“Not now, Earl,” Sylvester hissed through clenched teeth without taking his eyes off Mimi. Behind him, Earl gave a “Well, I tried” shrug.
Sylvester’s lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what he said. I felt a slight tingle as the sense of magic in the room built, but nothing happened. Sylvester frowned and brought his hands up in front of his face. “What?” he growled.
“I tried to warn you, my lord,” Earl said. It was a sign of how stunned Sylvester was that he allowed Earl to speak more than two words. “It’s the Knot. It—”
“Shut up, Earl,” Sylvester said, returning to his senses.
“A magical attack wouldn’t work any better than a physical one on someone in possession of the Knot,” Owen said softly to me.
“So we’ve got the advantage here, since we can physically attack her,” I said.
“If we can get past her minions.” He grabbed another tablecloth and added it to the pile on the floor.
Mimi hadn’t noticed the magical attack, but she did notice that the “band” hadn’t gone anywhere. She whirled on Sylvester, her eyes taking on the mad wildness that I used to think of as “Evil Mimi” and that had made working for someone who literally turned into an ogre every so often seem not all that scary in comparison. “I thought I told you to set up,” she snapped. “We don’t have much time, and I don’t want you doing sound checks after the guests start arriving. You will begin playing five minutes before the doors open. Is that understood?”
The elves took a step backward, and then they all turned as if to go. A second later, Sylvester shook his head and snapped out of it, turning back to face Mimi while catching Lyle by his collar again. The Elf Lord pulled himself to his full height—which seemed to grow a little—and loomed over Mimi. “Do you know who I am?” he thundered. “Who are you to give me orders, little woman?”
Mimi put one hand on her hip and gave him the full Evil Mimi glare. “I know exactly who you are,” she said in a voice that could have preserved the ice sculpture in a kiln. “You’re a soon-to-be-unemployed musician. Do you know how many talented musicians there are out of work at any given time in this city? With one phone call I could have dozens here competing to take your job.” She turned to her undercover puritan minion and said, “Start making calls.”
“You are no one to dismiss me,” Sylvester said.
She put her hand in her pocket, drawing power from the Eye. I could hear that power in the tone of her voice. “Let’s see, I’m the fiancée of a museum trustee, I’m on the board of the foundation benefiting from this event, and I’m the chairwoman of this gala. I am definitely someone to dismiss you.”
Sylvester’s fingers twitched, and then he seemed to remember that wouldn’t work, and his hands formed into fists at his side. “You are in possession of my property,” he said.
She raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t even bring in your gear, so don’t expect to get paid.”
With an animal-like snarl, he leapt forward, aiming for the pocket where the brooch apparently was. The puritan minion moved to intercept him, but Sylvester’s magic worked on him, knocking him aside. Unfortunately, Sylvester was foiled by his own brooch because he was unable to even touch Mimi’s clothes.
“That’s good to know,” Owen commented to me from behind the chair cover he’d just removed. “We really may be the only ones who can get it off her. It should be safe from the elves.”
“I don’t think he’s going to stop trying, and we can use that to our advantage,” I said. “Let’s get into position for the next time he knocks aside Minion Number One.”
The courtyard was now so full of staff setting up the event that it was easy to blend in with all the people moving back and forth. We simply found something that needed to be carried from point A to point B, with point B being near where Mimi and Sylvester stood arguing.
Sylvester made another go at the brooch, this time neutralizing the puritan minion before starting. Owen reached for Mimi’s pocket under the cover of Sylvester’s attack, but someone else got there first.
With a bloodthirsty battle cry, Thor, who must have freed himself from his napkin bonds, rushed at Mimi from behind, swinging his axe at her knees. Instead of touching her, the axe hit the air about half an inch away from her, but he responded as though he’d swung his axe with all his strength at a steel beam. His whole body vibrated along with the axe, his vibrations moving him away from Mimi.
