I looked at Luna, and for once I couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
The silence dragged out for a long minute, then Luna seemed to shake herself, and when she looked at me her face was normal. ‘What was going on back there? With that girl?’
‘I- What do you mean?’
‘Was she a mage?’
I threw off the weight of what Luna had just told me, stored it away for another time. Somehow I knew that right now, sympathy was the last thing she needed. ‘No. Probably not.’
‘But you knew who she was?’
‘I didn’t know her.’
‘But you knew something,’ Luna persisted.
I looked away. ‘You don’t want to tell me?’ Luna asked.
‘It’s not that.’
‘Then what is it?’
‘It’s- Okay, it is that.’ I looked away. ‘It’s something I haven’t had to think about for a long time.’
‘That bad?’ Luna asked in surprise. I didn’t answer, and she carried on. ‘Why was she acting like that? That girl, Lisa. She was acting like she was his …’
I was silent for a moment, looking out over London. We were above the highest skyscrapers now, but I didn’t see any of it. I was remembering a time long ago, the darkness in Richard’s mansion, Shireen and Tobruk, Rachel …
‘Alex?’
‘Remember how I said mages split everyone into other mages, and sheep?’ I stared out over the lights of the city. ‘Well, there’s a thing about that. If everyone who isn’t a mage is a sheep, then the only kind of power worth having is over other mages.’
Luna was looking at me, and I could tell she didn’t understand. ‘Any mage can set himself up in the normal world. But he doesn’t get any respect. Status here is how much influence you have over other mages. Favours, position, contacts … other things.’
‘Okay …’ Luna said slowly. ‘That man, Cinder. Why was he talking about buying me?’
I knew Luna wasn’t going to stop until she got an answer or a flat no. I took a breath, then let it out, calming myself. ‘Dark mages like taking slaves,’ I said at last. It was my turn not to meet Luna’s eyes now. I didn’t want to risk her seeing something in my face. ‘It’s like a currency for them. Even the ones who don’t use slaves keep them to sell to the ones who do. Any novice or adept without connections, anyone who isn’t powerful enough to look after herself … she’s got a good chance of ending up like that. Sometimes it’s even a choice. They serve one mage because if they don’t they’ll be taken by another. There are Dark mages who have dozens, like a business. They keep them in their mansions and bring one or two out for display.’
I fell silent. Luna had been staring at me. ‘What do they do with them?’ she finally asked.
I met Luna’s eyes then. ‘Whatever they want.’
We were almost to the top of the tower, and the stars were bright in the sky above us. It was dark and quiet, and everything else was still.
‘Alex?’ Luna said. ‘Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to go home after all.’
I nodded. The lift rose into a cage of steel and glass, and the door slid open. We stepped out into the night air.
We were standing on the corner of the tower, just at the point at which it angled in to form a pyramid. A small walkway with a transparent railing ran along the edge in both directions, stretching to the other two corners that we could see. Beyond the railing was a vertical drop, seven hundred feet straight down to the concrete below. Not the place to be if you were scared of heights. The double strobe of the aircraft warning light flashed from the pyramid right above us, dazzlingly bright. We were alone.
Luna watched as I took out the glass rod I used to call Starbreeze and whispered my summoning charm over it. ‘Alexander Verus calls you; answer my prayer, queen of the sky.’ I finished and tucked it away. Then I stared off into the distance, working out how long Starbreeze would be.
‘Alex,’ Luna said, pointing.
I followed her finger to see that she was pointing over the edge, towards the south-west corner. A dim light was moving upwards along the edge of the building, its glow just barely visible from our angle. It was already a third of the way up.
I sighed. ‘Deleo. Goddamn it, doesn’t that woman ever give up?’ I scanned through the futures quickly. ‘Cinder’s still below. Probably in … yeah, he’s at the base of the lift. Waiting for us to double back.’
Luna looked out at the night sky, then down at the rising sphere, and I knew what she was thinking. ‘Deleo.’
‘Hm?’
‘You were wondering who’ll get here first, Starbreeze or Deleo. It’ll be Deleo.’
‘Oh.’ Luna thought briefly. ‘Do we run again?’
‘Good plan, but no. Running from these guys too long is a bad idea. It gets them into the habit of chasing you.’ I handed Luna the glass rod. ‘Stay out of sight. When Starbreeze comes, shout.’
‘What about you?’
‘Be a good girl and do what I say.’
‘I’m not a good girl,’ Luna said, but I could tell she was holding back a smile. She obeyed, backing off so that the tower pyramid was between her and Deleo’s lift.
Once she was gone, I went a little way out along the walkway. Despite how high we were, the air was quite still; the Council like to keep everything scenic in case some of their guests feel like enjoying the view. Once I’d gotten far enough, I took a pair of gold-coloured discs from my pocket and laid them on either side of the walkway, one by the railing and one at the edge of the pyramid. Then I took a step back and waited.
It was a spectacular view. From the height I was standing, I could see virtually all of London. The air was cold and bracing, and I realised suddenly as I looked out into the night sky that I’d missed this. There’d been something missing from my life in Camden, something I’d discovered again in the past two days.
The glow of the lift vanished from the side of the tower, then appeared on my level, visible though the glass of the pyramid. As I watched, Deleo stepped out into the night air. She saw me, paused, then started across the walkway towards me.
I let her get within thirty feet before speaking the command word. The gold discs flared to life and a wall of force appeared, stretching from the discs on the walkway floor out past the railings, along the slope of the pyramid, and up into the air. It was invisible to the naked eye, but there was now no physical force in this world or the next that could cross that barrier.
Deleo came to a halt. Her hands had snapped up as I’d spoken, and now I watched her stare at me through the transparent wall, her eyes hidden behind the mask. As she came to a decision, green-blue light welled up about her hands.
‘Don’t bother,’ I said. ‘You could break it if you were on your own, but not with me boosting it from the other side.’
‘It won’t last for ever,’ Deleo said. Her voice was soft and deadly, and again I felt the venom in her words.
‘So let’s talk.’ I folded my arms, watching her casually. ‘There’s some stuff I’ve been wanting to ask you.’
Deleo didn’t answer. ‘For a start, I’d like to know what your plans were for Luna,’ I went on. ‘But I know you wouldn’t tell me the truth. So I thought I’d ask about something you seem to have more of a personal interest in.’ I cocked my head. ‘Why do you hate me so much?’
Deleo stared back at me from the other side of the wall. The silence stretched out and I’d just opened my mouth to go on when she finally spoke. ‘You couldn’t stay away, could you?’ Her voice was low, vibrating with some intense emotion: hate, pain, anger. ‘I knew you’d be back. It was always you.’
‘Uh,’ I said. ‘Okay, let’s try this again. Why-?’
‘Shut up.’ Deleo’s voice was raw. ‘Don’t talk to me. It was your fault, all of it. Now you’re trying to do it again.’ The light around her hands flared, brightened. ‘It’s people like you that always screw things up, always make it worse. If you were gone I could fix things. The ones who really matter.’ Suddenly, she turned. ‘Stop it!’