I turned the brick in my hand. Greg was right; annoyingly he almost always is. The brick had a pattern of holes on its surface; to my untrained eye, they could totally have been made with a mace.
I set the brick down, stepped forward and looked through the hole. The cavity started at mid-calf level and continued above head height almost to the ceiling. It was certainly big enough to accommodate an eight-foot-tall ogre. ‘It looks like we’re going to visit the ogres then.’
Greg opened his mouth to object and I held up my hand. ‘This is the second lead we’ve had that involves them. Apart from the ogres, what else do we have?’
He closed his mouth with an audible clack. We had nothing, and he knew it. In total, we had a dead gargoyle who had probably died trying to protect his son, a missing werewolf pup and a missing fire elemental. Both of the snatched kids were boys, but there the similarities ended. They were both Other, but in totally different ways, and Bobby was eight to Jason’s eleven. Still, I hoped to hell they were together.
‘See what you can do.’
‘About what?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Arranging a meeting with the ogres,’ I said in a ‘well-duh’ tone of voice.
‘Lucy, you really don’t want to mess with these guys.’
‘I don’t want to mess with them, I want tomeetwith them.’
‘To accuse them of killing a gargoyle and kidnapping our pup?’
‘I won’t use those exact words,’ I assured him.
He sighed. ‘We’re going to die.’
‘Ever the optimist.’
‘I’ll make the appointment for first thing tomorrow.’
‘Aren’t ogres nocturnal?’
‘They’re not owls.’
‘I kinda figured they’d be like gargoyles.’
‘No.’ He looked amused. ‘They keep regular business hours. It’s important to have a work-life balance.’
‘Even for henchmen?’
‘They’re more accessible when they are on the job.’
‘That makes sense. A nine-to-five henchman wouldn’t be very convenient.’
My phone rang: Reynard. ‘Hello, my bitey pups. My lead didn’t pan out. I’m sorry I’ve struck out, but it’s good news that you still seem alive.’
‘Alessandro wouldn’t talk to us, apart from giving us some threats and playing with his fireballs. But he did let us explore the kidnap scene, and we found some clues. Greg thinks the kidnapper is an ogre.’
‘An ogre on a contract, no doubt. Ogres give little or no shit about any other species.’ The gargoyle sounded disgruntled. ‘So the question is, who hired the ogres?’
‘I’m going to visit them to find out. Do you want to come with me?’
‘Not even a little,ma anglaise. Ogres kill you if you look at them the wrong way. You can’t walk into their den unless you’ve got some serious protection – and let me be clear, mypetitepup, I am not your protection. As you saw from Hamlet’s sad and untimely demise, gargoyles don’t fare well against ogres. When you consider the food chain, we’re very much at the bottom, and we’re not always on the ball because of the pain we’re always in. But I’ll keep digging at my end. Let me know how it goes with the ogres –ifyou survive your meeting.’ On that upbeat note, he hung up.
Everyone and his dog was telling me not to meet the ogres, but my need to find Bobby outweighed my survival instinct. Luckily, Esme agreed. As alpha, it was our job to find Bobby, and that was what we were going to do, whatever the cost.
Chapter 12
BeforeweleftAlessandro’s,Greg did his thing. He called someone and lined up an early meeting with the ogres. Greg was a soldier, and old habits die hard; although he thought my decision was foolhardy, he was still following my lead. His unquestioning faith and loyalty scared me at times, but I worked hard not to let it show.
It was getting on for 11pm when we returned to the mansion. As Greg rooted around in his pocket for the mansion’s front door key, I reached out to touch him lightly on the arm. ‘Thank you,’ I said softly.