James Potter And The Morrigan Web (29 page)

“That’s one tough little imp,” the Harrier exclaimed, gesturing with his wand as they circled the others. James squinted through the roaring wind and saw the lithe little security gargoyle crouched alertly on the tip of the sinking broom. Its blue eyes glowed like pinpricks of lightning, casting the protective blue bubble. “It can’t hold out much longer,” the Harrier added, swooping to cut the Wendigo off from them. “We’ll have to fend it off. Fortunately there’s just the one. Ah, damn.”

James saw it coming at the same time: the Wendigo’s twin leapt into view at the end of the block. It saw the crippled broom and snarled viciously. In an instant, it began to leap from car-top to car-top, crimping the metal bonnets and roofs with its thudding footprints.

“Wand out!” the Harrier ordered, levelling his own wand at the nearer of their pursuers. “Use a Convulsis spell if you know it! Anything with some force behind it! You take the further one!”

“Now?” James cried, fumbling his wand out and aiming it.

“NOW!”

Both of them fired at once. The nearer Wendigo thrashed backwards as a blue bolt struck it. James’ Convulsis spell missed its mark, however, exploding a newspaper box behind the advancing monster. The Wendigo zigged back and forth, shattering windscreens and swinging from utility poles.

“Again!” the Harrier commanded.

More bolts of magic lit the street, with Scorpius joining in from behind, but it was little use. Even the Harrier’s direct hits only repulsed the creatures for a moment. The twin monstrosities were nearly upon them, snarling more viciously than ever.

A series of pops suddenly echoed along the canyon of skyscrapers. Figures appeared in mid-swoop, each dressed in green tunics and matte black armour, each straddling their own long, sleek broomsticks. They arced around in tightening loops and finally halted in formation, forming a ring around the original Harrier and his charges. Nine Harriers in all, nine wands pointed down at the Wendigoes, which had suddenly dropped to alert, furious crouches.

“On my mark!” one of the newcomers barked. James glanced up and was overjoyed to see Viktor Krum, his face set with grim determination. “FIRE!”

All nine Harriers unleashed their spells on the Wendigoes simultaneously. Green bolts lit the street, converging on the creatures in an instant. That strange, metallic
FPANG!
sounded again, this time multiplied nearly ten-fold. There was an explosion of green light and a shockwave of thick, black smoke. When the echoes died away, the Wendigoes were gone.

The Harrier sharing James’ broom drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, purposely calming himself. He looked aside, assuring that everyone was all right, and then glanced up at Krum.

“About… bloody…
time
!” he shouted, his voice echoing along the empty street.

“What’s the matter, Piotre?” one of the late arrivals called, “Can’t handle a couple of escaped house-pets on your own?”

“James!” Krum shouted, piloting his broom into position next to him, his face deadly stern. “
What
are you doing here?”

James stammered. “We-- there were some rings… experimental magic…”

Krum shook his head vigorously. “On second thought, I don’t care. Do you have a means to get back home?”

James nodded, then glanced aside as Rose and Scorpius lowered their overloaded broom, the Muggle woman crammed between them. “Er, sorta . And we’re very keen to, actually. But Rose is missing her ring. It was in her cardigan when it, er, blew off the roof of the Crystal Mountain.”

James turned back to Krum, expecting a stern or confused frown. Instead, Krum had produced a tiny notebook from a chest pocket on his leather armour. He was writing on it with an equally tiny quill, the implements looking slightly silly in his large, gloved hands. He nodded curtly at his own notes.

“Cardigan,” he stated. “Colour?”

“Um,” Rose spoke up sheepishly, “It’s sort of a pale salmon colour? With perhaps a little mauve?”

Krum looked at her without writing anything, his brow lowered.

“Pink,” James interjected. “It’s pink. Do you think you can help us?”

“The cardigan contains a ring,” Krum confirmed, frowning again at his notes. “Anything else?”

“My wand,” Rose called. “And, er, some Droobles gum. And possibly a Nosebleed nougat or two--”

“That will do,” Krum announced crisply, pocketing his notebook and tiny quill. He raised his voice and called out, “Search pattern Sigma! Object is a pink cardigan sweater, lost from the roof of the Crystal Mountain. Consider prevailing winds and be aware of high perches and overhangs. Upon retrieval, assure contents: one ring, one wand, assorted effects. Teams one through three, go now and report back in a quarter hour. Team four, return to watch perimeter. This may have been a distraction.” The last he added in a worried growl, turning back to James.

“It was very foolish of you to come here, James,” he said gravely, and it pained James to hear the disappointment in the older man’s voice.

“We weren’t supposed to come
here
, exactly,” James insisted weakly. “We started out in the top floors of the Crystal Mountain. It was just a quick out-and-back, using these magical rings Zane and his mates have been working on.”

Krum’s eyes sharpened. “Zane Walker? He is here as well?”

James nodded nervously. “Yeah. Somewhere. He and a girl named Nastasia,” a wave of worry suddenly washed over him as he glanced around the deserted street. “And Ralph, too! Where are they? That Collector bloke must have them!”

Even as James spoke, a clatter echoed from the nearby corner and a trio of figures clambered into view. James glanced toward the sound and was astounded to see Zane, Nastasia and Ralph climbing around the wreck of a bus.

Piotre, the Harrier with whom James still shared a broom, said, “Are these your friends?”

“That’s them,” James nodded, squirming to climb off the broom. The Harrier lowered his broom, allowing James to jump down.

“James!” Zane called, “What happened to the Wendigoes? And who are your new pals? On second thought,” he frowned a little, “I guess both those questions sorta answer each other. Oh! Hi, Viktor!”

“I should have known you were part of this, Walker,” Viktor sighed.

James met his friends near the wrecked bus. “What…?” he stammered, looking them up and down. They appeared to barely have broken a sweat. “How did you…?”

“How did we avoid becoming lunch for a pair of anorexic zombie cannibals?” Zane clarified, raising his eyebrows. “Good question. It’s a tale of true grit and resourcefulness if there ever was one. See, as soon as we saw Scorpius and Rose fly off with the Muggle woman…”

“I just put on my green ring,” Nastasia piped up, lifting a hand and wriggling her fingers. “Badda-boom. Built-in escape route.”

“Ralph and I followed along,” Zane shrugged. “It seemed like the obvious thing to do. Then, we zapped right back again. Only when we came back, the rings landed us back on top of the Crystal Mountain. It took us a few minutes to get back down from there. Fortunately, I was genius enough to grab these from the X-Comm lab.” He held up a pair of old but serviceable brooms.

Rose and Scorpius joined them, bringing Lissa with them.

James frowned at Zane. “You mean, you three just… left?”

“We thought you would do the same,” Ralph said. “There was no fighting those Wendigo things. At least, not without… er, professional help.” He eyed Viktor and Piotre, who hung in mid-air nearby, talking in serious voices on their sleek brooms.

“But I--” James began, and then stopped. He had honestly forgotten about the ring in his pocket, the one that would have whisked him immediately to safety if he had merely put it on. In retrospect, it seemed very silly-- and potentially deadly-- for him to have forgotten about it. But then he remembered that Rose hadn’t had her ring at all, and neither had the Muggle woman, Lissa. He looked at Zane and Ralph, then Nastasia.

“
You
,” he said, realization dawning on him. “You were just waiting for a chance to zap back. You didn’t care about anyone else. If Zane and Ralph hadn’t seen you do it, they never would have thought to do it themselves. They never would have left Rose here.”

“Now hold on, James,” Zane interjected. “We came back immediately,
and
with help. We were going to use the brooms to get everyone up off the street, where those monsters couldn’t reach us.”

“
She
wasn’t thinking about anyone but
herself
,” James insisted, still glaring at Nastasia. “Neither of you would have left if you hadn’t seen her do it first, just to save her own skin. I’m surprised you even got her to come back with you!”

Nastasia met his glare with a look of wounded surprise. Then, her face hardened. She turned away, but not before James saw tears shimmering in her eyes.

Suddenly, Zane did the last thing James expected. He shoved James, hard, on the shoulder. “What’s the matter with you?” he demanded. “What were we supposed to do? You ran off! Scorpius and Rose made it into the air with Lissa! One of those things nearly ripped Nastasia’s head off with one swipe! It was instinct to get to safety any way we could! If it wasn’t for her quick thinking, the three of us would probably be dead right now!”

James stared at his friend in shock. He glanced at Ralph for support and saw a deeply wounded look on the big boy’s face.

“I’m sorry James,” Ralph said quietly. “You might be right. Perhaps we shouldn’t have left. But we came back as soon as we could.”

James suddenly felt like a complete cad. He shook his head. “No, Ralph. I-- I shouldn’t have said…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Zane said with uncharacteristic bitterness. “We’re all sorry about everything. Can we just find Rose’s cardigan and get the hell out of here already?”

He stepped past James, heading toward Viktor and Piotre.

“Really, Ralph,” James said quietly. “I am sorry. You both did the smart thing. I was stupid to forget I had a way out in my pocket, and I almost got killed for it.”

“Sure,” Ralph said, smiling wanly. “But you’re right. At least you didn’t leave Rose here. You and Scorpius, you two are the heroes.”

“Hah,” James scoffed. “I barely got a shot off. I ran like a garden gnome and completely lost track of Rose and the others. If it hadn’t been for Viktor and his harriers…” He shuddered, realizing how truly perilous his situation had been.

“It’s all right,” Rose said quietly, placing a hand on James’ and Ralph’s shoulders. “We all did the best we could. And everything turned out all right. Didn’t it?”

Lissa suddenly gave a harsh, bitter laugh. “Everything’s all right,” she repeated, shaking her head. “None of you have any idea. No clue at all.”

“What do you mean?” Ralph asked, turning to the Muggle woman. “Who was that man, anyway? Who’s the Collector?”

Lissa met Ralph’s eyes and the bitter smile fell from her face. She drew a deep, shuddering breath. “He’s… the devil.” She shrugged helplessly. “He found us. The ones that were left when the city emptied out. Me and Park and a bunch of the other street people, we were just beginning to band together, to understand what had happened. And he found us. He was powerful… magical… and he promised us things. But he… he lied.”

Scorpius tilted his head curiously. “So there are others?”

Lissa giggled a little again. “There
were
others. There are hardly any left now. Now that he’s done…
collecting
.”

“What does that mean, Lissa,” Rose asked worriedly, her face going pale.

Lissa shrugged helplessly. “We didn’t want to do it, but he promised to take us with him when the new world came. He took care of us, but for a price. Every day he sent us out into the city, looking for things. He was making… something.” She shook her head and grimaced. “Something awful. He needed lots of very specific ingredients for it. But when he finally had everything he needed… he didn’t need
us
anymore. He started collecting
people
instead. First Park, then, one by one, most of the others. Even the ones who were like him. The magical ones.”

Rose looked perplexed. “He
killed
people? Even other wizards?”

Lissa shook her head again, slowly and emphatically. “It wasn’t just killing. It was… like a game to him. It gave him…
pleasure
. And it made him more powerful. He collected them. When he was done, they weren’t so much dead as they were just… sort of…
sucked dry
. Empty human husks, with everything stripped out of them. He made us bury them in the park, which was the worst part of all. Some of them…” She shuddered violently and met James’ eyes, almost pleadingly. “Some of them were still breathing. They were dead… dead in every way that mattered. But they
breathed
…”

“He’s a rogue wizard,” Ralph said suddenly, glancing from Scorpius to James. “Just taking advantage of the situation here, with all the authorities gone. Right? Just some really deranged, vicious wizard with delusions of grandeur?”

Scorpius scowled thoughtfully. “I’ve been around wizards with delusions of grandeur my whole life. I come from a long line of them, to be honest. Not many of them could conjure mythical beasts out of thin air. That was some serious dark magic.”