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

Monroe folded his arms. ‘Well, this will be interesting. I suggest that from first thing tomorrow we try to locate where else there might have been such watchers.’ His expression darkened. ‘And if they still exist. If we find anyone, we should leave them be for now. We don’t want to arouse Fabian Barrett’s suspicion that we’re onto him until we have to.’

Jodie, who’d remained by the staircase as if preparing to flee at any moment, called out, ‘How long do you think someone was here for?’

‘We’ve not manned the door to the outside world for months,’ Monroe answered. ‘Judging from the amount of rubbish here, spies could have been hanging around since spring.’

I jerked up. ‘Wait,’ I said. ‘The door was barred. Trees had grown around it. I had to blast them with magic before Fab entered to open it. No one could have come through the door, not since winter.’

‘But some of this stuff is fairly fresh,’ Felicity objected. ‘The food isn’t even rotten. And it’s been hot for weeks.’

We stared at each other. It was Cath who voiced our thoughts first. ‘There’s another way in.’

‘The walls run all the way around the city. The army made sure of that.’ Monroe frowned. ‘Even the rivers have wire fencing.’

‘They’re too high to climb over,’ Alora said. ‘If you tried, someone would notice either on this side or on the other. It would be too risky.’ She directed an angry gaze out of the window, as if she were expecting to see our spies wandering happily through the streets. ‘And they wanted to be invisible. That much is clear.’

‘Tunnels,’ I whispered. The others looked at me. ‘If you can’t go through and you can’t go over, you have to go under.’ The thought that there had been people sneaking into Manchester all this time was jarring. Maybe we’d never been alone. But why had they kept themselves hidden? What would be the point?

‘I know this city well,’ Alora said. ‘I don’t know of any secret tunnels. Unless your billionaire tells us where they are, we might never find them.’

Felicity shook her head in dismay. ‘He’s known about us all this time. What the fuck is he up to?’

Monroe turned to me. ‘We’re playing catch-up,’ he said. ‘And we’re a long way behind. We don’t understand the rules of this game.’

‘No,’ I agreed. ‘But sometimes it’s good to bet on the underdog.’ I gave a small smile, although my insides were churning. ‘The longer the odds, the bigger the final win.’

Chapter Twenty

We crowded into the largest house in the enclave and dragged out a gigantic flat-screen television that had been tossed in the attic months ago. There was a crack in the screen but I assumed that otherwise it was serviceable. And if it didn’t work, there were three different radios as back up. Now we needed Lucy to play her part.

The one thing we were lacking was information about where Fab’s manipulations were leading. If we could get a lifeline to the outside world, we might get more of an idea about what he was up to. Because, whatever his plans, he was clearly being both disingenuous and thoroughly manipulative.

‘It happens when she gets excited,’ I explained.

‘And,’ Monroe added, ‘she gets excited when she sees Charlotte.’

Julian hadn’t smiled for hours. He leaned against the wall and glowered darkly. ‘What I don’t understand,’ he said, ‘is why Fab wasn’t up front from the start. All this cloak-and-dagger shit is stupid. If we are all going to stay in Manchester, we need the supplies that he can bring in. We all know we can’t survive without them.’

‘The crops are doing okay,’ Julie interjected. ‘And we’re learning all the time about how to do better. In a couple of years, we’ll be expert farmers. Until then, we’ll manage – just about. I’m not saying it’ll be easy but we don’t need Fab Barrett as much as you think we do.’

‘Says the woman who can survive on blood alone,’ he muttered.

She put her hands on her hips. ‘It has to be healthy blood,’ she argued. ‘If you lot are starving then so are the vampires. Plenty of our kind have been helping with the crops. You should be grateful that we don’t take the food that you need.’

I looked from Julian to Julie and back again. There hadn’t been any vampire versus werewolf arguments for months. The fact that they were happening again was testament to how we were feeling. We’d put considerable stock on Fabian Barrett riding in on a proverbial white horse to save us; now we were wondering if he was here to destroy us instead. No wonder even Julian was feeling stressed.

He exhaled heavily. ‘Sorry,’ he said. I could tell that he meant it. ‘I had a lot of faith in the guy. I wanted to have a lot of faith in the guy.’

Julie put her hand on his arm. ‘I understand, darling. It may surprise you to know that I once felt that way too.’ She glanced at me. ‘I have to admit that I’m looking forward to the moment when his underhand dealings are unmasked.’

I wondered if that would be spectacular enough revenge for her. Seeing Fab Barrett cut down when we confronted him with all that we’d learned would indeed be satisfying, but I wasn’t convinced that it was personal enough for Julie. Things still weren’t right with her. I might not have possessed the same scent skills as a werewolf but even I could smell the stale alcohol seeping from her barely visible pores.

I didn’t get the chance to speak to her about it because Lizzy appeared from beyond the large living room. She was carrying Lucy’s cage, which had a covering over it so the little shadow beast couldn’t see out. ‘Is everything ready?’ she asked.

I nodded and beckoned her in. The others parted, making space for her, and she carefully placed Lucy’s cage down on the