“Just a sec,” I say, undoing the chain on the door and letting them in. “You were in London yesterday - how did you find us?”
“Not easily, but we drove all night to get here. I wasn’t sure if we’d catch you. Ah, the whole gang is here,” she says as she follows me into the kitchen. Tilly has stayed quiet so far, and I don’t want to introduce her just yet. Not until I know what the ATU want.
“Miss Banks,” Jer says with a tone of voice that suggests he hasn’t completely forgiven her for last year’s kidnapping. That and chasing us across the rooftops of SoHo, I muse.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not here on a social call, I’m afraid. I needed to find you before anyone else did, and believe me, a lot of people are looking for you right now.”
“How did you find us?” Lou asks, also with a hint of disdain. She did have rescue us from our kidnapping last year after all.
“With difficulty. I can’t disclose exactly how, but I can confirm that we’re perhaps only hours ahead of a swarm of Magic Circle members coming up to Cumbria and tearing the county apart to find you, Ella.” Ella grimaces at that, and I move to stand beside her, placing what I hope is a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Funny, we were just talking about that,” I say. I just about manage to rein in my own anger on the subject.
“Tell me, do you have any idea what the Magic Circle want with you?” She directs the question at Ella, but I can sense her reluctance to answer. She looks up at me for confirmation, and I nod. I don’t particularly like Miss Banks or her methods, but I do think she has a job to do and has the greatest good as her overall objective. There’s no sense in hiding something like this from her.
“Yes. They want my ability. I think it has something to do with the fact that they have a plan to turn London into an Augur-only city.”
Miss Banks looks at Steve, who I’m starting to think perhaps has an eye condition, as he’s still wearing his sunglasses indoors. From the look on her face, the news isn’t a surprise to her, but it isn’t what she wanted to hear.
“How do you know that, might I ask?”
Now Ella hesitates for even longer. How much do we tell her?
“My sister. She had a vision of it happening.”
“Ah, Agnes, yes? And do her visions come true usually?”
“More often than not, but it depends. She doesn’t usually publicise them unless there are lives at stake, and what she saw is enough to give even you nightmares.”
Miss Banks nods, pressing her lips together in a thin line and looking at Steve again.
“And can I ask how you managed to get here? The camera footage shows you all disappearing into thin air.”
“We had some help, but before you ask it’s not my place to say who from or how,” I interject before anyone else can spill the beans.
“Interesting that you would take that stance on it, Curtis. You do realise that, simply by staying in a house that is owned by the Duke, I can quite literally have you seized and questioned?”
Crap. I forgot that they’d be able to trace ownership of Tilly’s house to him. She’d never have been able to put her name on it anyway.
“Do you know where he is?” she asks me.
“Why would I?” I reply defensively.
“Well, because we questioned only a handful of people before managing to locate where you’d popped up. Two of them were your parents.”
I feel my mouth go dry and my heart beat slightly faster in my chest. I don’t know if that’s worry or fear. I know full well what Miss Banks and Steve are capable of when they aren’t cooperated with.
“Your mother was very helpful. She told me about that visitor you had a week or so ago and how he’d left you a letter. That it had a ‘fancy wax seal on it,’ in her words. We put two and two together and in no time at all managed to locate you staying in one of the houses he had bought through one of his many companies, some 300 miles from where you had been seen only a few hours before. So, tell me, Curtis, did the Duke help you escape?”
“No,” I say flatly.
“Hmmm. And do you know where the Duke is?” During her monologue she has taken a step toward me and is now almost inches from my face. In her heels she’s almost taller than I am, and I can see close up the dark circles and little red veins in her eyes. I can also sense a slight vibration under my hand, and from the corner of my eye, I see that Ella is balling up a fist, ready to throw Miss Banks across the kitchen if needed.
“You’re right, okay?” I say, moving so that I stand between them. “I do have the letter, and he said where he was. But I doubt he’s still there - this was like a week ago, and I don’t think he’d stay in one place for long,” I say hastily, seeing Jer and Lou glare at me for being so open with her.
“What did he write?”
“I’ll show you,” I reply, fetching my jacket from the back of a chair and pulling out the letter. As I do, the switchblade that the Duke gave me falls out and clatters onto the floor, and I hear a gasp from somewhere near my ear. I pick it up hastily and clear my throat to cover the noise, looking up to find that no one except me noticed.
I try to think why Tilly would react to seeing it and figure that perhaps she recognised it from a time when she was still with him. Something feels odd about it though, and I make a mental note to question her after the ATU have left—if they do leave, that is.
“Here,” I say, handing the notecard to Miss Banks. She reads it over several times before handing it to Steve, who pulls out a plastic bag as if from nowhere and puts the card inside.
“I have to confiscate that, I’m afraid. Evidence.” I don’t argue, as it makes no odds to me whether she takes the card or not. I had no intention of seeing the Duke anyway.
“Are we done here?” Jer asks, getting up. Now that he’s not being beaten and tied to a chair, it looks like he’d be quite prepared to take on Steve single-handedly and kick him out of the house. I don’t understand what has gotten him so riled up, but he looks angrier than when he found out I was trying to rat on the Duke to Matthew Avers.
“Jeremy, I understand we didn’t get off to a good start, but we really do need you to cooperate with us,” Miss Banks says to him.
“You know that you’ve been in my nightmares, Miss Banks? You know that my friend Mumbe actually had enough bad experiences in your custody that he created hallucinations about you and shared them with rest of the Society, right? That you were a test to see if we’d be able to handle you if ever we were caught?”
“Jer, calm down,” I say to him, feeling the tension in the air.
“Don’t defend her, Curtis,” he says, not taking his eyes off her.
“I’m not trying to, mate, but I think things would be better if we just listened. The ATU might actually be able to point us in the right direction on that thing we were talking about earlier,” I say, trying to distract him with the more obvious problem of Edward Clarence.
“What thing?” Miss Banks says, not missing a beat.
“Finding the Magic Circle’s stash of Augur Enhancing Drugs and destroying it so that he can’t blow the city into smithereens with his fire power and killing millions,” I say before anyone can stop me.
“Curtis!” Both Ella and Lou chastise me for giving up the information so readily. But I’ve already made my decision.
“Guys, we aren’t going to do this alone. The ATU has trained personnel and way more resources to deal with the likes of Edward, and I’ll be damned if we all die just because you don’t want to ask for help. You may all have ways of defending yourselves, but I’m a Normal, remember? If someone tries to attack me, I’m screwed. I don’t even know how to fight,” I say, including the space where I think Tilly might be in my gaze as I sweep over the faces in the room.
They look back at me grimly. Only Marco, who has been very quiet since the ATU arrived, looks like he agrees with me, in that he’s the only one not frowning and shaking his head.
“Excuse me while I make a f
ew phone calls,” Miss Banks interrupts the moment to leave the kitchen, taking Steve with her. I imagine that she’ll need to call headquarters and report this new piece of information, and I picture a team of ATU desk workers tapping keyboards in search of possible locations for the stash of Air, sending out SWAT teams to break into warehouses and confiscate it. The whole thing feels pretty impressive in my head, and I hope that my faith in the system is founded.
“What the hell, man?” Jer says when Miss Banks is out of earshot.
“Mate, Curtis is right. We’re better off leaving this to the authorities,” Marco says, coming to my defence.
“You don’t know that. She can’t be trusted,” he protests.
“Why? Because the Duke told you so?” Marco says.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, you deserter,” Jer says, meeting Marco halfway around the kitchen table and coming almost face to face with him.
“Guys, this will get us nowhere,” Lou says, trying to talk them out of it.
“Says you, Jer. You have no idea what he put my family through before even you or I were attending his little meetings,” Marco snaps, ignoring her.
“This is getting out of hand,” I say, taking a step toward them both and standing next to Marco in the hopes that I can prevent something stupid from happening.
“You’re just a coward, Marco,” Jer says with disdain.
I think I see Marco’s hand twitch, and I prepare for him to strike out, but Jer gets to him first, taking a swing at him. His fist would go right into Marco’s jaw if Marco didn’t choose the exact right moment to use his power, Jer’s knuckles passing straight through him and instead hitting me.
“Jesus, Jer!” Lou calls as I sprawl across the kitchen.
“ENOUGH!” The room crackles with electricity, and I look up to see Ella holding out her hands, sparks flying from her fingers. I shake off the hit—which caught me off guard but wasn’t as hard as it could’ve been if I’d been standing where Marco was—and straighten myself up, but my healing bruise from the other day will be joined by another one by the feel of it.
Wreathes of electricity wrap themselves around Marco and Jer like a magic lasso, pinning their arms to their sides.
“If you two can’t agree, I am going to have to ask one of you to leave,” she says, much more calmly now.
“I hate to say it, but I think if we don’t come up with something by way of a plan, we’re going to have more than just each other to wrestle with. The ATU will want us to do whatever they ask, which I’m okay with – to a point. But if any of you doesn’t like what you hear, you should make a getaway now, while you still can,” I say, hoping that the logic will dissipate any final thoughts of having a punch-up in the kitchen.
“Listen to the Normal being all rational,” Lou says, sounding just a little impressed.
“If I let you go, do you both promise not to start beating each other up?” Ella asks, to which both of them nod sheepishly. The tendrils of power recede back into Ella’s hands as suddenly as they appeared.
“Sorry I hit you, Curtis,” Jer says, rubbing feeling back into his arms.
“Don’t mention it. I’m sure you’ve wanted to more times than that.” I smile, even though it hurts a bit when I do. “I’m sorry I forced your hand, okay? I told Miss Banks what I did because I knew that we’d be a mess if we tried to take on the Magic Circle alone. I won’t blame you, any of you, if you want to go. Tilly can help get you out of here if you’d like to make yourselves scarce before Miss Banks comes back, right, Tilly?”
My suggestion is met with resounding silence.
“Tilly?”
“She must have gone, Curtis,” Ella says gently. I look around the kitchen for any sign that she might still be here listening, but there’s no movement or subtle sounds to indicate her presence.
“Oh, crap. She saw the knife when it fell out of my pocket. Maybe she thinks I’m working with the Duke or something.”
“Why would that bother her? He’s her ex, yes, but she lives in one of his houses - surely they must be on speaking terms?” Ella replies.
“Maybe, but she didn’t seem to hold much love for him when she talked about him yesterday. Now we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere because I must have scared her off somehow.”
“Scared who off?” Miss Banks says, coming back into the kitchen, her heels clicking on the marble tiles.
“No one, it doesn’t matter,” I say hastily.
“Well, your revelation has completely divided my unit, and I’m waiting to hear what we ought to do with you all, now that half the country has seen your faces,” she says, looking over us as if we’re a of bunch of naughty school kids. “The idea of making you all disappear seems sensible, but there’s also too much of a possibility that you could help us put an end to this once and for all. The fact is that we need to start making more arrests, and we need to do it now. We have the young man responsible for nearly demolishing the hospital in custody, but his accomplice managed to somehow convince officers to let her out at the nearest train station, and she slipped away from us.”
“Cassie. Edward Clarence’s girlfriend,” I volunteer. “She can take over a person’s mind, sort of control them.”
“That would explain it then,” she says, making a note on her phone, sending it off in a message to someone I figure by the little ‘whoosh’ sound it makes.
“Now, to business. I need to immediately employ you all.” We open our mouths to protest, but she holds up a hand which manages to silence us. “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the only way I can keep you all safe. If the Magic Circle is looking for you, Ella, and the press and everyone else are on the lookout for the rest of you, then I really need to have you where I can see you. By employing you as, shall we say, ‘consultants’ for the ATU, I can use all my resources to keep you safe, while at the same time having your help to end this madness. I realise now that if I had simply proposed this to you last year, I might’ve been able to get your cooperation before Munday blacked out half of London.”
“Is that an apology?” Jer asks. Miss Banks seems to think on this for a moment before nodding a reply.
“Wow. Never thought I’d live to see the day,” Lou says, placing a reassuring hand on Jer’s arm.
“What do you get out of it though?” Marco says. Up until now I don’t think that they’ve spoken to each other, but he’s as much involved in this as the rest of us, and it’s a valid question. All eyes turn to her while she weighs up how best to answer.
“Well, although we haven’t been formally introduced, Marco— yes I know who you are— we would hope that you’ll lend some of your... specialist skills to the cause.”
“You want us to use our powers?” Lou says.
“Yes, but for the greatest good and only when absolutely necessary. As Curtis pointed out to me at our last meeting, had Jer been on our side, he probably could have named Edward Clarence as the culprit behind the Downing Street fire within minutes. The excruciating torture he went through, without giving up the answer, I might add, was pointless. I don’t make the same mistake twice,” she says firmly.
“Are you giving us a choice?” Jer asks.
Miss Banks sighs and shakes her head. “Honestly, no. Either you come with me in temporary employ of the government, or you are arrested for disturbance of the peace after yesterday.”
“I know which option I prefer,” I say before someone else makes a smart-arse comment that winds us up taking option two.
“Very sensible, Curtis. And the rest of you?”
Ella doesn’t take long to reply. “I’m with Curtis on this one. I think we need all the help we can get right now.” I walk over and put an arm around her shoulders, hugging her closer to me.
“Thank you,” I whisper in her ear, to which she nods a reply.
“It’s not that easy for me. My family would go mental if they knew I was helping you guys,” Marco says. “Not to mention I already have a perfectly good job.�
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“Yes, being a spy for your cousin and running the accounts of his nightclub, or so I read from your file. Perhaps when this all blows over, we can have a little chat about that?” Miss Banks says, inspecting her manicure and yet managing to sound threatening.
“Er, right. Sounds good. Government pay check it is,” he answers quickly.
“Very good. And you? I assume I won’t have one without the other, so what are you both going to do?” Miss Banks asks Lou and Jer collectively. They look at each other, a silent conversation passing between them until Lou finally replies, “We’re in. I don’t want to fight you, and someone has to keep an eye on this lot anyway.”
“Excellent. That settles that, then,” Miss Banks says with some relief. I imagine that Steve is waiting somewhere outside the kitchen to grab anyone who tries to make a run for it, and she’s probably glad not to have the hassle.
“Now, you don’t happen to have access to that mysterious form of transportation that got you here, do you?”
“I’m afraid not anymore.” I shake my head.
“Damn. We’ll have to drive then. It’s about five hours, so grab what you need and head out to the car that’s waiting outside. We have a lot of work to do.”
CHAPTER 14
The Anti-Terror Unit isn’t the shiny glass building on the River Thames that I expected. In fact, it looks a lot like the abandoned warehouse that Jer and I were held hostage in back in December. It’s only when Miss Banks allows us to access the lift and takes us down to level -8 does it start to resemble a government facility.
“Excuse our outward appearance. For all intents and purposes, we don’t exist to the rest of the world,” Miss Banks explains, showing us to a clinically furnished lounge area. The white plastic seats and glass coffee tables aren’t particularly inviting, but we’re ordered to sit down.
“I’ll need you each to be medically examined for routine purposes, fill out some paperwork, and then once you’ve eaten, we’ll work together on assigning you some basic functions until we can find somewhere to hide you all that the Magic Circle can’t get to.”
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