Part 44 (2/2)

”I'm sorry,” I said. ”I can't see anything.”

After I found Lucky's hand with mine, I stretched out my other one. ”Max?”

I felt the clasp of Max's fingers, and then the three of us made our way gingerly down the left aisle, followed by Nelli. We shuffled toward the altar of St. Monica and the candles we hoped to find there. After we had gone perhaps thirty feet, Nelli started growling.

The stained gla.s.s windows allowed a faint amount of light to stream in from the streetlamps, and as my eyes adjusted, I could start to make out general shapes in the dark. So when something man-shaped rose from one of the church pews, I screamed.

This startled Max, who stumbled. Still holding my hand, he inadvertently yanked me with him. We fell together into the well of one of the old church pews. Lucky had let go of my hand when my fall yanked it out of his grip, and I heard his exclamation as he now saw what I had seen. Nelli was barking and snarling.

A moment later, the beam of a flashlight shone into Lucky's face. He squinted, turned his head away, and then dived sideways into the darkness.

The person holding the flashlight called, ”Max? Esther? I know you're there. I don't want to hurt you.”

It was Lucky's voice.

I stopped breathing.

Oh, no, I thought. No No.

The flashlight turned in our general direction. Since we were on the floor, the beam of light missed us and hit Nelli. From my p.r.o.ne position, I could see the snarling dog stiffen and freeze, evidently shocked by the sound of her friend's voice coming from the creature she instinctively wanted to attack.

From the darkness about ten feet to our left, Lucky demanded, ”Who's there? Who's got that light?”

”Who d'you think? think?” Lucky's voice came from directly behind the flashlight, about fifteen feet in front of where Max and I lay in an awkward heap.

Nelli whined and backed away from the voice, unnerved by this turn of events. She stepped on my hair, immobilizing me. I could tell she was trembling.

”Who is is that?” On our left, Lucky sounded confused and hostile. that?” On our left, Lucky sounded confused and hostile.

”It's me, you putz,” said the voice with the flashlight.

I started breathing again. In short little pants of panic. ”Max,” I whispered. ”What do we do?”

Max cleared his throat and called, ”Lucky?”

Two men answered at once. ”Yeah?”

”Oh, dear,” Max said.

”s.h.i.+t,” said Lucky. said Lucky.

”Lucky,” Max said, ”I want you to think about what token you may have lost recently.”

”What?” said the creature with the flashlight.

”Token?” said Lucky on our left.

”Think hard hard,” I said.

”Right! What the h.e.l.l that did that pickpocket priest filch from me?” Lucky said to himself. ”What am I missing?”

I tugged at Nelli's leg, trying to get her to take her foot off my hair. She was making confused little whining noises and still shaking.

”Doc? Get Nelli to calm down,” said the flashlight voice. ”Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm gonna behead that thing thing.”

”Thing? Oh, you gotta be kidding kidding me,” said Lucky, outraged. I could tell that he was on the move, changing his location. me,” said Lucky, outraged. I could tell that he was on the move, changing his location.

The doppelgangster could tell, too. The beam of its flashlight was searching the church, using its target's voice as a guide. While searching, it called to us, ”Doc, I just want to give you and Esther a quick poke with my knife and make sure you are who I think you are.”

”Poke?” Lucky said. ”I think . . . hang on . . . yeah! One of my knives is missing, Doc! It's not in my pocket. That demented priest stole a knife from me!”

”Then you know what to do, Lucky!” Max called.

”I was here to talk about funerals funerals,” Lucky said angrily. ”And he stole from me! In church church.”

”Focus, Lucky!” I shouted.

”It turns out that the two of you was here talkin' to Father Gabriel the other day when I I thought you was in Brooklyn with me,” the doppelgangster said. ”So now we're gonna have to figure out who's real and who ain't.” thought you was in Brooklyn with me,” the doppelgangster said. ”So now we're gonna have to figure out who's real and who ain't.”

”The priest is lying to you!” I shouted at the doppelgangster. ”He's the one who's behind all of this! And, anyhow, you're you're the one who's not real!” the one who's not real!”

The doppelgangster's footsteps started approaching us. ”Oh? Fine. Convince me.”

Nelli's shaking got worse, and a horrible sound came out of her throat. She s.h.i.+fted position, evidently intending to protect us, but obviously reluctant to attack something that sounded like just Lucky. Fortunately, the uncertain shuffling of her paws allowed me to free my hair and sit up.

”Hey, you!” Lucky shouted from another part of the dark church. ”Over here, schmuck!”

”Hold still and face the music like a man!” the doppelgangster snapped at Lucky. The beam of the flashlight roved around in search of its quarry. ”I promise you won't feel a thing.”

While the doppelgangster's attention was distracted, I nudged Max, and we started hauling ourselves off the floor and out of the pew as quietly as we could. I grabbed Nelli's leash, which Max had dropped when he fell, and tugged. She resisted, still swamped with indecision about the doppelgangster.

”Doc, an evil wizard made this thing,” Lucky called out to Max in the dark. ”So I'm thinking it ain't such a good idea to let it get near you and Esther with a knife!”

”He's right,” I whispered to Max.

”Indeed.”

Lucky would never hurt us. But that creature wasn't Lucky, and we didn't know enough about doppelgangsters to be sure it it would never hurt us. Under duress, Gabriel might be fiddling with the recipe, so to speak. would never hurt us. Under duress, Gabriel might be fiddling with the recipe, so to speak.

When Lucky spoke again, his location had changed once more. He shouted to us, ”I'll deal with this mook! You two, go. Go! Go!”

”Nelli, come! come!” Max commanded sharply.

Max grabbed my hand and dragged me through the dark. Nelli came with us, her feet stepping on ours, her whining giving away our location. Perhaps the next time we confronted Evil, I thought, we should leave Nelli at home. We slipped past shadowy pews and a hulking shape that was probably St. Monica. Behind us, I heard the sounds of clattering wooden pews, cursing in Italian, and then a crash of gla.s.s-candleholders I guessed-as Lucky and his doppelgangster chased each other through the dark church.

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