Free No Quest for the Wicked by Shanna Swendson Page B

sagely. “Yep, I thought you looked different. What happened, boy?”
    “I’ll explain later,” I whispered to Granny.
    She addressed the gnome. “Do you think I’d let him near my granddaughter if I thought he was evil? Do you not trust my judgment?”
    The gnome studied her for a moment, turned to look at Owen, then bowed to Granny and said, “I accept your wisdom.” To Owen he added, “But I’m watching you, Palmer. Try any funny business and you won’t be immune to my axe.”
    Owen gave him a thin smile. “Likewise. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have an evil piece of jewelry to track down before all of Manhattan is laid to waste, and we have about—” he checked his watch “—ten minutes to catch up with a possible lead.”
    The gnome re-holstered his axe, then said, “I’m coming with you. I figure you’re more likely to find this thing first than those dopey elves are, so I’m throwing my lot in with you.”
    “I don’t recall inviting you,” Rod said, looming over the gnome, who only came up to his waist.
    “I’m not giving you an option, kid.” The gnome gave us a formal bow and said, “Thorson Gilthammer, at your service. But you can call me Thor.”
    I couldn’t keep a straight face at the idea of someone who looked like a lawn ornament on a weekend trip to Atlantic City with his friends from the senior center being called “Thor.” But he did carry an axe that would probably shatter my ankle, so I turned away and disguised my giggles in a coughing fit.
    Granny didn’t understand the concept of tact, so I worried that she’d start an interspecies incident, but all she said was, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Thor. You can call me Granny. Glad to have you on the team.”
    “Um, Granny, you don’t have to come with us,” I said. In spite of what she’d said about not needing trinkets, I didn’t like the idea of her anywhere near the Eye. “We were going to get you a cab. Merlin said he was looking forward to seeing you and offered to let you stay at his office while we’re wrapping this up.”
    “You’ll not get rid of me that easily, Katie Beth,” she said, shaking her cane at me. “I’m not letting you out of my sight. That’s the reason I came up here. That thing I felt could happen at any moment, and I will be there for it.”
    “Don’t you have luggage?” I asked in a desperate attempt to find some reason she had to go to the office. “We’ll need to do something with it before we can go wandering around town.”
    “Didn’t bring any. It would just get in my way.” She raised her enormous tote bag. “I’ve got a change of underwear and a toothbrush in here.”
    Thor gazed at her in admiration. “Now, there’s a lady who knows how to go on a quest.” He looked up at the rest of us and asked, “So, where are we going to track down this possible lead?”
    “Macy’s,” Rod said.
    “Good, I could use a new girdle,” Granny said, heading out and plowing her way through the crowds. Although she’d never been to New York before, she somehow headed in the right direction. The rest of us had to hurry to keep up with her.
     
    *
     
    “Who are we looking for?” I asked Owen as our odd little party entered the department store.
    “A Natalie Winters.”
    “We need a plan for approaching her,” I said. “We won’t be able to just walk up to her and ask if she got an interesting brooch for her birthday today. If she is our woman, we can’t afford to make her suspicious.”
    “A personal shopper would help her choose clothes that flatter her and are suitable for her needs,” Rod said. “If we can get to her before the real shopper does, it would be easy enough to ask if there’s any accessory she wants to match.”
    “Looks like we’ve got a volunteer,” I said.
    “What? Me?” He shook his head. “No, no, no.”
    “You want me helping a woman choose clothes?” I asked, gesturing at my current outfit, which could probably best be described