Newberry kicked off her flats and tossed aside her blazer. She moved like a trained shadow, eyes tracking all of them at once.
Jim kept Newberry in sight at all times.
She attacked NotEnrique first, delivering a kick that instantly knocked him senseless. Next, she took down Eli, batting away his launcher and giving him a hard smack in the face, followed by a solid one-two punch to the gut.
He fell, groaning.
Jim and the rest of the group tightened their circle, and Stuart changed into his true Durian appearance, complete with a cloud of noxious fumes.
Blinky staggered out of the circle, swiping away the rancid fumes. Newberry jabbed fingers in three of Blinky's eyes while he recovered from Stuart's ill-timed transformation, sending him reeling into a pottery display with a deafening crash.
Stuart tried to close the gap in the circle before Newberry took advantage, but she caught him with an elbow to the face, and the alien toppled to the floor, unconscious.
That left Douxie, Barbara, Claire, and Jim.
"Give me the heart, little wizard," said Newberry as she circled the four. "I won't harm it."
"You've lied the entire time you've been in Arcadia, and now you want me to trust you?" Douxie said. "Forgive me if I'm hesitant."
Newberry chuckled. "Fair point."
She rushed Claire, hands up.
"Hey, nobody hits my girlfriend." Jim stepped between Newberry and Claire, sword ready.
Newberry avoided the blade in time, but it cut a ragged gash in her blouse sleeve. "That was real silk."
"That's on you," Claire snapped. "Attacking us, trying to steal from us. You're just a no-good thief for hire."
"You don't know why I'm here," said Newberry.
"Then show us," Jim said.
Newberry dropped both hands, stepped back, and withdrew a full vial from her pocket. "Place the forest child's heart in the earth."
"What's in that vial?" said Jim.
"Water."
"Set it on the floor."
Newberry did.
Jim and Douxie approached the spilled dirt mound and water vial while Claire and Barbara watched Newberry.
Douxie retrieved the vial and popped the topper. "She's telling the truth."
"Plant the heart," Newberry said. "Do it now."
"This is living earth and water from the Fountain of Youth, isn't it?" Jim said.
"Yes, now do what I say, or you'll have spent your chance until the next new moon!"
Through the energy-blockaded hole in the roof, stars twinkled in the moonless sky.
It was five minutes to midnight.
Newberry's actions seemed nefarious, but only until Jim stopped filtering what she'd done through his own assumptions. "Doux, I hate to say it, but I think you should do it. It's just like Dictatious' story."
Douxie's eyes hardened. "She came to Arcadia under false pretenses following instructions from a mystery employer, tried to get evidence of what's happened in town to out us to the world, and then returned to take Nari's heart while holding us captive by turning off our magic. One gesture of good will, and you do as she says?"
"Think about it. She didn't realize the entire town already knows about magic, and trolls, and aliens. She found reasonable cover when she discovered Mary's pictures. You'd have sneaked in too—so would I. And she might be obscure with what she says because she doesn't want anyone discovering who she is. We wouldn't have known unless we found that voice recorder, and even it was useless without you already knowing about Legend Seekers. Why are we assuming she's here for the worst reasons?"
"Ah, now we're getting somewhere," said Newberry. "Plant the heart."
"But why attack us? Why take our magics?" said Douxie.
"Because you're being half-witted clods. And you're running out of time. Besides, that device doesn't nullify all magics, only yours, his, and hers." She nodded to Douxie, Jim, and Claire.
Douxie didn't obey.
Newberry took a step toward Jim and Douxie only to be blocked by Barbara. "Hisirdoux," she met the wizard's indurate eyes, "is not struggle the flame that forges souls into steel?"
Without a word, the wizard withdrew the little box containing Nari's heart piece. He popped the lid, and with great care took out the glittering green orb. He kneeled and dug a small hole for the heart piece before covering it and sprinkling the vial of water overtop the soil.
Jim's watch read exactly midnight.
Blinky, Eli, Stuart, and NotEnrique recovered enough to sit up and watch.
Silence filled the exhibit, and even the green glow of the webbing that hedged them in seemed to dim as the minutes ticked by.
A quiet hour crawled past.
Then two.
Douxie sagged to his knees on the cold floor.
Jim shook Douxie. "Look!"
From the soil sprouted a green shoot.
A leaf.
Two.
Three.
A stem and bud.
Then, a single white lily bloomed.
From that lily spread a tangle of roots that shot from the soil and covered the room from floor to ceiling, encasing even Newberry's Camry and El Guerito.
A flood of lilies sprouted and bloomed until the exhibit floor was white as new snow.
Jim's heart hammered with every minute that passed.
Douxie's attention fixed on the first lily, the one atop the little earthen hill.
Barbara and Claire had long since stopped watching Newberry. Not that it mattered. The woman hadn't moved to attack or flee. She stood as transfixed as everyone else.
Several more hours slipped away until Jim's watch hit 7:16 AM.
As dawn graced the skies, Blinky and NotEnrique took shelter in the shadows just before a tangle of roots swelled and burst, bringing forth someone they'd all longed to see again since her death two weeks before.
"Nari!" Douxie cried.
Before he could rise, she leapt into his open arms. "Dear Douxie Casperan, you are as dense as Merlin said," she laughed.
Newberry deactivated the webbing over the exit and pocketed the device before snagging her flats and blazer. "My work here is done." She started for her Camry.
With a wave of her hand, Nari dismissed the roots covering the vehicle, and the discs Eli had fired at the vehicle fell off, allowing the car to rev to life.
"Wait," Jim said as he fished for Newberry's voice recorder. "Who sent you? Did you really find us because of Mary's pictures?"
Bianca smiled, the first genuine smile he'd seen from her. "The recorder was just a place for a few notes, and Mary's account really did give me the last piece of the puzzle regarding where to find you." She patted her revived Camry. "This car has gotten me through many an illusion spell in its time." To Douxie she said, "Nine hundred and nineteen years, and you're still a teenager, but otherwise, the old man taught you well. Though he still didn't pay me enough for this job."
"Merlin's gift of foresight…" said Douxie. "He knew this would happen—knew we would need the right elements to resurrect Nari."
"But he was wrong about where to find the last ingredient—the forest child's heart," said Newberry.
"He said the gift was imperfect," said Douxie.
"That's why I had to hunt for Arcadia Oaks and use my job as a reporter as a cover story."
"So, you really are a reporter?" said Claire.
"Sure am. Though it rather irked my parents when I revived the family business on the side." She smoothed the rip in her sleeve. "I'm going to miss this shirt. Ah well. Better get going. I only had a few days of vacation. Time to get back to New York."
"Wait!" Claire tiptoed through flowers, careful not to step on any. She stopped beside the Camry. "Sorry about making you think I was Mary before."
Newberry seemed amused. "I knew it was you. And I saw the Trollhunter's attempt to plant that charm. Yours, however, I did not." She offered a congratulatory hand. "You were a pleasant surprise, Shadowmancer. Even more promising than the old man said."
Claire took Newberry's hand. "Adios, Legend Seeker. And thanks… for your help."
"May we meet again." Newberry slipped on her shoes, hopped in the car, and zoomed out of the museum.
Excalibur thrummed in Jim's grasp, and Merlin's voice came to him again. You're still a fool, James Lake Jr., but sometimes the most foolish of things can confound the wisest.
"Let's get back to Blinky's," Jim said. "Claire, can you do the honors?"
"Best I can do is the bridge," she said. "Crackers, Nougat Nummies, and no sleep can only get a girl so far."