City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

He stared at me. ‘From the taps?’

Oh. I’d forgotten about that, even though it was the reason why I’d left two days earlier. ‘That’s sorted,’ I told him. ‘We shouldn’t have any more problems. It was a mermaid in the little reservoir. She was bored and unhappy and trying to get attention. I’ve relocated her to Boggart Hole so the mains water should be fine from now on.’

Even Julie appeared surprised at that. ‘A mermaid?’ she enquired. ‘Are you sure, darling?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘she has a fishy tail and she lives underwater. Yeah,’ I nodded, ‘I’m pretty sure she’s a mermaid.’

‘Blimey. Just when you think you’ve heard it all.’

‘Indeed.’ I pushed back my hair. ‘I’m sorry, guys,’ I said. ‘I need a cup of tea and a bit of time to relax then I’ll sort out everything that’s been building up while I was away.’

Julie’s eyes widened fractionally. ‘Of course.’ She reached out to put her hand on Albert’s arm. He flinched away. ‘You should go now, love,’ she said kindly. ‘Everything is sorted.’

‘Until the next thing happens,’ he sniped, bunching his eyebrows together. He let out a huff and pushed past me, heading into the street.

Lizzy appeared at the top of the stairs. When she caught sight of me, she came bowling down. To begin with I almost cowered, but thankfully she just wanted a hug. She wrapped her arms tightly round me and beamed. ‘I’m so glad you’re back,’ she said. ‘It’s been a madhouse here! I don’t know how you do it. We need you here to keep the peace to stop everyone killing each other.’

‘Hmm.’ Julie wrinkled her nose. ‘Let’s allow Charley some breathing space, shall we? And instead of tea, perhaps some gin and tonic.’

Lizzy tutted but at that moment a proper drink sounded perfect. I smiled weakly at the pair of them and sniffed. ‘That’d be really good.’

Lizzy looked aghast; in fact, everyone looked aghast. Cath was particularly wide-eyed. ‘But why did that werewolf kill the vampire?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Was she a friend of Valerie’s? Was she tracking this Philip guy?’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

Cath opened her mouth to ask another question. I held up my hands. ‘She didn’t shift back. Monroe told her to and she didn’t. To be honest, it seemed like she couldn’t.’

Lizzy’s horror grew. ‘She was trapped in that form?’ She clasped her throat. As a type of shapeshifter herself – and very new to it – it was her greatest fear that she’d transform into her furry, horned, bunyip shape and wouldn’t be able to change back to her human form again.

‘I don’t know that either,’ I admitted. ‘She did everything else Monroe told her to do. When he commanded that she shift, she looked like she was trying.’ In truth, she’d looked like she was in terrible pain but I wasn’t going to tell Lizzy that.

‘That’s awful.’

Julie snorted. ‘She had just ripped a vampire apart. I don’t think she needs much sympathy.’

‘A vampire who deserved it! He murdered Valerie for no good reason,’ Lizzie protested.

‘Probably,’ I interjected. ‘He probably murdered Valerie.’

‘An eye for an eye,’ Lizzy declared.

Julie crossed her arms. ‘Innocent until proven guilty,’ she shot back.

I passed a hand over my forehead. Lizzy and Julie usually got on alright. The fact that they were arguing about what had happened did not bode well. I reached across, grabbed the bottle of gin and started glugging it neat. The pair of them slowly swivelled towards me then exchanged glances.

‘Maybe you should go lie down, Charley,’ Lizzy suggested.

Julie nodded. ‘I think that’s a good idea.’

At least we finally agreed on something. I yawned. Then I thought of all the people outside who wanted to talk to me; I had other responsibilities beyond killer vampires, insane werewolves and glorious sleep to deal with.

‘In a while,’ I said. ‘Give me a rundown of what’s been happening for the last couple of days while I’ve been away first.’ I wanted to see what I could delegate and what I really had to deal with myself. I managed a tired smile and pretended I didn’t see the worry in my friends’ eyes. ‘No rest for the wicked.’

The next morning, when I stumbled downstairs in the search of something that could wake me up now that coffee was so scarce and only being kept for special occasions, I realised that yet again we had visitors. When one of those visitors spoke with a soft Scottish brogue, I stopped on the bottom step to eavesdrop.

‘You need to do more to pick up the slack,’ Monroe was saying. ‘It’s not fair.’

‘I’ve been telling them that for weeks, darling.’

He snorted. ‘What have you done to help Charlotte, then?’

‘I came to find you, didn’t I?’

I didn’t need to see him to know that he was rolling his eyes. ‘You’re supposed to have a council that runs things. This isn’t a one-woman show. In any case, Charlotte needs to come with me. We still have to find out what happened to Valerie – and why. I think murder takes precedence over your other business.’

‘I’m a busy person too, darling. There are plenty of other people who can help Charley.’ Julie paused. ‘Most people don’t like me all that much.’

There was a loud snort, which could only have come from Jodie. ‘That’s hardly the newsflash of the century. Look, Monroe,’ she added, ‘we do try to help. We don’t just leave Charley to sort everything on her own. The trouble is that she’s so…’

Her voice trailed off. I narrowed my eyes. I was so what?

‘Capable,’ Lizzy finished for her.

‘Exactly,’ Jodie said.

Capable? That was the last thing I was. Certainly these days.

‘Well,’ Monroe said, with a steely edge, ‘the rest of you are going to have to become more capable too. I need Charlotte with me.’ There was a beat. ‘You can come out now,’ he called.

I winced. Darn it. I walked down the final step and into the kitchen. ‘Hey.’

Jodie, Julie and Lizzy stared at me guiltily.

‘How