Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952)

by Jacka, Benedict

  The section ended. I read it through twice more, then sat back in my chair. Something about that last one made me uneasy. A host …

  I tried to figure out some way I could put the information in the books to use but came up blank. Bound or unbound, limited or unlimited, evil or neutral: Each book told a different story, and without knowing which was true they weren’t much help. The one thing they all agreed on was that the monkey’s paw was dangerous—and I’d known that already. I walked to my window and looked out over London.

  The morning had been overcast but the clouds had vanished one by one and the sun was shining down out of a clear sky. Sunset was only a couple of hours away and the colour of the sunlight had changed to a rich yellow-gold, the chimneys and rooftops casting long shadows with the coming evening. The windows in the houses and flats were still illuminated by the sun but as dusk drew nearer I knew they would light up one by one, making squares of light in the darkness.

  I was still restless. I’d tried to shrug it off all day and it hadn’t worked, and I didn’t know why. I’d done a job for Belthas and succeeded. Okay, I didn’t know everything, but Rachel and Cinder had been stopped. I wasn’t completely happy about the way things had ended, but I hadn’t had much choice.

  Was it about Luna and the monkey’s paw? I thought about it and realised that wasn’t it. Working on the monkey’s paw wasn’t making me feel any better; the problem was somewhere else. Something was wrong.

  But what?

  It was because I didn’t understand. I’m like all diviners: I need to know things. I’d learnt bits and pieces but that wasn’t enough. I had to know how they fit together. The assassination attempts, Belthas, Rachel and Cinder, Arachne …

  Start at the beginning. Which part related to me the most?

  The assassination attempts.

  There had been four. The construct in my shop, the sniper on the Heath, Cinder burning Meredith’s flat, and the bomb-maker in the factory.

  Why did someone want me dead so badly?

  The obvious explanation was because I’d stopped that first attack on Meredith. I’d prevented Rachel and Cinder from killing her so they’d turned their attention to me. The sniper and the bomb-maker had tried to kill me, and Cinder had tried to kill both of us. I remembered that last glimpse I’d had of Cinder, staring at me as Starbreeze snatched me and Meredith out of the window.

  I frowned. Staring at me … There was something nagging at me. What was it?

  It was the method. It didn’t fit. The construct and fire had been brute-force magical attacks. The sniper and the bomb-maker had used modern technology, precise and deadly.

  And now that I thought about it, I’d never seen Rachel or Cinder use guns. Like most mages, they rely on magic for pretty much everything. If they wanted me dead, they’d either send a construct or do their own dirty work.

  But that was stretching things. It made sense that the same group would be behind all the attacks. I knew Rachel and Cinder had been trying to get me killed …

  …didn’t I?

  Again I remembered how Cinder had looked when he’d seen me in Meredith’s flat, the way he’d stopped to stare. Except …

  …if he’d been trying to kill me, why had he stopped?

  I knew how fast Cinder was. He’d had more than enough time to get off an attack. But he hadn’t.

  And the only way that made sense was if Cinder hadn’t been trying to kill me at all.

  What if Cinder hadn’t known I was there? Meredith had been Rachel’s target when she’d sent the construct. Maybe Meredith had been Cinder’s target, too. It had been Meredith’s flat; even if he’d been expecting anyone else, Cinder would have had no way of knowing it was me. Which would mean he hadn’t known I was involved at all.

  But the sniper had been targeting me, not Meredith. And the sniper had tried to kill me before I’d met Cinder at the flat …

  A nasty feeling crept up inside me. That meant Rachel and Cinder hadn’t sent the sniper—and probably not the bomb-maker, either. Someone else had done it. Which meant that someone else was still out there. And odds were, they still wanted me dead.

  But who?

  I shook my head in frustration. It didn’t make sense. I wanted to blame Belthas. He had the contacts and the resources, as well as Garrick, who I still suspected had been the one shooting at me on the Heath. But I’d been working for Belthas—in fact, I’d just won a battle for him. Why would he want me dead before I’d told him where Rachel and Cinder were hiding? And if it was someone else, like Levistus, why would they choose to strike at me now?

  I was missing something.

  I tried calling Meredith and got her voice mail. I hung up and called Luna, and this time I got through.

  Luna took a long time to answer, and when she did, her voice was blurred by the sound of wind. “Hi.”

  “Luna, it’s Alex. Are you free?”

  “What was that?” Luna said loudly.

  “Where are you?”

  There was the sound of voices and I heard the crunch of footsteps. The background noise dropped slightly. “Hi, Alex?” Luna said again. “Sorry, it’s hard to hear.”

  “Where are you?”

  “On the Heath.”

  I blinked. “Why are you on the Heath?”

  “Um … I was going to see Arachne.”

  There was something in her voice. “Is Martin with you?”

  There was a pause. Luna’s not a good liar. I closed my eyes. “Luna, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “We were just going to talk to her. To see if she knew about the monkey’s paw.”

  “She said she was leaving.”

  “But that wasn’t going to be for a few days, right? If I asked her …”

  I sighed inwardly. Luna’s one of the very few people whom Arachne’s willing to let inside her lair. It was possible; I just didn’t like the idea of Martin being there. “Have you seen anything unusual?”

  A loud rustling drowned out my words. I heard someone talking and recognised Martin’s voice. “Just a minute,” Luna called back to him, then spoke into the receiver again. “Sorry, what was that?”

  “Forget it,” I said. “Just drop by first chance you get, okay? I need to talk to you. Privately.”

  “Okay,” Luna said. “Um, I don’t know when Martin and I’ll be done. I’ll call you afterwards?”

  I was really sick of hearing about Martin. “Sure.” I heard Martin say something else as Luna cut the connection. I dropped my phone back into my pocket.

  I’d been indoors all day. I locked up the shop and started walking. Maybe some exercise would help me think.

  The city was bustling in the sunset. I crossed the canal and walked up Kentish Town Road, watching the rush-hour traffic pile up nose to tail. The air was filled with noise and car exhaust.

  After a while I realised my feet were leading me towards the Heath. Usually when something’s bothering me I go and talk it over with Arachne. But Arachne was either gone or busy with Luna, and I didn’t want to deal with Luna and Martin. I changed direction, heading for the southern part of the Heath instead of the deeper regions that hold Arachne’s lair.

  By the time I reached Parliament Hill, the sun had set and the light was fading. I climbed the hill and sat on one of the benches facing south. It’s a beautiful view. Ahead, through the branches of the trees, were the jagged skyscrapers of Liverpool Street; to the right was the looming ugly Tetris block of the Royal Free Hospital. The towers of Canary Wharf were away to the left, small and squat in the distance. The sky was the dusky blue of twilight, and lights were coming on in the windows as I watched.

  I noticed my phone was about to ring and pulled it out. I was a bit disappointed to see that it was Sonder but I kept it out anyway and answered on the second ring. “Hey, Sonder.”

  “Hi.” Sonder sounded worried. “I’m glad I got you.”

  “I found some of those books.”

  “What?”

  “The o
nes you said you needed. About the monkey’s paw.”

  “About— Oh, oh. Right.”

  “Okay,” I said. “So I’m guessing that’s not why you called.” Although the Heath was darkening, there were still people scattered across the hill. A spaniel ran past, nose to the ground, stumpy tail wagging. “Something’s bothering you.”

  “Yeah.” Sonder seemed to get hold of himself. “Okay. You know the thing we agreed I should check up on?”

  “Not the monkey’s paw.”

  “The other thing.”

  I thought back to the conversation and remembered. “About Martin.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you talk to Luna?”

  “Um …” Sonder hesitated. “She said she was busy.”

  I’ll bet. “Okay.”

  “So, um …”

  “You went sniffing around anyway,” I said. I couldn’t honestly say I was surprised. It was the kind of thing I might have done.

  “Yeah,” Sonder admitted.

  It sounded from the echoes as though Sonder was in a corridor. “Are you at Luna’s flat?”

  “…Yeah.”

  “You didn’t break in, did you?”

  “No! Well … not exactly.”

  “Sonder …”

  “I didn’t go inside! And she’d said she might be around, I was just waiting to see if—”

  “Okay, okay.” I knew Sonder would get sidetracked if I let him, and I didn’t really want to hear the details. “What did you find?”

  “Well … it was Martin. He made a phone call.”

  “What, right now?”

  “No, on Saturday night.”

  “Saturday—okay. And you were listening?”

  “Yeah, a few minutes ago.”

  You really need a couple of extra tenses for a conversation about time magic. “Okay,” I said. “Who was he talking to?”

  “Belthas.”

  I stopped. “What?”

  “I know,” Sonder said. “He’s not supposed to be working for Belthas, right?”

  “…No. He’s not. Working for him?”

  “That was what it sounded like. Martin was giving a report and then he said he was on his way to meet him. As in, right then.”

  I tried to figure out what was going on. I’d missed something, something big. “What was he telling Belthas about?”

  “About Luna.”

  I went still.

  “He said he’d spent the evening with her and things were going well.” Sonder sounded worried. “Then he said something about two or three days. Then he said he was on his way.”

  Two or three days from Saturday night would be … about now. “Sonder, I’ve got to go. We’ve got a problem.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Luna’s taking Martin to Arachne’s lair right now.” I got to my feet and started walking. “See what else you can find but be careful.”

  “Okay.” Sonder paused. “Alex? What do you think Belthas wanted with Martin?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t think I’m going to like the answer. I’m going to find Luna. I’ll check in when I do.”

  “Okay.”

  I hung up and speed-dialled Luna’s number. I got her voice mail. I tried again—same result. It could mean she was in Arachne’s lair. Or it could mean something very bad.

  I wanted to run but forced myself to keep to a walk. There was no way this could be a coincidence. Martin and Luna, Meredith and me …

  An idea stirred, something blank and terrible, the shape of it making me shy away. I tried to think of what Belthas could want with Luna. Luna’s curse is powerful in its way, but it doesn’t serve anyone but her. If Belthas wanted a chance mage, he could find someone else. Had he done the whole thing to get to me? No, that couldn’t be it—Martin had hardly spoken to me.

  There must be something Luna had that Belthas wanted. It wasn’t her magic and it wasn’t her status. Belthas had gotten me involved as well. Maybe it was something to do with both of us. What did Luna and I have in common?

  We both knew about the fateweaver. But that didn’t fit with what Rachel and Cinder had been doing, and besides, it was old news. We both knew Starbreeze … no, I’m the only one with a connection to her.

  What about Arachne? We were two of the very few people Arachne trusted enough to let into her lair … which was where Luna was taking Martin …

  I stopped dead.

  Arachne. A magical creature.

  The technique Rachel and Cinder had been using.

  And now Belthas had it too.

  “Oh shit,” I said quietly. And started to run.

  It took me ten minutes to cover the distance. I spent less than five putting the pieces together.

  Half of that was kicking myself for being stupid. I’d known Belthas was keeping something back. Of course he didn’t want Rachel and Cinder getting their hands on something this powerful. He wanted it for himself. And now he had it, he needed a creature to try it out on.

  Arachne was too well protected to attack directly. Behind the wards of her lair, she was almost invulnerable. But if you had someone Arachne trusted enough to let in … that changed things. And if you had someone like Martin, with the monkey’s paw making him immune to Arachne’s magic … and a small army of men to follow him …

  Night had fallen by the time I reached Arachne’s lair. The Heath was silent but for the sound of distant traffic. I crept forward to the ravine and peered through the trees.

  It was dark enough that I had to stare for a few seconds to be sure of what I was seeing but once I did, my heart sank. The entrance to Arachne’s lair was open.

  Something caught my eye, lying in the grass, and I moved silently to retrieve it. It was a white ribbon, the kind Luna uses to tie her hair. A faint silver mist still clung to it, the residue of Luna’s curse.

  I should have backed off. It would have been the smart thing to do. The careful thing to do.

  I walked down into the ravine. As I came down the slope I heard someone catch their breath just in front of me. The mouth of Arachne’s cave was a mass of shadows and I walked towards one of them, straight as an arrow. “Meredith,” I said into the darkness, my voice soft in the empty night. “We need to talk.”

  One of the shadows moved. There was a click and a faint light illuminated Meredith, pale and frightened. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  I kept walking towards her. “Who’s in there, Meredith?”

  Meredith backed up. “I—what do you mean?”

  “No,” I said. “No more games.”

  “I’m not supposed to—” Meredith stopped.

  I nodded. “You’re out here to turn people away. While Belthas works.” I stepped closer. “I’ll make this simple. Where’s Luna?”

  Meredith hesitated.

  I turned towards the entrance. “You’re wasting my time.”

  “No, wait!” Meredith stepped in front of me, hands up.

  “Then answer. Where’s Luna?”

  “She’s—” Meredith shook her head. “Just go. Okay?”

  I didn’t even bother answering. I stepped in. Meredith pressed herself against the earth wall, her eyes going wide.

  Suddenly my anger vanished. I’d been splitting my attention, watching for any sign of Belthas’s men; now I found myself focusing on Meredith, noticing as if for the first time her softness and beauty. I realised that I didn’t want to hurt her, even if it was to … What was I doing again? “What’s happening?”

  Meredith’s eyes flicked over my shoulder, then back again. “It’s nothing. Alex, you should go. It’s dangerous here.”

  It seemed like a good idea. If Meredith wanted me to leave, I ought to. Except … I shook my head. There was something …

  “Alex? Please.”

  “Where’s Luna?”

  Meredith flinched, just for a second. “I … don’t know. Alex?”

  I tried to remember what I was doing. It was hard, like trying to think while asleep. I co
uld feel something fighting me but I resisted it, piecing my thoughts back together one at a time. “She’s in there, isn’t she?”

  Meredith’s eyes flicked to one side again. “No. She isn’t.”

  Meredith was lying. It was hard to believe it—I wanted to trust her—but a clearer, stronger part of me was telling me not to. And she kept on looking away, as if …

  …as if she were looking at something behind me.

  I tried to turn but my dulled reactions were too slow. Something stung the back of my neck and a wave of dizziness washed over me. It was hard to move, and with a vague feeling of surprise I noticed I was lying on the ground. A man was saying something in a deep voice but I couldn’t seem to focus on the words. And then I stopped noticing anything at all.

  Mages have developed a lot of ways to knock someone unconscious. Light mages use them to avoid killing; Dark mages also use them to avoid killing, though for different reasons. I’ve had more experience with them than I’d like and this had been one of the “softer” ones—I didn’t feel any headache or nausea. As I came awake I began to hear the echoing scrape of movement from nearby. I could tell from the sounds that I was in a big room. I opened my eyes.

  I was in Arachne’s lair, though the layout seemed different. I was lying a rug near the far side. Sofas and chairs had been pushed up against the wall and Luna was sitting on one of them. She was looking down at me. “Hey,” I said, still a little blurry. “You okay?”

  Luna gave a tiny nod. She was sitting quite still. I couldn’t see any injuries on her, though now I took a closer look her clothes looked scuffed. I got to my feet. A brief wave of dizziness hit me and I swayed for a moment before shaking it off.

  I had the feeling I was forgetting something. “How did you get here?” I said.

  Luna flicked her eyes behind me then back again. It was a very tiny gesture, but something about it sent a chill down my spine.

  I turned around.

  It’s always struck me as a bit unfair that despite being able to see the future, I get so many horrible surprises. You’d think being a diviner I’d be able to avoid them but it seems all that means is that when they finally do catch up with me they’re much worse. It’s happened so many times that I’ve learnt to recognise the exact feeling: a sort of hollow, sinking sensation in my gut, like I’ve just been dropped from very high up.