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

I didn’t particularly want to zap the pigeon dead but it might be the smartest move. ‘I don’t want to miss. If I get it wrong and don’t hit it, it’ll fly off and we’ll never see it again. And if I send out too much magic so that I don’t miss it, it might disintegrate and we’ll lose the message as well as the bird.’

‘Are you saying that you can’t do it?’ Felicity asked.

Monroe answered for me, his hand brushing against mine. ‘No,’ he said. ‘She’s saying that she needs to be careful and take her time. We’ve only got one shot at this.’

I breathed in deeply, aware of the expectant eyes swivelling in my direction. There’s nothing like a bit of pressure to focus your mind. The pigeon was still blithely pecking at the bread but I could sense we had only seconds. If that.

I raised my hands and did my best to concentrate. I couldn’t think of any other way get hold of the bird except by killing it; I’d missed the day at school where we were taught how to create magical cages.

I winced and sent out a silent apology to the pigeon for what I was about to do. On a count of three. One. Two… A sudden thought struck me.

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘I can’t kill it.’

‘It’s the only way to be sure we get the message,’ Felicity snapped. ‘This isn’t the time for your saviour sensibilities.’

‘If we’re going to reply to that message,’ I told her evenly, ‘we need the bird. If it’s dead, it won’t be homing anywhere.’

Realisation hit the group like a Mexican wave. Almost as important as reading the message was the chance to communicate to the outside world, to tell the people out there that we were alright. A bit hungry maybe, but alright.

‘Can you use magic to catch it instead?’ Monroe asked.

I gestured helplessly. ‘I could try, but it’s a crap shoot.’ I pursed my lips. ‘If I’m honest, in this scenario I’d bet against myself.’

‘A net,’ Cath said suddenly. ‘We need a net.’

Monroe looked at her. ‘The fishing group,’ he said. ‘Get one from them. Hurry.’

Cath started running. The rest of us turned back to the pigeon, willing it to stay where it was. There was still plenty of bread for it to peck at. If it had been flying for a long while, it would be tired so it would enjoy the break. We had to be careful not to scare it off.

‘No one make any sudden movements,’ I said in a low voice. I crossed my fingers. Come on, Cath. Get back here quickly.

‘I have fast reflexes,’ Julie said. ‘I could try and catch it.’

‘Or,’ Felicity suggested, ‘we could use your umbrella to throw at the bird, create a temporary cage and watch you burn up in the sun. It would be win-win.’

‘Darling.’ Julie tossed her head. ‘It’s a parasol.’

I shut out their bickering, aware that it was more a result of stress than true antagonism, and kept my attention on the bird. We needed that net. We needed… I stiffened as something else occurred to me. Oh no.

Registering my change in stance, Monroe whispered urgently. ‘What is it? What’s the problem?’

‘Lucy,’ I returned. ‘She warned us that something was coming. Why would she have gone nuts just because a flock of pigeons flew overhead? She wouldn’t have known they were carrier pigeons.’

‘Worry about that later,’ Monroe told me, in a tone that suggested he didn’t give a single shit about what Lucy had been doing.

‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘but…’

From the nearest side street beyond the barricade there was a wheeze. I barely had time to blink before a giant dog-like creature sprang forward with lightning speed. Its jaws snapped as it lunged at the pigeon. There wasn’t so much as a squawk before the bird was swallowed whole.

The dog monster paused, swung its head towards us and stared. It wagged its tail briefly in acknowledgement of our shock, then it bounded away in the direction it had come from. All that was left was a single grey feather, lying forlornly next to the half-eaten chunk of stale bread.

Well, shit.

The sound of pattering feet came up behind us. Cath was breathless but beaming. ‘I got a net!’ she said. ‘This will do the trick, right?’

I’m sure we all tried to smile at her; alas, I don’t think any of us actually pulled it off.

Chapter Four

We convened in the square. Most of the werewolves who weren’t out on patrol were present, as well as a number of the more magically gifted humans. There were quite a few vampires too, even though the sun was rising high. Admittedly they stayed under the awning that had been erected in recent months for that very purpose, and they were covered from head to toe in reflective white and silver fabric, but the fact that they were there gave testament to how important this could be.

I had to bite my tongue to refrain from giggling. We were all standing around with grim expressions and frowning foreheads simply because of a now-dead pigeon.

‘So it was eaten by a hell hound?’ Julian asked, using the name that the vampires had coined for the dog monsters. ‘Can I assume it was one of the creatures that normally live out by the southern wall?’

It was Felicity who answered. ‘We have no reason to think that a second pack has sprung up.’

‘Other than the fact, darlings,’ Julie said drily, ‘that it was five miles away from its usual territory.’

One hell hound looked much the same as another to me, so I wasn’t prepared to hedge my bets on where it had come from just yet. Normally, the hounds didn’t bother us. We weren’t sure whether they were dogs that had been transformed by the magic when the apocalypse hit or they’d somehow been conjured here by accident, like the shadow beasts, giant rats, mammoth pink elephant