Box of Frogs (The Fractured Faery Book 1)

by Helen Harper

  Obviously I was no veterinary expert but it looked to me as if they’d not been dead for long. They weren’t rotting; in fact, their bodies were remarkably intact. I bent down further. On the dark brown fur of one of them, I saw something sparkly; it was as if the rat had rubbed itself in a bath of glitter before expiring. Interesting. I extended a finger to poke the corpse and investigate further but before I could do so, something poked me.

  I almost screamed out of shock, not fear. I managed to stifle the sound and whirled to confront my assailant. When I saw Morgan, I bared my teeth. ‘Don’t bloody do that!’ I whispered angrily. ‘At least give me some warning that you’re behind me.’

  ‘I did,’ he whispered back. ‘Anyway, you need to stay quiet.’

  I rolled my eyes. That’s exactly what I’d been trying to do. I glared at him and pointed at the rats. ‘They look fresh,’ I declared. ‘And the one on the right has something glittery in its fur.’

  Morgan barely glanced at it. ‘Dust.’

  ‘It’s not dust. Dust doesn’t glitter.’

  He sighed. ‘Pixie dust. The sort you sell. The sort that makes addicts out of perfectly normal faeries so you can bend them to your will and…’

  I held up my hand. ‘Alright. I get it.’ Talk about harping on. I eyed the rat. ‘Is dust that dangerous? Would it have killed these animals?’

  ‘In large quantities it might have.’

  ‘It means Rubus was definitely here,’ I mused.

  Morgan raised an eyebrow. ‘Or you were.’

  My glare intensified. ‘I…’

  He lifted his hand and placed his index finger against my lips. ‘Hush. I told you that you have to be quiet.’ He pointed behind us.

  My eyes widened. ‘Someone’s there?’ I twisted round and crept out, this time heading away from the doors and into the cavernous space. I couldn’t see anything, no matter how hard I looked.

  I was about to tell that to Morgan when I realised that, yet again, it wasn’t sight that I should be relying on. Somewhere above and to my right, there was the sound of quiet but regular breathing. I froze. My glance fell on a set of banister-less stairs leading up to a mezzanine floor. I turned to check on Morgan but he wasn’t looking at the stairs. He was looking at me.

  ‘Rubus?’ I mouthed.

  He shook his head. ‘Human,’ he mouthed back. ‘Male.’

  I grimaced. Not even a faery. That was unfortunate. This would have been a whole lot easier if Rubus had left one of his minions behind so we could torture them for information. One of his other minions, I amended. All the same, the human might possess some information that could prove useful. I was confident I’d be able to wheedle something out of him.

  I’d have a better chance of handling this situation quickly and without a fuss if I were on my own. I indicated to Morgan that he should stay put. He frowned at me. I gestured more vigorously. Morgan’s eyes narrowed but he indicated that I could go ahead. If there was any trouble, he wouldn’t be far behind and he possessed the skills to eavesdrop on anything I said. He’d be neither out of the loop nor shooing me off into immediate peril. The man had to chill out and stop being such a worrywart. Besides, I might not have had all my faculties or understood all my powers but I was still the Madhatter.

  Keeping my footsteps as light as a mouse scurrying past a slumbering cat, I headed up the stairs. Whoever was up there, I had no desire to wake them up until I understood the lay of the land and what I was up against. Our sleeping beauty might indeed be human – but humans could be dangerous.

  When I reached the top of the precarious staircase, I remained on the balls of my feet as I tiptoed forward. I allowed myself one quick glance backwards. Morgan had moved to the foot of the stairs and was watching my every move, his arms folded and his expression inscrutable. I flashed him a cheesy grin and a wave. When that didn’t elicit a reaction, I pasted on my best evil-villain stare and glowered at him instead. I couldn’t be sure but I thought I spotted the glimmer of a smile in return.

  Re-focusing, I looked around. The gentle wheezes were coming from the corner of the room to my right. Although the monstrous spider webs remained in evidence here, hanging from various corners and with numerous dead insects caught in their lethal threads, I still felt like the area was cleaner than it should be. Given his attention to detail, it was obvious that Rubus was a canny bastard. For some reason, that thought comforted me. Whatever my reasons had been for abandoning Morgan to be with his brother, I’d not saddled myself with a complete nincompoop even though the evidence thus far was to the contrary.

  I snuck along, ignoring the damp piles of ancient newspapers and the mouldy cardboard boxes. There weren’t any dead rats up here; maybe the giant spiders had eaten them. I scowled at myself for thinking that and tried to maintain regular breathing and stay relaxed. That didn’t mean I wasn’t ready for a fight.

  As soon as I reached the doorway, I flattened myself against the wall. A mirror to peer round the corner would have been handy. Once all this was done and dusted, I was going to organise a proper handbag for myself with the things a girl really needed to get through her day. Without any equipment to hand, I’d just have to rely on myself. I tilted my head and squinted round.

  The room was more comfortable than I’d expected, given the rest of the building. There were no cobwebs and definitely no small animal corpses. Whoever was sleeping inside had taken the time to spray some sort of potent air freshener liberally around the room. A flowery scent still clung to the air, masking the unpleasant smells from outside. There was a small table with a chair propped up next to it, and a dog-eared paperback sitting on top. The slumbering man wasn’t curled up in a corner and trying to sleep on a hard floor; he had a proper mattress with clean-looking sheets and two plump pillows. I half expected Laura Ashley curtains and a fur throw to come into view.

  Satisfied that there was a lack of weaponry in the room, unless there was a gun underneath the pillow, I examined the man. All that was currently visible from beneath the pristine cover was a shock of tousled brown hair. I couldn’t see anything of his face from this angle. He was on his belly and definitely fast asleep.

  I peeled away from the wall and went in. Three steps into the room and I trod on a creaky floorboard; to my ears, the noise was painfully loud. Fortunately, the man didn’t move. He was still sleeping. I breathed out.

  Chiding myself for making a rookie error, I took more care. I sidestepped away from the plank of wood and sidled up to the mattress, then I stood over the prone figure. This was very Zen in both its simplicity and peacefulness. It was almost a shame that I’d have to ruin the picture.

  I bent my head, catching a glimpse of the man’s face for the first time. It was in profile and he was slack-jawed, with a faint line of drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth onto the pillow. I recognised him instantly. I bunched my hands in fists and clenched my teeth. What were the chances, I thought grimly, that Dave from the Metropolitan bar was the same human who was here? I glared at him angrily. Then I reached down and slapped him hard on his exposed cheek.

  He shot bolt upright, nostrils flaring and eyes wide. ‘Wh – what?’

  I didn’t give him a chance to recover. My fingers curled round his throat and I hauled him upwards, slamming his body into the nearest wall and pinning him there. Well, go me. It appeared I did have some strength to call on when I needed it.

  Dave blinked, the sleep vanishing from his eyes. ‘Who the fuck are you?’

  ‘Like you don’t recognise me,’ I snarled.

  He stared at me, nervous tics starting up all over his face. ‘No, I don’t! I promise I don’t!’ His breathing was coming fast and shallow. ‘You look a bit familiar but…’

  I held up my hand. ‘Enough.’ His babbling was irritating and I belatedly remembered that I’d been wearing my Madhatter superhero costume the last time we met. Maybe I could use his lack of memory against him. ‘The last time we met,’ I hedged, ‘was with Rubus.’

  If I�
��d thought he’d been scared before, it was nothing compared to now. ‘R- Rubus?’ he stammered. ‘You were there when he gave me the stuff and told me what to do?’

  Gasbudlikins. The idiot couldn’t have been more vague if he’d tried. ‘Of course I was,’ I snapped. ‘Do you still have the stuff with you?’

  I could feel him shaking under my fingers. ‘Some. I’ve sold most of it. But Rubus said I could! It was mine to sell! Has he…’ He swallowed. ‘Has he changed his mind?’

  I’d started this conversation aggressively and it seemed that now I had no way forward other than to ratchet up the level further. I cursed to myself and squeezed my fingers round his neck slightly. Dave whimpered. ‘No, he’s not changed his mind. But he wants to know who you sold it to.’

  Dave’s arms flailed. ‘There were lots of people!’ he protested. ‘I don’t know their names. I don’t ask for that sort of thing. They wouldn’t trust me if they thought I was keeping records. The police are clamping down on any sort of shit to do with spice. Besides, anonymity works both ways.’

  I looked into his eyes; I didn’t think I was imagining that his pupils were dilated. Dave might have given a good impression of a stand-up citizen when I met him a few nights ago but it was clear that he was little more than a drug addict. Perhaps a drug dealer too. Who knew? It was almost like we were kin. ‘Spice,’ I said slowly. It didn’t mean much to me but I doubted it was for cooking clandestine curries.

  ‘There’s a high demand for it! I told Rubus he should have given me more. Just because his lot don’t take dust very often doesn’t mean that my lot and spice are the same.’

  I absorbed this information without easing my grip on this sorry excuse for a man. ‘Rubus wants me to make sure that you’re keeping to your side of the bargain. He wants to make sure you’ve not forgotten.’

  Dave looked around him. ‘I’m here, aren’t I? I promised I’d stay and keep an eye on whoever showed up.’

  ‘That’s one thing,’ I purred, hoping my gamble would pay off. ‘What about the rest?’

  He swallowed, his Adam’s apple juddering nervously in his neck. ‘I did the rest too! I went to that bar. Nothing happened. I didn’t even see the guy he’d been talking about.’

  ‘You might not have noticed him,’ I said, silently urging him to say more.

  ‘A green-eyed, muscled bloke who looks just like Rubus but with more hair?’ Dave asked. ‘I’m hardly likely to miss him.’

  It was definitely Morgan that Dave was talking about. So what was the motive? Why would Rubus send a human to keep an eye on his own brother? ‘He was there,’ I growled. Then, for good measure, ‘Your instructions were very clear.’

  ‘I couldn’t follow him if I couldn’t find him! I’ve not used your sparkly shit on him yet. I was going to go back tonight and try to get him but I’m not Superman. I don’t have super powers.’ When he mentioned the superhero, his eyes flared. He looked more closely at me and I saw the cogs in his dim brain turning. Enough of that. I shook him hard, causing just enough pain for him to close his eyes. That would have to do.

  ‘Where’s this sparkly shit you were going to use? You’d better still have it or there will be consequences.’

  ‘It’s in my bag,’ he muttered, thankfully still unwilling to open his eyes and look at me.

  There was a creak from the same floorboard that had almost given me away. I knew without turning that it was Morgan. For once renouncing his cat-like tread, he walked over and grabbed a faded backpack. I was impressed by his ability to look intimidating; I’d have to practise that thunderous expression later.

  When Morgan rummaged inside the bag and pulled out a small glass vial filled with something glittery, his face grew stormier. Even I almost flinched.

  ‘What else did Rubus tell you to do?’ I said, my voice low and threatening and very close to Dave’s ear.

  ‘That’s it!’ He paused and flicked open his eyelids. Fortunately my expression must have been pretty scary because he closed them quickly again. ‘Wasn’t it? I didn’t think there was anything else.’ His panic was rising. ‘Have I forgotten something?’

  I extended the index finger of my free hand and softly grazed Dave’s cheek. He cowered even more. ‘No,’ I said. ‘It seems like you’ve covered everything.’

  He breathed out in relief but I wasn’t done yet. ‘You have fucked up, though, Davey boy. Big time. You should have given Rubus’s lookalike the sparkly shit by now.’

  ‘I told you! I couldn’t! He wasn’t there. I’ve been every night.’

  ‘You’ve been distracted, though. You went with friends. You tried to pick up women.’

  Dave’s body tensed. I had to be careful; he was already close to putting two and two together and I couldn’t afford for him to do that. I released my grip on his neck and used my hand to cover his eyes.

  ‘I’ll tell you what,’ I murmured. ‘I quite like you, Dave.’ I ignored the sharp look Morgan gave me. ‘I’m going to help you out. Rubus will be furious when he finds out you’ve not done as he commanded. He’s been nice to you until now but when he gets angry… Well, let’s just say you don’t want to be in his vicinity when that happens.’

  ‘Oh God,’ Dave whispered. ‘Don’t let him hurt me.’

  I smiled. ‘The only way he won’t hurt you is if he doesn’t know how badly you’ve screwed up.’ I paused, as if giving serious thought to the matter. ‘So I tell you what. I will take the dust. I will give it to the man in the Metropolitan. As far as Rubus will know, you did exactly as you were asked.’

  Dave licked his lips. ‘You’d do that?’

  ‘As I said,’ I told him, ‘I like you. You’ll find a way to make it up to me later.’

  ‘Yes.’ He nodded vigorously. ‘I will. I promise I will.’ He hesitated. ‘What’s your name? So I know who I owe?’

  I shot a quick look at Morgan. He shrugged impassively. Uh…

  ‘It’s Stacey,’ I said.

  Dave jerked. ‘Stacey? But normally you lot have names that are all, like, weird and stuff. Your name is really Stacey? Like that character on St Thomas Close?’

  Another of Julie’s fans. That was interesting. ‘Yes,’ I told him. ‘Just like her. But not quite as nice.’ I leaned in and licked his cheek. Of everything I’d said and done, that action scared him the most. ‘Stay here,’ I said, ‘until you hear otherwise.’

  ‘Yes. Yes, Miss Stacey, I will.’

  Morgan was already moving out of the room. I reached carefully for the power inside me, unable to afford Dave catching another glimpse of my face. Time slowed to sluggish heartbeats. I lifted my hand away from Dave’s eyes and spun away. By the time the earth’s rotations returned to normal, Morgan and I were both striding out of the warehouse and back into the night.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Morgan’s fingers drummed against the handlebars as he drove. His body had been rigid for miles. I wasn’t even convinced that he had a destination in mind; it seemed as if he were simply driving aimlessly around the empty streets. It was only when the familiar sight of the fake Roman fort came into view that he brought the motorbike to a halt.

  ‘You didn’t ask the human where Rubus is now,’ he said, after he’d turned the engine off and glorious silence returned to the night.

  I shrugged. ‘There was no point. That would have given away my position and my identity and there’s no chance that he knows where your brother is. Rubus would not have been stupid enough to tell a guy like Dave where he was going to be.’

  Morgan swung his head round to look at me. ‘You say that like your memory has returned,’ he said. ‘Like you know exactly what kind of person Rubus is and how he acts.’

  ‘Sorry to disappoint you,’ I replied. ‘I still remember nothing. But I’ve learnt over the last day that someone like Rubus wouldn’t tell someone like Dave where he’s spending his time.’

  Morgan’s mouth tightened but it was obvious he grudgingly accepted my words. ‘I can’t believe he thought that send
ing a human to spike me with pixie dust would work.’

  I slid off the back of the bike so I could face him. ‘It didn’t have to work,’ I said quietly. ‘I don’t think Rubus cares whether you have dust in your system or you don’t. What he wants is for you to be distracted. Maybe he was hoping you’d kill Dave and have to deal with the consequences. Or maybe that you’d spend the next week turning the city over to find out what’s going on. It’s a smokescreen. Rubus is up to something and wants to make sure you’re nowhere near the action.’ I gave a derisive snort. ‘Hell, he’s abducted Julie. We know he’s up to something.’

  ‘Why do you think that?’

  ‘Because,’ I answered without meeting his eyes, ‘it’s what I would do if I needed you out of the way for a while.’

  A muscle ticked in Morgan’s jaw but he didn’t respond. ‘You altered time again,’ he eventually said gruffly, without looking at me. ‘How many times have I told you that’s forbidden?’

  I rolled my eyes. ‘Dave was on the verge of remembering who I was. I couldn’t let that happen.’

  ‘He’s the human you came with to my pub.’

  I nodded. ‘I met him on the street about ten minutes before we walked in. There’s was nothing nefarious going on. It was just a coincidence.’

  Morgan sniffed. ‘You mean the same sort of coincidence as Rubus kidnapping your new boss?’

  I had to admit that looked shady. ‘I haven’t lied to you, Morgan. I don’t know any more about that than you do.’ Unless the fact that Julie was a vampire was an issue – but surely that wasn’t related to all these coincidences.

  ‘There’s no other reason why Rubus would have taken her unless it was something to do with you.’

  ‘Maybe he’s a big soap fan. Maybe he never misses an episode of St Thomas Close.’

  Morgan ground his teeth in exasperation.

  I sighed. ‘I’m telling you the truth, Morgan. I appreciate I might not be the good person I thought I was. I appreciate you have very good reason to despise me. But my connection both to Dave and to Julie is nothing more than coincidence. There is nothing more to it than that, unlikely as it may seen.’