Ruby Morgan Box Set: Books 6-10

by LJ Rivers

  Her already pointy nose grew longer, and her skin sprouted fur. The camera zoomed out on the fox wiggling out of Gemma’s clothes to stand in the centre of the dark space. A thunderous growl issued somewhere off screen before a giant brown bear lumbered into the frame. An eagle flew across the screen to perch on the bear’s shoulder. Next, a choir of howls filled the speakers as a pack of wolves padded into view. More people entered the screen. One girl was holding two globes of fire, which burned hungrily in her palms. An older man waved his arm, and the frame shook. The ground began shaking too, making my teeth chatter, until he lowered his arm again and the earth stilled. The flash of a whip snapped into the frame, and by the faint electric crackle, the image sparked blue, then shut off. After a brief moment of blackness, Vin Diesel’s face reappeared on the screen, looking every bit as ready for a fight as Gemma.

  An eerie silence had settled over the square. Even the usual, ever-present engine sounds seemed to have faded away.

  “It was everywhere,” Charlie said in a quiet but eager voice, and showed me her iPad again. A lengthy list of tweets filled the screen. “From here to Dublin. I’m pretty sure it’s already being reported to the rest of the world too.”

  Chatter and noise started up again, and I stood and shifted my gaze. While the people in the square had stalled during the broadcast, they were now turning to stare at one another. A man outside Bella Italia jerked his head back and howled. His clothes ripped at the seams as his body shifted. Midnight-black fur rippled from his skin as he abandoned the man for the wolf. It sneered and leapt onto the first lion-suited person in his vicinity.

  The lion mask shredded beneath the wolf’s claws, revealing a young woman about my age underneath. She screamed, but was abruptly cut short as the wolf sank his fangs into her neck and tore her head from her body. Blood sprayed its snout, and the wolf bounded onwards to the next lion-clad human it could get its claws on.

  “Son of Merlin!” Mum stood. For a moment, a golden light washed over her skin. She flicked her hand out, sending a giant force field at the wolf just as its claw descended on the mock-lion’s chest. Before the claw penetrated the human’s flesh, however, the magical sphere enclosed the wolf and sent it flying over the rooftop to disappear from view.

  He wasn’t the only wolf, however. There was a pack of them engaged in the growing fight. The policemen I’d seen earlier seemed to decide it was time to interfere. They both had their walkies up and their batons at the ready. I tried to discern their words when a familiar couple appeared across from me. They disappeared again before reappearing in the middle of a brawl between three lion-clad people and two red-headed Fae. I only had to glance at them to know what they were. The couple, whom I recognised as the musicians from Covent Garden, struck one of the makeshift lions with what appeared to be a microphone stand, knocking him over the head. They disappeared again behind another group of lions, but as they took aim, someone rammed a stun gun into the woman’s back. They were holding the microphone stand between them, and the electric buzz travelled through it, connecting the current until they both collapsed on the ground.

  Blue sparks lit up in odd places throughout Leicester Square, and I froze. My breath caught in my throat, and my heart turned to a heavy stone in my chest.

  “Ru,” Charlie tugged at my arm. “Ruby.”

  Her words barely registered. I couldn’t speak. Fear had crept into my body like an unwelcome guest that I couldn’t shake.

  “Darling.” Mum grabbed my shoulders and fixed her eyes on me. “There are people here that need our help.”

  I swallowed and took a deep breath. Closing my eyes for a moment, I reached for the warmth of my fire and the comfort of my healing. I opened my eyes again and nodded. “I’m good.” That wasn’t entirely true, but I was well enough.

  Nodding back, Mum turned away from me and entered the mayhem surrounding us. I briefly registered the force field around her before I took Charlie’s hand, conjured a force field around us, and headed into the fray with her safely by my side.

  This wasn’t the time to engage in the fight, so instead I took Mum’s cue, opening the force field enough to slip my hands out to heal people. I didn’t linger, but gave away just enough to buy those injured some time. Both Mags and humans. Despite Gemma’s insane ideas about superiority, I wasn’t about to discriminate. I glanced at Mum now and then, finding her swiftly moving from one victim to another. A shimmering light surrounded her as she went. It wasn’t her force field, and it didn’t look quite like my healing magic did. It was brighter than mine, almost white, as opposed to my sun-coloured energy. Eventually, I had trouble keeping the force field up while healing at the same time. My energy levels were dropping.

  A new voice bellowed from a set of loudspeakers as a horde of SWAT-clad police officers marched into the square. “Stand down!” Even though the voice was loud, its next words drowned in the noise of the fights on the ground.

  Panting, I dropped the force field and backed up with Charlie towards the park behind us.

  “Where’s Elaine?” Charlie asked in a timid voice, unlike anything I’d ever heard from her before.

  “I’m here,” Mum said in an exhale as she sprinted towards us. “Time to leave, my loves.”

  She made a fanning motion with her hand and included us all in a force field. We ran awkwardly through the park to the lower part of the square, passing a group of police officers. A couple of them turned their heads as we pushed by them, though they carried on towards the actual fight and didn’t attempt to stop us. Like mice in a wheel, we kept rolling, reminding me of how we’d done much the same thing when escaping Colburn’s rally only a few months back. Once we reached the first statue in Trafalgar Square, Mum released us. We tumbled to the ground and ended up leaning back onto the paws of one of the Landseer lions. The irony wasn’t lost on me.

  Mum heaved for breath, leaning her head against the stone.

  None of us said anything for a long time. Aside from the multitude of pigeons, Trafalgar Square was unusually quiet for a place that would normally be stacked with tourists. I guessed the word of Gemma’s demands and the fight we had fled from must have reached most of the general public by now.

  “I—” Mum exhaled a puff of air. “I think I’d like to go back to your flat now.”

  “Totally.” Charlie gave Mum a hand, and we got on the first double-decker to take us in the right direction. The three of us collapsed on the back row, none of us breathing a word until we got back to the flat, where we crashed on the bed in my room.

  I didn’t see Jen, and I didn’t have it in me to move to check on her.

  Mum held her arms out, and Charlie and I lay our heads on her shoulders. She folded her hands over our waists and held us tight. Sniffling, she gave me a soft kiss on my forehead, and a tear swam down from her cheek and onto mine.

  Someone grunted in the doorway, and I pushed myself upright.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Duncan said. “But are you guys all right?”

  “Not at all, but we’re in one piece,” I said, and gestured for him to come in.

  He sat on the edge of the bed. Red spots framed his eyes, and his cheeks were puffy. He must have been crying quite heavily. “I saw the broadcast.” His voice was absent. “Three times over.”

  Charlie and Mum sat up, too, and leaned against the wall.

  “I’m so sorry, Dunc,” Charlie said.

  “She’s bonkers,” he muttered. “But she broke my heart. This stuff she’s doing now, though. If she truly believes the things she’s saying, then what was she ever doing with me at all? A human.”

  Charlie scooted forward and patted his shoulder. “I don’t know. Her conviction, however nuts, seems genuine, though.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” He scratched his thighs and shuddered. “Everything reminds me of her. I’m sorry, Char, I don’t want to leave you guys, but I don’t think I can stay here.”

  Charlie’s lips were quivering as she spoke. “Where will yo
u go? Home?”

  “Defo not home. Wherever the wind takes me, I guess.” A smile that didn’t fool anyone touched his lips.

  “I might have an idea,” Mum said, and we all turned to look at her. “I’ll be staying here for a bit longer than I’d planned, I think, which means my house is empty. Well, almost. If you could watch Kit for me, you’re welcome to stay as long as you need.”

  I clutched Mum’s arm in gratitude. Her kindness had always been what I admired most about her.

  “I couldn’t possibly—” Duncan began.

  “Nonsense. You would be doing me a great favour.”

  “A—are you sure?”

  “As pie,” said Mum.

  Duncan wiped a tear with the back of his hand. “Then, thank you. I think I’ll take you up on the offer.”

  Mum retrieved her purse and dug out her keys, handing them to him. “Help yourself to anything in the fridge and cupboards. There should be plenty to last you at least a week. And you can sleep in Ruby’s room. I made her bed before coming here, so all you need to do is make sure Kit is comfortable. He’s got plenty to eat around the house, but if you fill his bowl with cat food—there’s a bag under the sink—every morning, he empties it during the day. And perhaps you could see to it that my plants don’t dry out? Yes, that would be good.”

  “I really appreciate it, Elaine.” Duncan gave us all a hug and held Charlie the longest. It would be hard for her to see him go, but he would be safe in Chester, so I figured she would cope with his absence.

  We watched him leave and listened as he packed. He didn’t come back in before he shuffled to the front door and clicked it shut behind him.

  “I’ll miss his stupid face,” Charlie said as we all curled up on my bed again.

  “I know.” I laced my fingers in hers. “Me too. But he’ll have splendid company.”

  Mum smiled. “He couldn’t have asked for a better roommate than Kit, that’s for sure.”

  A phone rang, and we all lazily began looking for the source. It was Charlie’s. She didn’t bother bringing it to her ear, but left it on my nightstand and put it on speaker instead.

  “Hargraves,” Travers’ gruff voice said. “I’m sure you’ve already heard about today’s disturbances.”

  “Oh, sure,” she replied. “I was at Leicester Square when that crazy fox did her thing.”

  “Right. We have the situation at Leicester Square under control, but it’s got everyone a bit wired. This vigilante fox has become somewhat of a problem. She gave Colburn twenty-four hours to meet her second demand. We have spoken with his office, and it doesn’t sound as if he’s about to abide by it.”

  Charlie pulled her knees up. “You think her threat is serious?”

  “That’s the thing. Colburn’s been invited to attend a concert at Jubilee Gardens tomorrow afternoon. We advised him to cancel—”

  “Which of course he hasn’t.”

  “Right.”

  “So, what do you need from me, Commander?”

  Travers’ breathing was heavy. “We’re concerned about what might happen. It’s not a political rally per se, but given this afternoon’s events, any appearance of his might be seen as a provocation. I realise it’s the weekend, and though there’ll be tight security on site, I would feel better if you could work your digimagic and watch out for any unusual activity or possible threats.”

  “All right, Commander, I’ll do my best.”

  They disconnected. After another hour of doing nothing, Mum finally hauled us out of bed and started cooking dinner. Jen came out of her room as the spicy smells filled the flat. We ate and talked, pretending the world hadn’t gone bonkers—like Gemma—for the night. After dinner, we moved to the sofa, and while Jen, Mum, and I watched three episodes of Grace and Frankie, Charlie had her face glued to her laptop all evening.

  It felt good to take my mind off things, and despite what was going on outside, I was happy Mum had come. She had proved to be more capable than I had given her credit for.

  What bothered me the most, though, was that in the heat of it all, I’d gone numb. It had never happened to me before. Usually, I jumped headfirst into trouble, but something about today had sent me into what I was sure had been a panic attack. If Mum hadn’t been there to snap me out of it, I wasn’t sure what would’ve happened. I couldn’t allow myself to freeze up like that again, but the memories of the things I’d done when I still believed Auberon to be a different person haunted me. Perhaps I hadn’t truly dealt with what had happened, but I needed to get over it fast. Something told me things were about to get worse before they got better.

  And then there was tomorrow. I turned my new ring around my finger. I hadn’t expected to be with Mum on that day, which would have made it the first time we didn’t spend the 6th of June together.

  The anniversary of Dad’s death.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The photo on my phone showed the left half of Duncan’s upper body, with Kit sitting on his shoulder, staring into the lens. The cat’s big, yellow eyes glowed like fireballs in the sunlight, its pupils razor thin slits in the flames.

  Little hunter brought me a bird for breakfast, LOL.

  “Looks like they’re getting along nicely,” I said, and showed Mum the screen. “I shudder at the thought of Kit almost getting hit by that bus.”

  “Well, he didn’t. And I’m very pleased to have him around. We talk a lot.”

  I furrowed my forehead and tutted. “As long as it’s just the two of you. I don’t want to read about an inspector from the local animal shelter or something finding twenty-two malnourished cats in your house.”

  The microwave told me it was still an hour until we could mention Dad. When I was little, Mum told me about the Avalonian tradition of celebrating the deathday of a loved one. We would enjoy a meal together, usually takeout curry from Dad’s favourite place in Chester, and talk about anything other than him until 3.15 in the afternoon. That was the police’s official time of his death. The Avalonians would then celebrate the start of Dad’s new life. When someone died, the Avalonians believed their energy returned to nature, and I had always liked to think of Dad like that. He was still with me, in my heart, but the thought of his energy carrying on somewhere was uplifting. Not enough to heal the hole inside me, but it helped me through this day every year.

  The only times I would pray to Nimue was when I asked her, with the same sentence every year, to allow for one human spirit to enter her realm. Part of me believed she would make room for Dad.

  Mum placed yet another bowl on the kitchen table, this one filled with a tomato and basil salad. She had spent all morning preparing lunch, and had even sent me a text while I was out running to get me to pick up some more ingredients. At the time, I had thought it unnecessary, but as I was drooling at the sight of the buffet, I wasn’t about to complain.

  “This is so over the top, Mum. I have to send a snap to the others.”

  “Hang on a second,” she said, and filled two small bowls with noodle soup and set them on the table as well. “Now it’s ready.”

  I backed up a few steps to get all the dishes in the frame and prepared the photo to go in my Snap story, adding ‘Bet you wish you were here’ as a caption. I made sure the text didn’t cover the freshly baked bread or any of the salads before I posted it. “There. Now all my followers can see what a luxurious life I lead.”

  “I thought Jen was the Instagram star around here.”

  “What, with her three thousand followers? Amateur! I’ve got four on my Snap.”

  Mum sat and motioned for me to do the same. “Snap, Insta, it all sounds the same to me, but four thousand followers? That’s impressive. I never knew you were active on social media.”

  I tallied on my fingers. “Well, if we count Char, Jen, Dunc and Brendan—yup, four in total. Oh, I forgot about Nick. That makes it five, though I’ve never seen him post anything.”

  Maybe I should do what I had done with Gemma, and delete Nick from my S
nap, too? Then again, as long as Jen hadn’t removed him from any of her social media accounts, it could wait. At some point, I would expect him to stop following any of us. I missed him, which made me feel bad for Jen, who surely had to miss him a million times more.

  Mum laughed. “Had me going for a while there. But I’m glad you’re not vying for a career as an influencer.”

  “Jen’s got that covered. Although, with her political angle, she’ll never be the Mag Kardashian.”

  “Thank the Lady! But please, Ruby. Eat, will you?”

  “With pleasure.” I broke off a corner of the hot bread and dipped it in the golden broth. “This is awesomesocks.”

  “So, moving to London has made you start talking with your mouth full, has it?”

  “Rebel to the core.”

  For a few minutes, we enjoyed the food without talking. The cheese I had picked up, a ricotta, had found its way into the tomato and basil salad together with thin wedges of peach in between. The noodle soup was laughably delicious, with just the right amount of heat from red chili peppers and that flavour I had never quite understood.

  “Is this umami?” I tilted the soup bowl to get the very last drops of the broth onto my spoon.

  “Yes. From the dried shiitake mushrooms. Did you like it?”

  “I absolutely adored it. But when did you learn all this?”

  “Tabitha knows everything there is to know about flavours, spices, and herbs. I guess I grew tired of the old tomato soup and beans, so once when I was over at her place for dinner, I asked for the recipe for the salad. That one with the peaches.”

  “It was delish,” I said.

  “She gave me lessons. For the last four months or so, I’ve learned more about cooking than during the first forty years of my life. And it’s fun.”