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

‘Coincidence,’ I muttered. It had to be. Nothing else made any sense.

‘A coincidence like the rats avoiding you? And the fire rain avoiding the house?’ She blinked at me. ‘Is there something you’re not telling me? Are you some kind of sorcerer?’

‘My parents are dentists. I’m a cleaner.’ I hesitated. ‘And a gambler. If I had any weird-arse power, I’d be a hell of a lot luckier than I am.’

Her fingers twitched. ‘I thought you always said that luck was for losers, that you focus on facts and reality and research in order to win. Maybe you’re actually some kind of witch and you don’t realise it.’

We stared at each other for a long moment then burst out laughing. It only took a second or two before we were both verging on the hysterical. ‘Maybe,’ I gasped, ‘I could turn Maximillian Stone into a frog.’

‘And conjure up lots of gold.’ Lizzy wiped tears away from her eyes. ‘Although right now I’d give my left arm for some proper Vegemite.’

‘Forget Vegemite,’ I told her. ‘I want to magic up some better coffee than this instant crap.’

‘Forget Vegemite? You heathen!’ If there was one thing in this world that Lizzy loved, it was the Aussie spread that looked like tar and tasted even worse. Her shoulders continued to shake with laughter and she spun round and headed for the large cupboard in the corner. ‘We need a broomstick,’ she declared, in between wheezes. ‘To be certain.’

‘Flying sounds like fun. I need a cat, though.’ Laughing about it all was far better than watching the trees overtake our street.

What we’d been seeing was no doubt some kind of hallucination. Maybe I’d been poisoned with a magic mushroom and it was all a trippy dream. But that would mean I was hallucinating Lizzy as well. I opened my mouth to tell her this, choking back the giggles. That was when her back rippled and a strange lump travelled down her spine, as if a mouse was caught inside her blouse and was trying to escape.

I rubbed my eyes.

‘We don’t have a broomstick,’ she declared. ‘But there is that fusty old vacuum cleaner.’ Her voice sounded strange – metallic and disembodied.

‘Uh, Lizzy?’ I stared at her back. Another lump appeared, zigzagging across her shoulders. I swallowed.

She turned round, holding the decrepit vacuum by the handle. ‘What?’

I stopped breathing. Hair was sprouting all over her face. This wasn’t a faint moustache that needed a quick wax; wiry golden locks were springing out across her chin, nose, forehead, cheeks…

Noting my alarm, she hesitated. ‘What is it?’

I raised a shaky hand and pointed. ‘You … you’re growing hair.’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’ She glanced down at her hands. Hair was appearing there as well. With trembling fingers, she pulled up the sleeve of her blouse. We both stared at the golden down for a brief second before Lizzy screamed, dropped the vacuum cleaner and sprinted for the door.

I ran after her.

She darted into the living room, slamming the door shut in my face. ‘No, Charley! You can’t come in!’

I rattled the doorknob. ‘Lizzy! You need to let me help you! You need to—’

There was a sudden guttural roar that seemed to shake the very foundations of the house. The door opened and there, staring at me with glittering, furious eyes, was a furry monster. Two massive curved horns spiralled from its head and it had a large, deformed muzzle.

‘Lizzy!’

The creature that I assumed had been Lizzy a moment earlier screeched in my face. The reek of her breath almost made me retch; I probably would have fainted from the smell if she hadn’t suddenly lunged forward, razor-sharp claws extending towards my face.

I reacted without thinking, yanking myself back and heaving the door closed again. There was a loud thump as she threw herself against it, once, twice, three times. Then I heard several thuds as she moved away and the sound of fabric ripping and furniture breaking. Deckchairs, at least.

I swallowed, all my earlier humour having vanished. Forget that I could apparently command trees; my housemate had transformed into a vicious creature that wanted nothing more than to slice open my face. And, given the sharp teeth I’d caught a fleeting glimpse of when I’d narrowly managed to avoid being knocked out by the fumes of her breath, eat me as well.

In case I’d imagined the entire thing, I inched back to the door and opened it so it was an inch ajar. Furious black eyes fringed with golden fur glared back at me. I raised one hand and matched her, glower for glower. ‘Change,’ I commanded. ‘Change back to Lizzy.’

She opened her jaws again and snapped at me before whirling round to slam her body against the nearest wall for no other reason than it appeared to be there. It was better than attacking me, I supposed. Slightly dazed, she shook herself and glanced at me then charged the wall once more, head-butting it so hard that fissures appeared in the plaster.

I drew myself up. ‘Stop that!’

Lizzy flicked her baleful, soulless gaze back on me but at least she stopped trying to knock herself unconscious.

‘Transform back!’

She snarled with a bellowing fury that was directed entirely at me. Okay. I wasn’t some all-powerful being after all. I nodded at her and closed the door and pressed myself up against it. My heart was thumping and I could feel myself shaking all over. I swallowed and continued to listen. I could still hear Lizzy huffing and puffing but her bout of self-destruction appeared to have stopped – for now.

I calculated the odds that Lizzy’s desperate predicament would get worse rather than better. It wasn’t looking good. She might be quiet at the moment, but I suspected this was only a temporary respite. I could flap and panic about what on earth had happened to her, not to mention why, or I could act.

There was no choice really. I simply had to