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“I’m not following you. I just happen to be heading uptown,” I said, trying not to grin from the sheer joy of irritating Mimi.
While I wrangled Mimi, I heard Owen behind me on his phone, saying, “Sam, we could use some air support out here.” Soon, there was a faint stirring of air above me.
It was just in time, because a spectacularly well-dressed crowd was coming down the sidewalk from the museum. The power-hungry gala patrons must have been drawn by the brooch, and we were about to be menaced by a mob in formal wear. It looked like what would happen if a riot broke out at the Oscars.
“Oh, look, my party came to find me!” Mimi said. “They love me so much.”
We couldn’t let that bunch get near the brooch or we’d have another melee. “Sam!” I shouted.
“I’ve got ’em, doll,” the gargoyle said. Then he called out, “Rocky! Rollo! You deal with the crowd.” To me he added, “Let’s get her away from here.”
There was a traffic light with a crosswalk nearby, and I dragged Mimi toward it. When the “walk” light came on, Sam dropped out of the sky and said, “Hey, sweetheart!”
Mimi gave a piercing, panicked shriek and ran out into the street. Owen and I followed her, Sam flying above. When we reached the opposite sidewalk, I turned back to see that the park gang had come out, and the museum party mob had nearly reached the intersection. We ducked around the nearest corner as the light changed and cars started moving past us again.
“Do you think they saw us?” I asked Owen.
“My guys set up a veil,” Sam said. “The gang from the museum may have caught a glimpse, but they didn’t see where you went, and that bunch of fanatics shouldn’t have seen anything.”
“They’ll sense the stone, though,” Owen said. “They’ll find us eventually.”
“But if they can’t see us, it might take them longer to find us,” I said, desperately hoping I was right. It was the only hope I had to hold on to.
I was surprised by how long Mimi was able to keep running, even in a tight dress and high heels. Then again, she never missed a spin class, so she probably had enviable stamina. I was running out of steam, and Owen, with his bad leg, trailed behind me. Only Sam kept an easy pace, staying just above her. Come to think of it, that probably had as much to do with her stamina as her time in the gym. If I didn’t know Sam, a gargoyle chasing me would give me plenty of incentive to run until I keeled over.
Fortunately, this part of town was relatively quiet at this time of night. It was mostly residential, with doctors’ offices on the ground floors of the swanky apartment buildings. The street was nearly deserted. If the people in the apartments above were affected by the proximity of the Eye and driven to come after it, then we’d be long past by the time they made it down in the elevator. Luckily, Mimi was too focused on running to remember to scream for help.
She slowed as we neared Madison Avenue. The window of a designer boutique distracted her. If the shop had been open, I was sure she’d have gone in and demanded that they give her everything she wanted. As it was, her eyes grew wide and she practically drooled with her face pressed against the glass like a kid perusing the thirty-one flavors in an ice cream parlor.
I was immensely grateful for the opportunity to stop and catch my breath. Being the chaser instead of the chased wasn’t any easier. It still had the same effect on my heart, lungs, and muscles. Sam perched in a nearby tree and Owen and I hung back while Mimi window-shopped. She seemed to have forgotten we were there.
The respite gave our pursuers time to catch up, though. The sound of running footsteps approached, and Owen and I ducked into the shadow of a spindly sidewalk tree. A moment later, I saw that it was Rod and Granny, but without the puritans.
Owen gestured for Sam to keep an eye on Mimi, then we stepped out of the shadows to meet Rod and Granny. “What happened with the others?” Owen whispered.
“They’re confused, wandering around like they’re looking for something,” Rod said.
“What about the museum party people? Did you see them?”
“They were milling aimlessly. It may take them a while to get a fix, since they don’t know what they’re looking for.” Then he frowned and stared at me. “You don’t have the brooch anymore. What happened?”
I gestured over my shoulder at Mimi. “She got it back.”
“Damn! I guess there’s not much we can do to help.”
“I might be able to talk her out of it this time,” Granny said.
“No, don’t!” Owen hurried to say. “We’re keeping an eye on her, but it’s probably better for now if she has it.”
“We’re using her as a brooch mule,” I explained. “Since it works on her, nobody but us can take it from her, and that means they’re not attacking us. Which, believe me, is a really nice change of pace.”
“We’ll get it back when it’s time,” Owen said. “We just have to keep her away from anything that would stir up problems.”
Rod nodded. “I see. That’s actually pretty clever.”
“I wish I could say we planned it,” I said, “but we’re making the best of a bad situation.”
“Hey, gang!” Sam called out softly, “She’s on the move.” He stayed hidden in the trees to avoid panicking her again.
