“His name? What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Names have power,” Snaggletooth said. “To know someone’s name is to have an advantage over him. It can be the most dangerous information of all.”
“Then tell me his name,” I said.
Snaggletooth sighed. “Would that I could remember, but the point is moot now. Too much time has passed. No one remembers his name. Not even the usurper himself.”
It figured. Nothing was ever that easy. And yet I had the strangest feeling that the answer was dangling just out of reach, a missing puzzle piece I could almost see.
I hurried after Snaggletooth. “Even if I managed to get a shot at his heart, how would I pierce his armor? Everyone says it’s impenetrable.”
“It is not armor,” the old gargoyle corrected me. “It is a shell, a carapace containing only his essence. All that remains of the usurper’s original form within is his heart, and the feathered fragments of his soul.”
“Feathered…? Oh, the crows,” I said. “But that still doesn’t tell me how I can get to his heart.”
“The usurper carries with him the only spell that can pierce his carapace.”
“A spell? How am I supposed to get it from him?”
“That is up to you.”
We came out of the tunnel at the cave mouth. Snaggletooth went first to check if the coast was clear, then waved me forward. “We must get you to safety. The time will come soon for you to face the usurper again, and when you do, remember what I have told you.”
“Come with me,” I said. “If the Black Knight finds out you helped me, you’ll wind up part of his throne.”
“No, he will never suspect me,” Snaggletooth replied. “I am his vizier, his trust in me is absolute. As is his trust in others he ought to be more cautious of.”
Another gargoyle emerged from the shadows. I stiffened, but when Snaggletooth didn’t react I realized it was one of his allies. To my surprise, it was Yellow Eye. I remembered Yellow Eye spotting me on the street in Manhattan but backing off instead of attacking. Now I understood why. Yellow Eye had been part of Snaggletooth’s underground resistance all along.
The two gargoyles chittered at each other for a moment, and then Snaggletooth turned back to me. “You will be taken to safety, but you must go now. The usurper will notice your absence soon and come looking for you. His rage will make him even more dangerous.”
“Let’s hope he doesn’t blow up any more gas stations,” I said.
“Once again you know nothing of which you speak,” Snaggletooth said. The old gargoyle spoke quickly, knowing there wasn’t much time. “The fire was not his doing. I followed the usurper this day as he searched for you, though the cover of the storm clouds could not fully shield me from the painful rays of the Dayburning Hellstar above. Yet follow him I did. Your trail led him to the building you speak of, this gas station, but it was destroyed before he reached it. The death of those inside is one crime the usurper is not responsible for.”
“What?” If the Black Knight hadn’t destroyed Underwood’s base, who had?
A loud gargoyle screech emanated from deep within the cavern. Snaggletooth and Yellow Eye looked back in alarm.
“We have run out of time,” Snaggletooth said. “Your absence has been discovered. Even now, the usurper will be sending guards to find you. You must go!”
Yellow Eye took to the air above me, flapping its wings hard enough to cause a strong downdraft that almost knocked me over. It grabbed me under the arms with its prehensile hind claws and lifted me off the ground. Below, Snaggletooth turned and started walking back into the tunnel.
“Wait,” I said. “You never told me your name.”
The gargoyle turned to face me. “It is Jibril-khan, fourteenth hatchling of Khan-maku. Go now, and may the Guardians show you favor this night.” Then Snaggletooth—Jibril-khan—disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.
Gripping me tightly, Yellow Eye flew us out of the cave mouth. The gargoyle’s claws dug through the fabric of my trench coat and shirt and into my shoulders. It hurt like hell, but at least it kept me from falling into the Hudson River as we flew toward the distant shore of Manhattan. I breathed a sigh of relief as the cavern—and the Black Knight—fell farther behind.
I looked up at Yellow Eye. “I remember you from the warehouse. We fought there, didn’t we? I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
Yellow Eye looked down at me with its one good eye and grunted dismissively, as if to tell me I was flattering myself.
Just then, another gargoyle came hurtling out of the cave mouth behind us. Yellow Eye saw it the same time I did and immediately took evasive maneuvers, diving and banking while I held on for dear life, but we couldn’t shake our pursuer. The second gargoyle flew high, then dove in front of us, causing Yellow Eye to pull up in order to avoid a collision.
The other gargoyle screeched, loud and angry, and I saw that it was Long Face, the same gargoyle that had helped Yellow Eye carry me from the cemetery. Now that Yellow Eye’s betrayal had been revealed, Long Face was enraged. The two gargoyles shrieked, bit, and clawed at each other like bitter enemies. Yellow Eye twisted in midair to slash at Long Face, jostling me dangerously in its rear claws. I held on as tightly as I could.
Long Face let out a high-pitched screech of pain and fell back. Yellow Eye flapped harder, propelling us toward the far shore. We didn’t get far before Long Face came at us again, though this time the gargoyle flew directly at me. I got my legs up and kicked, striking Long Face in the snout and knocking it back a few feet in midair. The kick jostled me in Yellow Eye’s grip again. I glanced nervously down at the dark water far below.
Long Face came back at us. Yellow Eye banked to one side, trying to get around Long Face, but it was no use. Long Face attacked Yellow Eye again, and the next thing I knew we were spinning out of control. Blood rained on me from above, but from which gargoyle I couldn’t tell. Given the ferocity of their attacks, probably both of them. They snarled and shrieked and clawed at each other, and all the while we fell, twisting and spinning, toward the frothing black waves below. I held on tight and scissored my legs in a futile attempt to try to stabilize us, but I had no leverage. We were out of control.
I looked up in time to see Long Face tear out Yellow Eye’s throat with its teeth. More blood rained all around me. Yellow Eye’s body went limp in midair. Its claws relaxed their grip on my shoulders, and suddenly I was in free fall. Long Face snarled, folded its wings against its body, and dove to catch me.
The gargoyle’s claw reached for my arm, its fingers starting to close around my wrist, and then all three of us slammed into the Hudson River.
Thirty-three
The force of hitting the water was as painful as landing on a hardwood floor. The freezing cold waves of the Hudson closed over me instantly. Swallowed me whole. Underwater, it was too dark to see. I was too stunned and disoriented to know up from down. I thrashed and twisted in the cold, black void until my lungs burned for air. I was panicking, I realized, and if I didn’t stop I would drown. I went as still as I could and let myself rise like a buoy to the surface. It seemed to take forever, my lungs like overinflated balloons threatening to burst. When I finally broke the surface, I sucked in so much air that the astrophysicists at Columbia University probably thought a new black hole had formed off the coast of Manhattan.
I hadn’t dropped far in that final free fall, maybe forty feet, but still, I was lucky I hadn’t broken my neck on impact. Yellow Eye’s dead body floated a few feet away. Damn. The gargoyle had been trying to help me, and had gotten killed for its trouble.