Page 19 of Skulk of Foxes
‘All we have to do is to find another way to siphon off the residual magic. Can’t we just dig a hole in the ground and send it that way?’ I suggested.
The apothecary stared at me. ‘And potentially destabilise the earth’s core?’
Okay. Not that, then. ‘Well, send it up into space. Get it past earth’s atmosphere or something. How do I do that?’
‘Towards the sun? What do you imagine might happen then – even if we could work out how to do it?’
I put my hands on my hips. ‘Give me a break. I’m trying to be solution focused!’
‘Unfortunately, Maddy,’ Morgan drawled, ‘your solutions tend to cause worse problems than they solve.’
Slightly stung by his censure, I glared at him. ‘Are you saying I should have just let you hand over the sphere to your brother?’
‘That’s not what I’m saying at all. But I think that in future I should stick close by you so we can avoid any further … troubles.’
I strolled over to where he was sitting and reached down for his hand so I could hold it. Then I smiled. ‘If you insist.’
Jodie looked faintly disgusted but I wasn’t imagining the faint reassuring pressure as Morgan squeezed my fingers.
Artemesia scratched her head. ‘I’ll keep looking for a way to manage the magic build-up.’ She glanced at me. ‘For what it’s worth, I think I’m close to a proper antidote for your amnesia as well, although that will have to be put on the back burner for now.’
I twisted my body so I could sit on Morgan’s lap. Mmm. Muscly. I felt him twitch underneath me and wiggled slightly. His body tensed in response. Magic wasn’t the only thing that needed to find its way to a release.
‘Speaking of that,’ I said, ‘it might have been self-inflicted.’ I told the group about the video and the strange liquid I’d drunk just before I lopped off Charrie’s head.
Morgan placed his hands loosely on my waist. ‘Youwereworking against Rubus at that point,’ he said quietly. ‘Losing your memory was the only way to avoid being forced into revealing the location of the sphere.’
‘There’s one way to be sure,’ I said. ‘I need to track down Charrie’s family. They went to the police station and stood up for me but they must have left before I could talk to them. They’re the main reason I was released, even though I didn’t want to be. They’ll have more answers.’
‘The police will be back to talk to you,’ Timmons warned. ‘There was a standoff right in front of their headquarters. They’re not going to let that slide.’
‘Given what happened with the elephants and the rats and all the other crap,’ I pointed out, ‘they probably have their hands full right now. But, yes.’ I nodded. ‘They’ll be back. They’ll want to talk to Rubus as well. He was obviously the one who was causing all the aggression. They can’t just ignore that.’
‘He’ll talk his way out of it,’ Morgan muttered. ‘He always does.’
Very reluctantly, I pulled myself upwards and away from the heat of his body. ‘He’ll also be in hiding. I should be too.’
Jodie raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘I thought you wanted to be arrested.’
‘Only to keep the sphere safe and in police custody. That’s obviously not going to happen now.’
‘Because you handed it to a cleaner, you mean.’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I did. So it’s out of Rubus’s clutches – at least for now. Feel free to fall at my feet in gratitude.’
Artemesia shook her head. ‘I don’t have time for this crap. I’m going back to my lab to try to find a solution to the magic build-up.’
Morgan smiled at her. ‘Good idea. Madrona and I will track down Charrie’s family. Jodie and Timmons, you should work on finding this cleaner, Charlotte Page. You’re less likely to scare her off than the rest of us.’
Vandrake, who’d been pretty much silent until now, piped up. ‘I’ll look after Opulus,’ he said. ‘I know a little about pain. And I should probably find us somewhere else to hide out. The human police are only going to hamper our efforts to solve all these problems. The longer we can stay away from them, the better.’
I considered. ‘Actually, I have a few thoughts about that.’
‘Don’t strain yourself,’ Jodie murmured.
I snorted. ‘Darling, you wish you had my brain capacity.’
‘Two words, Madrona.Your. Fault.’
