Page 37 of Skulk of Foxes
‘Call them,’ I instructed. ‘Even if they can’t help with finding a dragon, we need all hands on deck. They’ll have heard what’s happening here and they’ll have magic in their veins. What’s happening in Manchester affects them too.’
Finn shrugged. ‘I’ll do my best to persuade them to head this way.’
My gaze hardened. ‘Do better than that. We need them.’
‘I can’t work you out sometimes,’ Jodie interjected. ‘One minute you’re kissing Morgan, the next you’re being a bitch. Then you’re being flippant. Now you’re ordering everyone around.’
‘I kiss Morgan because I’m in a constant state of lust when I’m around him,’ I said. I didn’t fail to notice the sudden gleam lighting his green eyes. ‘I’m being a bitch because I am one. I act flippant because sometimes the only way to deal with disaster is with a sense of humour. I order everyone around because you need a gorgeous general like me to tell you what to do. It’s not rocket science. Personality isn’t an immutable force – we all change and adapt to situations. We all have good and bad parts. Mine are just more obvious because I don’t give a gasbudlikin shit what you lot think of me. I have enough problems judging myself without worrying about other people’s judgments.’ I paused. ‘Apart from Morgan’s anyway.’ That was a given.
I continued. ‘Now, can we get back to the point? We need to find a way to find a dragon. It’s the only way we can keep the sphere away from Rubus for good. Apparently dragons lead incredibly long lives – they’ve probably been around even longer than vampires. There must be records somewhere of their existence, even if they’re hidden away. If there are records of vampires, which the hunters used to find Julie, there will be records of dragons somewhere as well.’
Julie snapped her fingers suddenly. ‘Wait,’ she said.
We all turned to her. ‘You’ve thought of someone?’ I asked, keeping my fingers tightly crossed.
‘No,’ Julie said. ‘But I think I might know where we can look.’
Everyone straightened their posture and held their breath. We needed a break and we knew it.
‘Manchester Cathedral,’ she said. ‘There are old parish records going back five centuries. A group of us broke in during the Blitz in the 1940s and made sure the ones referring to us were destroyed. But the dragons might not have been so circumspect. There might be something there.’
‘It sounds like a needle in a haystack,’ Artemesia said. ‘If you give me a couple of hours, I can use essence of rose and falwort and come up with a potion that might help locate the information you need more quickly.’
‘The build-up of magic in the atmosphere needs to be your priority, Arty,’ Morgan said. ‘We can’t let the city be destroyed because of it.’
She raised her hands helplessly. ‘I’m at a loss. I don’t know what to do about that. I think I can mitigate it slightly but not if Rubus and the others are still casting spells. I need my lab and my books.’
‘In that case,’ I said, ‘our priority is to get Julie to meet with Rubus and warn him off using magic. After that, we travel to the cathedral and rendezvous with you lot, hopefully with Artemesia’s potion to help us find out about any nearby dragons. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that they really do care about their hoards so much that they’ve not moved house since the sixteenth century. Then I’ll go and get the sphere.’
‘Then what?’ Jodie asked. ‘If we can’t find a dragon to help us get rid of the sphere, what do we do?’
‘Run away very fast. Preferably to Timbuktu.’ I dusted off my palms and got up. ‘But we won’t need to do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because we can beat Rubus,’ Morgan answered. ‘We can be smarter than him. Right now he’s the monster skulking in the shadows, waiting for his moment. But we’re the cunning foxes who are going to ensure he never gets it.’ He smiled at me. ‘We have no other choice.’
Chapter Eleven
Morgan might have described Rubus as the monster skulking in the shadows but, with his newfound ability to circumnavigate the truce, Rubus was no longer in hiding. It only took a few quick calls to discover that he’d returned to the same lair he’d been in when I was spying on him. It was about time something went in our favour.
Buoyed up with optimism and a semi-decent plan, Morgan, Finn, Julie and I hot-footed in Morgan’s car to that address. Apart from a black helicopter circling overhead, we didn’t spy anyone else. Even daft teenagers with false confidence were now staying indoors. Dusk was falling and, given the events of the day so far, it was hardly surprising that people weren’t venturing out. There weren’t any emergency vehicles on the streets either.
I spied a cat washing its face with a paw with blithe indifference. Gusts of wind blew fire-scorched rubbish across the road like tumbleweed in some old Western movie. The city definitely had a silent, ghostly feel about it. At least half the street lights had been knocked out, presumably by the fire rain, and the houses we passed whose occupants were brave enough to leave on their lights had their curtains tightly closed as if to ward off whatever might be outside.
We were trying to avert the apocalypse but it felt as if it were already here.
Julie applied scarlet lipstick and shook out her hair. ‘I want to wait until it’s completely dark,’ she announced to no one in particular.
I peered out of the car window. ‘Five minutes, tops,’ I said. ‘Then the last of the daylight will have gone. No-one’s around, though, if you’re worried about any fans spotting you.’
‘I’m not worried, darling.’ She patted my hand before reaching into her bag and drawing out a small silver hip-flask. She took a delicate glug and replaced it. ‘But I rather feel that Rubus will be more comfortable under the complete cover of night. After all, those rats you told me about probably damaged his face somewhat with their teeny ratty claws.’
I smirked. ‘Yeah. It’s almost a shame that we heal so fast. It’d be nice if all those scratch marks he received got infected.’ Let’s face it, he deserved far worse.
I glanced at Morgan in the driver’s seat. ‘I’m not suggesting we appeal to Rubus’s better nature,’ I said, ‘but how come you’re so wonderful and he’s such a prick? You’re brothers. You look alike. Why are you so different?’
‘That’s the million-pound question.’ Morgan arched a look at me over his shoulder. ‘Who knows why anyone is evil?’
