She revealed herself and stalked over with Harold. “Old gas, indeed. I detest you, little mutts.”
“Really? Because you loved me earlier,” Bixby said. “At least until I blabbed about your bird problem.”
Harold growled and I raised my hand. “This is serious, boys. Cousin Liberty, what are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here? Dragging your friends out in their nightwear?” Since she was dressed all in black again, it was clearly another stealth mission. “Janelle, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“On the contrary, I’m proud to be here.” I gestured to Minerva. “I’m on special order from the mayor’s office. Can you say the same?”
My cousin looked down at Minerva and her green eyes widened. “I am proud to be here, yes. Doing what I think is best. A Brighton doesn’t kowtow to a Longmuir. Or anyone else.”
“Cousin Liberty, I believe in Ruthann. Minerva and I have discussed it and I’m where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m supposed to do.” I straightened my shoulders. “Please don’t try to undermine me.”
“Undermine you?” She sounded outraged. “I’m trying to repair your mistake. You exposed a sentry, Janelle. Do you have any idea what that means?”
“Yes, I know what that means. I messed up and I’m fixing it.”
Bixby walked over and glared at Liberty. “You know why it happened. It was your hiccup problem that did it.”
Liberty paced around with her arms crossed, as if she were hugging herself. “I know, I know. It’s all my fault and that’s why I’m here. They’re coming. You’re not safe.”
I walked over and tried to grab her arm. “It’s not your fault. The problem is hereditary. Anyway, revealing the sentry was an accident. Norris said not to let mistakes get us down. It’s about the correction.”
She jerked away. “Do you have any idea how much—”
“Raw talent?” Bixby suggested.
Liberty forged on. “How much brute force is required to break through layers of spells by the finest witches and warlocks this town has ever known?”
“There’s a lot of force in a hiccup,” I said. “Trust me, I know. But we’ve tackled the first four sentries. After Orville, we have one more.” I caught her eye. “It needs to be us, Liberty. Minerva says so.”
“If this is a silly school assignment, I will take very severe action.” Liberty tried to muscle me out of the way.
“Harold,” I said. “This is my job. You know that.”
Liberty squawked and flailed as her own familiar blew her out of the way. “For the greater good, madam,” Harold said. “Stand down and support.”
Sinda, Ren and I revealed and hid the statue in short order and Liberty didn’t say a word. Perhaps couldn’t, due to heavy localized winds.
“Are you coming, Liberty?” I asked, walking over to the car. “Minerva rides shotgun.”
We covered the few blocks to City Hall in silence, where the last, and likely the most vital, sentry stood in perpetual, invisible vigilance. I was glad the drive wasn’t longer. Liberty was sitting between Ren and Sinda, taking up more than her share of space. Each woman had a dog on her lap. It would be funny if it weren’t deadly serious.
“Still funny,” Minerva said, with a little sneeze. It was the first time she’d spoken since my friends joined us.
We parked illegally out front and hurried across the pavement to the big building. “Why does this feel different?” I asked.
“Because it reeks of roadkill,” Bijou said. “Retreat?”
“Retreat,” Liberty said. “I’ll handle this alone. Thanks to you, I know what to do.”
“No.” I walked out in front, Bixby under my arm. “It needs to be us. All three of us. We’re seeing this through and securing the sentry.”
“Think again.”
The low, menacing voice came from behind us and a shock of electricity ran through my whole body.
So close.
We were so close to the win.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Iturned, expecting a trio of warlocks but found only one. Even one warlock with nefarious intent was a problem, though.
“Good evening, Mr. Parkin,” I said. “What brings you here so late? City Hall closed hours ago.”
“I’m aware,” he said. “A clown chased me out.”
“The security guard is overbearing,” Liberty said. “But I’d hardly call him a clown.”
I shared an inner smile with the dogs, and even Minerva. My fan, the ghost clown, was apparently doing backup security now.
“Go home, all of you,” Robert Parkin said. “Liberty, I’d hate for anything unfortunate to happen to your cousin. Like a wasting spell. It worked so well on you.”
Liberty shuddered. It wasn’t visible, however. Just something I could feel in my mind. And that made me worry she’d hiccup.
“Don’t even think about it,” said my canine shield. “She’ll have dealt with that by now.”
