I dropped to a knee beside the dead giant and started patting him down—another calculated risk, but I was hoping that it would be at least a couple of minutes before someone decided to investigate why the frozen camera wasn’t working. There were at least fifty giants in the museum, and I needed some more weapons to kill them with.

But there wasn’t much to find. He didn’t have any ID on him, and the only thing of real value or interest was the leather utility belt he wore. In addition to the gun I’d noticed earlier, the belt also contained an extra clip of ammo, a metal baton, a small bottle of pepper spray, and, most important, a walkie-talkie. The device was turned on, but currently no squawks or cracks of static echoed from the black plastic.

I unbuckled the belt and tugged it out from underneath the giant’s body. I stood and cinched it around my waist, looping it as tight as it would go. Even then, it sagged and rode low on my hips. Good enough.

Then I did something that would have made Finn wince with agony and shriek with despair: I chopped up my dress.

Using my bloody knife, I sliced off the bottom half of the skirt, so that the fabric ended just above my knees. I also made several more slits in the skirt, making it easier for me to reach through them and get to the second knife I had strapped to my thigh. Finn would no doubt bitch and moan when he saw what a hack job I’d done on the beautiful gown, but the long skirt just wasn’t practical for fighting. Besides, the giant’s blood had already ruined it, and I imagined I’d get the garment quite a bit more messy before the night was through. More like before the next two minutes were up.

I also used my knife to cut the extra fabric into long strips, threading a couple of them through the straps on my heels and tying them to the left side of the utility belt. I couldn’t risk wearing the shoes, but I didn’t want to wander around barefoot all night either. I stuffed the rest of the fabric strips into a pouch on the belt.

As a final measure, I checked the giant’s gun, making sure the safety was off and that there was a round in the chamber. I also practiced drawing it out of the holster a few times until I could do it quickly and smoothly. I didn’t much care for guns, but I’d use them if the situation called for it—and it certainly did tonight.