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“I call myself an elf,” Earl said, “but point taken.”
Rod blasted a gargoyle, but before they could get to another one, I called out, “Hey, wait a second—if those wee ones were like an arrow saying ‘Magic Brooch Here!’ then what do you think all these pyrotechnics are?”
Rod said, “We’ll finish them off, then hurry out of here.”
While they blew apart the remaining gargoyle corpses—with enough glee that I suspected they were working off all the pent-up urges brought on by proximity to the brooch—I found my purse and made sure the tranquilizer dart was still there. Then we headed deeper into the Ramble part of Central Park.
I could get lost in the Ramble on a sunny day. The paths twisted around themselves enough that you didn’t know where in the park you’d eventually come out. At night, in the dark, it was even easier to get lost. Fortunately, that was what we wanted. If even we didn’t know where we were, we’d probably be harder to find. I wasn’t sure how Granny managed, since some of the hills got pretty steep and the footing wasn’t always solid. There were a couple of times I’d have fallen if Owen hadn’t steadied me. When I looked back to see how Granny was faring, I saw that Rod and Earl were practically carrying her between them.
We moved briskly at first until we were well away from our previous hideout, then we slowed our pace. It wouldn’t do to wear ourselves out. We finally found another relatively sheltered spot and stopped to rest.
“I wonder how long we’ll be able to hold out here,” I said, leaning my head on Owen’s shoulder.
There was a noise like a herd of elephants tromping up the hill toward us, and Owen said, “Not much longer, I’d guess.” He was already up and pulling me to my feet.
But it was only Thor, his battleaxe gleaming in the moonlight. I was relieved to see that it wasn’t coated with blood—and then I wondered what that meant about the outcome of his battle. “Where are the elves?” Owen asked him as I sat down again.
“I have subdued them,” Thor said proudly. “They shouldn’t bother you again for a while.” He patted his jacket pocket, which jingled. “And I have secured payment for our work. I had to go through all their pockets to get enough, and I may have to go back for another payment later if their watches don’t appraise for what I expect, but for now, the elves’ debt to us is cleared.” He gave a formal little bow to Earl. “And you, good sir, are no longer my opponent.”
“I wasn’t the one who owed you money,” Earl said. He hesitated, then added, “Sylvester didn’t suspect anything about me, did he?”
“I don’t think he noticed you were gone.”
“What about Sam?” Owen asked.
“The gargoyle said he would keep an eye on things from the air and alert you to any potential problems.”
“He didn’t warn us about the zombie gargoyle attack,” I said as a sick feeling developed in my stomach. “Do you think he’s okay?”
Owen got out his phone and hit the speed dial key, then gave an audible sigh of relief when Sam answered. He updated Sam, put his phone back in his pocket, then reported, “There’s a commotion at the museum. He thinks he saw Mimi running away. He tried to follow, but lost her in the park.”
I jumped to my feet. “Mimi’s on the loose? Then we’d better go. I’ve seen what this thing does to people who’ve had it only a little while. She was carrying it around all evening. She’ll kill me if she catches me.”
But she’d have had to get in line. Suddenly it seemed as though the entire forest around us had come to life, and this time it wasn’t tiny little people. These were full-size, and they were closing in on us.
I knew there were regular fairies who hung out in the park, as well as gnomes and other magical creatures. There was even the occasional enchanted prince turned into a frog—Gemma was currently dating one of them. I just hadn’t ever run into so many of them, all at once, or with such a sense of hostility about them.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” Earl said softly, and then he started singing. There was answering elfsong from within the circle, and the sense of hostility faded.
“Don’t you work for the Elf Lord?” a voice asked.
“I work for the free elves, but that work takes me into the Elf Lord’s court,” Earl replied.
“You have the Knot in your possession,” another voice from the circle said. “As well as something more.”
“We are guardians of the Knot and must keep it safe,” Earl said. More softly, he said to our little group, “We’d better get out of the park as soon as possible because these people know what the brooch is and what they could do with it.”
“But Mimi’s coming!” I hissed.
“Mimi doesn’t have magical powers.” Raising his voice again, he said, “Now we must take our leave.” He began walking forward, motioning us to go with him. The whole way, he hummed under his breath. There were answering hums as the circle parted to allow us to leave. They didn’t try to stop us, but they did fall into step behind us, drawn inexorably to the brooch.
“They’re still there, Earl,” I whispered.
“Yeah, and that’s why I said we have to get out of the park. I don’t think they’ll follow us into the city.”
“But the power-hungry people are in the city!” I protested.
“They don’t have magic. Trust me, you don’t want these people coming after you.”
