I stared, following her gaze. Deleo was looking at empty air, out over the railings. I searched the area and saw nothing. ‘Um,’ I said. ‘Look, if-’
‘You’ve had the dreams, haven’t you?’ Deleo asked. She sounded distracted, like she was carrying on two conversations at once. ‘I can see them. You haven’t escaped, no one does. It always comes back. I’m the only one who can break it.’ She cocked her head, seeming to listen, then snarled. ‘Shut up!’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘You know what, I don’t want to know any more. You’re nuttier than a bowl of Alpen. Just stay away from me.’
‘You don’t understand.’ Deleo’s eyes stared through me for a second, then all of a sudden they cleared and she was focused on me again. ‘Give me the girl.’
‘Uh, how about no?’
‘You think you can protect her? You can’t. The only way she’ll be safe is with me.’
I actually laughed. ‘Oh, that’s different. I’ll just hand her over, shall I?’
In a quick movement Deleo stepped up against the barrier. Her left hand pulsed against the wall of force, sending ripples through it. ‘I won’t let anyone get in my way,’ she said. All of a sudden, her voice was deadly calm. ‘You were always weaker than me. I know how to hurt you, Alex.’
Deleo and I stared into each other’s eyes from fewer than ten feet away. The barrier was starting to tremble; the amount of destructive force she was pouring into it was staggering. From behind I heard Luna’s voice, calling. ‘Alex! Alex!’
I stepped back. ‘Don’t come after me.’
‘This isn’t over,’ Deleo said. It sounded like a promise.
I turned and ran. Behind, I could hear the force wall whining under the strain. As I got around the corner of the pyramid, I saw Luna leaning over the railing and Starbreeze floating just beyond it. ‘Time to go!’ I called.
‘Go where?’ Starbreeze asked curiously.
‘Home!’ I grabbed Luna’s hand. ‘Fast!’
‘Okay!’ Starbreeze engulfed us. In a flash we were turned to air and whisked away. Looking back, I had one glimpse of the barrier breaking in a blue-green flash before the tower was shrinking behind us. ‘No fun,’ Starbreeze complained, her voice muffled by the wind.
‘What’s wrong?’ Luna asked.
‘Nothing happened,’ Starbreeze said, sounding disappointed.
The Docklands vanished behind us, their lights merging with the rest of London as Starbreeze lifted us higher and higher into the sky. Already we were far enough away to be invisible to anyone watching. ‘Trust me, Starbreeze,’ I said as we banked and turned north, heading home. ‘It was exciting enough down on our end.’
Starbreeze dropped us on my roof and I gave her something or other and watched her soar away. My shop was dark and quiet. All around, I could hear the sounds of the city again, distant and reassuring. All of a sudden, I didn’t want to deal with magic and mages any more; I just wanted to be home and safe. ‘Want a drink?’ I said, smothering a yawn as we walked through the hall.
Luna shook her head. Her dress was a little disarrayed, but it made her look better if anything. She seemed to be slowly coming down from a high. ‘Stay here for tonight, then?’ I asked. ‘I think there’s a camp bed somewhere.’
‘I think I should go.’
I looked at her, puzzled. Luna nodded down at my chest. ‘Look.’
I stared for a moment before realising. In the excitement, I’d forgotten about Arachne’s ribbon. I looked down to see that almost all of the white ribbon had turned black. Only an inch or so was left.
‘I think my coach is turning back into a pumpkin,’ Luna said, and I looked up in surprise to see one of her rare smiles. Somehow, though, this one seemed sad. ‘It’s okay. You said they can’t find me now, right? I’ll find a place to stay.’ She moved to the door.
‘Luna, wait!’ I followed. ‘They can’t find you with magic, but they can still look. It’s not going to be-’
Luna turned and stepped into my arms, laying her head against my chest, one hand holding gently onto my coat. I stopped in surprise, looking down at her. ‘Thank you for tonight,’ Luna said. Her body was cool, and she smelt of clouds and wind. ‘It was worth it.’
I started to put an arm around her. ‘Luna-’
‘It’s midnight,’ Luna said softly, and slipped away, hiding her face. Before I could react the door opened and closed, and I was alone. I heard her footsteps fading outside.
I stood there for a long time, then walked back to my desk and sat down. I untied the ribbon from my belt and held it up in front of me. Almost all of it had turned to black and, as I watched, the very last corner faded and darkened. The ribbon flickered once, then crumbled to dust between my fingers. In a second there was nothing left but a trace of black powder.
I sat looking at it for a long time, then went upstairs to bed.
8
I came awake into darkness. My chest hurt, everything was black and the screams were still ringing in my ears. As I lay tense, my heart pounding, I realised it had been a dream. My flat was silent. I lay there for a few minutes, letting my breathing slow until my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, then I rose and walked on bare feet to the window. Same old nightmares.
Once I was leaning out the window, taking deep breaths of the night air, I felt better. Being enclosed always reminds me of that time and I’ve learnt that an open sky is the best way to throw it off. I’ve always liked looking out of my window at night; something about the density, all those thousands of pinpoints and every one a person or a family. I could tell from the murmur that it was about four o’clock in the morning. Camden is never silent, but this is the quietest it gets. I could hear the sounds of distant music filtering through the bridges and over the canal, but my street was still.
I don’t have many scars. Dark mages are quite skilled with methods of torture that don’t cause permanent physical damage. My chest still hurt though — a phantom pain. I rubbed at it until it faded and leant on the window-sill, looking out into the night. A three-quarter moon was high in the sky, casting London in a pale light that reflected off the rooftops.
For some reason, instead of Luna, I found myself thinking of the woman we’d left behind, Deleo. I was sure she was someone from my past — probably from my time with Richard. It’s hard to remember someone just from the sound of their voice, but I’ve got access to ways of looking that normal people don’t. I was pretty sure I could figure out who she was if I wanted to.
Except I didn’t. Yes, Deleo was after me. Yes, I could probably protect myself better if I knew who she was. But even that wasn’t enough to make me willingly take myself back to that place in my memory. My time with Richard is a place I’ve locked up in my mind; I don’t think about it and I don’t go back to it. Instead I ran through a brief exercise to clear my head then, when I was calm again, returned to bed and fell asleep quickly.
When I woke again, morning sunlight was streaming through the window. It took me a moment to recognise the noise that had pulled me awake — it had been the sound of my letterbox. I went downstairs in my underwear and discovered a small package had been dropped through the front door. I took it upstairs, scanning and opening it as I went, and unwrapped a roll of tissue to reveal a stylised stone key — a gate stone. It didn’t come with a note, but I already knew where it would lead.
I went back upstairs and checked the news. A footnote on the news sites mentioned that the British Museum was closed due to a fire. The Council has excellent connections with the British government. I went to make my preparations.
Choosing your equipment for a meeting with other mages is a tricky business. It’s a fine line between being prepared for trouble and being seen as the trouble. Visible weapons were obviously out. I really wanted to take my mist cloak, but given I’d been wearing it when I’d run from the Council reinforcements on Friday night, that wasn’t an option either. I was fairly sure that between my cloak and the confusion, none of the Council mages had managed to get a good look at my face. If they had, this trip was going to be eventful. In the end, I picked out a nondescript set of casual clothes with relatively few tools or weapons, hoping to appear as low-key as possible.