‘I know! We hide him in plain sight!’ Emily looked over to her father. ‘Dad, you know how they’ve been trying to shut down the carriage rides in the park because of that campaign for better treatment of the horses?’
‘Yes,’ he said. He looked at Diana and explained. ‘Several groups aren’t happy about the treatment of the horses in the city, and I agree with them, it’s awful. Finally the number of carriages is dropping.’
‘Exactly,’ Emily said excitedly. ‘So there are extra carriages at the stables …’
‘I get it!’ Joel said. ‘You want to steal a carriage and attach Pegasus to it. We’ll keep his wings covered. Then we’ll simply walk right out of the city and find the Daughter of Vesta!’
‘Great idea,’ Steve said. ‘Let’s do it!’
Getting out of Central Park with Pegasus proved more difficult than they expected. It was well past midnight and there was still a lot of traffic on the roads. What disturbed them the most was the sheer number of police cars, running with their sirens off but lights flashing, followed by countless army vehicles travelling throughout the city.
They waited until almost two in the morning before they made their move. They exited the park on 104th Street. The closest livery was on 50th.
‘We’ve got to walk Pegasus over fifty blocks downtown?’ Joel moaned.
‘Unless that wing of his is strong enough to fly, he’s got to stay on the ground like the rest of us,’ said Steve. ‘We’ll head over to one of the quieter avenues and make our way downtown.’
As the long night progressed, Emily felt her leg begin to swell. But she kept it to herself. She brushed aside the feeling of nausea and concentrated on getting to the stables. Above them, helicopters broadened their search patterns so the group kept close to the shelter of the buildings.
‘Wouldn’t they be after the Nirads first?’ Joel asked.
‘I’d imagine so,’ Steve answered. ‘I’m sure they think Pegasus is still in the park.’
‘I hope you are both correct,’ Diana said as she looked up. ‘I do not like those flying machines one bit.’
Suddenly all around them the city burst into brilliant light as the blackout finally ended and the power came back on. Soon the air was filled with the horrendous noise of shrieking alarms as endless security systems came online again. Street lights started to work and 10th Avenue was lit up like a carnival.
‘It couldn’t have waited just a few more minutes?’ Joel complained. ‘Just a few more stupid minutes! Is that really asking so much?’
‘All right,’ Steve said tersely. ‘We didn’t expect this. But we’ve only got a few more blocks to go. Let’s speed up.’
They had travelled no more than a block when they heard the sound of police sirens drawing near. They ducked into a large doorway just as several police cars raced past.
‘They didn’t even slow down to look at us,’ Emily commented.
More police cars rushed by.
‘Something big is up,’ Joel said. ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
‘Nirads are in the area,’ Diana warned as she sniffed the air. ‘I can smell them.’
Beneath her, Emily could feel Pegasus quivering. ‘Pegs can smell them too.’
‘I can’t,’ Joel added. ‘Where are they?’
Diana sniffed again and pointed along 58th Street towards 5th Avenue. ‘Down there.’
‘That’s the entrance to the park!’ Emily said. ‘The Nirads have made it to Central Park?’ She looked down to Pegasus. ‘Pegs, how are the Nirads tracking you?’
‘They have tasted his blood,’ Diana answered. ‘They are using it to follow his trail. We can not lose them. The only thing in our favour is they cannot run very fast.’
‘If the Nirads are only a few blocks away from us,’ Joel added, ‘they don’t have to run fast to catch us.’
‘Come on,’ Steve said. ‘Let’s get that carriage and get the hell out of this city!’
When they reached 50th Street, Emily’s father led the group to a tall grey roller door. Posted above the door was a sign: O’Brian’s Livery.
‘This is it?’ Joel asked. ‘What a dump!’
‘How do we get in?’ Emily asked.
‘We break in,’ her father replied.
Emily studied her father in his police uniform and realized how difficult this must be for him, being an officer of the law.
‘This isn’t going to be easy.’ He inspected the pad lock. ‘I can’t use my gun. It’ll make too much noise.’
‘There’s another entrance here,’ Joel suggested as he stood before a normal-sized door beside the bigger one.
‘True, but we won’t get Pegasus or a carriage through that. We need to open this big one here.’
‘Let me try,’ Diana said. She reached across and easily tore both the lock and the hasp away from the door.
Everyone looked at her in shock.
‘I may have lost my powers,’ Diana said, ‘but not my strength.’
Steve hoisted the large roller door up on its rails. ‘That will come in very handy!’