Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952)

by Jacka, Benedict

  Meredith looked up me at with wide eyes. I tried desperately to think. Run through the flames—suicide. Stay here—suicide. Climb out—probable suicide. Probable suicide won. “Out the window.”

  Meredith stared. “I’ll fall!”

  “Falling beats burning.”

  Meredith took a step to the window, looked out at the sheer drop, and turned back, her face ashen. “It’ll kill me!”

  “Going out might. Staying here will. Pick!”

  Meredith hesitated, then began to climb out, white-faced. There were enough handholds on the wall to make the climb just about possible for a expert mountaineer. Meredith wasn’t one and neither was I. I looked into the future to try to gauge her chances …

  …and saw to my disbelief that the fire mage was coming back for another go. The roar of the flames through the bathroom door drowned out almost everything else, but I could just hear the sound of embers going crunch under the soles of heavy boots. “Oh, come on!”

  “Come where?” a cheerful voice said in my ear.

  I spun and saw to my utter delight the shape of Starbreeze, hovering just outside the window. “Starbreeze! Get us out of here!”

  Starbreeze pointed in interest at Meredith, hanging halfway out of the window. “Her too?”

  “Yes!” Meredith shouted.

  The bathroom door exploded inwards, filling the bathroom with a cone of burning splinters. It missed Meredith by a couple of feet and I had just enough time to dodge into the corner. “Starbreeze, go!” I shouted as the fire mage strode in.

  He was a big man, as tall as me and much heavier, with muscles that bulged under his dark clothes. A dim orange glow flickered around him, so faint as to be almost invisible, flaring where the flames licked around his feet. A black mask covered his face but I knew who he was; I’d known as soon as he’d cast that first spell. As he saw me, Cinder stopped dead, staring.

  An instant later Starbreeze had turned the both of us to air and whipped us out into the night. I had one lightning-fast image of Cinder diminishing behind us through the window, then we were out of view and climbing. Smoke was pouring from the house’s top floor, flames glowing from the bedroom and attic, and as we rose higher I could see people emerging into the street to point and stare. Higher still and I spotted the flashing blue lights of the fire service, half a dozen streets away but closing in. As we kept rising I could see the yellow spark of the fire and the flickering blue of the engines becoming a cluster of points, then a faint glow, then a fuzz. And then there was nothing but the London sprawl.

  The night view over the city was beautiful, a web of light against the dark patches of the parks and open spaces, but I wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it. Now that we were out of danger, as weird as it might sound, I was angry. I’d saved Cinder’s life and this was the thanks I got?

  Cinder hadn’t looked very dangerous the last time I’d seen him. He’d been bloodied and out cold after losing a duel with another Dark mage named Onyx. I’d let him go on the condition that he owed me one. Okay, I hadn’t exactly been myself at the time, but I had been myself when I’d found him in a Precursor energy trap a few hours earlier and saved his life again. I hadn’t expected gratitude, but I’d kind of hoped he’d at least stop trying to kill me.

  I sighed. Apparently I’d been optimistic. It wasn’t quite as stupid as it sounds. At the time I’d needed all the help I could get and having a couple more mages who weren’t immediately hostile had done a lot to tip things in my favour. And, odd as it sounds, some Dark mages—not all, but some—do have a sense of honour. They’ll kill you without a second thought but if you help them out they’ll try to return the favour, if only to encourage other people to do the same in the future. I’d known Rachel was way too nuts to be depended on in that way but I’d hoped Cinder might be different.

  Thinking of Rachel reminded me of something else. I spoke to Starbreeze, asking her to drop us off on my roof, and she did so cheerfully enough. I gave her something in thanks (she’d already forgotten what I was thanking her for) and watched her vanish into the night.

  Meredith wasn’t talking and started to shiver as I brought her down from the roof. I recognised the signs of shock and guided her into my bedroom. She lay down without complaint, and by the time I’d fetched her something to drink she was asleep. Lying on my bed, her hair spread across the quilt, she looked very small and fragile. I looked at her for a little while before spreading a blanket over her and going back into my living room.

  For whatever reason, the usual postcombat shakes hadn’t hit. Maybe it was because this time I’d had Starbreeze and Meredith instead of doing everything myself. Or maybe it was because it was the third bloody assassination attempt in twenty-four hours and I was getting desensitised. I turned my attention to Bob the Dead Construct, who was still lying on the carpet where I’d left him yesterday.

  Now that I knew what to look for, I found it quickly. The construct wasn’t just similar to the ones I’d seen made in Richard’s mansion; it was identical. More than that, I recognised the style. The magic from the thing had faded but there was enough of a residue to identify the water magic of Rachel, otherwise known as Deleo, a Dark mage, dangerous, powerful, and close to insane. She was Cinder’s partner, but I’d known her longer than he had. After all, we’d been apprenticed to the same master.

  There had been four of us, back then: Rachel, Shireen, Tobruk, and me. In the mansion of Richard Drakh we worked together, studied together, lived together. But in the end, there was room for only one. Tobruk died. Shireen died. Rachel won … sort of. She got the power and status she’d always wanted, the position of Richard’s Chosen. But I’m not sure it was worth the price she paid. When next I saw her, she called herself Deleo … and there was very little left of the girl I’d once known.

  It was time to get rid of Bob. Constructs don’t biodegrade but even the off chance that Rachel could track the residue was more risk than I was willing to take. First I had to get the construct through a gate stone portal (which was not what the things were designed for) and then I had to bury it at the other end. It took a long time. I don’t have much experience disposing of bodies. I suppose it would be a bit worrying if I did.

  I stepped back into my living room, letting the portal close behind me, and dropped onto the sofa, staring at the wall. For the first time I seriously considered taking Garrick’s advice: drop everything, get out, and wait for the dust to settle. I didn’t want to fight Rachel and Cinder. For one thing, they were stronger than me. Meredith and I had thrown everything we had at Cinder tonight and barely slowed him down. One on one, Cinder would take me apart, and Rachel would probably do it even faster.

  But if I was being honest, the bigger reason was our history. Rachel and I had never been friends; we’d tolerated each other at best and hated each other at worst. I’d fled Richard once I finally understood what he was, while Rachel had given herself over wholly to his path. But twisted as she was, Rachel was one of the last links to my past—someone once told me that she was what I could have been and they were right. And as far as I knew Cinder was the only person she trusted. The more you know about someone, the harder it is to kill them. I didn’t want to kill Rachel or Cinder, and if I got into a fight without being ready to kill them, there was a good chance they’d kill me.

  But if I didn’t do anything, I’d be leaving them free rein with creatures like Arachne.

  I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I hate decisions like this. No matter what I did, bad stuff was going to happen. What I wanted was for Rachel and Cinder and Meredith and Belthas to drop the whole thing and stop trying to kill each other (and stop catching me in the crossfire while they were at it). But I couldn’t make them do that. The only choice left to me was whether to be involved. I studied my phone, thinking how easy it would be to send a message to Belthas telling him I wanted out.

  The sound of the opening door brought my head up. Meredith was standing there, looking at me. “Hey.” I came to my feet. “Fe
eling better?”

  Meredith walked forward. Her bare feet were quiet on the carpet; she’d lost her heels somewhere in the fight. Her dress was dotted with tears and ash marks and her hair was tangled, although it didn’t do anything to diminish her looks. “Are you okay?” I said. Somehow, the closer she got, the harder it became to do anything but look.

  Meredith stopped next to me, looking into my eyes. She had to tilt her head to do it; she barely came to my shoulder. Her eyes were a deep brown and I started to lose myself in them. “Alex?” she said softly, and her voice seemed to come from all around me. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

  I stood dead still for a second. A small voice at the back of my mind was trying to tell me something, but it was hard to listen. Then Meredith stood on tiptoe to kiss me and I stopped thinking about anything at all.

  I don’t usually sleep well. I sleep even less well the closer I am to someone else. But I found some peace that night and when I woke I felt better than I had in days. I lay propped up on one elbow for a while, watching Meredith as she slept, until she stirred and opened her eyes to give me a smile. “Morning.”

  Over breakfast, Meredith and I talked about our plans for the day. “You’re staying in your shop?” Meredith said in surprise.

  “It’s a workday.”

  “What about … ?”

  “I’ll close early,” I said. “I need to check out the factory in the afternoon. You?”

  “I’m meeting some people.” Meredith brushed at the ash-stained dress with a resigned look. “And shopping. All my stuff was in my flat.”

  I hesitated. “You could stay here if …”

  Meredith shook her head with a smile. “That’s okay. I don’t want to be too much trouble.”

  “Are you going to be okay on your own?” I’d made the mistake last night of thinking that there wouldn’t be another assassination attempt so soon and I didn’t want to be caught napping again.

  “I don’t know.” Meredith looked worried. “How did they find us last night? I was sure they couldn’t track me.”

  “They probably didn’t,” I said. “Just posted someone to watch your flat and waited for them to call in.”

  “Oh. Could you … ?”

  “No problem.”

  It didn’t take me long to sweep the area for spies. My area of Camden isn’t large and I know it like the back of my hand. Meredith left after a kiss. I watched her go, then returned to the shop in a good mood. My doubts about Meredith from last evening didn’t seem to matter anymore. Although I was planning to stay in the shop all morning, I didn’t feel like keeping it open for customers. Instead I flipped the sign to CLOSED and settled down at my desk to wait.

  Most mages will think twice about attacking another mage’s home. Not only is it messy, but mages tend to treat fortifying their house as a personal hobby. My shop had been raided five months ago, and since then I’d gone to some effort to set up a few surprises for intruders. I could probably give even Cinder a run for his money if he tried to break in, and for exactly that reason I didn’t expect him to do it—mages who make a habit of launching attacks on prepared targets tend not to live very long. But after last night I wasn’t in any mood to take chances, and I spent a couple of hours exhaustively searching the futures for attacks. I came up blank, which was moderately reassuring. At least nothing was being planned right at the moment.

  The glazier arrived while I was working and replaced the window. Once he was finished the morning light was pouring in again, making the shop much more cheerful. Luna arrived ten minutes later, and to my surprise, Martin was with her.

  I’d included Martin in my invitation more for Luna’s sake than anything else; I hadn’t seriously expected him to show up. But he followed right behind Luna as she let herself in. I raised my eyebrows and he had the grace to look embarrassed. “Martin,” I said.

  “Hey,” Martin said. “Listen, I’m really sorry about Saturday. I was just kind of out of it. Didn’t think about what I was doing.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “So, uh, how much do I owe you? I meant to pay for it, it was …”

  “Martin, did you listen to a word I said? You didn’t pick it. It picked you.”

  Martin hesitated. “Uh … okay. Sure.”

  “Look,” Luna said. She’d been watching from one side and now she sounded like she was choosing her words carefully. “We did listen. I told Martin why the thing was dangerous. We talked about it and we did some research too. This thing’s really famous.”

  “Eyewitness reports?” I asked. “Or stories?”

  “Just stories. But they matched with what you said.”

  “I’m guessing they didn’t have happy endings.”

  Luna nodded.

  I looked at Martin. “But you decided to keep it any-way.”

  Martin looked confused. “Well, yeah.”

  “And you think this is a good idea because … ?”

  “Look, we’re not idiots, okay?” Luna said. “We talked it over.”

  I took a breath. “Okay,” I said once I’d gotten myself under control. “What did you figure out?”

  “The monkey’s paw only takes things,” Luna said. “It was in all the stories. It can’t make anything new but it can take something away and give it to someone else.”

  I stopped. I’d never considered it but now that I thought about it, it made sense. “All right.”

  “And you told me imbued items have a purpose, right?” Luna said.

  “Yes,” I said slowly. “Okay. I see what you’re getting at. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s been bad news for everyone else.”

  “Only if you use it wrong,” Martin broke in. “Look, all the characters in the stories are stupid. They wish for something that’ll kill them. All you have to do is word it right and you can get anything you want! You’d have to be crazy to give it up.”

  Luna and I both looked at him. I looked at Luna. “It worked,” she said defensively.

  A nasty feeling went through me. “What?”

  Luna didn’t answer. “You used it,” I said.

  “Martin did.”

  “For what?” I asked Martin.

  But it was Luna who answered. She rose from where she’d been sitting on the edge of the table and walked to Martin. Four steps brought her next to him, and she placed a hand on his shoulder.

  My jaw dropped. “Wait!” I called, starting to move, then stopped. Looking at Luna with my mage’s sight, I could see the silver mist of her curse being drawn off her in a steady flow. Instead of soaking into Martin, it was streaming into something in the pocket of his jeans … the monkey’s paw. Luna’s curse wasn’t gone, it was just as strong as ever … but instead of hovering around her it was being drawn in.

  “It’s okay,” Martin said with a grin. He slipped an arm around Luna’s waist with an easy familiarity. “Safe, see?”

  I just stared with my mouth open. I knew I looked stupid, and I had the feeling both Martin and Luna were enjoying it, but I was trying to understand what I was seeing. Luna was touching Martin, yet instead of flowing into him, the mist was sliding along the surface of his skin, funnelling into the monkey’s paw. I’d never seen this—wait, yes I had. Just once. It must be the same—

  “It was Martin’s first wish,” Luna said, echoing my thoughts. “Protection from magic. We’ve been testing it and it works. It works. My curse can’t hurt him!”

  I kept staring, trying to make sense of it. I’d seen it once before. Arachne had woven a ribbon to counter Luna’s curse, drawing it in and nullifying it. But it had lasted only a few hours before crumbling to dust and Arachne had admitted to me afterwards that it had taxed her to her limits. If what Luna was telling me was true, this thing could nullify all magic, not just Luna’s, and do it indefinitely. There wasn’t a mage alive who could match that.

  I suddenly realised that both Martin and Luna were looking at me, Martin cocky, Luna expectant. “Taking,” I said. “What the m
onkey’s paw does.”

  Luna nodded eagerly. “That was what I thought. It’s what it’s made to do!”

  In other words, Martin had just done in one evening what I’d failed to do in five months. “I guess that’s good,” I said after an awkward pause.

  “Of course it’s good! Aren’t you happy?”

  Luna was looking at me, her eyes bright. Martin still had his arm around her, but she seemed to have forgotten. I shifted uncomfortably. I knew how Luna wanted me to react and it wasn’t what I was feeling. “I hope it works,” I said at last.

  “It does work! And if it can do this, think about what else it can do! Maybe it could take my curse away completely!”

  Alarm bells went off in my head at that. But Martin shifted. “Come on, Lun.” He pronounced it loon. “We said we weren’t going to try that.”

  Luna flinched away from Martin, seeming to remember he was there, before stopping herself. “Listen, we were hoping you could help us,” Martin said. “With figuring out how to use it. I mean, you know as much about this thing as anyone, right?”

  “Maybe,” I said slowly.

  “Okay, so how many wishes do you get? Three?”

  “The man I got it from said five,” I said. I could see Luna listening attentively. “I know one man who used it four times. He disappeared right after.”

  “So five,” Martin said.

  “What happened to him?” Luna asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. The last conversation we had, he was asking how to make the thing do what he wanted.”

  “So it was doing what he told it to, right?” Martin said. “He just wasn’t wishing for the right things.”

  “Maybe,” I said reluctantly.

  “What about after all five?” Luna asked. “Once you’ve finished? Someone else can use it, right?”