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He froze, then shook his head. “Sorry! Fighting, yeah, that’s it.” Without another word, he turned and ran back to where Granny and Earl were fending off the attacking gargoyles.

“That’s not a good sign,” Owen said softly before leading me to an entirely different group of trees.Advertisement

“Maybe we should take this chance to go off on our own again,” I suggested.

It was a while before he answered, so I knew he was thinking about it. “No,” he said eventually. “We’d be sitting ducks without their help. We shouldn’t get rid of them until we know they’re a danger.”

“Rod was just breathing down our necks and reaching for the brooch,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but he snapped out of it as soon as you said something. It’s when he doesn’t snap out of it that I’ll be worried. Do you still have the dart?”

I reached for my purse and then had a moment of panic when I didn’t find it. “I think my purse is back at the rocks.”

“Then that settles it, we can’t just sneak away. We’ll have to trust Rod. I don’t think your grandmother will let him harm you.”

The others were winning the battle against the zombie gargoyles, turning them back into stone—again. Soon, several more “boulders” decorated the landscape. When nothing else came out of the sky, Owen and I rejoined the others.

I kicked one of the de-animated gargoyles and said, “I wonder if smashing them thoroughly would keep them from being brought back to life yet again.”

“Unfortunately, I left my sledgehammer in my office,” Rod said.

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“And the gnome is still gone,” Earl added.

“I don’t think his tiny battleaxe would do much for breaking rocks,” I said.

“I was thinking about his head. I’ve heard gnomes’ heads are made of rocks.”

“Earl, be nice,” Granny scolded. Then she pointed her cane at one of the fallen gargoyles, blue flame shot out of it, and the gargoyle shattered into mossy little bits. “Who needs a sledgehammer?” she asked. “And you call yourselves wizards. Hmph.”

“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.” pqdm.com