by Helen Harper
‘I understand it’s hard for you,’ Fab said. ‘You’ve been this community’s go-to person for so long that it’s hard for you to let go of that control. I’m here to tell you that it’s alright. I’ve got things from now on. You can loosen the reins.’
My eyes narrowed. I wasn’t the kind of person who felt like that. Was I? I banked down the urge to snap at him. If he was on the defensive and making me doubt myself, then I was going to continue with my questions. ‘Why weren’t you worried about the pigeons?’ I asked. ‘You sent them through the city. They could have picked up plenty of magic and carried it to the outside world.’
Fab looked nonplussed. ‘We ran tests beforehand. Why do you think it’s taken us so long to come here? The time the birds spent flying across the city wasn’t long enough for them to be adversely affected.’ He sighed and looked away. ‘I’m not the bad guy. I understand it’s difficult for you to trust me and that you feel like I’m taking away all of your power…’
‘I don’t feel like that,’ I interrupted. I squared my shoulders. I was sure of it.
He continued as if he hadn’t heard me. ‘But I want the same things that you want. I want to help you and your people. Yes, I stand to gain a lot from this venture, of course I do. I already told you that. I’ll go down in history as the man brave enough to enter Manchester when no one else would. Hollywood will be making films about me for decades to come – and you know what? I’m pleased about that. I want that. That doesn’t mean that I don’t also want the best for everyone in Manchester. The two things are not mutually exclusive. If you want me to stop talking about the potential ill-effects of magic then I will. It won’t stop me from worrying about them but I can keep my mouth shut, if that’s what you prefer.’
‘You’re entitled to talk about whatever you want to,’ I said. ‘You’re as free here as you are anywhere. I just…’ I gritted my teeth. Fucking hell.
‘You just want to look out for your own.’ He reached out with his gloves and took my hands in his. ‘You’re a good person, Charley. Your people are lucky to have you.’
All the tension in the air seemed to evaporate. Because he’d misjudged my motives in questioning him didn’t make him any less of a person. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t trying to accuse you of being evil. But I worry. I worry about a lot of things. I am glad you’re here because we do need you. Sooner or later our supplies will run out. We can’t live on potatoes alone, not forever. Magic will only sustain us so far.’
‘I understand,’ Fab said gently. ‘Truly. Now come on. Why don’t you show me this museum of yours?’
I bit my lip and nodded. I felt guilty for mistrusting him. He was here to help and I’d almost thrown it back in his face. Some diplomat I was. I was becoming more insular than I’d realised.
‘It’s pretty amazing,’ I said. ‘We’ve been gradually collecting all the important art from across the city and transporting it here so we can keep it safe.’
‘A valiant and thoughtful approach.’ He smiled at me and I smiled back. At least he didn’t seem to have taken offence at my pointed questions and slightly belligerent approach.
‘There are some amazing pieces by Lowry that I’m sure you’ll like,’ I said, as we started walking again. ‘We even have a few Picassos. There’s a painting by Van Gogh too but we’ve loaned it out to the Travotel.’ I licked my lips. ‘How did you hear about that place? About our one and only hotel?’
‘Mm?’ Fab said. ‘You told me. Yesterday when we were on our way here. I’m sure you mentioned it.’
I smiled again. ‘I must have. Maybe we can visit there another day when there’s more time.’
‘That sounds good.’
I picked up speed. And hoped that the sickening, tightening sensation in the pit of my belly didn’t show on my face.
Chapter Fifteen
I was feeling antsy. Carter started to pour me another drink. At this rate I’d soon be matching Julie’s thirst.
‘Fab told me that there is now an organisation called Free Manchester,’ Jodie informed me. ‘That lots of people think the walls should come down and everyone should be allowed to come in and out as they choose.’ Her eyes glowed.
‘He also said,’ Cath burbled on my other side, ‘that there’s an organisation called Save Us which thinks that the entire city should be nuked, just in case.’
‘But no one pays attention to them,’ Jodie pointed out. ‘That’s what he said.’
‘We’ve been trending on Twitter for twelve months. Manchester has more followers now than the Kardashians.’ Cath grinned. ‘Hashtag survivors. Fab told me that over half a billion pounds have been raised to help us out. If we can get hold of that money, we won’t have to worry about supplies ever again.’
Jodie raised her glass. I’d never seen her maintain a smile for this length of time before. ‘Here’s to Fab Barrett!’
The throng of people in the Blood and Bones followed suit. ‘To Fab Barrett!’
‘I think he’s gay,’ Theo said. ‘He has that quality about him.’
‘Just because you want him to be gay doesn’t make him gay,’ Cath said.
‘Yeah.’ Jodie shrugged. ‘How can you tell anyway?’
‘I just can. He’s definitely my type.’
I needed a stronger drink. I eyed the dwindling shelves behind Carter. I’d bet with anyone that he was keeping the really good stuff locked away somewhere. He was that kind of person.
Monroe appeared by my side. ‘I’ve been looking for you.’
I gave him a bleary wave. ‘And here I am.’
He squinted. ‘Are you okay?’ His sharp eyes missed nothing.
I flicked a look at the others. They all had stars in their eyes as far as Fab was concerned; the last thing I wanted to do was to burst their bubble unnecessarily. ‘I’ll tell you later,’ I muttered.
Monroe watched me for a moment, concern in his expression, but he knew better than to probe while we were out here in public. One of the best things about him was that I didn’t always have to explain myself. He knew. He understood. ‘That guard wants to talk to you,’ he said eventually. ‘The surly one.’
‘They’re all surly.’ In fact, I was feeling pretty damned surly myself.
‘You know which one I mean. The leader. Boil?’
I smiled slightly. ‘Boyce.’
‘Yeah. Him.’
I was tempted to say that Boyce could go and chuck himself in the canal with the monster that lived there then I decided that he might have something interesting to say. I drained my drink and hopped off the stool. Anything was better than hearing more about what Fab might or might not have said.
Monroe and I pushed our way out of the bar, leaving a merry chorus of gossip about Fabian Barrett behind. ‘They’re all star struck,’ I muttered.
Monroe threw me a sharp look. ‘They all think he’s going to save us. So did you yesterday. What’s changed in the last few hours?’
I told him about our conversation. Monroe’s lips tightened. ‘Someone else might have blabbed. He was wandering around the enclave talking to everyone he met. Any one of them might have told him about the Travotel. Perhaps he just got confused.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, unconvinced.
‘But,’ Monroe added, ‘he was also encouraging as many people as possible to show off their magic skills for him.’
My mood darkened. ‘We’re not supposed to overdo magic. If we do, we might cause more damage to the atmosphere.’
‘Our visiting billionaire has a persuasive edge. Julian was practically purring when I met up with him earlier. Barrett told him he was doing an excellent job with the enclave’s infrastructure.’
I grimaced. ‘Flattery gets you everywhere.’
‘Indeed.’ Monroe shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘Julian also mentioned that Barrett had stated his concern that there might be some nasty side effects from the magic.’
‘I’ll bet he did.’ I folded my arms, hugging myself to stop the brief
shiver. ‘He might be right but that sort of speculation is very unhelpful. What on earth is Fab actually up to?’
‘Never fear,’ Monroe said. ‘We’ll find out.’
‘You’re unusually optimistic.’
He gave me a crooked smile. ‘I have the love of a beautiful, blue-haired enchantress. I have nothing to be downbeat about, no matter what Fabian Barrett is up to.’
I let Monroe’s positive warmth wash over me and leaned over to give him a quick kiss. ‘Yeah. I suppose as long as we get the supplies we need, it doesn’t really matter what he does. Not in the long run. His machinations are probably more to do with bigging up his reputation in the outside world than to do with us.’
Monroe kissed me back. ‘Amen.’
Boyce was waiting for us on the other side of the barricade with Felicity right next to him. Two of the other guards were outside the white tent, like the night before. There was no sign of Fab. That was probably a good thing.
I raised a hand in greeting and walked over. ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘What’s up?’
‘I thought you’d want to know,’ Boyce grunted, his eyes shifting away from me. ‘I saw that creature of yours. The small black thing.’
‘Lucy?’ I blinked. She’d been locked in her cage. She couldn’t have got free on her own.
‘Yeah.’ He jerked his head down the street. ‘It was down that way. I tried to go after it but it ran away.’
Monroe looked at Felicity. ‘Did you see Lucy too?’
She shook her head. ‘No. I heard the squeak and I saw Boyce trying to go after her, though.’
Shit. I curled my hands into fists and stared down the dark, empty road. How had that happened? ‘You scared her off,’ I accused.
Boyce didn’t blink. ‘That wasn’t my intention. I thought you’d want to know she was here, that’s all. Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m not your enemy any more than Mr Barrett is.’
Obviously Boyce had been filled in on the details of my chat with his employer. I hissed through my teeth. Then I tried to smile and be polite; I’d been brought up better than to make animal noises. Unfortunately. ‘I appreciate your help,’ I said stiffly. ‘She must have escaped from her cage. You shouldn’t worry. She’s just a baby.’
‘A baby who will one day become a monster,’ Boyce said.
Monroe ran a hand through his hair. ‘If Lucy managed to get herself here on her own despite that cage, she’s more than capable of looking after herself. We’re not responsible for her, Charlotte.’
‘Except we are,’ I insisted. ‘It’s our fault she’s on her own.’
‘She chose to run off. We’ve done all we can.’
I shook my head. ‘No, we haven’t.’ I started striding down the street. ‘Lucy!’ I called. ‘Luuuuucy!’
Monroe caught up to me, grabbing my elbow and forcing me to stop. ‘It’s dark and it’s late. We can look for her tomorrow. It’s too dangerous to be out at this time of night.’
‘She probably came out here searching for us. For me. We have to make sure she’s alright. You said it yourself, it’s too dangerous to be out right now.’
‘Charlotte…’
I gave him a look. ‘She ran away from Boyce because he tried to shoot her yesterday. She won’t run away from me. If I don’t find her in the next twenty minutes, I’ll come back. I promise.’
Monroe’s expression didn’t change. ‘This is a bad idea.’
‘Most of my ideas are bad. I just execute them with so much flair that everyone thinks they’re amazing.’
He tutted. ‘Fine. Twenty minutes. Not a second longer. And it goes without saying that I’m coming too.’
‘You’re awesome.’
‘That also goes without saying.’
It was my turn to tut. From a few metres away Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘You two are as bad as each other. If you’re not back by ten, I’ll send out the cavalry.’ She turned and walked back to the barricade, jumping up high and throwing us a salute to indicate that she’d be watching our progress.
‘Whatever you do, leave me out of it,’ Boyce said, shuffling to the tent. ‘I’ve done my part.’ He unzipped the first entrance and ducked inside, no doubt to begin the tiresome process of decontamination, whatever that involved.
I had more important things on my mind.
‘Lucy!’ I called again. ‘Lucy!’ I jogged down the road, glancing from left to right. I had little hope of spotting her small dark body in the shadows but I had to try. With any luck, she’d come to me rather than the other way around. ‘Can you scent her?’ I asked.
Monroe frowned. ‘Nope. Not even a trace.’
I cursed. ‘She could be anywhere.’ I continued down the road, doing my best to pierce the darkness for any signs of movement. ‘Lucy!’
‘I don’t think…’ Monroe began at the same time as an odd scraping sound reached my ears from up ahead.
I clutched his arm. ‘That came from down there.’ I picked up speed. ‘That’s her.’
I ran down towards the source of the sound. I could have sworn it had come from one of the old terraced houses on the right. My footsteps clattered along the road, echoing noisily. Realising that the sound might scare Lucy off, I forced myself to slow down. When I reached the halfway point, with our own settlement barely visible behind us, I came to a stop.
‘I think it came from this house,’ I said to Monroe, whose breath had barely quickened and whose footsteps had been as silent as a cat’s. I pointed. ‘Or maybe this one.’
‘We’ll check both out,’ Monroe said. ‘I’m sure we’ll find her, Charlotte. If not tonight then tomorrow. Assuming she wants us to find her, that is.’
‘She wants us to find her.’ I knew it in my heart. I started forward, heading for the first door. It was in a sorry state, lying ajar and half off its hinges, with the paint peeling off the façade. There was nothing to suggest there was any life inside but if Lucy was in there, frightened, she’d be hiding.
‘Wait,’ Monroe said. ‘Something’s not right.’
I half turned, ready to tell him that he was being a scaredy-wolf and he should toughen up. Before I could, there was another strange sound, a grating crunch like stone falling against stone. Monroe let out a sharp bark of warning. I looked up, just in time to see a dark shape flying down from the roof above as if in slow motion.
I didn’t have time to think – all I could do was react. While Monroe leapt towards me, prepared to use his body to shield mine, I shoved one hand out to him and one hand up to the air. Magic spouted forth and Monroe was flung backwards. The dark shape had gravity working for it, however. All I could manage was to suspend it in mid-air, scant inches from my head.
‘Charlotte!’ Monroe yelled.
I kept my eyes trained on the shape. As far as I could tell it was an entire chimney stack, somehow loosened from its perch. It had to weigh at least half a ton; I might have temporarily stopped its descent but it could still crush me.
Without looking at Monroe, I slowly moved the hand that was pointed at him up to join my other. For the briefest second my control slipped and the massive pile of bricks dropped another inch.
‘Get out of there!’ Monroe shouted.
I gritted my teeth. ‘I’m trying.’
Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. This was far harder than it looked because every law of nature was working against me. More and more magic was flowing from my fingertips, working to keep the fallen chimney from collapsing on top of me. I edged backwards, trying to get out from underneath it. The bricks dropped another inch. I stopped breathing.
Monroe’s voice was preternaturally calm. ‘Can you push it upwards? Just for a moment? It’ll give me enough time to shove you out of the way.’
A trickle of sweat ran into my eye. I blinked fiercely at the salty sting and tried not to lose concentration. ‘No. I’m already using all my energy to keep it in place.’ And that energy was draining fast. I drew in a shallow gasp of air.
The wind was blowing g
ently to my right. It wasn’t much more than a breeze but I’d have to take whatever I could. ‘Move back,’ I muttered to Monroe.
‘Charlotte…’
‘Move the fuck back.’
I heard him do as I’d instructed. Focusing on the air, and imagining that it was strong enough to move bricks, I tensed my entire body. I had to wait for the right moment. But my grip was slipping and the right moment might never come.
With a loud grunt, I swung my arms to the right in the direction of the light wind. At the same time, I threw my body to the left. Half a second later, as I fell onto the damp ground, there was a crashing thud as the chimney stack did the same, sending red bricks scattering across the road.
I rolled, getting as far away as I possibly could. I wasn’t sure what I thought would happen – it wasn’t as if inanimate stone usually stood up and tried to attack, even in this city. Then again, stone didn’t usually fall on top of my head.
Monroe grabbed my T-shirt and hauled me upwards, pulling me against him. Panting, I stared at the fallen stack. It was far larger than I’d realised.
Monroe’s grip tightened. ‘Are you alright?’
I nodded. He released me and shifted into his werewolf form in an instant, then he sprang up the wall of the house, using sheer momentum to scramble up to the roof. I backed up, feeling my entire body tremble from the effort and adrenaline. That had been close. Too close.
It didn’t take Monroe long to leap down by my side. ‘Anything?’ I asked.
He shook his lupine head, his fur bristling in the wind. His hackles were still raised, a line right across his spine. If there was nothing up there. Maybe it had been bad luck. Except I didn’t believe in luck.
I twisted round, scanning the other roof tops for signs of life. I couldn’t see a thing. Then, from the darkness beyond, a tiny dark shape tumbled toward me with a series of panicked squeaks. Lucy flung herself into my arms, almost knocking me over a second time.
Monroe’s blue wolf eyes stared at her, suspicion clouding his gaze.
‘It wasn’t her,’ I told him. ‘It couldn’t have been.’ I swallowed. ‘It must have been an accident.’