Page 30 of Quiver of Cobras
My first inclination was to speed out of the building and run for the hills, or at least the proverbial hills where the real golf course and scene of the crime were located. But that wouldn’t be smart. I calmed my beating heart and tried to think. I had to get hold of the CCTV before Lunaria did – and I had do it without raising any suspicion.
I returned the laptop to its original position and swept a quick glance around Lunaria’s room to make sure I’d left nothing out of place. Then I pressed my ear up against the door and listened. There was no sound of anyone in the corridor outside. Stepping out and shaking myself down, I hastily exited and made a beeline for my own room.
There were no handy sycamore messages, nor any sign that someone had been rummaging through my things, let alone sneaking a peek into my room to spy on me. All the same, my anonymous friend had warned to be careful and, after his second more specific message concerning Lunaria, I was more likely to trust him. Or her. But without an identity for my friendly would-be saviour, I’d have to rely solely on myself. And perhaps a couple of minions of my own.
I delved into my pocket and pulled out Morgan’s shell. I could work alone or I could take advantage of my dire situation and spend more time with his green-eyed gorgeousness. There was no choice to make. I flipped the shell over in my hands, not entirely sure how the thing was supposed to work. Then I lifted it up to my mouth and shrugged.
‘Ring ring!’ I sang. ‘Ring-ring! Ring-ring!’
Morgan’s disembodied voice appeared. ‘Madrona?’ he asked, sounding concerned. ‘What’s the problem?’
‘Ring-ring! Ring-ring!’
Even across the shell sound waves, I heard him sigh. ‘I’ve picked up. What’s going on? I wasn’t expecting to hear from you this quickly. If this is just you playing around…’
I sobered up. As much fun as it would be to mess around with the shell, there wasn’t time. I quickly outlined my unpleasant discovery – and what I planned to do about it. At least Morgan did me the favour of listening.
‘How do you know Rubus hasn’t already discovered the golf course in question?’ he asked.
‘There were only three files on Lunaria’s computer and none of them was from my place. We have to strike quickly though,’ I said. ‘We can’t afford for Rubus to realise that you have the sphere.’ I paused. ‘Unless you’ve managed to destroy it?’ In that scenario, all that would happen was that my secret identity would be unmasked. I’d suffer – which of course would majorly suck arse – but at least the world would be safe. And I could breathe a sigh of relief because that was the kind of fabulously selfless person I was.
‘No,’ he said. He sounded pissed off. ‘I’ve tried and Artemesia has tried but the damn thing was created by a dragon. It’s been forged with magic and techniques that are unknown to us. If we knew another dragon, we could quiz them about how to get rid of the fucking thing once and for all. But we don’t know any dragons.’
‘We could travel to Mount Doom and throw it in,’ I suggested.
Morgan’s response was swift. ‘We don’t have a Gollum to help us.’
I beamed. Clearly we were on the same wavelength. It was fate, I decided; we were obviously meant to be together.
‘The best we can do,’ he continued, ‘is hide it – and hide it well. For now, I’ve put it in—’
‘Shut up!’ I screeched, then clamped my hand over my mouth as it occurred to me that half the damned hideout had probably heard me. ‘What I mean,’ I hissed, ‘is that you can’t tell me where it is. You can’t evenhintat its location. I’m still with Rubus. If he pulls out one of his freaking Truth Spider things and asks the right questions, we’re all screwed.’ I shuddered. Frankly, Rubus wouldn’t need to wait until one of the Truth Spiders bit me and I gave him everything I knew because of the pain. Just the sight of hairy spider legs would give me the wobbles enough to spill all my secrets.
‘You’re right.’
Of course I was right. I was always right. Almost always right, anyway. Over fifty percent of the time, which was almost always in my book. ‘Will you be able to get enough Fey to help out?’ I asked.
‘Please,’ Morgan scoffed. ‘I don’t even need to ram pixie dust into their veins to do it either.’
I winced slightly. ‘Great. Finn won’t want to leave Julie alone, you know.’
‘Stop worrying. I’ll leave a few people in his place. Anyway, there’s been no sign of any more vampire hunters. I think Rubus has killed them all.’
I supposed the slimy Fey bastard had to be good for something. ‘Excellent.’ I rubbed my palms together. ‘I’m going to hang up now.’
‘Okay.’
I waited for a few seconds. ‘Are you going to hang up?’
‘I’m already putting the shell away.’
‘Bye, then.’
‘Goodbye.’
Silence filled the air. ‘You’re still there, aren’t you?’ I enquired, crossing my fingers and hoping that he was.
‘Yes.’
