Unsympathetic Magic - Laura Resnick [94]
I pointed upward, through the leafy trees that climbed the steep rocky hill that was nearby, to the dully gleaming roof of the old iron watch tower that sat high above the park. “Will you take me up that hill?”
He looked up at the tower. “Why?”
“Because you’re armed.”
He turned his head sharply. “Excuse me?”
After today’s misadventure in the foundation’s lobby, I thought it was entirely possible that what had excited Nelli’s interest on those curving stone steps last night was the scent of a snake living in the vicinity. But I thought it was equally possible that the dense shrubbery concealed baka or zombies, so I didn’t want to climb that hill alone and unprotected. I also thought that investigating the area by day in the company of a cop with a gun made a little more sense than sneaking up there at night with a sword.
“Esther?” he prodded.
I didn’t want to explain to him about Max, Biko, and Nelli’s nocturnal activities, nor to discuss our theories about supernatural creatures.
So I said, “Biko told me about that old watchtower, and I want to see it. But it’s so overgrown and isolated, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go up there alone, even in the middle of the day. So will you walk me up there?”
“Sure.” Looking surprised and relieved that I was making such a normal, ordinary request, he rose from the bench and extended a hand to help me up. As we crossed the pavement together and approached the curving stone steps, he asked, “What is the old watchtower, anyhow? I don’t know this neighborhood.”
As we began ascending the old stone stairs, many of which were in need of repair, I related what Biko had told me about the tower.
“In other words,” Lopez said, “we’re climbing a long, steep, crumbling staircase in hellish heat to see a dangerous ruin that might fall on top of us while we’re looking at it?” He grinned at me. “I’m so glad you invited me along.”
I was surreptitiously trying to spot baka claw marks or anything else that might explain what had excited Nelli last night. But I’m no tracker, and the stairs were in such bad shape and so littered with fallen leaves, clumps of moss, rocks, and broken sticks that just trying not to trip and fall was occupying most of my attention. Lopez kept his hand under my elbow to steady me, but even so I stumbled a couple of times.
The surrounding flora and foliage was so dense that, halfway up the hill, it was easy to forget that we were in Manhattan. As I eyed the dense bushes and surrounding trees, I was very glad to have an armed cop at my side. In addition to my fear that mystical monsters lurked in those bushes, I realized that much more mundane dangers could easily lurk there, too. I’d be nervous if I were here alone, even without the menace of baka running loose in the neighborhood.
We reached the crest of the hill without my seeing anything suspicious, let alone anything that I thought Lopez should shoot. To my surprise, we emerged onto an old stone plaza. It was about as long and wide as a basketball court. Many of the paving stones were broken, and others were missing altogether.
“I love this city.” Lopez looked around the crumbling old hilltop plaza with a pleased smile. “New York is full of so many surprises. I never would have guessed this was up here.”
“Now aren’t you glad you came?” I said.
“That all depends on whether this thing falls on top of us.” Squinting against the harsh sunlight, he looked up at the nineteenth- century watchtower that rose above the tree-shrouded plaza. “Actually, it’s not in such bad shape, is it?”
The imposing tower, which was quite tall, was a hollow octagonal structure made of long iron bars, poles, and rods. At ground level, the outer edge of the tower was defined by a cage made of evenly spaced vertical bars; I was briefly reminded of my jail cell in the local precinct house. A spiral staircase inside the cage ascended to an enormous bell that hung suspended about fifteen feet off the ground. The iron staircase continued past the bell, circling the tower all the way up to the lookout platform at the top of