Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (20 page)

“Alex?”

“Remember how I said mages split everyone into other mages, and sheep?” I stared out over the lights of the city. “Well, there’s a thing about that. If everyone who isn’t a mage is a sheep, then the only kind of power worth having is over other mages.”

Luna was looking at me, and I could tell she didn’t understand. “Any mage can set himself up in the normal world. But he doesn’t get any respect. Status here is how much influence you have over other mages. Favours, position, contacts…other things.”

“Okay…” Luna said slowly. “That man, Cinder. Why was he talking about buying me?”

I knew Luna wasn’t going to stop until she got an answer or a flat no. I took a breath, then let it out, calming myself. “Dark mages like taking slaves,” I said at last. It was my turn not to meet Luna’s eyes now. I didn’t want to risk her seeing something in my face. “It’s like a currency for them. Even the ones who don’t use slaves keep them to sell to the ones who do. Any novice or adept without connections, anyone who isn’t powerful enough to look after herself…she’s got a good chance of ending up like that. Sometimes it’s even a choice. They serve one mage because if they don’t they’ll be taken by another. There are Dark mages who have dozens, like a business. They keep them in their mansions and bring one or two out for display.”

I fell silent. Luna had been staring at me. “What do they do with them?” she finally asked.

I met Luna’s eyes then. “Whatever they want.”

We were almost to the top of the tower, and the stars were bright in the sky above us. It was dark and quiet, and everything else was still.

“Alex?” Luna said. “Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to go home after all.”

I nodded. The elevator rose into a cage of steel and glass, and the door slid open. We stepped out into the night air.

We were standing on the corner of the tower, just at the point at which it angled in to form a pyramid. A small walkway with a transparent railing ran along the edge in both directions, stretching to the other two corners that we could see. Beyond the railing was a vertical drop, seven hundred feet straight down to the concrete below. Not the place to be if you were scared of heights. The double strobe of the aircraft warning light flashed from the pyramid right above us, dazzlingly bright. We were alone.

Luna watched as I took out the glass rod I used to call Starbreeze and whispered my summoning charm over it. “Alexander Verus calls you; answer my prayer, queen of the sky,” I finished, and tucked it away. Then I stared off into the distance, working out how long Starbreeze would be.

“Alex,” Luna said, pointing.

I followed her finger to see that she was pointing over the edge, towards the southwest corner. A dim light was moving upwards along the edge of the building, its glow just barely visible from our angle. It was already a third of the way up.

I sighed. “Deleo. Goddamn it, doesn’t that woman ever give up?” I scanned through the futures quickly. “Cinder’s still below. Probably in…yeah, he’s at the base of the lift. Waiting for us to double back.”

Luna looked out at the night sky, then down at the rising sphere, and I knew what she was thinking. “Deleo.”

“Hm?”

“You were wondering who’ll get here first, Starbreeze or Deleo. It’ll be Deleo.”

“Oh.” Luna thought briefly. “Do we run again?”

“Good plan, but no. Running from these guys too long is a bad idea. It gets them into the habit of chasing you.” I handed Luna the glass rod. “Stay out of sight. When Starbreeze comes, shout.”

“What about you?”

“Be a good girl and do what I say.”

“I’m not a good girl,” Luna said, but I could tell she was
holding back a smile. She obeyed, backing off so that the tower pyramid was between her and Deleo’s lift.

Once she was gone, I went a little way out along the walkway. Despite how high we were, the air was quite still; the Council likes to keep everything scenic in case some of their guests feel like enjoying the view. Once I’d gotten far enough, I took a pair of gold-coloured discs from my pocket and laid them on either side of the walkway, one by the railing and one at the edge of the pyramid. Then I took a step back and waited.

It was a spectacular view. From the height at which I was standing, I could see virtually all of London. The air was cold and bracing, and I realised suddenly as I looked out into the night sky that I’d missed this. There’d been something missing from my life in Camden, something I’d discovered again in the past two days.

The glow of the lift vanished from the side of the tower, then appeared on my level, visible though the glass of the pyramid. As I watched, Deleo stepped out into the night air. She saw me, paused, then started across the walkway towards me.

I let her get within thirty feet before speaking the command word. The gold discs flared to life and a wall of force appeared, stretching from the discs on the walkway floor out past the railings, along the slope of the pyramid, and up into the air. It was invisible to the naked eye, but there was now no physical force in this world or the next that could cross that barrier.

Deleo came to a halt. Her hands had snapped up as I’d spoken, and now I watched her stare at me through the transparent wall, her eyes hidden behind the mask. As she came to a decision, green-blue light welled up about her hands.

“Don’t bother,” I said. “You could break it if you were on your own, but not with me boosting it from the other side.”

“It won’t last forever,” Deleo said. Her voice was soft and deadly, and again I felt the venom in her words.

“So let’s talk.” I folded my arms, watching her casually. “There’s some stuff I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

Deleo didn’t answer. “For a start, I’d like to know what your plans were for Luna,” I went on. “But I know you wouldn’t tell me the truth. So I thought I’d ask about something you seem to have more of a personal interest in.” I cocked my head. “Why do you hate me so much?”

Deleo stared back at me from the other side of the wall. The silence stretched out and I’d just opened my mouth to go on when she finally spoke. “You couldn’t stay away, could you?” Her voice was low, vibrating with some intense emotion: hate, pain, anger. “I knew you’d be back. It was always you.”

“Uh,” I said. “Okay, let’s try this again. Why—”

“Shut up.” Deleo’s voice was raw. “Don’t talk to me. It was your fault, all of it. Now you’re trying to do it again.” The light around her hands flared, brightened. “It’s people like you that always screw things up, always make it worse. If you were gone I could fix things. The ones who really matter.” Suddenly, she turned. “Stop it!”

I stared, following her gaze. Deleo was looking at empty air, out over the railings. I searched the area and saw nothing. “Um,” I said. “Look, if—”

“You’ve had the dreams, haven’t you?” Deleo asked. She sounded distracted, like she was carrying on two conversations at once. “I can see them. You haven’t escaped, no one does. It always comes back. I’m the only one who can break it.” She cocked her head, seeming to listen, then snarled. “Shut up!”

“Okay,” I said. “You know what, I don’t want to know anymore. You’re nuttier than a fruitcake. Just stay away from me.”

“You don’t understand.” Deleo’s eyes stared through me for a second, and then all of a sudden they cleared and she was focused on me again. “Give me the girl.”

“Uh, how about no?”

“You think you can protect her? You can’t. The only way she’ll be safe is with me.”

I actually laughed. “Oh, that’s different. I’ll just hand her over, shall I?”

In a quick movement Deleo stepped up against the barrier. Her left hand pulsed against the wall of force, sending ripples through it. “I won’t let anyone get in my way,” she said. All of a sudden, her voice was deadly calm. “You were always weaker than me. I know how to hurt you, Alex.”

Deleo and I stared into each other’s eyes from less than ten feet away. The barrier was starting to tremble; the amount of destructive force she was pouring into it was staggering. From behind I heard Luna’s voice, calling. “Alex!
Alex!
”

I stepped back. “Don’t come after me.”

“This isn’t over,” Deleo said. It sounded like a promise.

I turned and ran. Behind, I could hear the force wall whining under the strain. As I got around the corner of the pyramid, I saw Luna leaning over the railing and Starbreeze floating just beyond it. “Time to go!” I called.

“Go where?” Starbreeze asked curiously.

“Home!” I grabbed Luna’s hand. “Fast!”

“Okay!” Starbreeze engulfed us. In a flash we were turned to air and whisked away. Looking back, I had one glimpse of the barrier breaking in a blue-green flash before the tower was shrinking behind us. “No fun,” Starbreeze complained, her voice muffled by the wind.

“What’s wrong?” Luna asked.

“Nothing happened,” Starbreeze said, sounding disappointed.

The Docklands vanished behind us, their lights merging with the rest of London as Starbreeze lifted us higher and higher into the sky. Already we were far enough away to be invisible to anyone watching. “Trust me, Starbreeze,” I said as we banked and turned north, heading home. “It was exciting enough down on our end.”

S
tarbreeze dropped us on my roof, and I gave her something or other and watched her soar away. My shop was dark and quiet. All around, I could hear the sounds of the
city again, distant and reassuring. All of a sudden, I didn’t want to deal with magic and mages anymore, I just wanted to be home and safe. “Want a drink?” I said, smothering a yawn as we walked through the hall.

Luna shook her head. Her dress was a little disarrayed, but it made her look better if anything. She seemed to be slowly coming down from a high. “Stay here for tonight, then?” I asked. “I think there’s a camp bed somewhere.”

“I think I should go.”

I looked at her, puzzled. Luna nodded down at my chest. “Look.”

I stared for a moment before realising. In the excitement, I’d forgotten about Arachne’s ribbon. I looked down to see that almost all of the white ribbon had turned black. Only an inch or so was left.

“I think my coach is turning back into a pumpkin,” Luna said, and I looked up in surprise to see one of her rare smiles. Somehow, though, this one seemed sad. “It’s okay. You said they can’t find me now, right? I’ll find a place to stay.” She moved to the door.

“Luna, wait!” I followed. “They can’t find you with magic, but they can still look. It’s not going to be—”

Luna turned and stepped into my arms, laying her head against my chest, one hand holding gently on to my coat. I stopped in surprise, looking down at her. “Thank you for tonight,” Luna said. Her body was cool, and she smelt of clouds and wind. “It was worth it.”

I started to put an arm around her. “Luna—”

“It’s midnight,” Luna said softly, and slipped away, hiding her face. Before I could react the door opened and closed, and I was alone. I heard her footsteps fading outside.

I stood there for a long time, then walked back to my desk and sat down. I untied the ribbon from my belt and held it up in front of me. Almost all of it had turned to black, and as I watched, the very last corner faded and darkened. The ribbon flickered once, then crumbled to dust between
my fingers. In a second there was nothing left but a trace of black powder.

I sat looking at it for a long time, then went upstairs to bed.

I
came awake into darkness. My chest hurt, everything was black, and the screams were still ringing in my ears. As I lay tense, my heart pounding, I realised it had been a dream. My flat was silent. I lay there for a few minutes, letting my breathing slow until my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and then I rose and walked on bare feet to the window. Same old nightmares.

Once I was leaning out the window, taking deep breaths of the night air, I felt better. Being enclosed always reminds me of that time and I’ve learnt that an open sky is the best way to throw it off. I’ve always liked looking out my window at night; something about the density, all those thousands of pinpoints and every one a person or a family. I could tell from the murmur that it was about four o’clock in the morning. Camden is never silent, but this is the quietest it gets. I could hear the sounds of distant music filtering through the bridges and over the canal, but my street was still.

I don’t have many scars. Dark mages are quite skilled with methods of torture that don’t cause permanent physical damage. My chest still hurt though, a phantom pain. I rubbed at it until it faded and leant on the windowsill, looking
out into the night. A three-quarter moon was high in the sky, casting London in a pale light that reflected off the rooftops.

For some reason, instead of Luna, I found myself thinking of the woman we’d left behind, Deleo. I was sure she was someone from my past; probably from my time with Richard. It’s hard to remember someone just from the sound of their voice, but I’ve got access to ways of looking that normal people don’t. I was pretty sure I could figure out who she was if I wanted to.

Except I didn’t. Yes, Deleo was after me. Yes, I could probably protect myself better if I knew who she was. But even that wasn’t enough to make me willingly take myself back to that place in my memory. My time with Richard is a place I’ve locked up in my mind; I don’t think about it and I don’t go back to it. Instead I ran through a brief exercise to clear my head, then when I was calm again returned to bed and fell asleep quickly.