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

– and our future together. A few hours apart would do us good. I’d swallow my pride and return to apologise tomorrow. It was the only thing I could do.

Cath was just reaching a crashing crescendo when a shadow flitted across the road in front of us. I hit the brakes, more out of instinct than logic, bringing the car to a juddering halt and stalling the engine. Cath and I were jerked forward.

‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Old habits die hard.’ These days it was far better to keep moving, especially at night, rather than stop and encourage the beasties to start swarming. I was more than confident of my skills at beating them back, but that didn’t mean it was sensible to invite trouble.

Cath was untroubled. ‘I told you I should drive,’ she said.

‘Yeah, yeah.’ I smiled. ‘You can drive next time.’

‘Promise?’

I’d long since learned not to make promises I couldn’t keep, so I just winked at her and switched on the engine again. When I tried to accelerate, however, the wheels spun uselessly. The car shook; what it didn’t do was move.

I cursed. We must have got caught in a pothole or something. Maybe it was a patch of slimy mud from the increased erosion caused by all manner of magical happenings. I sighed and unclipped my seatbelt. ‘Stay here,’ I said. ‘I’ll sort this out.’

I opened the car door and waited a beat to see if this was some sort of trap. I couldn’t sense anything waiting in the darkness, and the shadow that had made me slam on the brakes had bounded off into the night. I walked round to the back of the car. The back wheels had snagged in a narrow sinkhole which plummeted down into dark depths that I didn’t want to think about.

‘Piece of cake,’ I muttered. Everything was easy when you had magic. I raised my hands. I’d send out one quick boost to push the wheels forward over the hole and we’d be on our way. Honestly, if all the problems in my life were this straightforward I wouldn’t have a single to worry about.

My magic blossomed forth, hitting the tail of the car and lifting it up just enough to do what I needed. It juddered forward and I started to smile in satisfaction. Then something flew out of the darkness and smacked me onto the cold ground.

I gasped, as much from shock as anything else. More magic burst out of me and the thing, whatever it was, squealed. I heard claws skitter away and I breathed out, pushing myself up onto my elbows. The coast was clear. Unfortunately, my attacker had buddies. I’d barely made it into a sitting position when, out of the gloom ahead, dozens of them appeared and leapt towards me.

It was my turn to squeak – actually, it was more of a screech. I covered my head with hands and doubled over to protect myself. I appeared to have come across another colony of whatever those giant rat things were that Maggie had been talking about. They were the size of cats and smelled like a sewer. Apparently they were also incredibly angry. Rats had been my first experience of the apocalypse, way back before I’d understood what was going on. These creatures were akin to those first ones in fur only; these were larger, scarier and considerably more dangerous.

They swarmed over me, claws scrabbling to get into my skin. At least two of them were tugging at my trousers. More were nibbling at my back and I felt a pair of sharp teeth bite into my hands. I concentrated and tried to send out more magic to throw them off. Blast them, Charley, I whispered to myself.

Magic exploded from me. The rats flew off, some tumbling before running off, others shaking themselves then and preparing to attack again. Creepy little shits. I prayed that they weren’t carrying any diseases and took advantage of the brief hiatus to scramble to my feet. One more shot of magic should be enough for me to escape to the relative safety of the car. Screw the rats.

My skin tingled. No more Miss Nice Enchantress. I lifted my hands a final time. I’d have managed it as well, if it weren’t for the cunning little bastard that leapt onto my back. Its jaws opened and it bit into my neck without a moment’s hesitation, as if sensing my human vulnerabilities.

The pain was excruciating and all coherent thought fled. My arms flailed and my magic was all but forgotten in my desperation to get the creature off me. I felt warm blood trickling down my neck but it barely registered. My fingers clutched at matted fur, and tears squeezed out of my eyes.

Suddenly there was a flash of strange purple light. The rat tumbled and landed on its back, its eyes wide and staring. Cath was standing beside the car, gazing at her hands in astonishment.

I heard more skittering to my left. My blood froze and, without any more thought, I barrelled for the open car door and flung myself inside. Cath jumped in the other side and we slammed the doors shut. I revved the engine and we accelerated away. I caught sight of several rats chasing after us in the rear-view mirror before we turned the corner and escaped.

‘Bloody hell,’ I screeched. ‘Those things were massive!’

Cath shuddered. ‘Tell me about it. Did you see their eyes?’

I looked at her. ‘What I saw was purple. Purple magic.’

She bit her lip.

‘That was you, wasn’t it?’ I asked.

She nodded. ‘I think so. I don’t know. It’s never happened before. I just knew I had to do something and … I don’t know. It’s like something inside me came bursting through.’

‘You’ve got magic,’ I said slowly. ‘Just like me.’ I squinted at her. Now I looked at her and concentrated, she did indeed have her own blue aura. It was lighter than the shade I’d seen on vampires and werewolves, but it