by Helen Harper
I gritted my teeth, leaning away from the immense heat. It felt like it was stripping the skin from my cheekbones. Much more of this and there would be nothing left of the building but a mere shell. It was just as well that I had some fellow enchanters to rely on.
It happened quickly. Where the watery line had once been a pathetically slow-moving creation, it sped up. A bulge started at the original house, passing through as if the water truly were some sort of snake that had swallowed its prey. The bulge began to move faster. It also grew larger, like an ever-increasing balloon.
I watched the tension and fixed concentration on the faces of my helpers. We all knew what was at stake.
I braced myself for the bulge’s arrival. I had to get this right or all the effort would be for nothing. It shot past the second-last person, then the last. It was coming for me – and timing would be everything.
I stopped breathing. The now-massive watery bulge whooshed towards me. At the very moment it passed over my head, I flicked my wrists. The bulge arced out, up and over the roof of the warehouse. Then I released it.
Water cascaded down, hissing as soon as it hit the searing hot flames. Between the steam and the smoke, it was nigh on impossible to tell what was happening. From the other side of the building, I heard voices from the vampires, werewolves and humans working on the fire using more conventional methods.
‘More!’ I shouted. ‘Let’s do it again!’
Three times we magically coaxed the water along and three times we allowed it to build up so I could dump the largest amount possible onto the burning building. It was only by the third attempt that I could be sure we’d achieved success. No more flames were visible.
I knew without touching any of the bricks that the building remained dangerously hot. We wouldn’t know for sure how much we’d lost until morning when it had cooled down. At this moment in time, anything we could salvage would be a bonus.
Chapter Twenty-one
‘The chickens are dead.’
I stared. ‘All of them?’
Theo’s expression was dark. He didn’t answer; he simply put his hands in his pockets and looked away. I supposed that was answer enough.
‘The fire wasn’t anywhere near their coops,’ Lizzy said. ‘How could that have happened?’
‘It appears that, while we were busy working on the fire, a few foxes snuck in and tore their way through them.’
I met his eyes. ‘But foxes don’t come into the enclave. They can smell the wolves. They know better than to enter the territory of bigger and scarier predators.’
‘They do indeed.’
I cursed loudly.
Monroe was preternaturally still. ‘Plausible deniability,’ he said quietly. ‘Alora asked why Fabian Barrett would choose to leave for a few days to organise supplies that he could have brought with him the first time around. We have proof that he already knew we were here and surviving. The only reason he left is to maintain plausible deniability. It’s the perfect alibi. If he wasn’t here, then he couldn’t have done this. Except now we know that he could have snuck in without us realising. Or sent someone else in to set the fire for him. Others have clearly been here without our knowledge.’
‘You really think he’s responsible?’
He looked at me. ‘You really think he isn’t?’
No, I didn’t. But it hadn’t occurred to me that he would be so desperate to control what happened within Manchester’s walls that he would be this destructive. Then again, I didn’t think it had occurred to anyone, even Monroe. ‘The crops?’ I asked dully.
‘For the first time,’ Monroe said, ‘we have reason to be glad we haven’t got large fields. The allotments are too spread out for them to all be destroyed. I suppose that Fab Barrett didn’t believe he could ruin them and explain it away.’ His jaw tightened; he turned away and punched the wall. Plaster flew off and, when he pulled back, there was a fist-sized hole. I didn’t comment. I wanted to do the same.
Our crops might be undamaged but there weren’t enough of them to sustain our entire population. Not by a long shot. ‘We allowed ourselves to trust him,’ Monroe snarled. ‘We shouldn’t have been so stupid.’
‘How could we have known? We weren’t caught napping, Monroe,’ I said. ‘We couldn’t have expected this. We’ve underestimated how much of a bastard Fab is.’ My insides twisted. I doubted even Julie had expected that this would happen. ‘My bet is that he wants us to become entirely dependent on him. If he’s our main source of food, we’ll have to do what he says.’
‘We could just leave,’ Theo pointed out.
‘Then he still wins. Manchester will be his.’ I screwed up my face. ‘I won’t let him force us out of our damned city. I’ll starve to death first.’
The others glanced at me. I could see the same determination in their faces but we all knew deep down that hunger would drive us out sooner or later. Thanks to pulling together to deal with the fire we’d recovered some things from warehouse, but there were barely enough rations left for a couple weeks.
I pushed away my hair. ‘Have we found any more evidence of his spies?’
It was Julian who answered. ‘Timmons has been in touch. They’ve found evidence of one wanker who’d been watching the Travotel. He’s long gone now, though.’
I grimaced. ‘We should get word to them to be on their guard. They have their own supplies to watch.’
‘It’s already been done,’ he answered. He started to pace up and down. ‘We need proof that Fab Barrett sent someone in here to kill our chickens and destroy our supplies. If there were eagle-eyed bastards watching us before, there might still be some now. We have a large area to cover and we’ve not found anyone yet, but that doesn’t mean there’s no one out there. Whoever they are, if I find them I’m going to…’ He bared his teeth.
‘We can’t hurt them.’
Julian glowered. ‘They’re trying to starve us out.’
‘If we hurt them,’ I insisted, ‘we’re playing into Fab’s hands.’
Monroe cleared his throat. ‘Charlotte is right. Can we all agree, however, that we stop calling him Fab?’
‘Done.’ I tried to think. ‘We should locate this tunnel as well. We need to find how he’s been sneaking people into the city.’
‘If we can find any of these spy bastards, we can work on getting them to talk,’ Julian said.
‘We can’t hurt them,’ I reiterated.
‘I won’t kill them.’ He looked at us. ‘I won’t even hurt them if you think it’s important not to. But I can promise you that I’ll make them think twice before they try and cross us again.’
‘Compared to us,’ I agreed, ‘these guys are nothing. No matter what resources Fabian Barrett has to draw on, we’re a close-knit supernatural community. We’ve got this.’
Monroe gave me an approving nod. ‘Amen.’
***
We fanned out, sweeping away from the enclave. If any of Barrett’s spies were still here and watching, they would know what we were doing. They would know we were coming for them. Personally, I was counting on that. Some nervous anticipation would do them good, especially when they knew there were crews of vampires and werewolves out for them.
We didn’t know for sure how long they’d been watching us, but they had to know by now that attempting to splinter our community wouldn’t work. It would have once, but it wasn’t possible now. Equally, they had to be aware of what the vampires and werewolves were capable of, not to mention the humans. We all had magic now. Monroe had said it himself: at the end of the day, we all had the potential to be monsters. I had faith that none of us would really hurt any of the wankers when we came across them – but if they believed that we would, we might have some leverage.
All of the high buildings were a target. Anywhere that had a good view of our enclave, but which was far enough away for the spies to avoid detection, was suspect. The longer we spent checking each one, the more tense Lucy grew. Her uneasy chirrups from my backpack were becoming more frequen
t. I did my best to reassure her. It was hard to believe that a few days earlier her tiny black form had been our biggest threat. I snorted to myself. As if. I should have remembered that the biggest monsters were often the ones with the most disarming smiles.
‘The notes you found in Barrett’s tent,’ Monroe growled, as we stalked through the streets. ‘The ones scribbled down about how much he wanted to help us. He left them there deliberately. He knew that sooner or later someone would try and sneak inside. He was covering all bases.’
‘It’s like he’s thought of everything,’ I agreed. ‘He knows our weaknesses, knows this area, knows how to get what he wants…’
‘Whatever that may be.’
I nodded. ‘Whatever that may be. We’re holding a joker and he’s got all the aces.’
Monroe was silent for a moment. ‘Except,’ he said finally, ‘we’ve got magic. He hasn’t.’
I bit my lip. ‘I’m not sure that’s true. Although he’s been wearing that suit, there’s a strange purple aura around him. No one else has one like it, not even his guards. Whatever the reason for the colour, there’s certainly more magic round him than you’d expect.’
Monroe sucked in a breath. ‘The suits don’t work after all, then. Do you think Barrett has realised that? If the British government thought there was any chance he had magic, they’d have locked him into quarantine before you could say abracadabra.’
I snorted. ‘Especially given they call it the Plague.’ Then I paused. ‘According to Barrett. It was Barrett who said that the outside world calls magic the Plague. That might have been a lie.’
I mentally slapped myself. I’d not been taking my own advice; I’d not been picturing the range of hands that the billionaire could be holding. I’d massively underestimated him from the beginning. We had to consider all possibilities. ‘He could be planning to enter the city earlier than he told us.’
‘We have a large contingent posted at the door just in case. And if there is a secret tunnel, enough of us are out and about that we might get lucky and spot something if he tries to enter another way.’ Monroe glanced up at the next building. ‘Let’s check inside this one.’
We walked up to the main door and pushed it open. Monroe lifted his head and sniffed. ‘Anything?’ I asked.
He shook his head. ‘Not yet.’ He flicked me a look. ‘But they could be masking their scent.’
All possibilities. I pulled back my shoulders and followed him in. There was too much undisturbed dust on the marble floor. This wasn’t the place.
‘The one thing we have going for us,’ I said, as we wandered outside again, ‘is that he doesn’t know we know. He obviously realises I’m suspicious of him, but he won’t know that we’re all onto him. That’s why he made sure he wasn’t here when the fire started. Plausible deniability, as you said.’ I sighed. ‘But I bet he has a contingency plan for that scenario.’
‘He could bring in more guns,’ Monroe said. ‘“Here,”’ he mimicked, ‘“have some chocolate and bread and Vegemite – and do what I say or you’ll take a bullet in the teeth.” The group by the door are prepared for that eventuality but even so, it’s worrying.’
I winced at the thought. Worrying indeed. ‘When he first arrived, Barrett handed the guns over without a pause. He left plenty of them outside the walls as well. He was desperate to gain our trust in any way that he could.’
Monroe’s eyes grew sharp. ‘You didn’t find any more weapons inside his tent?’
‘Nope. I’d have told you if I did.’ I halted in mid-step. ‘Wait,’ I whispered.
Monroe stilled. ‘What is it?’
‘The chimney stack that almost fell on my head,’ I said. ‘If we assume that Barrett was behind that, we can also assume that I wasn’t the sole target. It could have been intended for both of us.’
He bristled with unspent fury. ‘I should have confronted him about that at the time.’
‘I doubt it would have changed anything,’ I said. ‘But why us? Why target just us?’
Monroe sniffed derisively. ‘You’re the enchantress. In a city where everyone has magic, you have the most. Plus, I’m a powerful alpha werewolf.’
‘And Julian?’ I asked.
‘He’s also a powerful werewolf.’ Monroe’s tone made it clear that Julian would never quite match up, not in terms of physical strength. In running the enclave from day to day, Julian would beat us all hands down.
‘I know that. But,’ I waved at the empty buildings around us, ‘if Barrett’s ultimate goal is to control the city and he thinks the three of us are the top dogs, what’s he likely to do?’
Monroe’s eyes met mine. ‘Bring us all down. He’d never manage it, though. He’s already failed once. And even with twenty of those guards, Barrett wouldn’t win against Julian in a fight. Or me.’ He shrugged. ‘Or you.’
‘Perhaps. If Fabian Barrett wants supremacy, he’ll have to do something more underhand than fight. He’s not you,’ I said softly.
‘Not a monster, you mean?’ Monroe’s expression was suddenly flinty.
‘Not straightforward. You don’t beat around the bush or prevaricate or use words like weapons to subvert and manipulate. Barrett does.’
‘Words will only get you so far.’
I wasn’t so sure about that but I didn’t think I’d persuade Monroe. Not right now. In his world, problems were faced head on and actions were king. Fabian Barrett was a different breed entirely.
‘Don’t underestimate what a slick tongue can do,’ I said. ‘But he has other avenues to use in order to get what he wants. Like a pile of bricks falling out of the sky onto someone’s head. Or those guns he brought in being used against us.’
‘Julian told me he locked them in a safe. They’re out of the way. Barrett can’t get to them.’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but…’ I didn’t finish my sentence. A distant howl sounded from across the city. I looked at Monroe.
‘The billionaire is back.’ He smiled in such a way that a shiver ran all the way down my body. ‘Let’s get home and await his arrival. The game is truly afoot now.’
I exhaled. We still didn’t have enough information. We still didn’t know enough about what Fabian was up to. Unfortunately, however, we were also out of time.
Chapter Twenty-two
Fabian Barrett’s expression was the very definition of triumphant. He walked into the enclave, his shoulders straight and his head held high, although he was still wearing the same orange-striped hazmat suit as before.
I narrowed my eyes, noting the purple swirl that continued to cling to him. He might think he’d been staving off the magic with that daft attire, but his magical aura was stronger now than it had been before. And yet it was still different to everyone else’s. If only I could work out why. He’d been away from the city; how was it possible that more magic was clinging to him? And why was the colour so odd?
Barrett was trailed by his five guards, each of whom was pulling a small trailer. He led them directly to the square, beaming the entire way and waving at everyone he passed. I wasn’t sure he noticed that most people stared back at him with grim faces. Word had spread quickly about our discoveries. Even so, Barrett was too convinced of his own heroism at bringing in fresh supplies to pay attention to the mood of those he was supposedly saving.
When he passed me, he reached out and clasped my bare hands in his gloved ones. He was acting as if I should be grateful to be allowed to touch so much as a single article of his clothing. I had to give it to the man, he was certainly detail orientated.
Once he reached the centre of the square, he clambered in an ungainly fashion on top of one of the trailers and faced us.
‘I have returned!’ he bellowed, in case any of us were unsure as to what was going on. His cheeks were rather red, although I wasn’t sure whether that was from the effort of climbing or because it was difficult to make himself heard from behind the visor of his hazmat suit. ‘On the other side of the wall I met with many of your lo
ved ones. Some have been waiting beyond Manchester for many months now, desperate for some sign that you were alive. There was a lot of joy and a great many tears when people heard the truth.’
He paused, giving everyone time to absorb his words properly. It seemed to me that even Felicity was dashing away a tear.
Julie pushed her way through the crowd, appearing next to my shoulder. Her face was studiously bland but she couldn’t hide the gleam of dislike in her eyes. ‘Smart,’ she muttered. ‘He could have opened with details of the supplies he’s brought in, or what the government is doing on our behalf. Instead, he’s using other people to get to us. You might be able to steel yourself against oily flattery, but can you steel yourself against the pain of someone you love? He’s softening us up.’
I gave her a sideways glance and she shrugged. ‘I’ve done a lot of theatre work in my time. Particularly Shakespeare.’ She unscrewed her hip flask and drank deeply. ‘I learnt from the best.’ Her mouth flattened. ‘I reckon Fab would give a glib Shakespearean villain a run for his money.’ She nudged me. ‘Watch your back.’
I didn’t need her to tell me that. I pointed at my backpack. ‘Why do you think I’m still carrying around a shadow beast?’
Julie smiled faintly. ‘Do you think a shadow beast would have stopped Brutus from stabbing Caesar?’
‘Brutus was Caesar’s trusted friend. I wouldn’t trust Fabian Barrett’s shoe size.’
I watched as he hugged a human woman who’d leapt up to join him on the trailer and who was sobbing something about her elderly parents. I winced as she wrapped her arms more tightly around him. Unfortunately, even without our sudden lack of supplies and everyone’s deep mistrust of the man, there were things that Barrett could offer than none of the rest of us could. It didn’t help that in his billowing white hazmat suit he dwarfed the woman; he looked as if he were far larger than her, that he was her protector.
‘If any of you wish to write letters to your loved ones,’ Barrett said, raising his head, ‘I will be more than happy to take them across the wall and place them directly into the hands of your children, your parents and your friends. I am here to help you.’