Madeline stared at me with beady eyes. ‘How? The Siis wouldn’t tell me.’
Sally pointed at me. ‘She did it.’ her eyes brightened as she shifted the focus on to me. I glared at her. I didn’t want my shameful secret revealed to anyone, especially an old witch I didn’t know.
Madeline frowned. ‘You killed a Scelus?’
I shifted under her direct stare, feeling like a child caught out in a lie. ‘Actually, no. Adam did. He flung her against the wall.’
She looked at Adam. ‘You’re no priest.’
He shook his head.
‘Then how did you kill her?’ She frowned with irritation and scrutinised us all, wanting someone, anyone, to clue her in.
Adam stared at her, his expression as revealing as a priests’ during confession. ‘It is not your concern.’
I looked at him, a brow raised in question. Did he really think we could keep the secret of my gift from her? He ignored me and continued to glower at Madeline. I shrugged it off. How I’d defeated Seraphine was irrelevant. If Madeline needed to know later, I could fill her in then.
Madeline looked around, searching. ‘Where is the other witch?’
‘Maria?’ I asked.
Madeline nodded. ‘Cissy has requested that I help discipline her.’
Bill and I looked at each other, frowning with scepticism. Neither one of us wanting to witness Maria being told that, especially with her mood.
‘Err... Madeline…’ I had no idea how to explain the situation to her. ‘It might not be the best time to bring this up with Maria.’
She rested both hands on her cane and nodded. ‘I will keep it to myself until the boy is home.’
Bill and I glanced at each other, doubting that Maria would be much calmer then. Madeline continued to stare at me, her face set in determination. I shrugged. Be in on her own head.
I spied Eris waving, beckoning me to her. I considered pretending that I hadn’t seen her and hiding in the surrounding woods until she left. If only that would work, and I could avoid the mission she proposed. No, not proposed, ordered me to do. As if I ever had a choice in Eris’s plans. With a heavy sigh, I trudged towards her.
Kye collard me before I reached Eris, causing her to scowl in irritation. That alone would have been enough to make me stop and talk.
‘I am leaving for a bit,’ I said, turning my back on her. She didn’t get to dictate everything.
‘W-Where?’
I scowled. ‘Probably death.’ I regretted my words when he frowned in concern. I flapped my hand in the air. ‘Just ignore me, it’s turning into one of those days.’
‘Y-You sure?’
I nodded and sauntered to Eris, who stood with her arms crossed, her face scrunched with annoyance. I suppressed my smile and shouted over my shoulder. ‘Oh, and Kye, talk to Sally. She is freaking out about Madeline wanting to train her.’
‘T-Train her? W-With what?’
‘Ask her.’ I scowled. I had my own crap to deal with right now. If I didn’t watch my back, I would be back in a military prison before the day came to an end. I would need to be on guard, try and figure out Eris’s plans. After all, she wouldn’t lose sleep over my death.
CHAPTER TWO
The driver moved the car forwards a metre then came to another stop, bumper to bumper with the car in front. Horns blared and rap music blasted from the car behind as everyone inched their way through the rush hour city traffic.
Eris huffed as she lay her hand on the back of the car seat. I wished she had sat upfront with the silent driver, Drake. I cracked the window open to allow cold air in, but the car remained stuffy, and I couldn’t avoid the scent of fear-induced sweat that rose from me, barely masking the tangy, staler sweat beneath.
‘This is so boring,’ she said. ‘How do you all do it?’ She looked through the side window. ‘You’re like armoured cockroaches slowly killing the planet. How you ever came up with all the technology you have, I’ll never know.’
I groaned with exhaustion, having listened to her complaints for most of the journey. ‘Can you keep the insults to a minimal for the time, please?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’ She studied her immaculate nails and sighed again. ‘How long until we get there?’ she asked the driver, Drake.
‘It’s hard to tell,’ he said. ‘There is very little movement.’
‘Just relax.’ I clenched my hands, unable to follow my own advice. Tension had tightened every muscle into knots. Were we really going to see the Prime Minister? Surely even Eris couldn’t get us into Ten Downing Street. But what if she did? I gulped. Then I would face the people who had ordered my torture.
‘I can’t relax. I'm cooking in this tin can.’ The car moved another metre and stopped. ‘That’s it. I've had enough.’ Eris slipped her seatbelt off and opened the door. A horn blared as she stepped into the middle of the street. She bent down to peer into the car. ‘Are you coming?’
‘Do I have to?’ I unclipped my seatbelt, already knowing the answer. If I refused, I would likely find myself being dragged down the street by my hair.
Eris grinned, ignoring the driver that shouted through his open window, calling her a moron. ‘Of course.’
I slipped from the car and slammed the door closed behind me. Drake drove forwards, leaving us sandwiched between vehicles, filled with people who stared at us with irritation as if we were slowing their journey. I put my hand up in apology as we weaved through the traffic to the pavement.
‘Which way?’ Eris asked.
‘How the hell am I supposed to know?’
‘It’s your Prime Minister.’
‘And I live up north.’
Eris shook her head and rolled her eyes but said nothing more. I tried to ask someone for directions, but the first two people I collard walked straight past me, not giving me a second glance. I considered my choices before I stopped the next person, an older woman who shuffled along with her head down. When I spoke, she clutched her bag tight to her chest and looked around as if searching for a police officer.
She pointed towards the Thames River. ‘It’s over that way.’
I thanked her, but she missed it as she hurried down the street.
Walking through the city tired me. People pushed past without care, and there were many times I stepped onto the road to avoid them. Only one person walked into Eris, and they soon landed on their backside as she stood above them, grinning. They had the good sense not to confront her.
I exhaled with relief when the heavy black gates came into view, blocking the entrance to Downing Street, only to remember that Eris had intentions of taking me through them.
Eris pushed through the tourists until she reached the black railings where a police officer stood with a rifle strapped across his chest. ‘I need to see the Prime Minister.’ She took a step back, looked up with a grin, and waved.
The police officer chuckled. ‘And you are?’ I could almost hear the thought “Here we go again, another crazy” running through his head.
‘I am Eris of Kileam. Trust me, he is going to want to see me.’
The officer smiled with amusement at her audacity, leading me to wonder how many people had approached the gate demanding entrance. ‘Is that so? And pray tell me, what is your business with the Prime Minister?’ Laughter bubbled in his voice. Things like this were probably the highlight of an otherwise boring shift of standing guard. He wouldn’t find his shift so boring if Eris decided to kick off.
Eris stepped closer and lowered her voice. ‘Either let me in, or I will force my way in.’ She grinned. ‘Now, I'm for option two, but it may create a scene that you want to avoid.’ She looked at the surrounding tourists. ‘Unless you plan on revealing my existence to the world.’
The police officer blinked in confusion. His finger twitched on the trigger guard but didn’t move, yet. He still couldn’t decide whether Eris was a harmless or dangerous crazy person.
Eris sighed with exasperation. She held her hand up and
released a thin tendril of shi. The officer stepped back, shifting the weapon up a fraction so that the butt of the rifle rested tight in his shoulder, though kept it aimed at the ground. I had to give him credit for not freaking out; many people did.
Eris laughed. ‘You can try and use that on me. In fact, please do. Last time I came across your weapons, I left a trail of bodies in my wake.’
The officer’s finger moved, flicking the safety catch off. Eris just upgraded to dangerous. If he wasn’t careful, he would find out just how crazy the siis could be.
She would get me killed if I didn’t do something. ‘Please.’ I held my hand up in surrender. ‘We mean you no harm. Just tell him that we have valuable information about the Siis.’
‘Siis? What is that?’
‘He will know,’ I said.
His radio crackled into life. After a few seconds of listening, he said, ‘It’s someone called Eris of Kileam. She says she has information about something called a Siis.’ As he listened, his brow furrowed in a deep frown. ‘She is also with Ana Martin.’ He glanced at me from the corner of his eye as he listened. ‘Yes, that Ana Martin.’
I glanced at Eris, my brows raised in question.
‘You’re wanted for murder, remember?’
Damn! I had forgotten about that. My chest tightened with fresh fear. ‘So now I'm going to be arrested?’
Eris chuckled. ‘Not while with me.’ That gave me no comfort when she could change into a damn bird and fly off, if for no other reason than the kicks.
After a minute of listening, the police officer told us to move to another entrance, away from the main gates.
Eris shook her head. ‘Not a chance. We are going through the front door.’
I stared at her dumbfounded. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Making sure that you aren’t wanted by the police anymore. Personally, I don’t care’—she winked— ‘but it has become irritating seeing your face everywhere.’
The officer kept his rifle pointing in our direction as he spoke into his radio again. I heard his muffled words but couldn’t make anything out.
‘You’re running out of time,’ Eris called, causing him to glance at her, his eyes tight with worry. She held her hand out, letting a small amount of shi spiral from her fingers.
Why had I ever assumed she would prevent me from going public? So many people surrounded us with cameras. If Eris wasn’t careful, she would end up on YouTube before the day ended.
After a few minutes, the officer turned back, caution and amazement flitting across his face in equal measures. He directed us to the end of the railing, where four armed police officers waited.
They escorted us through the heavy gates, passed the armoured vehicle and guard huts, and down the street. The Foreign and Commonwealth building dominated the left of the road, the white walls as grand as any palace, towering above us, shrouding us in shadows. I shuddered and keep my eyes on the ground, unable to shake the notion that the walls judged me as I passed by.
Eris spent the entire journey chuckling to herself.
‘Smile,’ she said as reporters took photos. I dipped my head, shielding my face as we approached the black door surrounded by decorative iron rails. My stomach flipped as we entered a large foyer, straight into the sights of ten armed soldiers.
‘Halt!’
I held my hands up, but Eris merely grinned. ‘Look at them with their little toys.’
‘Lie on the floor,’ the nearest officer ordered.
‘No thanks,’ Eris said. ‘But feel free if you want to.’
‘Now!’
The weapon dissolved in the soldiers’ hand. Grains of metal slipped through their fingers to the wide, red carpet runner layering the white and black chequered tiles. The soldiers took a step back in surprise at their now empty hands as the grandfather clock bonged twice. I almost smiled; the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
A tabby and white cat looked up from its sleeping position on the red leather and iron fender bench surrounding the plain fireplace. Its eyes remained on Eris, and its ears pricked, alert to the tension in the room. Nobody else moved.
Different ranges of fear radiated from the uniformed men. The one at the front, a man in his mid-forties with a military haircut and a clenched jaw, feared us the most, even though he stood in front ready to give his life. I could have sworn he’d had interactions with the Siis before, or at least seen the video of me and the young soldier I’d gotten killed, throwing him to the Siis to be torn apart. Yet his fear didn’t send him running. I wasn’t sure I’d have stood my ground with no weapon and Eris being… well, Eris.
‘We won’t hurt you,’ I told them.
Eris took a step towards them. ‘She won’t, but I might. Now, take me to your leader.’ She grinned at me and chuckled. ‘I’ve always wanted to say that.’
Fear radiated off the soldier in rolls of thick sticky fog, yet he, and his men, remained in place. ‘That isn’t going to happen.’
Eris laughed. ‘So, you need persuasion? This is better than expected.’ She might as well have rubbed her hands together in glee.
I shot her a stern look. ‘Eris! This won’t help.’
She scowled. ‘You’re as bad as Adam, spoiling all my fun. Fine. I won’t hurt you nor your Prime Minister. But that will only be the case if he acts like the man he pretends to be and faces me.’
The soldier’s hands twitched as if missing the weight of his gun. Fear-filled eyes scanned the foyer. Two women they could take on with no problem, after all, they were well trained, but two Siis, which is how they saw me, would be impossible. They knew it. If we wanted to barge past them, they couldn’t do a thing to stop us.
Tension coiled in me, every millimetre screaming for me to hurt them, to make them suffer in the way I had suffered, to torture them as I had been by one of their kind. I swallowed the urge down, almost choking on it. It wouldn’t help us here. ‘We aren’t after a fight.’ I managed to pull off a calm voice. I had gotten better at hiding my emotions.
The soldier met my eyes. ‘I am meant to believe a wanted murderer?’
Eris laughed. ‘Is this for Creed, the soldiers, or the Chancellor?’
I suppressed my groan; it wouldn’t help. ‘For God’s sake, Eris, let me talk.’ I turned back to him, ignoring her amusement. ‘I am innocent of those crimes. I know you don’t believe that I'm human, but you must believe that we are here to help.’
Eris looked up at a camera in the corner. ‘I know you’re watching, Prime Minister. Unless you want to send your men to their death, I suggest you face me.’
‘It’s about the daku vein,’ I shouted, ensuring that the camera picked up my words, if it even could. ‘We know it has been taken by the Others, and we are here to offer help.’
The soldier’s face remained passive as he listened to someone through his earpiece. ‘How do you know about that?’ he demanded, though I suspected his clipped words were normal for his speech, as if he had grown up in the military life, a soldier to the end.
‘Oh no.’ Eris crossed her arms. ‘If he wants more information, he talks to us directly.’ She grinned. ‘If he doesn’t….’ She flicked her hair over her shoulder, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. ‘Well… I'm not responsible for what I do when I leave here.’ She allowed a small amount of shi to escape her fingers, leaving a trail of yellow light as she dropped her hand down. I needed to learn to control shi as well, especially now I could steal other people’s shi at will. I shuddered, remembering the feel of Seraphine as I drew on her, and the sad memories and rage that accompanied it. I mentally shook myself; I didn’t have time to dwell on past horrors, not when in the middle of another nightmare.
The soldier listened to his earpiece and nodded. ‘Come with me.’ We followed his brisk pace through the foyer. The remaining soldiers trailed behind, despite having no weapon to control us. We travelled down a canary-yellow corridor and through a couple of rooms, our footsteps silent on the thick carpet. The high cei
lings made me feel small, like a kid playing house.
What is Eris getting me in to?
When we entered a small waiting room containing three deep comfortable chairs, I expected the soldier to stop. He led us through another set of doors into the sunlight. I blinked in surprise, sure we had travelled in a circle, before I realised that we were on a large patio. Sat at a table to our right was the man I had seen many times on the news, surrounded by armed men in suits. His hands rested on his crossed knees in a relaxed posture, yet his tight eyes betrayed his tension. To his right, sat a thin man in a crisp, blue suit. His top lip twitched with nerves as he fixed his gaze on Eris. I stared at him for a moment, sure that I recognised his face. He spoke to a man stood at his side in hushed tones, his eyes flickering towards us on occasion. As soon as I heard the accent, I placed him. I should have recognised the American Secretary of Defence straight off, but I was having a busy year. The stood man nodded and hurried into the building without a backwards glance. To the Prime Minister’s left sat the British Defence Minister with his lips pressed together as he watched us.
‘Eris of Kileam?’ the Prime Minister said, his voice smooth. ‘I have not heard that name before.’
Eris slid into the chair opposite him. ‘You know my face, though? I bet you have studied the video from your compound I was forced to visit a few weeks back.’
The suited men trained their weapons on her, but the Prime Minister raised his hand, halting them from doing anything rash. ‘We don’t negotiate with terrorists.’
Eris laughed. ‘It’s a good job we don’t have the same scruples as you, isn’t it?’
He met her direct stare with ease. ‘I have no idea what you are insinuating.’
Eris pointed at me. ‘You know Ana. You know what you did to her. You also captured several Damiq a couple of days ago, so don’t play innocent with me.’ She looked around and, leaning closer to the Prime Minister, dropped something onto the small, square table.
Six small chucks of daku, the tips of bullets, clinked as they rolled on the glass surface. Where had she gotten them? Was it possible we had been shot at while we walked to the front door? I shuddered at the idea.
Noble Lies Page 3