “Hey, you were in the coffee shop! The one sitting by us who had a coughing fit. You must be the person Sam thought was tailing us. You were using illusions and Sam noticed the magic.” I wondered if I’d seen him anywhere else, but as busy as we’d been, chasing and being chased, I doubted I would have noticed any individual who hadn’t physically attacked us. Was he the man I’d seen outside 21? I hadn’t had a good look at his face, but his coat was familiar. Then again, it was just a bland, generic trench coat.

  “Following you has been a challenge,” he admitted. “You’ve been on the move all day, surrounded by your guards, and then there were the other people following you.”

  “Yeah, if you wanted to follow us today, you’d have to take a number and get in line,” I said.

  “Since you have the Eye, I can prove that you’re up to your parents’ tricks, and then you will be dealt with,” Raphael said.

  “I never even knew my parents,” Owen said, his voice heavy with weariness. “I think my father died without knowing I’d been born, and my mother gave me away as soon as I was born. They didn’t get a chance to influence me.”

  “And yet you have a weapon pointed at me.”

  Owen’s gun wavered. He was in a no-win situation. He couldn’t exactly protest his innocence and pure motives while holding someone at gunpoint, but without the gun, he was vulnerable to the madman with a vendetta.

  Taking advantage of Owen’s moment of hesitation, Raphael moved his hands in the form of a spell as he muttered words. I felt the magic building around us. He kept at it until beads of sweat formed on his brow. When several minutes went by with no result, he finally gave up and stared at Owen. “How do you resist me?” he asked.

  “No magic. Not even enough to allow you to use magic on me. The Eye doesn’t do me any good. Now do you believe that I don’t want it for myself?” Owen very deliberately put his gun down and spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

  “This is a trick!” Raphael shouted. Before either Owen or I had a chance to react, he lunged forward, grabbed Owen, and jerked him to his feet, shaking him violently. He was half a head taller than Owen and not nearly as weary or as badly hurt, plus he was crazy, so he was at a distinct advantage. I was afraid he’d kill Owen with his bare hands.

  That wasn’t something I could just sit by and watch happen. Forcing myself to my feet, I took the gun from my purse and aimed it at Raphael’s head. “Let him go!” I commanded. The order didn’t make its way through the fog of crazy. I thought about firing a warning shot, but I wasn’t sure I could do that without causing a ricochet or drawing a security guard who’d ask questions we couldn’t answer. Instead, I stepped forward and ground the barrel of the gun into the back of Raphael’s neck. “I said, let him go.”

  That got his attention. Unfortunately, it didn’t get his obedience. He did take one hand off Owen, but only to gesture casually. The gun jerked in my hands, like it was trying to escape
my grasp. I held on as tightly as I could, my knuckles growing white with the strain, but it was no use. The gun slipped out of my fingers and flew into Raphael’s hand.

  “Damn!” I muttered. I was so used to magic not working on me that it hadn’t occurred to me that magic could work on objects I held. That perhaps explained why weapons weren’t used too often in magical fights.

  Raphael shoved Owen roughly against the nearest pillar and pointed my gun at him with one hand while frisking him with the other. “Where is the Eye? What have you done with it?” he demanded.

  “He doesn’t have it. He never has,” I said. “If anyone’s power hungry and holding onto this dreadful eyesore, it’s me, not Owen. And in case you’re worrying, I have no plans to give it to him.”

  “Yes, she has been very stubborn about it.” All three of us turned to see who’d spoken. The puritans had caught up with us. They must have tracked the Eye like magical bloodhounds. The mad professor led the group. “It took us some time to find you,” he said. “I see you’ve taken the Eye back from that foolish woman.”

  He came toward us, ignoring Raphael, and although he claimed that the Eye didn’t affect him, I thought his eyes had a suspicious glint in them when he got close to us. “Yes, I believe the girl has it once more. Give it to me, young lady, and things will go much better for you.”

  “Keep away from her!” Raphael said in a commanding tone, much to my surprise. He released Owen and stepped in between me and the puritans. Owen moved around to my side, and we exchanged a puzzled look. “You have no right to the Eye,” Raphael continued.

  “Neither do you,” the lead puritan said.

  “I’m not trying to take it.”

  “Then may I ask what your interest in the Eye is?”

  “I am not interested in the Eye. My interest is in bringing Owen Palmer to justice.”

  “Then I would think you’d want to get the Eye out of his sphere of influence. He may not be holding it, but his girlfriend is, and do you have any doubt that she’d comply if he told her to give it to him?”