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

right, from where the beast had sprung. ‘No others have appeared so it must have been on its own.’ But I felt troubled; something wasn’t right.

Monroe’s bluer-than-blue eyes met mine. ‘Let’s check out the lay of the land.’

I nodded and walked forward, sidling past the gigantic corpse. At least the other beasties would have something to feast on tonight. By tomorrow, there would be nothing left. My stomach grumbled. These days enforced rationing was affecting us all.

I hopped over one outstretched monster leg, moved lightly to the next crossing and peered round the corner. I couldn’t see anything; I couldn’t hear anything. When I looked at Monroe for confirmation, he shrugged. Clearly his nose wasn’t picking up anything either. Maybe the shadow beast had simply been out in the sun for too long and its brains had been addled.

Monroe reached for my hand, his fingers entwining with mine. ‘There’s nothing here. Let’s go home.’ There was a dusky promise in his tone that made my toes curl with hot temptation.

‘No.’ I squeezed his hand. ‘Later. Let’s look around a little more.’

‘Charlotte,’ he sighed, ‘there’s no sign of anything else. The monster was on its own. It…’ He was interrupted by the tiniest of squeaks.

I dropped Monroe’s hand. ‘I heard that,’ I whispered.

He nodded stiffly. ‘I can’t smell anything,’ he said. ‘Not beyond our dead beastie anyway.’ That was unusual but not impossible. I placed my finger to my lips. If we were going to hear any more little squeaks, we needed to listen hard.

We waited. One minute. Two minutes. I couldn’t hear a damn thing apart from the wind whistling through the empty buildings around us. But both of us couldn’t have imagined it – we’d both heard that first sound.

Just when I was starting to think that this latest beastie had caught wind of us and scarpered, there was another squeak. It was more plaintive this time.

Monroe pointed to the left and immediately set off in that direction, walking carefully on the balls of his feet to mask the sound of his footsteps. I followed, keeping to my tiptoes and trying hard to match his silent movements. We walked down the side street for a good fifty metres. No gigantic shadow beasts appeared – nor anything else.

Eventually, Monroe turned and shrugged. ‘There’s nothing here,’ he said. ‘Those things aren’t exactly small. If there was another one lurking around, we’d have seen it by now.’

He was probably right. Shadow beasts of that size usually stayed out in the open. Few of the buildings around here had large enough openings to allow them to enter; every doorway around here was human sized. There simply wasn’t anywhere to hide.

‘We did hear something, Monroe,’ I said. ‘Both of us heard something.’

‘I’m not denying that we did, but whatever we heard is obviously sensible enough to stay out of our way. Unlike our friend back there. There’s no more danger.’

I couldn’t argue. He was right: there was no point looking for trouble, not if trouble was hiding from us. Then I spotted the broken glass on the pavement ahead. My eyes tracked upwards, registering the large open window several storeys up.

‘Give me one minute,’ I said to Monroe.

He hissed under his breath. ‘Charlotte…’

I didn’t wait to hear his complaint. I dodged inside the door, ignoring the fusty smell of decay that lingered inside the building, and crept up the stairs. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust. As I walked, I disturbed the motes and they swirled round me in a hazy cloud.

By the time I reached the third floor, I couldn’t hold back the sneeze. ‘Atchoo!’ More dust flew away from me. I wiped my nose in irritation.

There was another sneeze but this time it wasn’t mine.

It sounded as if it had come from above me. I edged up the next set of stairs. The floorboards creaked as I moved and I held my breath, but I couldn’t hear anything else.

Biting my lip, I reached the landing. There was only one door here. I carefully turned the doorknob and pushed open the door so I could peek inside. Magic was prickling at my fingertips and I was ready to defend myself. Something was in this room, I could sense it. Come out, come out, wherever you are.

There was a rustle in the far corner. I narrowed my eyes, trying to pierce the gloom. I could see a pile of old cardboard boxes that had clearly been there for some time judging by the furry mould growing on them. There was a strong smell of urine. Keeping my eye on the boxes, I backed to the window. Whatever glass had once been there had all but gone.

I leaned back and checked the street below. The shards on the pavement were definitely from this window. Most, though, had fallen inside rather than out. I considered the height. It was possible – just possible – that the shadow beast Monroe and I had dispatched had smashed the glass in order to put something – or someone – in here for safe keeping. It couldn’t have got inside but it could have shoved in something smaller. The window was at the right height. The worrying question was what had it put here?

Monroe appeared in the doorway. ‘There’s nothing here,’ he said. ‘We should get home before it gets dark.’

At the sound of his voice, whatever was hiding behind the boxes jumped. There was a further rustling sound and another high-pitched squeak. I shot Monroe a warning look and edged toward the boxes. ‘Hey,’ I cooed softly.

There was another faint scuffling sound. Maybe it was a cat. Maybe the shadow beast had kept a pet. I hoped that was all it was; if it was a small human child, I didn’t know what I would do.

I tried again. ‘Hello. I’m Charley.’

Monroe rolled his eyes. ‘This is a really bad idea.’

I ignored his downbeat attitude. ‘What can you smell?’

‘Nothing.’ He shrugged. ‘I mean, nothing new. It smells