Page 44 of Skulk of Foxes
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, alarmed.
‘She doesn’t feel well,’ Finn said, standing over her slight frame protectively. He could spread his legs all he wanted; that wasn’t going to stop any kind of tummy bug.
Morgan licked his lips. ‘Can you get her back home? Now we know where the archives are, Maddy and I will find the others and help them to continue looking. Julie should rest.’
Finn looked even more concerned about her than he normally did. He nodded and carefully helped her back to where we’d left the bikes. Morgan and I watched them go.
‘It’s affecting her badly, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘She’s a vampire. She’s never really had any real powers. These strange magic surges aren’t just disturbing the rain and the trees and the animals, they’re disturbing her too.’
Grimacing, Morgan turned to me. ‘That would be my guess, too. It can’t be a coincidence that she was struck down right on the steps of a holy building.’
‘She told me she’s never had a problem with things like this before. I don’t think she was lying.’
‘No,’ he agreed. ‘Not then. But she’s changing now.’
‘I tried to speak to Finn about it but he refused to listen.’
Morgan sighed. ‘That’s understandable. He’s taken all the love he felt for his brothers and given it to Julie. I dread to think what will become of him if something happens to her.’
‘You mean something other than turning all fangy and trying to drink our blood?’
He shot me a look. ‘We’re not there yet.’
‘Yetbeing the operative word,’ I muttered. ‘Come on. We can’t worry about her now.’
Morgan nodded. From the look in his green eyes, however, he was just as concerned about Julie as I was.
***
Fortunately we didn’t have to waste much time searching for the archives. The sound of the other people bickering reached our ears long before we reached them.
‘Just look in that box,’ Timmons was saying.
‘The dust is getting in my eyes,’ Jodie complained. ‘I’m not a Fey, remember? It’s harder for me. I possess human frailties.’
‘Well, put those human frailties to good use,’ he said. ‘Even Opulus is doing his best.’
There was a chink of light underneath one of the doors. Morgan headed for it with me barely a step behind. ‘I take it,’ he said drily, ‘that you’ve not found anything yet.’
Their faces brightened immediately. It was no wonder they were glad of the distraction: there were fusty and musty papers scattered all over the room.
‘What happened?’ Jodie asked. ‘Did you see Rubus?’
‘We did. He said he’ll lay off magic for now.’
Timmons exhaled. ‘Do you think he actually will?’
‘We’ll have to hope so,’ I said grimly. ‘Did you see what happened to the trees?’
‘We were inside at the time. We heard enough though.’
Jodie pouted. ‘I didn’t. I don’t have clever faery ears like you lot.’ She gave Timmons a sour glance. ‘Or eyes.’
He sighed in exasperation and I regarded the pair of them with mild amusement. Timmons loved it here; he probably wished he were wholly human as much as Jodie seemed to wish she were wholly Fey. Naturally both of them probably wished they were more like me. Poor them.
‘Did Arty manage to conjure up that potion?’ Morgan asked.
From the far corner, Opulus grunted. His eyes remained red-rimmed but, of the three of them, he appeared to be doing the best job of looking for evidence of nearby dragons. ‘She did. We deemed it best not to use it unless we had to. She said that most of the magic is bound up in the ingredients, so there shouldn’t be a problem using it and releasing more into the ether. But we wanted to wait, just in case.’
