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

my old friends and family for years. When I felt homesick, I used to listen to Australian radio.’ She deepened her voice. ‘“Brisbane Hit105. Your local station for all your music needs.”’ She smiled faintly. ‘I miss that a lot. But I always felt that something was missing. Even with Charley as a best mate, I never quite fitted in. That must have been the bunyip part of me because I don’t feel like that any more. I belong to a community now. I feel … whole now.’

Julie let out a brief tinkle of laughter. ‘Well, you all know my position,’ she said. ‘I used to live in fear. I might have been an actress but I still felt like I was in the shadows. I was hunted and on edge and…’ her voice faltered. ‘It wasn’t enjoyable. Despite our deprivations, life is much better for me now too.’

They all glanced towards me. I nibbled on the inside of my cheek for a moment before speaking. ‘I have Monroe,’ I said simply. ‘And I have you guys. The magic is great and exciting and fun, but it’s the people who really make this life. I worry about what the future holds. We might be able to deal with the shadow beasts and the canal monsters and the odd community squabble, and we might be able to cope with rationing. But what happens when we run out of stuff? I’m not talking about what we need to survive but what we need for a comfortable life. What happens when there are no tampons or sanitary towels? Or if the reservoir gets poisoned or drained or ruined, and we no longer can rely on running water? Or when we run out of condoms?’

‘I’ve seen the warehouse supplies,’ Cath interjected. ‘It’ll take a crap ton of sex and many years before we run out of condoms.’

I smiled at her. ‘You know what I mean. I’m glad I stayed in Manchester. I’ve never once regretted staying when the army evacuated the city. But I worry about the years to come. I wonder how we’ll cope with this isolation five years down the line. Or ten.’

Jodie lifted up her chin. ‘I really hope someone gets hold of one of those pigeons.’

‘Me too.’

‘Me too.’

‘Me too.’

I rubbed my neck. ‘Me too.’

We walked the rest of the way in silence, only stopping when we reached the spot where Monroe and I had felled Lucy’s poor mother. As expected, no trace of her remained. There was a dark shadow on the road, indicating that something had happened, but there wasn’t so much as a single bone shard of the shadow beast’s body.

Lucy remained quiet; she’d even stopped snoring. Lizzy checked on her and mouthed to me that she was awake.

I didn’t need to take my backpack off to know that she wasn’t moving. ‘I’m sorry, little one,’ I whispered. My apology felt empty even to my own ears.

Glancing round, I scrutinised the area and the nearby side streets. I couldn’t sense any more shadow beasts. Unlike the hell hounds, none of us actually knew where their lair was; funnily enough, it had never seemed a smart idea to follow them around the city to find out where they kipped. I was worried that we were about to be ambushed by an angry group of them – and worried that they would be fully justified in their anger. The last thing I wanted to do with Lucy in tow was to kill more of them, even if it was to save myself and my friends.

Lizzy’s nostrils twitched. ‘My sense of scent isn’t as strong as the werewolves’,’ she admitted, ‘but it’s still pretty good. I can’t detect anything.’

I squinted. ‘I can’t see any blue auras that might suggest there are more of them in the area.’ I was still the only person who could detect magic by sight. I had to squint and concentrate to see it, but it was a useful skill to have.

Julie sniffed. ‘That sounds like a good thing to me. The best move is to leave the little bugger here and hope that one of them happens along and scoops her up.’

‘I don’t want to agree with Julie,’ Jodie said, ‘but she’s right about this. You can’t keep Lucy. She’s a wild beast. You should release her here and let Nature take its course.’

I didn’t want to do it. It didn’t seem fair. What if the other shadow beasts stayed away from here in the wake of their kin’s death? We could be leaving Lucy to die of starvation or exposure or…

‘It’s summer time,’ Jodie said gently. ‘She won’t be cold. And you don’t really know what she eats. Even if you did know, I doubt we’d have the resources to feed her appetite once she gets stronger.’

Letting my head rule my heart – except for in gambling matters – wasn’t something that came naturally to me. I squeezed my eyes shut. I had to think differently about this. The odds were that if I didn’t leave Lucy here, she would grow to the size of her mother and end up killing some of us because we didn’t have the means to feed her properly. I quashed my emotions and let my gambling brain take over. If I was going to place a bet, this would be the smart choice.

I gently took my backpack off my shoulders and unzipped it, drawing the soft black bundle that was Lucy out of it. I could feel her quivering. She lifted her head and gazed up at me with baleful eyes. There was no reproach there, but I had the sensation that she knew what I was about to do. And she didn’t blame me for it. Somehow that made it worse.

I bit my lip and crouched down, placing Lucy on the road. She let out a single plaintive squeak. Lizzy wrapped her arms around herself miserably while Cath turned away. Then I shook my head and