Page 69 of Quiver of Cobras
I regarded him thoughtfully. ‘You’re the reason the gene pool needs a lifeguard.’
His bottom lip stopped trembling so he could glower at me with a full-faced sneer. ‘I don’t like you.’
I nodded. ‘I know. I wouldn’t worry about it, though. My brilliance is too dazzling for the likes of you. I’m to be admired, not buddied up with.’
I could see the cogs of his brain whirling for an appropriate come-back. When he was unable to think of one, he wrinkled his nose. ‘Gotta go. Guard dooty.’
It was my turn to look puzzled. ‘Dooty? What’s…’ Oh.Duty. My face cleared. He really wasn’t bright at all. ‘If Rubus isn’t here, you don’t need to guard his rooms.’
He scowled at me. ‘Even more reason for dooty. Can’t let fookers mess around with his stuff when he in’t here.’ He spun away and stomped off.
I watched him go, considering. That was interesting. What stuff was Rubus hiding away? It would definitely be worth doing some proper snooping in his rooms when I got the chance. And when this idiot wasn’t barricading them.
I reminded myself that Rubus had a mysterious Plan B should his efforts to locate Chen’s sphere fail. Perhaps the key to finding out what else he was planning was hidden away under his mattress. I added ‘sneaking around’ to my to-do list and continued on my way. I seriously doubted that the police would keep Rubus for more than another hour or two; I had to make use of his absence while I had the chance.
Tempting as it was to go poking around for other hapless insult victims whose paths I happened to cross, I managed to exercise some self-restraint and head towards the laboratory instead. Carduus was still something of a mystery to me – and I was making it my mission to discover what he was up to with all his potions, even though the guy thoroughly creeped me out. I had promised I’d show up again that morning but there was no way I was drinking his gloopy potion. I’d accidentally-on-purpose smash the bottle before it passed my lips. Carduus was so self-absorbed, he wouldn’t suspect a thing.
When I entered the laboratory, the mad Fey scientist was yet again conspicuously absent. Where on earth did he go to all the time? I walked round the perimeter of the room, examining the shelves to see if there was anything out of place or different. Was he stockpiling anything in particular? Unfortunately my superior powers of deduction weren’t giving me any useful information. After several loops, I sighed and ambled over to the papers on his desk. Various incomprehensible bits of formulae were scribbled down. I flicked through but none of them made any sense to me.
I was on the verge of abandoning the lab altogether in favour of somewhere more useful when an odd shuffling sound reached my ears. I glanced up just in time to see a piece of paper wedge itself in the gap underneath the door. A secret note!
Beaming, I hopped over and opened the door. The corridor outside was completely empty. Wrinkling my nose in vexation, I stooped and grabbed the paper. It wasn’t a missive to Carduus, though; the name scrawled on the front was mine.
I unfolded the paper and scanned it. Well, well, well.
R is growing suspicious. He’s not going to allow you the freedom to
roam around much longer. You have a day or two at most. Act quickly.
It was the same handwriting as the two previous notes but there was still no indication as to who my mysterious friend was.
I ran through various possibilities but came up short. It had to be one of the Fey who had Rubus’s ear otherwise they’d have no way knowing what he was up to. Whoever they were, they were certainly adept at keeping a low profile and acting loyal; I hadn’t had even an inkling that any of Rubus’s inner circle were anything but zealots.
The information that my movements were soon going to be curtailed didn’t exactly fill me with joy. Despite occasionally having to deal with Lunaria tagging along, I’d done well to nosy around the city and hold secret assignations with whomever I’d pleased. I’d supposed that it was because I’d done such a fabulous job of getting Rubus to trust me but perhaps what had happened with the car last night – and his subsequent arrest – had been a step too far. I’d just have to hope that Mendax didn’t delay our shifty dealings for much longer; the sooner the sphere was out of the way for good, the better.
I was so absorbed in my musings that I almost missed the approaching footsteps. In the nick of time I screwed up the paper and balled it into my palm, a split second before the door opened and Carduus’s tight features appeared.
‘Oh,’ he said with a sour twist to his mouth, ‘it’s you.’
I stretched my mouth into a grin. ‘Cardy, baby! How are you?’
He walked past me, hefting two glass bottles containing purple, swirly liquid onto the nearest table top. ‘I’d be a lot better if you didn’t keep barging into my workspace,’ he muttered. ‘But fine. Thank you.’ He turned his head towards me. ‘What do you want?’
I put my hands into my pockets, hoping my tight trousers wouldn’t display the bulge of balled-up paper, and sighed. ‘I’m getting really sick of the amnesia. You had that potion you were working on yesterday. I was hoping it was working out and you have a genuine way of curing me by now.’
He tilted his head in a manner that was eerily reminiscent of his niece, Artemesia. The comparison was remarkably unpleasant.
‘By which I mean an antidote,’ I said, ‘which isn’t likely to kill me at the same time. Or make me ill.’
‘What I had yesterday won’t work. I tested it and it’s useless. I’m not a miracle worker. I’m doing my best.’ He seemed particularly sulky this morning. ‘Rubus got himself arrested last night. I’ve had other things to do besides run around on your behalf.’
I raised an inquisitive eyebrow. ‘Is that what those bottles are for? Is it something to help Rubus?’ It seemed a stretch. The arsebadger was always going to be released with a caution, unless he already had a criminal record. That was a thought. I entertained myself briefly with the hope that this was the final strike on a long list of misdemeanours and that Morgan’s brother would be put away for a long spell. It would certainly solve a lot of problems.
‘Everything I do is to help Rubus,’ Carduus snapped.
‘Sure,’ I drawled. ‘And he’s lucky to have you.’ I arched another grin at him. ‘Not as lucky as he is to haveme,of course.’
The old faery rolled his eyes in irritation. ‘If you must know,’ he said, tapping his fingernail on the nearest bottle, ‘I’m working on a locator spell. In theory it’s quite easy to track people using a combination of magic and nature.’
