by Helen Harper
Both guards’ heads twisted this time, searching for signs of rats. I rubbed my palms together in delight. Excellent.
Lizzy smiled benignly. ‘Can I get either of you two a drink? We have several pubs. There’s a nice home-made wine which goes down a treat on a hot day like this.’
‘We are fine.’ Boyce paused before adding as if it were an after-thought, ‘Thank you.’
She grinned and waved. ‘You’re welcome.’ Then she wandered past them, looking for all the world like she was out for a casual stroll.
Julie leaned into me. ‘Do you think it worked?’ she whispered.
‘I think it planted the seed,’ I said. ‘Onto phase two.’ We began to slide back down the roof as quietly as possible.
The second guard heaved a sigh. ‘We should have said yes to the wine. We could have drunk it later on. I could do with a damned drink.’
‘I bet you could.’ There was a sour note to Boyce’s words. He lowered his voice. ‘Was it you?’ I heard him ask in a low voice. ‘Was it you who let that little black creature out of its cage?’
I jerked in shock. Unfortunately it was too late to halt my descent and listen to the reply. Bastards. That wasn’t an admission of guilt, it was a simple question. But it had been asked, all the same.
Julie looked at me. ‘Why would one of those bastards set Lucy free?’ she asked.
I bit my lip. This wasn’t the time to get into it. ‘I’ll explain later.’ I pointed to the side. ‘Come on. Let’s skedaddle out of here.’
We walked towards the barricade. I gave a Theo a friendly wave. ‘We’re going to check the other buildings around here,’ I called out. ‘In case any more decide to collapse on us.’
He offered me a confused smile. I didn’t often explain what I was up to when I wandered out of the enclave. Julie waggled her fingers at him in greeting, however, and he kept quiet. She often had that effect on people.
We walked past the tent, pointedly ignoring both guards – or at least I did. Julie added an extra strut and shook her head in an attention-drawing exercise. Given her portable head parasol and head-to-toe covering, I reckoned she was already getting more than enough attention. Still, I supposed I should be glad that she didn’t start blowing them kisses.
Avoiding the street where the chimney stack had collapsed, we turned right. Down here we’d be out of the guards’ view. I heaved in a breath and hoped I was doing the right thing.
Lizzy appeared from the other side of the building, fumbling with her bag before producing a confused-looking Lucy.
‘She whimpered the whole time,’ Lizzy told me. ‘It’s lucky the guards didn’t twig.’
‘She’s hungry.’
Lizzy laid her down carefully on the road. As soon as her paws hit the ground, Lucy went still. The only part of her that moved was her nose, twitching this way and that as she scented the air.
‘I know those giant rat bastards hunt in packs,’ Lizzy said. ‘And their danger lies in their numbers. But I’m starting to get a very bad feeling about this.’
‘We’ll be fine.’ Even I was impressed by my over-confident tone. ‘It’ll all be fine.’ Maybe. Assuming everything went to plan. I watched Lucy. ‘Come on, baby.’ I knelt down and scratched at the surface of the road, hoping I could lead by example. ‘Come on, Luce,’ I said. ‘You can do it.’
The tiny shadow beast stared at me as if I were crazy. I kept on scratching. A moment later, Julie joined me, then Lizzy. Lucy continued to gaze at us. I thought it wasn’t going to work and she’d stay where she was, but eventually she seemed to decide that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. She too started to scratch at the road, except Lucy’s scratches were louder and deeper than ours.
‘I still don’t see that this will work,’ Julie muttered. She gave up her own bid at scratching and straightened up, reaching into her pocket for her little silver hip flask. She started to unscrew the lid before suddenly freezing. ‘Forget I said that,’ she muttered.
From an abandoned house with an open window on the ground floor and half a tree growing out of its roof, several rats emerged, drawn by Lucy’s siren call. I counted a baker’s dozen. It wasn’t a large number – but that was probably a good thing. What was important was that they were big bastards. The larger they were, the more I’d have to work with.
The first one flung itself forward, immediately registering the chunks of dog food in the trap we’d left in the middle of the road. It swooped in, scuttling over the pressure pad, and the trapdoor slammed shut behind it. That was easier than I’d anticipated.
I scooped up Lucy and thrust her into Julie’s arms. ‘There’s another cage set up in that house,’ I said. ‘Cath is waiting there. Just hand over Lucy and we’ll pick her up again later. And make sure you don’t lose that damned rat.’ I grabbed Lizzy’s arm. ‘Ready?’
‘You so owe me a year’s supply of Vegemite for this,’ she said. I winked. A moment later we were off, pelting our way back down the road in the direction of the enclave.
It was fortunate that Lizzy was a screamer. She threw back her head as she ran, her high-pitched screeches drawing the remainder of the rats away from Julie and Lucy and towards us. We sprinted with all our might; I even injected some flapping arms for effect.
‘Rats!’ I shrieked. I veered towards the enclave. ‘Help!’
The loud skittering from behind told me that the rats were following. I spotted a few white faces among our own guards at the barricade and Fab’s guards at his tent directly in front of us before I switched directions. Lizzy followed suit. The last thing we wanted was for any of the nasty smelly creatures to get inside our homes. Twenty metres was as close as I was willing to risk it.
As soon as we were out of sight again, Lizzy shifted. Her clothes burst off and her bones snapped. It still took her longer than Monroe to shift and the giant rats were almost nipping at our heels by the time she was done; all the same, she managed it. Her bunyip form paused for a split second before she drew in a breath, sprang up and speeded away from me.
I darted to the nearest door, which had once belonged to a barber’s. With the rats at my heels, I wrenched it open and threw myself inside, slamming the door shut behind me. One brave rodent threw itself against the glass, cracking it into a spider web of fissures. It quickly decided I wasn’t worth the effort and abandoned me to follow Lizzy and its ratty mates. I breathed out then I opened the door again and backtracked until I was round the corner from the enclave barricade and the massive white tent.
From the other corner, Julie gave me a tight, one-handed wave. I raised my eyebrows and she nodded. I motioned to her, raising my hands and preparing. The magic was already pushing at my skin. I saw Julie swallow; for all her bluster and acting prowess, she was nervous. Frankly, I didn’t blame her.
She gave me one last bob of her head and pulled out her other hand. I squinted. She’d done it: a single writhing rat was dangling from her fist. She’d done well to retrieve it from the trap. As I watched, she carefully placed it on the parasol attached to her head, where just enough chunks of dog food were entwined with the lace to keep the rat busy for a minute or two. Shadow beasts might be smart; these rats really weren’t.
I flicked out enough magic to tether the creature to Julie so it didn’t run off. We needed it to appear fearless and prepared to stand its ground, no matter what. We were creating terror here, after all. Then Julie stepped out.
Keeping my body well back, I peeked round so I could get a good look at the action.
‘Hello, darlings!’ She fluttered her eyelashes. ‘What’s going on? I heard shrieking. Is there a problem?’
From behind the barricade, Theo’s confused face appeared. ‘Charley and Lizzy ran that way,’ he said, pointing. ‘Chased by several gigantic rats.’
‘They found a nest? How utterly disgusting.’ She walked closer. The rat was still perched haphazardly on top of her parasol, nibbling away. I crossed my fingers. Just a few more seconds. I didn’t need much longer.
It was the closer of Fab’s two guards who spotted the creature first. He raised a white-suited arm at the rat and muttered something. Julie paused and turned to him, an expression of perfect confusion on her face. She might have been nervous but she was playing this brilliantly.
‘What’s that?’ she enquired.
This time, I heard him. ‘Rat.’ He coughed. ‘There’s a rat on your … head.’
Julie swung round to look behind her. The rat dug its claws in, still finishing its meal. Julie swung back with more force and this time the creature flew off. It didn’t scare easily, however. It landed on its paws and faced her. Julie screamed. Very loudly.
Pandemonium broke out. Theo darted to the bell, ringing it with all his might to indicate that there was a problem.
The two guards sprang forward.
‘Do something!’ Julie screamed at them. ‘Do something!’
It was obvious that they didn’t know what to do. Julie threw up her hands and shrieked louder, then she ran towards the guards and shoved them in front of her as if planning to use their bodies to shield her. The rat bounded after her, but I had to hand it to the guards: they blocked its path.
‘Catch it!’ Julie yelled. ‘Catch it! Where there’s one rat, there will soon be more!’
I held my breath until Theo also jumped into the fray. He joined the guards and together they advanced on the rat. It held its ground but, even so, I only had scant seconds. Sixty to be exact. That was how long we reckoned Julie could hold their attention away from the tent.
I started to count and pelted forward, moving as fast as my legs would carry me. Julie jumped out from behind the guards and drew their attention, making sure they kept their eyes trained on her and the rat rather than the tent behind them. The tent’s size would shield me from the eyes of those behind the barricade. Everything else was down to me.
Fifty-nine. Fifty-eight. Fifty-seven. There was only way into the tent and that was through the zippered front. I reached it within heartbeats and my fingers fumbled with the zip. For one terrifying moment, I thought it was stuck and I wasn’t going to open it. Then it gave way and I tugged at it with enough force to open it and get inside. Julie’s screams continued to cover me. Fifty-one. Fifty.
Frustratingly, there were two inner canvas doors. Apparently that’s what you get when you built a decontamination tent designed to keep yourself safe from magic. At least these were easier to get through than the first door. I yanked the first one open. Forty-seven. Then the next. Forty-six. A second later I was in. The tented doors flapped behind me, permitting all that dangerous magic to leak inside. I didn’t feel guilty; I didn’t have time. Instead I scanned round.
There were three air mattresses, white, naturally. I supposed that only three of them slept at any given time because there was always two guards outside on duty. Foil-covered army rations were stacked neatly in a corner. The four large backpacks that Fab’s guards had carried were sitting in another corner. Forty-two. Forty-one. Forty. I jumped over to the backpacks and hastily searched through the contents. As I moved, my feet hit an old iron drain covering. It clanged loudly and I winced. Julie’s shrieks might be loud but I didn’t want to draw undue attention to myself or the tent.
‘Oh my God!’ I heard her shout from outside. ‘Look at it! It’s going to scratch my eyes out!’
I swallowed. Thirty-six. Thirty-five. I couldn’t make too much of a mess and alert either Fab or the guards to the fact that someone had been in here snooping around. But time was running out.
Underwear. Iodine tablets. A family photo. There was nothing suspicious in the slightest. I moved to the next backpack. Less than thirty seconds now. My fingers scraped against something hard and I tugged and pulled it out. A notebook. An expensive, leather-bound notebook with the initials F.B. inscribed on the front. With shaky hands, I flipped it open. There were a few diagrams which I could make nothing of. I turned the pages, leafing through it as quickly as possible. The last page was filled with various notes, neatly scribed in tiny handwriting.
Water is not a problem. Good use of available land to grow crops. Concerns over long-term supplies. Rationing is in effect. How can I bring in what they need? Contact Home Office. Then, underlined: What more can I do to help?
I stared at the words. There was nothing here. Fabian Barrett was exactly who he portrayed himself to be. In fact, he might actually be a better person than he appeared to be. I was a fool for mistrusting him.
Julie screamed again. I froze. Shit. I’d stopped counting. There had to be less than fifteen seconds left. I had to move.
I rammed the notebook back into the bag, whirled round to make sure nothing else was out of place then jumped for the first zip, closing it up. I fumbled for the second. My heart was hammering against my ribcage – this was the worst part. Getting in without being noticed was one thing but getting out was going to be far harder.
I peeked out. Their backs were still facing me but I could tell from the guards’ posture that they were beginning to lose interest. One rat, even a big one, wasn’t terrifying enough to hold their attention much longer.
I stepped out. All I had to do was return the final zip to its original closed position and … fuck. One of the guards was turning. I couldn’t close it in time. I sent out a brief prayer to whoever might be listening and twitched my fingers. Magic burst forth, the zip moved and I calmly smiled, using my body to block it from view.
The guard leapt towards me. ‘What the fuck are you doing?’
I blinked rapidly. ‘What do you mean? I was about to ask you the same question.’
‘The tent is off limits!’ he barked.
I half turned my head, evincing surprise that I was so close to it. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… I’m sorry.’ I held up my palms to indicate surrender. At the same time, my left pinky flicked, cutting the invisible magic tether that held the rat to Julie. It paused in its frantic scrabbling then sprang to the right and darted away to freedom. Julie let out one final, relieved shriek and collapsed to the ground.
‘It’s gone! Thank God! It’s gone!’ She whipped her head around. ‘Are more coming?’
Lizzy appeared from round the corner, returned to her human form and as naked as the day she was born. Clearly both guards were heterosexual. Where Monroe’s naked body had garnered nothing more than confusion from Boyce, Lizzy’s lithe, leggy frame caused both guards’ mouths to drop open.
‘I’ve dealt with them,’ she said sunnily. ‘No more rats. They’ll think twice before they dare to come near us again.’
‘Praise be,’ Julie said.
Theo turned and raised an eyebrow in my direction. He might not have been in on the plan but he’d obviously worked out what was happening. I was just glad that he’d chosen to stay quiet and play along. ‘Yes,’ he murmured. ‘Praise be.’
Chapter Eighteen
Despite the good news that there was no evidence Fab was anything more than the saviour we hoped he’d be, Julian wasn’t happy. He glowered at me with darkness raging in his eyes. He could stomp around all he wanted; he’d forgotten that I lived with Monroe. If I could deal with my sexy Scot, nothing Julian said or did would intimidate me.
‘That was an incredibly risky plan,’ he snapped.
‘You knew I was heading into that tent,’ I said. ‘I don’t understand why you’re upset about it.’
‘I didn’t know you were going to waltz inside when those two guards were standing right in front of it!’
I raised my shoulders. ‘They weren’t looking.’
‘If they’d spotted you…’
‘They didn’t.’
‘But…’
He was fixated on his ‘what if?’ scenario. Theo, who’d done nothing more than look amused until this point, offered us an amiable smile. ‘No harm done,’ he said. ‘And it’s good to know that the billionaire is on the level. I’d been wondering about his true intentions.’
‘From what I’ve seen,’ I said, ‘his true
intentions are simply to help us. We can trust him.’ I hesitated. ‘Or so it seems.’ I wished I felt more confident about that but I couldn’t deny that there was no real reason to mistrust Fab. The evidence I’d discovered in the tent had proven otherwise. The other evidence was circumstantial.
Regardless, Julian wasn’t appeased. ‘You know that means that it must have been your pet shadow beast who tried to kill you.’
Julie and Lizzy looked astonished. ‘Tried to kill you? What happened?’
I remained calm. ‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘It was an accident.’
‘Bad luck?’ Julian asked disbelievingly.
‘An accident,’ I reiterated. ‘My suspicions were unfounded. Fabian Barrett is a good guy and all is right with the world. Or at least it will be when we persuade him to sort us out with some supplies.’
‘He’s such a hero.’ Julie’s voice was flat. ‘Except you heard what that guard asked. If his buddy is the one who let Lucy out of her cage, he could also have been the one who drew you out after her to kill you.’
‘There’s no proof of that.’ But doubt continued to crawl through me. Damn it. Nothing was ever easy.
Theo glanced out of the window. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘it appears that our hero is returning. Charley, before your boyfriend goes crazy trying to make sure that you’re alright, I suggest you head out and meet him.’
I nodded and looked round the little gathering. ‘Let’s all act as normal as possible.’
Julie snorted. ‘Normal, darling? You’re forgetting who you’re talking to.’ She smiled at me. I grinned back at her and walked out of the door. She followed behind.
‘When were you planning to tell us that someone tried to kill you?’ Lizzy asked, catching up.
‘Yes, darling,’ Julie agreed. ‘You ought to have mentioned it before.’
I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. ‘As I said, it was probably an accident.’ Or maybe I just wanted to believe that it was.
‘Hmm.’ Julie took out her hip flask. ‘This is probably water.’ She took a delicate sip. ‘Mm. Tasty water.’