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However, neither of us moved. It was comfortable standing huddled together, and I felt safe in the enclosed environment, even if it did make a perfect trap. Outside, the world was a scary place, full of people who were out to get us—and this time, that wasn’t paranoia talking.
“So, maybe we should check to see which side is safest for leaving,” Owen said after a while.
“If you insist,” I said, forcing myself to pull away from him, and then instantly missing his warmth.
“You check that end, I’ll check this end.” He grinned. “Maybe you could consider all this part of your security job audition for Sam.”
I reluctantly headed to the opposite end of the tunnel from Owen. I didn’t like splitting up like that, even if I thought it was probably a good idea. I flattened myself against the tunnel’s wall and peered out from behind the bridge’s decorative edging. All I saw was a dim darkness. It wasn’t pitch black, thanks to the lights from the city around us and the lampposts that lined the footpath, more of a dark twilight. I thought I heard faint footsteps on the road above, and I held my breath to listen, but they grew fainter until I could no longer hear them. I didn’t hear anything else, other than distant city sounds, and I didn’t detect any motion, either on the ground or in the air.
I turned back to look at Owen’s end of the tunnel. He was doing the same thing I’d done, hovering at the edge of the tunnel to watch and listen. I could only see him in silhouette, but I thought he turned back to look at me. I gave him a thumbs-up sign, holding my arm away from my body so he might be able to see it. I waited for a similar signal from him. Instead, he jumped, and then I heard his footfalls echoing through the tunnel as he ran toward me.
Apparently, the coast wasn’t clear on that side.
Obeying his directive to focus first on protecting the brooch, I ran out of the tunnel. He was faster than I was, so I figured he’d catch up soon enough, and I didn’t want to risk being trapped.
After all our earlier running around, I didn’t know where I was in the park or where I should go, so I stuck to the path for the time being. Owen caught up with me pretty quickly, and I reached out to catch his hand. “The elves,” he panted. “They must have sensed the Knot and found us.”
I risked a glance over my shoulder, but didn’t see anything coming up behind us. I also didn’t hear footsteps. That made it hard for me to force myself to run all-out, since I was still winded from the last footrace. The next time I looked behind us, I recognized Lyle’s upturned collar as he raced toward us. He ran like a gazelle, and I wasn’t sure his feet even touched the earth. No wonder I hadn’t heard footsteps.
That gave me plenty of incentive to put on a burst of speed, although I suspected it would be fruitless. Owen had been holding back to keep pace with me, so he matched my speed. We were so busy running from Lyle that we nearly ran head-on into Sylvester, who seemed to come out of nowhere to block the path. We probably left skid marks as we stopped abruptly and turned to the side. The sides were also blocked, with Earl standing on one side of the path and another elf blocking the other way. Lyle then came up behind us, blocking our retreat in that direction. We were surrounded.
“You have my brooch,” Sylvester said. “Hand it over!”
Owen regarded Sylvester calmly, acting as though he’d just run into him while out in the park and completely ignoring the fact that we were surrounded by elves. “But, see, your brooch got all mixed up with our stone,” he responded. “So we’re just going to get our stone out of the brooch, and then you can have your brooch. That is, if it survives.”
“Don’t get insolent with me, boy,” Sylvester snarled. “I haven’t forgiven you for knocking me out earlier.”
“I wasn’t trying to knock you out. You got in my way, and even if I hadn’t knocked you out, you wouldn’t have been able to take the brooch. Don’t you know how the Knot works?”
“Hand over the brooch!” Sylvester sputtered. He was deeply under the influence of the Eye, and I doubted he’d listen to reason. Even in the darkness, I could see his eyes glittering with need.
I instinctively flinched, but Owen stood firm. “If you want it, come and take it,” he said. “I don’t recall that you were very successful in your previous attempts.”
I wasn’t sure what Owen thought would happen when Sylvester called his bluff. The Knot wouldn’t protect me the way it had protected Mimi. I turned to Earl, who stood his ground while fidgeting uncomfortably. I gave him my best pleading look, but I didn’t expect much, even if he really was on our side. If he helped us, he’d blow his cover.
So far, Owen’s bluff was working. Sylvester held back, watching us, unable to tell which of us had the brooch. His eyes shifted back and forth between us as he tried to decide who would be the most likely keeper of the brooch. Owen oh-so-casually put his hand in his pocket, as if to protect something valuable, and then Sylvester made his move.
Chapter Fourteen
Sylvester rushed at Owen, who stepped forward to meet his attack, catching him off-guard and grabbing his arm to use Sylvester’s own momentum against him. The Elf Lord went flying, landing face-first on the path. The other elves hesitated, torn between keeping their positions and moving to help their leader. We darted through the opening Sylvester left.
Sylvester shouted, “Get them! Get the brooch!” and soon the other elves were after us. I didn’t see how we’d avoid capture for very long. They could outrun us, they had magic, and they had us outnumbered.
The elves had reached us and one even had a grip on my arm when a noise in the bushes beside the path startled me. I thought at first it was just some animal, but then something sprang out of the bushes onto the path with a bloodcurdling war cry. When it went on to shout, “Sneaky, greedy, cheap elves!” I knew it had to be Thor. I wasn’t sure, though, if he was attacking the elves or coming after the brooch. I jumped out of the way, just in case, and he ran past me into the group of elves. He swung his tiny battleaxe with a vengeance, but it didn’t seem like he actually hit anything. The elves jumped nimbly out of the way before he could hit them, and then it took him a while to recover after the momentum from each blow swung him around in a circle.
ently, the coast wasn’t clear on that side.
Obeying his directive to focus first on protecting the brooch, I ran out of the tunnel. He was faster than I was, so I figured he’d catch up soon enough, and I didn’t want to risk being trapped.
After all our earlier running around, I didn’t know where I was in the park or where I should go, so I stuck to the path for the time being. Owen caught up with me pretty quickly, and I reached out to catch his hand. “The elves,” he panted. “They must have sensed the Knot and found us.”
I risked a glance over my shoulder, but didn’t see anything coming up behind us. I also didn’t hear footsteps. That made it hard for me to force myself to run all-out, since I was still winded from the last footrace. The next time I looked behind us, I recognized Lyle’s upturned collar as he raced toward us. He ran like a gazelle, and I wasn’t sure his feet even touched the earth. No wonder I hadn’t heard footsteps.
That gave me plenty of incentive to put on a burst of speed, although I suspected it would be fruitless. Owen had been holding back to keep pace with me, so he matched my speed. We were so busy running from Lyle that we nearly ran head-on into Sylvester, who seemed to come out of nowhere to block the path. We probably left skid marks as we stopped abruptly and turned to the side. The sides were also blocked, with Earl standing on one side of the path and another elf blocking the other way. Lyle then came up behind us, blocking our retreat in that direction. We were surrounded.
“You have my brooch,” Sylvester said. “Hand it over!”
Owen regarded Sylvester calmly, acting as though he’d just run into him while out in the park and completely ignoring the fact that we were surrounded by elves. “But, see, your brooch got all mixed up with our stone,” he responded. “So we’re just going to get our stone out of the brooch, and then you can have your brooch. That is, if it survives.”
