by Helen Harper
He didn’t bother to correct her. ‘Charlotte is right. We’ve helped you this time despite your attempts to push us to the contrary. You don’t want to cross us a second time.’
Nimue tsked. ‘Fine. I’ll be good.’ She pouted before throwing him a kiss.
I sighed. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Monroe nodded and took my arm.
‘Wait!’ A high-pitched note entered Nimue’s voice. We paused and looked at her. ‘You’re leaving already? You’re not going to wait around to see if I behave?’
I tilted my head and looked at her. ‘Whether you behave or not is your choice. If you don’t, we’ll come up with an alternative plan to deal with you. But in the meantime, it’s up to you.’
‘You’ll have to come back and check up on me to know what I’m up to!’ she yelled, a whine colouring every word.
Suddenly I understood. I grimaced, as much to myself as anyone else. ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘We’ll come back.’
‘Every day.’
Too much. ‘Every month.’
‘Every week,’ she countered.
I sighed. I supposed I could manage that much. ‘Okay,’ I conceded. ‘We’ll come every week.’
Nimue grinned, a fleeting expression that transformed her face. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘For everything.’ Her tail flicked out and her head vanished beneath the lake’s surface.
I breathed out. ‘I think she actually meant that,’ I whispered.
Monroe gazed at me unblinkingly then he gently pulled me back towards the car.
‘My little brother, Joshua, liked mermaids,’ I murmured. ‘He’d have been terribly disappointed to find out they’re so nasty.’
Monroe’s hand gave mine a tight squeeze. ‘But lonely, too,’ he added.
Yeah. I sighed and pulled away from him. We all had our problems.
I climbed into the car and huffed at the lingering fishy reek before clipping on my seatbelt. Monroe gripped the steering wheel but didn’t turn on the engine.
I waved at him. ‘Monroe? Hello?’
He dropped his hands and turned towards me. ‘When the vampire came to see me about you, I thought it was part of some stupid plan to get me to pull myself together. But now I see you are struggling too.’
I stared at him. Heat rose through my skin, flushing its way from my neck to my cheeks. ‘I’m not sure where to start with that,’ I said faintly. ‘I thought you came to the reservoir because you wanted to see me.’
‘I didn’t lie,’ he said. ‘I did want to see you.’
‘But Julie went to you and told you to come.’ My voice was flat.
Monroe gave a humourless chuckle. ‘I think you know my opinion of her well enough to realise that she couldn’t make me do a single thing I didn’t want to.’
All the same, I’d wring her bloody neck when I saw her next. She had no right to go to Monroe behind my back. ‘What do you mean I’m struggling?’ I demanded. ‘I’m perfectly fine. Beyond feeling slightly sick at watching a mermaid decapitate a damned duck, that is.’
‘You’ve lost your usual sheen of optimism,’ he said mildly.
‘I’d have thought that would make you happy,’ I sniped. ‘And, whether you recognise it or not, I’m still very optimistic, thank you very much.’
‘You found Nimue irritating.’
‘She’s an irritating being,’ I shot back.
‘You’re short-tempered.’
‘I fucking am not.’ I clenched my fists together. Then I realised what I was doing and slowly released them. ‘Okay,’ I conceded. ‘Perhaps I have been a bit on edge recently.’
‘The Charlotte I know would have bent over backwards to help Nimue.’
‘I did bend over backwards to help her.’
‘And,’ Monroe added, ignoring my protest but with his blue eyes filled with concern, ‘she’d have enjoyed helping.’
I looked away. I wasn’t sure that anyone else would have noticed my change in temperament, even Lizzy. I thought I’d been doing a good job masking the worst of my stress; somehow the knowledge that Monroe had seen through me annoyed me more. ‘You can talk,’ I said accusingly. ‘You’re covered in bruises. You’ve obviously been fighting. Or provoking fights.’
Monroe reached across, his hand covering mine. ‘Maybe we’re both in need of a break.’
I squeezed my eyes shut as Monroe’s gentle tone finally caused something deep inside me to break. The growing well of tension inside my stomach split open and flooded everything. It took over everything and, before I knew it, I was blurting it all out.
‘I didn’t think it would be this hard. There’s always someone who needs help, or someone who needs to complain, or some disaster that’s happening. It’s not the magical shit that causes most of the problems, it’s the mundane stuff that takes up most of my time. I had to break up a fight yesterday because of two people arguing over the best way to plant late-season potatoes.’ I flung my hands upwards. ‘We’re supposed to have a council but whenever we hold meetings it descends into arguments, and nothing ever gets done.’
‘Have you been getting much rest?’
I’d been getting a lot of tossing and turning. Not much else. ‘I need a week’s package holiday to somewhere sunny with cocktails. That’s all. I’ll be alright. It’s just…’
‘It’s hard.’ Monroe’s hand tightened on mine. ‘I get it.’
I appreciated the sympathy. My head dropped. ‘I’m waiting for you to say “I told you so”. From the start you said my community wouldn’t work.’
‘Your community is working – but it’s not working for you right now. Besides, I can’t say “I told you so”. I’m struggling too.’
I laughed feebly. ‘Then we’re both screwed.’
He leaned into me. ‘Not by a long shot. We just need to allow time for self-care.’
‘By getting into fights?’
He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. ‘I wouldn’t recommend it.’
‘Then what…’
There was a loud thump on the steamed-up window. I wound it down. ‘Nimue, what do you want now?’ I asked, letting my irritation get the better of me.
But it wasn’t Nimue. An oddly green-skinned man was brandishing a sword in my face. ‘I want,’ he said with a nasty grin, ‘for you both to get out of the vehicle and come with me.’
Chapter Four
Monroe would have quite happily shifted into his wolf form there and then but, despite the green man’s unpleasant expression and threatening manner, I felt sure that this was the time for words and diplomacy rather than fighting. Escalation wouldn’t help anyone. Apparently, there was hope for me yet.
I jumped out of the car before Monroe could turn furry and pasted on my best smile. ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘I’m Charley.’
‘I know who you are,’ the stranger growled. He waved the sword at me. ‘And if your buddy decides to change and grow big ears, you’ll be one dead enchantress.’
Monroe got out of the other side of the car and snarled.
‘Oooh, impressive,’ Greenie drawled with full-blown sarcasm. Unfortunately I knew only too well that was not the way to woo a wolf.
Mentally taking a step back, I assessed our would-be attacker. Although his green skin was the most arresting thing about him, I put that out of my mind for now and focused on the rest of him, which actually seemed fairly normal. He was young, maybe early twenties or thereabouts. His clothes were casual but well kept, with a patch neatly sewn onto the thigh of his jeans, no doubt to cover a hole. He wore old trainers on his feet and there was the slightest tremor to his hand as he clutched the sword.
I slowly raised my hands to indicate submission and shuffled over to Monroe. ‘Let’s do as the man says, shall we?’ I murmured.
Monroe appeared to be in no mood to listen to me. ‘Wave that blade at me once more and I’ll rip out your throat.’
Greenie’s hand tightened round the weapon. Uh oh. Despite that, I didn’t think we were in immediate danger �
� unless Monroe made a move. Nervous people reacted badly, especially in life-or-death situations. A mere one percent of the population have malfunctioning amygdalas and won’t resort to fight-or-flight reactions when in stressful situations. Greenie might not be human in the way that I was, but I reckoned he’d react in a similar fashion.
I cast a quick glance at the lake, wondering if Nimue was about to reappear and save the day. There was no sign of her. What happened next would be down to me. I gathered up the stress and tension inside me and pushed it all down. Calm would win the day.
I returned my gaze to Greenie’s face. ‘Take us to your leader.’ My voice dropped. ‘Before one of us does something we’ll both regret and my friend here rips out your intestines.’ Oops. That was less calm than I’d intended.
Greenie’s mouth twisted. Before he could react, however, Monroe started to laugh. We both turned towards him. Greenie was confused; I was irritated.
‘What?’ I demanded. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘He’s a little green man.’
Greenie bristled.
‘And you said take us to your leader.’ A most un-wolf-like giggle escaped Monroe’s lips. ‘Maybe now we’ve got aliens to contend with on top of everything else.’
‘Don’t be silly,’ I snapped. ‘He’s obviously not an alien.’
‘You don’t know that. He could be.’
I folded my arms. ‘He’s not.’
‘I’m not,’ Greenie interjected.
I ignored him in favour of continuing to glare at Monroe. ‘Just when we were finally having a sensible conversation and you were being thoughtful and nice, you start acting like a five year old. Are you on drugs?’ I asked. ‘Have you taken something?’
‘No,’ Monroe grinned. ‘But if you’ve got something and you’re offering, I won’t say no.’
I tsked loudly.
Greenie coughed. ‘You have to come with me.’
‘See? He is taking us to his leader,’ Monroe said.
‘You’re an idiot.’
Desperately trying to reassert control, Greenie lifted the sword until the very tip of the blade was brushing against my temple. Monroe’s eyes flashed with anger before his bizarre sense of humour reasserted itself and he started to grin again.
‘You’ll walk in front of me. Twenty paces. And,’ Greenie uttered with hard finality, ‘you’ll do exactly what I say.’
Monroe looped his arm round mine and pulled me with him. ‘Yessir!’ He dragged me with him, doing exactly as he’d been ordered. That was unexpected.
Once we were some distance ahead, Monroe dipped his head. ‘I don’t know who he is, but he’s only a kid. He’s more scared than anything.’
‘Keep walking!’ Greenie yelled from behind.
‘I know that,’ I hissed to Monroe.
‘He’s not a looter because his trainers are old. His clothes have been patched up, no doubt because there’s someone out there who cares enough about him to spend hours bent over a needle and thread. He’s probably from the community that cleared the roads around here and we probably want to get on their good side. I was trying to keep the situation calm and I think I succeeded. I was prepared to take him down but, once I started looking at him properly, I realised that we’re not in any real danger. It’s important to pay attention to the little details, Charlotte. It could save lives.’
‘Turn left!’ Greenie shouted at us.
We followed the path round while I tried my best not to punch Monroe in the arm. ‘I know all that,’ I whispered to him. ‘I saw all those details.’
He let out a quiet snort of disbelief. ‘You were making things worse, not better.’
‘You were the one who was acting all threatening and scary. I’m not the big bad wolf here, Monroe. You are.’
He smiled. ‘You’re just annoyed that I’m taking control of the situation and avoiding a fight. He knows who we are and he’s not approached us before now. That means his kind are more interested in peace than war. That’s what we all want. We have to be careful to turn this situation to our advantage rather than cause further problems.’
The worst thing was that Monroe was one hundred percent right and his approach was what I was aiming for initially. He was explaining my own strategy to me – except that I hadn’t done as good a job as I’d thought of locking away my own stress. My mouth had ruined my strategy before I even got started.
‘I used humour to deflect the tension,’ Monroe said proudly. ‘I’ve still got it. I didn’t rule my pack with authoritarian control, you know. I was a good leader.’
I sniffed. ‘It was bad humour.’
He smirked. ‘It was better than continuing with your suggestion that I yank out his insides. Diplomacy, Charlotte. You should think about it some time. It has its place.’
Forget the green dude with the big sword, it was Monroe I was going to kill first. ‘You threatened to rip out his throat!’
‘Yes, but that was before I saw who he really was and used my wits and intelligence to get us out of this situation without bloodshed.’
‘He’s behind us waving a sword at our backs. Bloodshed could still ensue.’ I had no idea why I was arguing because I agreed with Monroe’s assessment of the situation.
‘Not today.’ And with another serene smile, he released my arm and put his hands in his pockets and started to whistle.
I sighed to myself. Yeah. I really did need a holiday.
Greenie marshalled us into a neat cul-de-sac. There was no doubt it was occupied. For a start, doors banged up and down the street, and there were worried calls as children were ushered inside from their gardens when we approached. Secondly, the entire place looked pretty much untouched by the magical apocalypse. There was evidence that things had been patched up, with darker spots on the road where potholes had been filled in and new tiles on the roofs of the houses where no doubt the fire rain that had attacked us had penetrated. Whoever had done these things had done a remarkably good job. I should know: I’d spent weeks overseeing the same sort of work in my own neighbourhood and it didn’t look anything like as good as this.
We had walked about halfway down the road when Greenie shouted at us to halt. I wondered if he would actually slice us with that blade if we ignored his command; for a moment, I was tempted to test him and see. Monroe was playing the role of good wolf, however, and slid to an easy stop. I had no good reason not to do the same.
A door opened to our right and another green face appeared. This one belonged to a woman. She had the sort of expression that I tended to associate with motherly types – exhausted but happy. All the same, when she walked towards us her shoulders betrayed her tension.
‘Good afternoon,’ she said. Her accent was Manchester through and through. I even spotted a tattoo on her wrist of a bee – the symbol of the city. Whatever manner of creature she really was, she was a part of Manchester as much as I was. Perhaps more so.
Greenie marched up behind us. I noted that he’d sheathed the sword; that suggested he trusted in the strength and power of the woman in front of us and no longer required weaponry to hold us in place.
‘I caught these two out by Boggart Hole,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t easy to bring them in but I managed it. The wolf is smart but the enchantress is a hothead.’
I normally prided myself on my poker face but Greenie’s words provoked a reaction that I couldn’t hide. My eyes widened and an irritated huff escaped my lips.
The woman smiled faintly. ‘Thank you, Malbus,’ she said. ‘You may go now.’
Malbus twitched but remained where he was.
‘You did a good job,’ she told him. ‘You should be proud of yourself.’ She reached out and patted his arm.
He dropped his head, suddenly abashed, then he trotted off. I wondered if that sort of praise would work with my community – I needed some way of keeping my inhabitants at bay when the need arose.
‘I am Alora,’ she said. ‘You are Monroe and you,’ she nodded at me, ‘are Charley.
’ She smiled at me. ‘You’ve been having a hard time lately.’
‘I…’ Her gentleness was so unexpected that I suddenly found myself blinking back tears. ‘I’m not a hothead,’ I blurted out. Not normally anyway.
Her expression softened further. ‘I know.’ She took a step back and her demeanour altered, becoming businesslike and professional. I had the distinct impression of someone who was steel sheathed in marshmallow. We had to tread very carefully indeed. ‘Tell me,’ Alora said, ‘what are you doing here?’
Monroe and I glanced at each other. He ran a hand through his hair and straightened his shoulders. ‘We were helping someone out,’ he said. ‘Relocating them to the lake.’
‘A water being, I assume?’ she enquired. ‘Because of the blood from the taps?’
Damn. This woman didn’t miss a trick. ‘Yes.’
‘Thank you for sorting that out. It has saved us a job.’ She knit her fingers together. ‘What manner of being was it?’
I licked my lips. ‘Uh, it was a mermaid. It is a mermaid. Her name is Nimue.’
I wanted to explain that she wasn’t necessarily a friendly mermaid who would sing happy songs and befriend children, but Alora was ahead of me. She tutted. ‘A mermaid? And you brought such a dangerous creature here? To this place?’ She glared at both of us. ‘We have children. Don’t you know how dangerous mermaids are?’
I swallowed. ‘She’s not all that bad.’ I had no idea why I was sticking up for Nimue. We were hardly bosom buddies.
Alora snorted. ‘That’s easy for you to say. She’s not your new neighbour.’
Monroe interjected. ‘We didn’t know you were here. We wouldn’t have brought the mermaid here if we’d known. To relocate her again might prove … difficult. If we could leave her for a couple of weeks and then reassess the situation…’
‘Yes, yes.’ Alora waved a hand in the air. ‘I know what mermaids are like. We’ll stay away from the lake and leave her in peace for the time being. If she causes problems, however, we will expect you to deal with them.’
This was going far better than I could have hoped. ‘Yes.’ I nodded vigorously. ‘We will.’