I may not win a Nobel Prize for overall intelligence, but I did have a few wits about me. Although my first instinct was to assume the man was simply reacting to my unusual outfit, it didn’t take me a second to realize his interest was focused on me rather than the few shreds of clothing strapped to my body. I turned to bolt, but Magoth was in my way, causing me to lose a few precious seconds.

‘‘Change your mind about the threesome?’’ he asked as I slammed into him.

‘‘Mei Ling!’’

I ducked under the arm Magoth was reaching toward me, hoping I could get far enough away from the man to slip into the shadow world, but my hope was in vain. Before Magoth had the chance to utter an indignant squawk at the elbow I shoved in his belly in order to get him to move aside, the man leaped on me, throwing me to the ground.

‘‘Mei Ling! You dare show your face here? Dr. Kostich will be very happy to see you. Guards! Guards! I have the thief Mei Ling! I have captured the thief!’’ the man bellowed as he hauled me to my feet, one arm twisted behind me, the other wrapped around my neck.

Chapter Four

‘‘You could help me,’’ I snarled to Magoth as my captor, most likely a thief taker, dragged me toward the front doors of the building.

Magoth raised one ebony eyebrow in a perfect gesture of disbelief. ‘‘And ruin the fun you’ll have escaping this latest predicament? I wouldn’t think of depriving you of that enjoyment, sweet May.’’

I grabbed the hand that had a death grip on my throat, and threw myself to the side, trying to pull the man off balance, but he must have had martial arts training, for he stayed solidly on his own feet as he dragged me step by painful step closer to the entrance of Suffrage House. ‘‘I’m going to remember this, Magoth.’’

‘‘The memory of our parting will stay forever green in my mind, as well,’’ he said, deliberately misinterpreting me. ‘‘You may wish to watch out,’’ he added to my attacker. ‘‘She bites.’’

I was just in the process of twisting my head to try and get a grip on the man’s arm, but paused to glare at Magoth, who simply blew me a kiss and sauntered off down the sidewalk.

‘‘You’re only making things harder on yourself,’’ the man grunted as he heaved me up two steps. I bucked as best I could, and tried to twist away from him. I even shadowed for a second, hoping that my apparent disappearance would throw him off guard, but he must have been alerted to the fact that I was a doppelganger. ‘‘If you keep this up, we will be forced to subdue you to unconsciousness,’’ he warned.

‘‘Been there, done that, got the T-shirt,’’ I growled as I suddenly switched tactics and spun around in his hold, simultaneously bringing my knee up into his groin and smashing my fist into his nose.

He gurgled in pain and reacted with an instinct of self-preservation, clutching both his crotch and his face, leaving me free for a fraction of a second.

I flung myself to the side, racing down three steps, and had just hurdled a low cement barrier wall when something slammed into my back and sent me crashing to the ground a second time.

‘‘This is really getting old,’’ I muttered to myself as my new unknown assailant jerked both arms behind my back.

‘‘I’ve got her,’’ a woman’s voice bellowed behind my head. I struggled to get up, but this woman, like the thief taker, knew how to keep me from getting any leverage. ‘‘Run inside and fetch the watch.’’

The all-too-cheerful voice left me in no doubt as to its owner.

‘‘Sally!’’ I hissed with outrage, struggling to get free from her. ‘‘What do you think you’re doing?’’

‘‘Shush! Rescuing you. Play along.’’

‘‘She’s mine!’’ the thief taker yelled, but there was a thread of pain in his voice that indicated he was still feeling the effects of my escape.

‘‘I’m not trying to take credit for your capture,’’ Sally said with obvious amusement. ‘‘I just happened to see her kick you in your happy place. Go get the watch, why don’t you? I can tell by this truly horrible outfit that she’s wearing that she’ll be too much to handle without lots and lots of help.’’

I turned my head to the side, peering as best I could up the stairs. The thief taker stood in the throes of indecision, clearly wanting to be the one to drag me in and at the same time injured enough that Sally made sense.

‘‘Hurry!’’ Sally urged, releasing my hands just enough that I was able to almost rise. ‘‘She’ll get away!’’

The thief taker didn’t wait; he just whirled around and ran up the stairs. Before the door closed all the way on him, I was jerked to my feet, a not-so-gentle shove between my shoulder blades sending me reeling down the stairs.

‘‘You’d better scoot, sugar. It probably won’t take him long to rouse help.’’

I glanced over my shoulder at the woman behind me, confused by both her actions and the friendly smile on her face. ‘‘Why are you helping me?’’

‘‘Silly! You’re Magoth’s consort!’’

I hesitated, not buying her sudden turn of heart.

She shoved me again, and this time I moved. She followed on my heels, saying, ‘‘Plus, they’re the good guys, and I can’t stand to see them win.’’

That, at least, made sense. I dashed down the sidewalk, spinning around the corner to the alley in which Magoth had chosen to enter the mortal world.

Shouts behind us warned that the thief taker had returned to find me missing.

‘‘Run! They’re right behind us!’’ Sally said, following as I dodged garbage bins, emerging on the far side only to dash into another alley.

We raced away through the streets of Paris, using every skill I possessed to avoid leaving a trail that could be easily followed. We ran up fire escapes and through buildings, and took shortcuts through yards and tiny Parisian gardens, until it seemed like my legs were ground down to nothing and my lungs were about to burst.

‘‘I think we’ve lost them,’’ Sally said after what I could have sworn were eons of running. We collapsed against the entrance of a seedy building. ‘‘I just hope you’re going to mention this on my evaluation sheet. It should get me beaucoup extra credit.’’