Page 42 of Skulk of Foxes
Rubus was unable to repress a shudder. ‘Nasty creatures. It’s fortunate they didn’t do more damage.’ His mouth turned down. ‘This is why we Fey need to exit this demesnetout suite. We need to save ourselves. Give me the sphere, Maddy,’ he said. ‘Put aside all this painful conscience stuff. It’ll only ever make you miserable.’
‘She doesn’t have the sphere,’ Morgan broke in. ‘And the sphere is separate to this other business. We must agree to avoid using more magic so that what’s in the atmosphere now can disperse safely.’
Rubus didn’t answer for a moment. I couldn’t read his expression. Frankly, it could have gone either way. Then he shrugged. ‘I told the glamorous Julie here that I’d make sure none of my lot use magic unless it’s an emergency. I can be magnanimous. If it comes to the sphere and me, however, all bets are off. And I’m only laying off spells because I don’t want anyone to be hurt.’
‘You meanyoudon’t want to be hurt,’ I snapped.
He tutted. ‘Oh, Maddy. So much anger. This side of you really isn’t fun at all.’ He lunged forward without warning, one hand swiping at my face. Morgan leapt in front to block him. Rubus pulled back and laughed. ‘Of course,’ he added, ‘I don’t need magic to hurt you. I can do that without any spells.’
Julie took a step towards us. ‘Darling,’ she drawled, ‘you need to relax.’ She waved an airy hand. ‘I recommend gin. It works wonders.’ She blew a kiss towards Rubus and then, with Finn flanking her, joined us. It was a miracle that the large Redcap restrained himself; after all, Rubus had killed his brother in cold blood. I had to give him kudos for self-control.
Rubus clasped his heart and kept his eyes on Julie. ‘Bye, darling.’
She smiled. ‘Bye.’
I sneaked a quick peek at Lunaria. She looked even more wan and miserable than she was earlier. Poor thing. It seemed that all of us, in our own ways, were trying our best to succeed and none of us were managing it. Apart from Julie – but she had a good century and a half’s experience on the rest of us.
‘Julie!’ Rubus called. ‘Don’t forget what I told you!’
Her expression dropped for the briefest second and I realised that I was wrong: she was holding on to a mask like the rest of us.
I bit back the temptation to ask Julie what he meant; I wouldn’t give Rubus the satisfaction. I kept walking. We’d done all we could for now.
Chapter Twelve
It took us far longer to get to Manchester Cathedral from Rubus’s street than it should have done. With virtually every road torn up by the sprouting trees, and people bundling their belongings into their cars to make their escape from the horrors of the city, the streets were almost impassable by motor vehicle. In the end we nabbed enough free city Mobikes to cycle there.
Towering trees dotted the landscape, with foliage and leaf cover making many of the streets even darker than they would usually be at this time of night. More and more helicopters filled the sky; when we spotted a tank turning down one of the main thoroughfares, it was clear that the army was no longer waiting till dawn to make their move into the city.
‘Everyone stay calm,’ bellowed a tinny loudspeaker attached to the tank. ‘We are in control and there is nothing to worry about.’
I gave a loud, derisive snort. I understood what was going on and I knew that the British military was most definitely not in control. There was a great deal to worry about.
‘All current events are occurring only within the city of Manchester,’ the loudspeaker burbled. ‘Until the situation is resolved, all citizens must remain indoors unless it is not safe to do so. Due to flooding, the suburb of Burnage is being evacuated but other areas are deemed clear.’
I cycled round a massive sinkhole that had opened up smack-bang in the middle of the road. ‘Clear?’ I eyed the dark chasm, wrinkling my nose at the fetid stench rising from its depths.
‘They don’t know what to do,’ Morgan said quietly. ‘The humans like science, they like to be able to explain things and use logic to reason their way out of problems. There’s nothing logical about magic.’
‘There’s nothing logical about your brother either,’ Finn tossed over his shoulder.
‘He promised me that he would lay off the hocus pocus, darling,’ Julie said.
Finn’s expression was sour. ‘I wouldn’t trust him an inch. No promise of Rubus’s is worth a damn.’
Actually, I suspected that despite his blithe languor Rubus was as shaken by what was going on as the rest of us. Of course, he would use these events as further evidence that the power of the sphere needed to be unleashed so that all us Fey could travel back to Mag Mell as quickly as possible. But he must have finally started to realise what chaos that would incur.
‘What did Rubus mean, Julie?’ I called out. ‘When he said not to forget what he told you, what was he talking about?’
‘Oh, just some nonsensical acting tips,’ she said, taking one hand off the handlebars for a moment to wave it around and indicate that his words were worthless. ‘Honestly, I get that sort of ridiculousness all the time. Everyone thinks they have it in them to be the next Greta Garbo.’
Finn frowned. ‘Who’s Greta Garbo?’
‘Sorry, darling,’ she drawled. ‘I’m showing my age. Do you know, I met her once?’ She launched into a long tale which, unsurprisingly, involved copious amounts of gin.
I cast a quick glance in Morgan’s direction. His jaw was set and although his shoulders were loose, his knuckles were white as he clenched the handlebars of the bike. It couldn’t be easy facing your evil brother and begging him to be temperate whilst also trying to stop him from destroying the world.
I swerved slightly, narrowly missing some snaking tree roots that appeared from nowhere, and lowered my voice.
