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Hattie gets up and starts down a hall with her boys.
“You wait here while we prepare. Don’t steal anything. I’ll know if you do.”
She points to a hotel surveillance camera that hasn’t worked since disco was king.
Delon comes back to where the rest of us are sitting.
“Do you trust them?” I say.
He shrugs.
“What choice do we have?”
“That’s not what I asked. Does the family keep its promises?”
“Tykho said yes, but you’ll notice that she’s not here.”
I turn to the others.
“Keep your weapons handy but don’t get itchy and start shooting at shadows.”
Vidocq looks at the hall that the Mangarms went down.
“I’d love to know more about their potion making. When this is over, maybe I’ll come back and do some trading of my own.”
“You do and I’ll tell Allegra,” says Candy.
Vidocq narrows his eyes.
“God does not love snitches does he, Father?”
“I wouldn’t know,” said Traven. “We’re no longer on speaking terms.”
Hattie and the boys come back, but seeing them doesn’t fill me with confidence. They’ve left the robes and furs behind and have armored up in a garbage-dump combination of shoulder pads, padded hockey pants, hard hats, and football and baseball helmets. Diogo is looking particularly proud of his mall-cop shirt and badge. They’ve left their swords behind and are carrying axes and baseball bats.
“I don’t believe we dressed properly for the party,” says Brigitte.
“Anyone with second thoughts can still go back,” I say. “After this, I’m not so sure.”
Candy punches my arm.
“Stop playing Nick Fury. We’re all on board.”
“I just want to make sure everybody knows.”
Brigitte looks at Candy.
“He’s so funny when he’s playing Dad.”
“Isn’t he just,” she says.
“Sorry,” I say. “I’m more used to doing these things on my own. Not as part of a school field trip.”
Vidocq says, “Consider that for once you’ll have people to watch your back.”
“You’ll need them,” says Hattie, and puts on a wired-front hockey helmet. “Let’s go.”
We walk the twelve floors back to street level. I have a feeling they have the rope-and-pulley system rigged to get up and down faster but they don’t want us to see how it works. At the bottom, Hattie and her crew lead the way with lanterns and we head deeper into the mall.
